The First IFOAM International Conference on Animals in Organic Production

Organic livestock production is growing rapidly throughout the world, and sales are anticipated to increase dramatically in the coming years. Although organic livestock production has made significant advances over the last several decades, navigating complex regulatory frameworks and dealing with challenges facing the sector such as securing high levels of health and welfare in organic livestock systems need to be addressed on an international level. In addition, the organic movement needs to take advantage of and share the vast knowledge about organic livestock management practices that has been accumulated, from feed supply to market management.

IFOAM is therefore planning a conference August 23rd- 25th 2006 at the University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center, St. Paul, MN, USA. This conference will focus on important issues concerning organic livestock and animal husbandry. It will concentrate upon health and food safety in organic livestock production systems, marketing trends, innovation in organic livestock production systems and livestock breeding strategies. Key figures from around the world will present the diversity of organic livestock systems, including opportunities and challenges on the horizon.

The conference will include keynote speeches by Fred Kirschenmann, Senior Fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Dr. Temple Grandin, Associate Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and Dr. David Wallinga, Director, Food and Health Program, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, among others.

The conference registration brochure is available on the IFOAM website:
http://www.ifoam.org/events/ifoam_conferences/pdfs/Animal_Production_Web.pdf

Further Information:
Neil Sorensen, Manager, Communications and Events, at n.sorensen@ifoam.org