Health is one of the highest goals of humanity and agriculture is intimately connected with it. However, despite its high profile for agriculture, particularly organic agriculture, the notion of health in agricultural contexts is currently not well defined or subject to conceptual disagreements. This lack of clarity creates a vacuum in which potentially misleading claims about health benefits can be made. If health in humans, animals, soil and plants is such an important goal, it needs to be clear what is meant by it.
A new ORC-led research project, which started in March 2012, aims to clarify and critically assess health concepts in organic farming contexts to contribute to a new enlightened vision of health and to identify new pathways for improving health in agricultural systems. The 15-month project, funded by the Swedish Ekhaga foundation, will initiate an open dialogue among various agricultural disciplines to deliver a novel, unified, and comprehensive idea of health in agriculture.
