Organics Olympiad 2016: Global Indices of Leadership in Organic Agriculture
Abstract
Organic production (including agriculture, wild culture, forestry and aquaculture) is a worldwide phenomenon that is practiced in at least 172 countries. The Organics Olympiad presents 14 indices of global organics leadership, each at three levels (Gold, Silver and Bronze). The Organics Olympiad of 2016 yields 29 countries as global organics leaders, and confirms that organics leadership is diversely distributed across countries, large and small, rich and poor, developed and less so, and cuts across linguistic, ethnic and cultural boundaries. Australia continues to lead the world in organic agriculture hectares. Australia also leads in the increase of organic hectares over the past four years (since the Organics Olympiad 2012) and in the number of WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) hosts. Finlandleads in organic wild culture hectares. Vietnam leads in organic aquaculture hectares, and Tunisia leads in organic forest hectares. Germany leads in biodynamic hectares, as well as with the number of members of IFOAM-Organics International. India leads for the number of organic producers. The Falkland Islands (Malvinas) leads in terms of the percentage agricultural land dedicated as organic. Switzerland leads with the value of organics consumption per capita. USA leads in the value of the organics market. Denmark leads in the publishing of organics research papers over the past four years. Namibia leads in the percentage increase in organic hectares over the past four years. The overall global organics leaders, on the basis of aggregated scores, are Australia, Germany, and Switzerland, in positions one, two and three, respectively. This study demonstrates the successful global diffusion of organics, and identifies that leadership lessons can be available from a broad diversity of countries. Key implications are identified.Downloads
References
ACNielsen (2005). Consumer attitudes towards organic foods, A global consumer survey. New York: ACNielsen.
Case, P. (2015). Putin wants Russia to become world leader in organic food. Farmers Weekly, 4, 1-2; www.fwi.co.uk.
Curl, C. L., Fenske, R. A. & Elgehun, K. (2003). Organophosphorus pesticide exposure of urban and suburban preschool children with organic and conventional diets. Environmental Health Perspectives, 111(3), 377-382. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.5754
Fawcett, T. (2016). The new black. Weekly Times Farm, 128, 19-25.
Hudson, S. (2016). Growing in style. Weekly Times Farm, 128, 27-31.
ICROFS. (2012). Research Affiliation: Country/Organization/Project. Foulum, Denmark: International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS). Retrieved 12 July 2012, from http://orgprints.org
ICROFS. (2016). Research Affiliation: Country/Organization/Project. Foulum, Denmark: International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS). Retrieved 10 May 2016, from http://orgprints.org
IFOAM-Organics International. (2016). The Organic Movement Worldwide Membership E-Directory 2016. Bonn: IFOAM-Organics International.
Lairon, D. (2010). Nutritional quality and safety of organic food. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 30(1), 33-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009019
Lichfield, J. (2007). France goes green with organic farming pledge. The Independent, 26 October.
McLeod, P. (2016). Just their cup of tea. Tasweekend, 19-20 March, 19.
Millener, K. (2016). Personal communication. email, 10 May, WWOOF New Zealand.
Northbourne, L. (1940). Look to the Land. London: Dent.
Oberst, L. (2016). Why India's first 100% organic state matters for the future of organic food. The Food Revolution Network, 19 February, www.foodrevolution.org.
Odhong, C., Wahome, R., Vaarst, M., Kiggundu, M., Nalubwama, S., Halberg, N. & Githigia, S. (2015). Dairy cattle management, health and welfare in smallholder farms: An organic farming perspective. Journal of Organics, 2(1), 3-20.
Paull, J. (2008). Organics Olympiad 2007 - Perspectives on the Global State of Organic Agriculture. Acres Australia, 16(1), 36-38.
Paull, J. (2010). From France to the World: The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Journal of Social Research & Policy, 1(2), 93-102.
Paull, J. (2011a). Attending the first organic agriculture course: Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course at Koberwitz, 1924. European Journal of Social Sciences, 21(1), 64-70.
Paull, J. (2011b). The Betteshanger Summer School: Missing link between biodynamic agriculture and organic farming. Journal of Organic Systems, 6(2), 13-26.
Paull, J. (2011c). Organics Olympiad 2011: Global Indices of Leadership in Organic Agriculture. Journal of Social and Development Sciences, 1(4), 144-150.
Paull, J. (2012). Organics Olympiad 2012: Global Indices of Leadership in Organic Agriculture. Organic News, 26 July, 2 August, 9 August.
Paull, J. (2013). Bhutan's plans to go 100% organic make progress. Organic News, 26 February, 1-2.
Paull, J. (2014). Lord Northbourne, the man who invented organic farming, a biography. Journal of Organic Systems, 9(1), 31-53.
Paull, J. & Hennig, B. (2016). Atlas of Organics: Four maps of the world of organic agriculture. Journal of Organics, 3(1), 25-32.
Pfeiffer, E. (1938). Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening: Soil Fertility Renewal and Preservation (F. Heckel, Trans.). New York: Anthroposophic Press.
Seetharaman, G. (2016). How Sikkim could offer lessons to other states in organic farming. The Economic Times, 7 February, www.economictimes.indiatimes.com.
Smil, V. (2001). Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2767.001.0001
Production. Cambridge, USA: The MIT Press.
Soil Association. (2009). Organic by 2050 (press release ed.). Bristol: Soil Association.
Steiner, R. (1924). Agriculture Course ("Printed for private circulation only"; 1929, first English language edition; George Kaufmann Trans ed.). Dornach, Switzerland: Goetheanum.
Vijayan, V. S. (2007). Kerala State Organic Farming Policy, Strategy and Action Plan. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Biodiversity Board.
Willer, H. & Kilcher, L. (Eds.). (2012). The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2012: Bonn: International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM); Frick, Switzerland: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).
Willer, H., & Lernoud, J. (Eds.). (2016). The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistics and Emerging Trends 2016: Frick, Switzerland: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) & Bonn: IFOAM-Organics International.
WWOOF. (2012). Current WWOOF Groups: WWOOF (wwoof.net).
WWOOF Australia. (2016). Welcome to the wonderful world of WWOOF! NSW: WWOOF Australia (wwoof.com.au).
WWOOF UK. (2016). World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Buckingham: WWOOF.
WWOOF USA. (2016). Our Farms: WWOOF USA (wwoofusa.org).
Copyright (c) 2016 Journal of Social and Development Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of a revised paper, the editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.