CORE Organic funded research projects

It is a challenge to organic farmers, millers and bakeries to fulfil consumer expectations of providing healthy and safe products without impairing yield performance. The quality of organic grain can be modified by agronomic conditions such as crop management, crop rotation, and soil fertility. Therefore, food processing technologies such as the post-harvest handling of the grain and the flour processing are also key factors in producing bread of high nutritional value without contaminants. The overall objective of the AGTEC-Org project is to identify agronomical and food processing technologies that enhance the baking quality and the nutritional value of organic wheat and reduce mycotoxin contamination.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_AGTEC-Org.pdf

Further information at www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/agtecorg.html

It is a main goal for organic livestock farming that animals should always have excellent health and welfare. However, there are indications that this is not always guaranteed even though organic standards are being followed. On this background the ANIPLAN project aims at minimising medicine use in organic dairy herds through active and well-planned animal health and welfare promotion and disease prevention.

Annual report for 2009:
http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_ANIPLAN.pdf

Further information at http://www.coreorganic.org/research/projects/aniplan/index.html

Objective
FCP aims at determining how the commitment of organic farmers to ethical values additional to the standards of organic farming can be effectively communicated to customers in order to strengthed the market positioning.

The overall objective is to analyse and test innovative communication strategies and arguments that are related to the concept of "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR).

Outcome of FCP
The main outcome of FCP includes the following headlines:

- Promising market potential of organic food's ethical aspects

- Organic farmers go beyond organic regulation minimum requirements

- A convincing communication strategy is worthwhile developing

Read more about results and perspectives of FCP

The health of pigs varies a lot between different organic pig herds. This is likely to be caused by the different management routines implemented in the herd. Since the use of antibiotics and antiparasitic drugs is undesirable in organic pig production, the main focus is on prevention of diseases and parasites. It is therefore important to acquire knowledge of the correlation between management routines and disease incidence in organic pig production and convert this knowledge into a management tool that the individual farmer can use to improve livestock health on the farm. The overall objective of the COREPIG project is to promote animal health and welfare in organic pig herds in Europe.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_CorePig.pdf

Further information at www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/corepig.html

Governments, companies, producers and caterers are increasingly committed to public procurement of organic food, but many challenges remain. The iPOPY project will suggest efficient policies and instruments for increased consumption of organic products in public food serving outlets for youth.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_iPOPY.pdf

Further information at http://www.agrsci.dk/ipopy
See also www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/ipopy.html

As consumers strive to eat healthy diets, they show an increasing demand for uncooked and minimally processed vegetables preferentially from organic production lines. At the same time, outbreaks of disease have been traced back to the consumption of fresh plant produce contaminated with enteric pathogens. PathOrganic addresses the quality and safety of organically produced vegetables throughout the production chain. The project’s main concern is the contamination of fresh plant produce with bacterial pathogens. Thus, it examines how factors such as environment, plant genotype, fertilizer application technique or soil buffering affect pathogen spread and persistence in organic vegetable products.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_PathOrganic.pdf

Further information at www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pathorganic.html

Due to a higher proportion of forage in the organic ration, with more legumes and other herbs, organic milk quality is more and differently affected by the forage than conventionally produced milk, which is often based on grass silage. But the knowledge of the chemical and sensory characteristics of organic milk is limited, and not much research has been carried out on organic grassland management and milk salutary properties. The PHYTOMILK project will give increased knowledge about the nutritional and salutary quality of organic milk. It will also increase the knowledge of the relationship between production systems, environmental conditions and milk properties.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_PhytoMilk.pdf

Further information at www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/phytomilk.html

Consumer demand for healthy, safe and high quality food is increasing. Against this background, the demand for organic food has been rapidly growing. But health effects and sensory qualities of organic products need to be assured. The objective of the QACCP project is to improve product-related quality management in farming and processing.

Annual report for 2009: http://www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/pdf/2009_QACCP.pdf

Further information at http://www.qaccp.organic-research.org
See also www.icrofs.org/coreorganic/qaccp.html