26 June 2013
ORC Wakelyns Agroforestry Open Day
Programme published, book now!

2 July 2013
National Organic Cereals 2013
The UK showcase for organic arable production



14 June 2013
Latest GHG Platform newsletter
Greenhouse gas inventory update

7 June 2013
ORC trains European Advisors
Workshop on sustainabilty tools



16 January 2013
PRESS RELEASE
Making producer-led innovation a reality

Socio-economics and policy

The profitability of organic farming is critical to the overall sustainability and to farmers’ willingness to convert, alongside environmental and social impact. While cost savings may be possible due to the reduced use of fertilisers and pesticides, other costs may be higher and lower yields/stock numbers can reduce profits. In our research we study several key economic factors and aim to provide this information to operators as well as policy makers both at national and international level. For policy items see also our policy and CAP-reform pages.

Our work also covers the willingness of consumers to pay a premium for organic products that are produced according to clear standards and certification systems, policy support payments for public benefits of organic farming and the development of farm incomes. For this work it is important to refine the methodology of comparing organic farming systems with non-organic ones at different system levels.

ORC Staff Involved

Dr. Susanne Padel, Mr. Laurence Smith, Dr. Catherine Gerrard, Dr. Bruce Pearce, Prof. Nic Lampkin, Lawrence Woodward, Ms. Anja Vieweger.

Current projects

Project title (acronym)FunderDescription
European Data Network for Improved Transparency of Organic Markets (ODN)European Commission (FP7)The project aims to increase the transparency of the European organic food market through better availability of market intelligence about the sector to meet the needs of policy makers and actors involved in organic markets.
Evaluation of the EU legislation on organic farming (EU Reg Eval)EU Commission, DG AgricultureThe aim is to evaluate Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (Organic products) and implementing rules with respect to achieving its objectives and side effects, considering rules on organic production, control, labelling and trade with Third Countries.

Completed projects

Project title (acronym)FunderDescription
Evaluation des Bereichs Forschung und Entwicklung im Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau (BOEL evaluation)Bundesanstalt fuer Landwirtschaft und Ernaehrung, BonnEvaluation of the resaerch and development part of the Federal German Programme for Organic Farming
Organic Farm Incomes in England and WalesDEFRAAnalysis of financial performance of organic farming in terms of profitablity and enterprise persformance relative to previous years and in comparison to conventional based on the FBS/Defra Data Archive for 2009/10
Economics Analysis of Certification Systems in Organic Food and Farming (Certcost)EC FP 7The main project objective is to generate research based knowledge on how to improve the organic food certification system in terms of efficiency, transparency and cost effectiveness.
Use and efficiency of public support measures addressing organic farming in the EU (AGRIEVAL)DG AgricultureThe project analyses public support measures addressing organic farming in relation to impact on number of organic farms, organic land area, market development and policy coherence.
Farm Accountancy Cost Estimation and Policy Analysis of European Agriculture (FACEPA)European Commission (sub-contract from vTI)Assist with the identification of cost of production for specific organic enterprises and environmental indicators using farm accountancy data (FADN)
The Potential for Extending Economic Farm-Level Benchmarking to Environmental and Other Aspects of Farm Performance (EBM)DEFRADesk study exploring the potential to extend farm-level financial and technical benchmarking to cover the areas of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, animal welfare and agri-environment and management practices.
2011 Organic Farm Management Handbook (OFMH)Core fundedThe publicataion provides up-to-date information on likely yields, prices and costs of production and relevant grants for organic farmers and advisors.
Organic Farmer Consumer Partnership: How to successfully communicate ethical values (CORE FCP)DEFRA as part of CORE organic funding body networkThis project investigates marketing and communication strategies by which organic farmers try to include higher ethical values in their production, looking at which have proved most promising from the consumers’ view point in different countries.
See all completed projects here.

Key publications

Gerrard, Catherine L; Smith, Laurence; Pearce, Bruce; Padel, Susanne; Hitchings, Roger and Measures, Mark (2012) Public goods and farming. In: Farming for food and water security, 10. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, no. 8380. Springer, Dodrecht Heidelberg New York London, pp. 1-22.

Gerrard, CL; Moakes, Simon and Padel, Susanne (2012) The use of Farm Business Survey data to compare the environmental performance of organic and conventional farms. International Journal of Agricultural Management, 2 (1), pp. 5-16.

Sander, J, Stolze, M and Padel, S (2011) Use and efficiency of public support measures addressing organic farming – Final report - November 2011. Study conducted by the Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (DE) together with the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FIBL, CH) and the Organic Research Centre (UK) on behalf of the DG Agriculture of the European Commission.

Gerrard, Catherine L; Smith, Laurence; Padel, Susanne; Pearce, Bruce; Hitchings, Roger; Measures, Mark and Cooper, Nick (2011) OCIS Public Goods Tool Development. Organic Research Centre, Newbury.

Gerrard, Catherine L and Padel, Susanne (2011) Production costs across the EU in 2006. Organic Research Centre Bulletin, April 2011, 104, pp. 12-13.

Lampkin, N. (2011) Relevance of OECD agri-environmental measures for PES. In: Ottaviani, D. & Scialabba, N el-H (eds.) Payments for Ecosystem Services and Food Security. Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome. pp.45-67.

Lampkin, N., Bailey, A., Lang, B., Wilson, P., Williams, A., Sandars, D., Fowler, S., Gerrard, C., Moakes, S., Mortimer, S., Nicholas, P. & Padel, S. (2011): The Potential for Extending Economic Farm-level Benchmarking to Environmental and Other Aspects of Farm Performance. Final report to Defra for Project No. DO0103. Organic Research Centre and Partners Newbury.

Lampkin, N. H., M. Measures and Padel, S. (eds.) (2011) 2011/12 Organic Farm Management Handbook. (9th edition). Organic Research Centre, Newbury.

Moakes, S. & Lampkin, N. (2011) Organic Farm Incomes in England and Wales 2009/10. Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Organic Research Centre, Aberystwyth, Newbury.

Padel, S. & Lampkin, N (2011). Introduction to the concepts and principles of organic farming. In: KÖLLING, A. (ed.) Organic Food and Farming: A system approach to meet the sustainability challenge. Brussels: IFOAM EU Group. In www.ifoam-eu.org/workareas/policy/pdf/IFOAMEU_dossier_organic_farming_system_approach.pdf

Padel, Susanne; Smith, Laurence and Janssen, Meike (2010) Are shoppers aware of Organic Certification logos? Organic Research Centre Bulletin, August 2010, pp. 4-5.

Zander, K; Hamm, U; Freyer, B; Gössinger, K; Hametter, M; Naspetti, S; Padel, S; Stolz, H; Stolze, M and Zanoli, R (2010) Farmer Consumer Partnerships - How to successfully communicate the values of organic food. Self-published, Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, University of Kassel, Witzenhausen.

Padel, S., Niggli, U., Pearce, B., Schlüter, M., Schmid, O., Cuoco, E., Willer, H., Huber, M., Halberg, N. & Micheloni, C. (2010): Implementation Action Plan for organic food and farming research. TP Organics. IFOAM- EU Group, Brussels. Available at www.tporganics.eu.

Padel , S (2010) Report on The European regulatory framework and its implementation in influencing organic inspection and certification systems in the EU (2010)

Padel, S; Roecklinsberg, H and Schmid, O (2009) The implementation of organic principles and values in the European Regulation for organic food. Food policy, 34, pp. 245-251.

Moakes, S. and N. Lampkin (2009). Organic Farm Incomes in England And Wales 2007/08. Aberystwyth, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS).

Padel, S and Zander, K (2009) OrganicPlus values and their relevance to consumers: First results from the CORE FCP project. 1st Nordic Organic Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, 18-20 May 2009. In: Frediksson, P and Ullven, K (Eds.) Towards increased sustainablity in the food supply chain. 1st Nordic Organic Conference, Centre for sustainable land use CUL at SLU, pp. 104-106.

Schmid, O; Padel, S; Halberg, N; Huber, M; Darnhofer, I; Micheloni, C; Koopmans, C; Bügel, S; Stopes, C; Willer, H; Schlüter, M and Cuoco, E (2009) Strategic Research Agenda for organic food and farming. TP Organics, Brussels.

Lampkin, N.; Schmid, O.; Dabbert, S.; Michelsen, J. and Zanoli, R. (eds.) (2008) Organic action plan evaluation toolbox (ORGAPET). Final output of the ORGAP research project(www.orgap.org) for the European Commission. Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, UK and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Frick, CH.

Jackson, A., S. Moakes, et al. (2008). Organic Farm Incomes in England And Wales 2006/07. Aberystwyth, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS).

Padel, S. and Goessinger, K. (2008) (Eds.): Farmer Consumer Partnerships. Communicating ethical values: a conceptual framework. CORE Organic Project Series Report, Aberystwyth and Vienna. http://orgprints.org/11028/

Padel, Susanne (2008) Values of organic producers converting at different times: Results of a focus group study in five European countries. International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology (IJARGE), 7 (1), pp. 63-77.

Schader, C.; Sanders, J.; Nemecek, T; Lampkin, N. H. and Stolze, M. (2008) A Modelling Approach for Evaluating Agri-Environmental Policies at Sector Level. Yearbook of Socioeconomics in Agriculture, 2008, pp. 93-132.

Lampkin, N. and Stolze, M. (2006) European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming. Law, Science and Policy (Vol. 3), pp. 59-73.

Lampkin, N; Fowler, S M; Jackson, A; Jeffreys, I; Lobley, M; Measures, M; Padel, S; Reed, M; Roderick, S and Woodward, L (2006) Sustainability assessment for organic farming - integrating financial, environmental, social and animal welfare benchmarking. What can organic farming deliver? COR 2006, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 18-20 September 2006. In: Atkinson, C; Ball, B; Davies, D H K; Rees, R; Russell, G; Stockdale, E A; Watson, C A; Walker, R and Younie, D (Eds.) Aspects of Applied Biology 79, What will organic farming deliver? COR 2006, Association of Applied Biologists, pp. 9-13.

Partner Organisations
The Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm, Hamstead Marshall, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 0HR;
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Tel: +44 (0)1488 658298; Fax: +44 (0)1488 658503;
Email: elmfarm@organicresearchcentre.com.