Second International Conference on Organic Agriculture Policy: “Best Policies towards Transformation into Organic Agriculture”
Ahead of the 2022 IFOAM – Goesan International Organic Expo + Industry Fair, Chingbuk Province (Gosean County, South Korea) co-hosted the 2nd International Conference on Organic Agriculture Policy together with IFOAM – Organics International on 20-22 July 2022.
Policymakers and experts from more than 10 countries gathered during the two-day conference to explore how government policy design can contribute to developing the organic sector and bring us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The conference drew on tools and case studies gathered in the IFOAM Policy Toolkit, which can range from support for organic inputs, sustainable public food procurement, extension and research, institutional development through strengthening sustainable agriculture and food movements, support for Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), linking farmers to markets, awareness-raising campaigns for consumers, and chemical bans.
Actors exchanged on policies that have gone a long way towards a complete transition to organic agriculture. Other presentations focused on policies supporting not only organic producers but also businesses adding value through processing and marketing. They also explored how organic inputs can fit into the broader policy objective of reducing chemical use in agriculture.
Case studies showed how education in organics is essential for the growth of the organic sector and how public food supply policies can shift purchasing power in support of environmental, health, and socio-economic objectives in line with the principles of organic farming.
Discover more examples of government policies contributing to sustainable food systems below.
Founded on 8 August 2020 in Argentina, the National Directorate of Agroecology promotes agroecology as a paradigm shift towards gradual, comprehensive, and coordinated development for sustainable agricultural production.
In recent years, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has adopted several initiatives to preserve the environment and natural resources while improving human, plant and animal health. One of these is the promotion of organic farming practices, which led to the adoption of the Organic Agriculture Policy in 2016 and the approval of the “Organic Inputs and Products Law” by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Under the food security pillar of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), the African Union started to promote the Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme, which seeks to decentralise food procurement for school meals and to source food locally from smallholders. Among these initiatives are the Organic School Feeding programmes in Ghana, where primary school children aged 6-12 received lunch meals from home-grown food produced organically by 3,200 small scale farmers.
This event is part of a series of exchanges organised by the Food Policy Forum for Change, an interactive global network that offers opportunities for peer-to-peer exchanges between policymakers. These exchanges support the development of effective, integrative policies for sustainable food systems that can address the challenges created by current global crises. The forum is open to national and subnational government officers and official advisors in the agriculture, nutrition, rural development, environment, finance, and planning sectors.