Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html
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EPOK - Centre for Organic Food and Farming, Sweden
MARIA WIVSTAD, SIRI CASPERSEN, PELLE FREDRIKSSON,
STEFAN GUNNARSSON, RUBEN HOFFMANN, AXEL MIE,
ULF NILSSON, ELIN RÖÖS, EVA SALOMON, CECILIA SUNDBERG,
KARIN ULLVÉN, ANNA WALLENBECK AND CAMILLA WINQVIST
Centre for Organic Food and Farming (EPOK),
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 5007 Uppsala, Sweden,
E-mail: Maria.Wivstad@slu.se, www.slu.se/epok
Key words: research cooperation, knowledge transfer, communication, research agenda
Introduction
EPOK synthesises and communicates current knowledge on organic food and farming and coordinates
research and education. The centre, which was established in 2010, currently has a director
and two information officers, plus 10 affiliated researchers from different disciplines working on a
part-time basis. This provides a wide range of expertise at EPOK in subject areas of current interest
for organic food and farming, and ensures that state-of-the-art knowledge is integrated into the academic
activities in many departments. EPOK serves as a meeting point for researchers, advisors,
farmers, policymakers, the agrifood industry and NGOs, and functions as a hub for communicating
knowledge concerning organic production and consumption.
Communication and knowledge transfer activities
EPOK’s communication and knowledge transfer activities are intended to contribute to welldocumented
knowledge from different perspectives in order to assist in the development of sustainable
organic food production systems. Examples of activities to achieve the aims are provision of
decision support to policymakers through publication of fact-sheets and knowledge synthesis on
relevant subjects, promotion of dialogue between researchers and society by arranging workshops,
and facilitation and improvement of the dissemination of research results through a number of
channels, e.g. newsletters, popular science reports and articles, and seminars.
Priority areas during 2011-2012:
• Organic pig and poultry – management of outdoor systems, feeding strategies including 100%
organic feed, animal health and welfare
• Organic food quality and health – nutritional quality, health effects of organic food, health effects
of pesticide contamination
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services in organic farming – effects of organic farming on farm
and landscape biodiversity, performance of ecosystem services in organic farming systems, e.g.
pollination and biological control by natural enemies
• Organic agriculture and climate change – mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in organic
agriculture, effect of current organic practices and future potentials and challenges
• Consumer attitudes and behaviour – valued attributes and willingness to pay, trends in consumer
demands
• Sustainable nutrient management – management in horticultural crops, efficient nutrient cycling
of agricultural and urban residues (e.g. biogas digestate)
• Plant protection – weed regulation, disease and pest control