Building a global platform for organic farming research, innovation and technology transfer

Abstract

Organic food and farming systems have a great untapped potential to provide the world with healthy, high-quality food that is produced and distributed in an ecologically sound and fair way, but numerous production challenges and barriers slow the adoption of organic practices. Innovations addressing these challenges are not being developed sufficiently because of insufficient capacity in research, development and technology transfer, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Given the limited resources, as well as the specific needs of organic food and farming systems, different pathways are needed to develop new technologies that are compatible with the principles of organic farming. The Technology Innovation Platform of IFOAM—Organics International (TIPI) was established to advance organic farming through research, development, innovation and technology transfer. As a global platform for organic food and farming systems research, innovation and technology transfer, TIPI advocates for three main pathways along which this is expected to happen, each of which comes with a specific set of research objectives and outcomes: (1) empower rural areas, (2) practice eco-functional intensification and (3) produce food for health and well-being. TIPI identified three strategies to build the necessary capacity: (1) develop research methods appropriate for organic food and farming systems; (2) renew partnerships between farmers, farm advisors, scientists and consumers; and (3) integrate technological, social and ecological dimensions of innovation.