OrganicDataNetwork presents results

Twenty-four representatives from 15 project members were present in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, during the recent project meeting in mid-May (picture). The Code of Good Practice for the collection of Organic Market Data (OrMaCode) was the focus of the 2-day working session of the OrganicDataNetwork project that is funded by the European Union. The OrMaCode will be one of the main outcomes of the EU-funded project, together with a manual for data collection. A first draft of the manual has been developed by Helga Willer (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL), Diana Schaack (Agricultural Information Company AMI), Corinna Feldmann (Kassel University), Daniela Vairo and Francesco Solfanelli from the Polytechnic University of Marche.

In the next few months, the team members and stakeholders will continue to discuss how to provide better data. As stated by Raffaele Zanoli, coordinator of the OrganicDataNetwork, “the project aim is not to provide new data, but to collect and check data in order to compile them properly”. The Code of Practice and its manual will be discussed at the aforementioned workshop and published at the end of the project in the autumn of 2014. In order to inform collectors of organic market data how a database and the necessary tools for data processing can be constructed, a webinar is currently being developed. This webinar will be presented and available online for all interested parties from July onwards.  

All participants in the 5th OrganicDataNetwork project meeting in Tallinn were very pleased with the intensive discussions and deliberations about handling and processing organic data. Many difficulties involved in working with the raw data and the compilation process were discussed, and new solutions were found. “We have made fruitful efforts at this compact Estonian meeting,” concludes Joan Picazos, who participated in the project on behalf of the Spanish manufacturer Biocop. The final project meeting is already scheduled for mid-October in Istanbul.

Apart from the distribution of leaflets on diverse occasions at organic fairs and conferences, the next more large-scale events the OrganicDataNetwork will be presenting or hosting are: 10 - 11.7.2014: stakeholder workshop in Bari/Italy (key challenges of collecting organic market data and solutions will be discussed); 13 - 15.10.2014: presentation of the OrMaCode at the Organic World Congress IFOAM, Istanbul. (Picture: BioMarket in Tallin)

The project Data network for better European organic market information, which began in January 2012, aims to improve 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. It is funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union and runs from 2012 to 2014.

More information on organic agriculture, the organic market in general and in particular the situation in Estonia is available on the website of OrganicDataNetwork: http://www.organicdatanetwork.net/. The presentations from the workshop in Bari are now online and can be found here. (Picture: Organic cows in Estonia)