Leadership Forum

The Leadership Forum brings together thinkers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss new ideas and concepts that will help propel agriculture and organic to the next level of sustainability.

Forum Objectives

Under the guidance of IFOAM – Organics International board members, stakeholders from various professions and political backgrounds will openly debate the sector’s latest insights, controversies, and developments. Audience members will be invited to participate in the dialogue, allowing them to articulate new sector arguments and rationales.

Forum Set-Up

The Leadership Forum sessions will all be held completely virtually, encouraging live digital interaction between moderator, presenters and participants. Find out more about the digital vs. on-site Congress experience here.

IFOAM – Organics International has selected the following session themes for the leadership forum. These themes are relevant for local and global organic progress and were carefully crafted to ensure forum participants will have a wide range of topics for discussion

Forum Session Themes

Session	Theme and Description
1	Policies as levers and best practices in advocacy: Messages and targets
2	Intergenerational organics: Learning from experience and bringing in young energy
3	Raising the bar for organics: Moving towards increased sustainability impact
4	True Cost Accounting and its use in organic agriculture: Reality check on the magic bullet
5	Why aren’t more farmers converting to organic? How to (p)reach (to) the not-yet-convinced?
6	Organics for development: How to mainstream organic within the international donor discourse?
7	Strategic partnerships: Teaming up with unusual suspects
8	Reaching and empowering consumers in their role as citizens: Which intermediaries to target and with what messages?
9	Organic leadership: What does being an agent of change imply?

Farmers’ & Advisors’ Forum

A unique opportunity for farmers from five continents to gather during three days and exchange on what it means to be an organic farmer.

Forum Objectives

The Organic World Congress offers farmers from five continents the unique opportunity to gather for three days and discuss what it means to be an organic farmer, learn how other organic farmers work (e.g., innovation used on their farms), and explore what challenges organic farmers currently face or will face in the future.

In this respect, the Farmers’ Forum aims to create a space for exchange between farmers and farming advisors to promote positive experiences, best practices, and success stories in organic farming.

Forum Set-Up

The Farmers’ and Advisors’ Forum will yield the floor to farmers from across the globe. Organic farmers are hereby invited to present their success stories, positive experiences, and best practices to an audience of their peers. This forum is also open to organic farming advisors, who are invited to share their knowledge on how advisory services can effect change in the agricultural model.

These sessions are one hour long and are pre-recorded, giving unlimited access to the content after the session. The sessions are followed by a live round table, limited to 100 people. A Q&A will be set up for each forum and discussions are encouraged through a chat accessible by all participants. Some live round tables will be organised on site and accessible by participants online.

Find out more about the digital vs. on-site Congress experience here.

Forum Themes

Forum contributions should fall into one of the following categories:

Theme 1: Organic Farming as a Holistic System

Organic farming cultivation:
- Soil
- Nutrient cycles
- Fertilization
- Natural inputs
- organic pest management
- Plant health
- Adapting to climate change
- Agroforestry
The role of animals in organic farming systems
- Organic farming systems: animal husbandry and crops go hand in hand
- Livestock management (all topics related to animal husbandry techniques)
- Animal welfare
Organic farming loves biodiversity¹:
- Cultivating biodiversity: organic seeds, organic animals, organic agroforestry, etc.
- Wild biodiversity: organic farming practices favourable to biodiversity
Climate & water friendly approaches in organic farming

¹(International Union for Conservation of Nature) IUCN World Congress 2020, Marseille (FR) 11-19 June 2020

Theme 2: Farmers’ Empowerment and Autonomy on their Farm and on the Market

On the farm:
- Access to reproductive materials (seeds, animal semen, etc.)
- Finance: access to credit, alternative economies, etc.
- Farmers cooperation initiatives
- And other examples of farmers' initiatives favourable to autonomy on the farm.
In the market:
- Farmers access to the market
- Farmers' shops
- Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)
- Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
- Other examples of alternatives of alternatives to competition at the market.

Theme 3: Farmers’ Commitment to the Social Dimensions of Organic Farming

Gender balance: the role and place of women in organic farming (farm, farmer organisations, etc.)
Generation renewal: how organic farming can attract new and/or young farmers, the role and place of youth
Farmers & machines/new technologies relation
Worker’s rights: organic farming beyond the common standards
Other examples of farmers' best practices on a more social approach

Theme 4: Advisory services: How to Take Part in Changing the Agricultural Model

Working with organic farmers: the role of advisory services in organic farming
Farmers’ groups and collectives: the role of farmers' groups and collectives advising on the transition to organic farming

Farmers Empowerment: role and mission of farming advisors in enhancing farmers autonomy and empowerment across the value chain.
Social dimension: the role of advisors working to empower farmers on social issues

Forum Board

Simon Carraz (Nature et Progrès, France)
Famara Diedhiou (FENAB & INOFO Africa Convenor, Senegal)
Jean-Michel Florin (MABD, France)
Yves Jan (FNAB, France)
Isabella Lang (IFOAM EU Group)
Louise Luttikholt (IFOAM - Organics International)
Fiona Marty (FNAB, France)
Sebastian Mittermaier (Naturland & INOFO Europe Convenor, Germany)
Shamika Mone (OFAI & INOFO Asia Convenor, India)
Thales Bevilacqua Mendonça (INOFO Latin America Convenor, Brazil)

Science Forum

From its roots, organic inspires science, and vice versa.

Forum Objectives

The scientific roots of organic systems are anchored in the four principles of IFOAM – Organics International: ecology, health, fairness, and care. Scientific skills are needed for the continuous improvement of organic food, systems, and culture.

More than 280 papers were selected from 320+ submissions. This Forum invites researchers to share their work in the following five themes, with a special focus on interdisciplinary research:

Forum Format

Find out more about the digital vs. on-site Congress experience here.

Forum Themes

Theme 1: Ecological Approaches to Systems’ Health

The development of healthy organic systems needs to be addressed with ecologically sound approaches and at various scales (plot/herd, farm, and landscape). Health management, in a broad sense, can be designed at each of these scales with specific methods, but also by taking advantage of ecosystem services. Managing health also means growing systems autonomy and resilience to increase constraints and uncertainties (climate change, resource scarcity, emerging diseases, market volatility).

Related topics:

Approaches linking soil, plant, animal, human, and ecosystem health
Animal or plant health management: new approaches and methods, their design and assessment
Influence of organic food consumption on animal and human health
Pathogen-host interactions and pathogen diffusion, prevention and control in organic systems in soil, plant and animal science
Exploring genetic resources, new selection, and management strategies
Enhancing biodiversity in organic agriculture
Systems design: cropping and/or husbandry systems, farm arrangements, landscape patterns
Questions related to coexistence with non-organic systems

Theme 2: Product and Process Quality in Organic Agriculture: Methods and Challenges

One of the key objectives of organic agriculture is to produce food with high nutritional quality in sufficient quantities without compromising biotic and abiotic resources. The expectation of higher quality is a core motive for consumers in purchasing organic products. This quality, however, is dependent on appropriate management and can be compromised if best practices are not adopted.

Related topics:

Food processing with care, high food quality, and consumer health.
Consumer perception of organic products at different levels, and types of processing.
Strategies to increase the level of nutrition in the organic crops
Methods to ensure complete traceability of organic products and high quality in food chains.
Approaches to reduce contaminations of organic products (e.g. pesticides, mycotoxins, pathogens, GMOs)
Quality of non-food organic products: cosmetics and textiles

Theme 3: Transitioning Towards Organic and Sustainable Food Systems

The transition to more sustainable food and farming systems needs to be implemented by a broad and diverse range of people. It concerns stakeholders engaged in an ongoing evolutionary process of transforming land, agroecosystems, territories, and food systems based on “Sustainable Development Goals” across different scales.

Consumers also have an important role to play, as they have the power to support transitions by their food choices and diets. Citizens can be co-designers of new agroecological food and farming systems.

Related topics:

Prospective studies and scenarios of future sustainable food and non-food models at different scales
The redesign of food production systems based on ecological principles and natural processes
Connections for producers and consumers to support a socio-ecological transformation of food systems
Deeper and wider transformation of context and society through action learning approaches as well as knowledge co-creation and sharing
Sustainability assessments with the following indicators: productivity, environmental, economic, social dimensions of agriculture and food systems
Reducing the use of inputs by improving systems’ efficiencies, replacing external inputs with more sustainable ones, and/or the redesign of production systems
Organic from cradle to cradle: solutions for an organic circular economy

Theme 4: Innovation in Organic Farming: “Thinking Outside of the Box”

Organic farming favours and needs innovation to push forward its goals while preserving its principles and identity. Innovations are not only technical or biological but also socio-economical. This triangle of innovation allowed the organic sector to find specific, original, and, until now, successful pathways from food production to consumption. Nevertheless, the future global challenges are severe. “Thinking outside of the box” of today’s regulations, practices and markets is necessary to develop circular and stable organic food systems and to achieve the goals of organic farming: enough, high-quality and affordable food for everyone while maximizing environmental services and equitable social conditions throughout the value chains (cf. Organic 3.0). At the same time, with regard to the organic principles, the impact of new technology and innovation also needs to be assessed.

Related topics:

Digital and non-digital strategies
Robots in the fields to manage weeds and fertilizers
New strategies for biodiversity management, soil fertility and/or water saving
New production systems promoting mineral cycling and autonomy
Alternative food sources and production techniques
Innovation for reducing food and packaging waste
Socio-economic experiments such as “free food” systems and community-supported agriculture
Innovation and new technologies’ impact assessment.

Theme 5: Political and Economical Frameworks as Drivers for a Vibrant Development of the Organic Sector

The organic sector relies on values and principles to guide its evolution and growth. Therefore, relevant regulations and processes are needed as socio-economic frameworks. Public and private policies influence these two pillars, principles, and regulations. They also influence the development of the organic sector through potential support and facilitation as well as through the organization and agreements on trade. These policies, along with the economic choices made by private companies, can represent hindrances or foster opportunities for the sector’s development.

Related topics:

The analysis of public or private policies, economic choices, and their impact on the organic sector
Mechanisms of price determination and added-value distribution along the organic value-chain, in relation to transparency, fairness, and equity
Coexistence of the organic sector with the non-organic, whether conventional or other value-oriented, sectors like “fair-trade”
Understanding the role of policy and market factors in conversion and reversion of organic farmers and consumers
Contribution of organic farming to public goods.

Science Board

Prof Dr Gerold Rahmann (ISOFAR, Thünen-Institute, Germany)
Dr Daniel Neuhoff (ISOFAR, University of Bonn, Germany)
Prof Dr Reza Ardakani (ISOFAR, Azad University, Iran)
Dr Jessica Shade (ISOFAR,The Organic Center, USA)
Prof Dr Ewa Rembiałkowska (ISOFAR, WULS, Poland)
Dr Khalid Azim (ISOFAR, INRA-Agadir, Morocco)
Dr Marc Tchamitchian (INRA, France)
Dr Véronique Chable (INRA, France)
Dr Felix Heckendorn (FiBL, Switzerland / France)
Dr Paola Migliorini (Agroecology Europe, Italy)
Dr Bram Moeskops (TP Organics, Belgium)
Frédéric Rey (ITAB / OWC2020 Coordinator, France)

Supply & Value Chain Forum

Forum Objectives

The global demand of organic food and non-food products has grown continuously these past years. Despite substantial variations between countries, organic agriculture has never been so important. IFOAM members can welcome this hopeful trend as long as that holds true to IFOAM principles (health, ecology, fairness and care) and respects these principles in a holistic approach. This forum will give supply and value chain actors, from producers to consumers, the opportunity to share inspiring and transformational experiences as well as innovative initiatives to further develop organic food and non-food supply chains.

The forum seeks to put forward tools, actions, interactions, innovations, models, and policies that can answer the following issues:

How do we make healthy quality food and non-food products?
How can we make supply chains (food and non-food) more sustainable?
How can we ensure that organic supply chains will keep delivering public goods to society (e.g. mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, increase diversity)?
How do we keep/improve fairness in organic value chains as organic goes from a niche market to a mainstream market?
How should we accompany the transition from conventional to organic? Guide the up-, deep- and out-scaling of organic agriculture and value chains.