O estudo visa propor a utilizaÃÃo da agricultura orgÃnica como base para o fortalecimento da agricultura familiar, bem como sugere recomendaÃÃes para uma polÃtica agrÃcola que contribua para o desenvolvimento sustentÃvel para o Estado do CearÃ. A agricultura familiar apresenta muitos desafios da forma que està sendo executada ao longo dos anos, e alcanÃar a sustentabilidade socioeconÃmica e ambiental fica cada vez mais distante por essa via, principalmente no Cearà que possui quase 90% de seu territÃrio no semiÃrido e abriga uma parte significante da populaÃÃo. Por sua vez, a produÃÃo orgÃnica iria amenizar ou atà mesmo corrigir os efeitos perversos causados pelo mau uso das tÃcnicas agrÃcolas, excessivas em agrotÃxicos, que prejudica o solo e a saÃde das pessoas que os manipulam. Assim, a pesquisa se apoiou num referencial teÃrico sobre agricultura familiar, desenvolvimento econÃmico, regional e desenvolvimento sustentÃvel e nos conceitos de produÃÃo ecologicamente correta, que baseia a agricultura orgÃnica. Na metodologia utilizou-se, principalmente, a pesquisa bibliogrÃfica, com base no acervo disponÃvel em livros, artigos cientÃficos, instituiÃÃes governamentais e em ÃrgÃos oficiais de estatÃstica. Houve uma busca sobre as polÃticas pÃblicas aplicadas à agropecuÃria em quatro dÃcadas e para as estatÃsticas sobre o tema, a fonte principal foi o IBGE. Mas, tambÃm, pesquisou-se nas principais fontes relacionadas ao tema, a destacar o MinistÃrio da Agricultura, PecuÃria e Abastecimento (MAPA). Ressalte-se aqui a dificuldade na obtenÃÃo de dados sobre o real tamanho da produÃÃo de orgÃnicos no Brasil, sobretudo no Cearà e as poucas estatÃsticas existentes nÃo sÃo atualizadas. O estudo mostra que em 40 anos de polÃticas e investimentos direcionados ao setor rural, ainda hà 17% dessa populaÃÃo em condiÃÃes de extrema pobreza, sugerindo que o meio tradicional de cultivo empregado nÃo està sendo eficiente no alcance da sustentabilidade pretendida. Evidenciam os efeitos perversos das prÃticas tradicionais da agricultura familiar operacionalizada por meio do uso inadequado do solo, sobretudo pelas queimadas, configurando-se em algumas Ãreas do interior cearense com elevado grau de desertificaÃÃo. Por Ãltimo, o estudo faz recomendaÃÃes para compor uma polÃtica sustentÃvel para a agricultura familiar, com foco na agricultura orgÃnica, tendo em vista ser esta a soluÃÃo mais viÃvel para o Estado do CearÃ, dada as suas caracterÃsticas geoeconÃmicas. AlÃm do que a exigÃncia por produtos limpos cresce a cada dia fazendo da agricultura orgÃnica um potencial a ser explorado. / 8 ABSTRACT The study aims to propose the use of organic farming as a basis for strengthening family farming, and suggests recommendations for an agricultural policy that contributes to a sustainable development for the State of CearÃ. The reason lies in the fact that family farms present many challenges in the way theyâre being performed over the years, and achieving socioeconomic and environmental sustainability by this means has become increasingly distant, especially in Cearà â that has almost 90% of its territory covered by semiarid regions, and is home to a significant portion of the population. On the other hand, organic production would reduce or even correct the adverse effects caused by the misuse of agricultural techniques, excessive in pesticides, that damage the soil and the health of those who handle them. For the purpose, the research was based on a theoretical framework about family farming, economic development, regional development and sustainable development, and on the concepts of environmentally friendly production, on which organic farming is grounded. The methodology used was mainly bibliographic research, based on the collection available in books, scientific articles, government bodies and official statistical agencies. A search on the public policies applied to agriculture in four decades was conducted and the main source for the subjectâs statistics was the IBGE. But a research was also conducted on the main sources related to the topic, among these sources the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Supply (MAPA) stands out. Itâs worth mentioning here the difficulty in obtaining data on the actual size of organic production in Brazil, especially in CearÃ, and the few existing statistics are not updated. The study shows that in 40 years of policies and investments addressed to the rural sector, still 17% of this population lives in extreme poverty, suggesting that the traditional means of cultivation employed arenât efficient in reaching the desired sustainability. It highlights the perverse effects of traditional family farming practices operationalized through inappropriate land use, especially the use of slash-and-burn, becoming in some areas of CearÃâs hinterlands with a high degree of desertification. Finally, the study makes recommendations to create a sustainable policy for family farming, focused on organic farming, since this is the most viable solution for the State of CearÃ, given its geoeconomic characteristics. Besides, the demand for ecologically clean products is growing every day, making organic farming a potential to be explored.

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The globalization and industrialization of food sector created a need for food traceability. Alternative food networks, such as organic farming, can serve this purpose by offering an alternative to the conventional food and by regaining the trust between the producer and the consumer.Organic agriculture is assumed to be more sustainable than the industrial one. However, there is a misconception of the concepts “sustainable agriculture” and “organic farming”. In Hungary the contradiction of high export of organic raw materials and high import of processed organic food from the main export countries was experienced in the 1990s. But lately the import volume decreased, and the high export remained combined with low domestic organic consumption.It is important to see how the actors involved in the organic sector perceive the sustainability of the Hungarian organic sector. The research question is: How do different actors perceive sustainability in the Hungarian organic food sector in the light of conventions theory? In order to find the answer 10 actors with different profiles were interviewed. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out.Seven different conventions based on Thévenot et al. (2000) served as the analytical tool. The respondents showed low understanding of such concepts as sustainability and sustainable agriculture, as well as their contribution to sustainable development.A main conclusion of the study is that the actors closer to the field, i.e. farmers and food processing companies, show more consideration towards the environment, rural development and sustainability. Green, domestic and civic conventions are for them as important as market and industrial conventions.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / Profitability is a primary economic motivator for a farm to remain in business. As conventional crop farming endures rising fertilizer and chemical costs, small farmers that raise grains must look towards innovative cropping practices that are economically affordable or depart the business. As small farmers evaluate other cropping prospects, organic cropping systems and the availability of organic price premiums should be considered as an alternative in meeting farm profitability goals. This study compared the economic return per acre of converting to an organic cropping system from a conventional system against the conventional crop enterprise of the same crop mix. A simulation model was created using assumed organic yield data, actual organic prices, historical conventional yield data and historical conventional prices to determine the economic return. An initial simulation was run, ignoring the three-year transitional period that farms must undergo with no synthetic inputs to become certified organic, to determine if organic cropping systems using organic price premiums on the 600-acre farm would be competitive with conventional production. The simulation showed that organic production is economically competitive with conventional production. Previous studies and personal interviews indicated that the three-year transitional period could easily cause the farm economic loss, since conventional inputs cannot be used and organic premiums cannot be obtained for crops sold. Therefore, three different conversion schemes were simulated to find which one would cause the farm the least economic damage: converting the entire farm to organic production at once, converting 20% of the farm's tillable acres to organic production annually and converting 10% of the farm's tillable acres to organic production annually. All three of the proposed transition schedules revealed economic loss to the farm at some point during their transition periods. The only scheme that showed no average loss was the existing conventional system. However, after complete transition, the three transition schemes showed higher profitability than the conventional cropping system. The downside was that this took a minimum of 13 years to accomplish. The only scheme that did not cause the farm's cumulative present value to drop into negative numbers was the 10% per year transition rate.

Améliorer la santé des vaches laitières en élevage agrobiologiques (AB) est bien souvent nécessaire, pour ces élevages ne répondant pas toujours aux principes de l’AB et aux attentes des consommateurs d’avoir un niveau de santé et bien-être animal élevé. Cette thèse explore des voies d’amélioration du conseil sanitaire en vue d'améliorer la santé animale dans ces élevages. Les résultats de nos travaux montrent que les vétérinaires ont le plus souvent un rôle de thérapeute dans les élevages laitiers AB. L'obtention d'un rôle de conseiller a été entravée par des spécificités liées à l’AB, telles que les différences entre éleveurs et vétérinaires dans les objectifs de gestion de la santé des animaux et les pratiques sanitaires. Une étude d'intervention a été effectuée pour tester un dispositif de conseil dans des élevages AB en France et en Suède, basé sur l’utilisation d’outils de surveillance et prévention de maladies de production. Le dispositif a été réalisé en utilisant une approche participative, impliquant l’éleveur et le conseiller ; la flexibilité de l’outil a permis de produire un protocole de surveillance adaptée à chaque élevage. Bien qu’aucun effet sur la santé du troupeau n’a été prouvé, le dispositif a été perçu pour contribuer à la santé du troupeau par ses utilisateurs. Il a rempli la plupart de ses fonctions prévues de surveillance et de prévention des maladies et a stimulé le dialogue entre éleveurs et conseillers. Des outils qui stimulent le dialogue et qui sont adaptables à chaque élevage sont une voie à suivre pour le développement du conseil en santé animale. / Improving herd health on organic dairy farms is often needed, since organic dairy farms do not consistently meet the organic principles and consumers’ expectations of high animal health and welfare. This thesis explores ways to improve the pertinence of herd health advisory services in order to improve animal health on organic dairy farms. The results of our studies show that veterinarians mostoften have a role of therapist on organic dairy farms. Obtaining a more advisory role was hampered due to specificities of the organic sector, such as differences between farmers and veterinarians in animal health management objectives and practices. An intervention study was performed testing a Herd Health and Production Management (HHPM) program on organic dairy farms in France and Sweden, based on herd health monitoring and disease prevention activities. The program was built using a participatory approach, making farmer and advisor work together ; the adaptability of the program allowed to design farm specific herd health monitoring tools. Although no effecton herd health measured, the program was perceived to contribute to herd health by its users. The program fulfilled most of its intended functions in herd healthmonitoring and disease prevention and stimulated dialogue between farmers and their advisors. We consider that dialogue promoting and tools adaptable to farm specific situations are a possible way forward for the development of advisory services in animal health.

South Africa (SA) is food secure on a national level, however citizens in rural and marginalised areas face household food insecurity due to lack of access to this food. South Africa has low fertility soils and scarce water resources. Climate change reports of unpredictable weather conditions will further exacerbate these challenges. The majority of the agricultural production methods in SA are industrialised and rely heavily on external inputs. Alternative agricultural production methods which are environmentally less taxing, are affordable and yield nutritious food, need to be investigated and adopted. A long-term trial investigating the differences in yields between conventional and organic farming systems was established at the NMMU George Saasveld campus. A baseline study preceded the cropping seasons to establish pre-treatment soil conditions before the two farming systems were be implemented. The trial was a randomized complete block design split into organic, conventional and control plots. In the first cropping season (summer) three crops cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) and cowpea (vigna ungucuilata) were planted under the different treatments. Soil fertility changes after application of chemical and organic fertilizer were measured. Soil pH and phosphorus increased whilst potassium and soil carbon decreased from baseline levels. The organic plots were found to have higher soil pH, potassium and carbon, whilst P was higher in the conventional plots. The organic cabbages had a yield 12% lower than conventional cabbages, organic cowpeas were 51% lower than conventional cowpeas. Baboons damaged sweet potato plots before maturity. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica), radish (Raphanus sativa) and green pea (Pisum sativum) were planted in the second cropping season (winter). Organic broccoli yields were 51% lower than conventional broccoli, organic green peas were 18 % lower than conventional green peas. The organic radish yields were 36% lower than conventional yields and this was statically significant. The yield differences were statically significant between control and conventional cabbages (25%) and broccolis (68%). The results indicate that there is on average an initial 25% yield difference between organic and conventional farming systems. Similar studies have shown that the yield gap can be reduced within three to four years. This study presents preliminary results of trials that are to continue for ten years, during which time the yield differences may vary.

Economic growth in emerging economies has been changing the livelihoods of many smallholders. Typically, disparity increases as economies emerge, and the agricultural sector experiences lower growth relative to other sectors. Growing inequalities and economic vulnerabilities during this critical period of development in emerging economies are often associated with social problems and political tensions, as this is the case in Thailand. In the latter, the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy (SE) has been employed through the monarchy in a number of ways. Due to laws prohibiting critique of the monarchy, these projects are not fairly evaluated and the perspectives of smallholders affected are largely unknown. Knowledge on the effectiveness of Thailand’s Philosophy of SE in combating the disparity problem and economic vulnerability in the agricultural sectors of emerging economies was gained through semi-structured interviews. An organic farming project run by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), called ISAC follows the principles of Sufficiency Economy, and is located in the Mae Taeng district in the north of the province of Chiang Mai. A sample of 20 farmers from two villages (Don Chiang and San Pa Yang) who participate in the project was interviewed. Questions regarding age and education level of all family members also created a quantitative sample of 72 individuals. An epistemological framework based in critical realism was employed with the use of purposive interview sampling methods Results indicate that employing SE can help a select group of farmers to escape economic vulnerability. This group includes farmers in an older age group with sufficient land and access to guidance. The philosophy may help keep this group of farmers satisfied as the countries economy evolves. The project appears to be sustainable only in the short-term as younger generations seem to be reaching higher levels of education than their elders and are likely to pursue lives outside of agriculture. In addition, some benefits of farming with the principles of SE include, lower financial stress, improved health, and a better family life. Conversely, a decision to live by the principles of SE can lead to a stigmatization of farmers within their community, creating in-groups and out-groups.

This diploma thesis describes marking of goods and services which help raise competitive producers on the market and also help to consumers in decision of purchasing products. In this time there are on the Czech market many labels describing the quality of goods. There is the special focus on the eco-labelling, which is label for positive effect on the environment. In this thesis there is described the history of voluntary approaches in chosen countries. My work analyses labels and their functions on the Czech market. There are also views of consumers on marking goods and services. At the conclusion I investigate producers' options on labels of goods.

The thesis focuses on the possibilities of further development of conventionally employed family farm. Form of a business plan is described and analyzed baseline farms, its specific features, options, and its position within the industry. The output is an evaluation of the proposed options, possible future development by financial remuneration and other entitlements to individual alternatives. Work is processed in order to verify whether the proposed project from the economic point of view actually realize.

Kombiniert mit Versuchsergebnissen und Erfahrungsberichten aus der Praxis fasst die Broschüre die wichtigsten Anbauinformationen über die Ölfrüchte im ökologischen Landbau zusammen. Neben Raps, Sonnenblumen und Lein werden Aspekte des Anbaus von der Aussaat bis zur Ernte von bislang kaum angebauten Arten wie Senf, Leindotter, Ölmohn, Saflor und Sojabohnen beschrieben.