CERTIFYING BODIES

IFOAM - International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements. Co-ordinates organic movements world-wide and provides a forum for global exchange and co-operation. www.ifoam.org

www.ccof.org. California based CCOF was one of the first organisations to certify organic farms in North America. Their high standars have led to them being recently accredited by the USDA as an organic certifier that meets the requirements for the Federal Rule for Organic Production. 

www.hydra.org.uk The Henry Doubleday Research Association. "The organic approach to gardening and farming recognises that the whole environment in which plants grow is much more than the sum of its individual parts, and that all living things are inter-related and inter-dependent." HYDRA 

www.soilassociation.org  One of the longest established pro-organic farming groups - over 50% of the UK's organic farmers are members. "The Soil Association is a membership charity and is the heart and soul of the UK organic movement. Since 1946 they have been campaigning to raise awareness about the positive environmental benefits of organic food and farming and supporting farmers in producing natural food consumers can trust. The Soil Association symbol can be found on over 70% of Britain's organic produce - a guarantee that the food you have purchased has been grown or produced to their quality standards.". Their Chairperson is Helen Browning, OBE, herself one of the most successful, large-scale (1,250 acres) organic farmers in Europe.

Organic Farmers and Growers registers about 25% of UK organic farmers. Hard to track down - seems a new website is under construction. Email? graham.goodwin@farmline.com

The Organic Trust, one of Ireland’s three certifying bodies can be contacted at www.iol.ie/~organic/trust , email; organic@iol.ie and tel. 01 853 0271.

Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association, IOFGA, represents the majority of Irish organic producers. Tel. 0506 32563 and 01 830 7996.  www.irishorganic.ie  

Biodynamic Agricultural Association, in Ireland can be contacted at The Water Garden, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, tel. 056 54214. Also see www.biodynamics.com

News on standards and certification world-wide, from a new (May 2001) international journal published in Sweden. Subscription only however. www.organicstandards.com

The major Australian certification body, which administers over 6 million hectares is; www.nasaa.com.au . Email; enquiries@nasaa.com.au 

 

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Government

Ireland
Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. Phone LoCall 1890 200 510. Also 01 6072000 Email, information@daff.irl.ie. www.irlgov.ie/daff and www.agriculture.gov.ie 

Minister, Joe Walsh, TD, is still(Jan 2003) the senior minister. He represents Fianna Fail in the West Cork constituency. Email, joe.walsh@agriculture.gov.ie also, minjoe@indigo.ie.

The Press Officer for DAFF is Michael Walsh, michael.n.walsh@agriculture.gov.ie and the Private Secretary to Min Walsh is martina.kearney@agriculture.gov.ie 

There are two junior ministers in DAFF, called Ministers of State. Noel Treacy holds the brief for Food and Horticulture (which includes organics). You can find out more about him by going to, www.irlgov.ie/daff/AboutUs/CV-NoelTreacy.HTM or contact him at noel.treacy@agriculture.gov.ie . His Private Secretary is aidan.duane@agriculture.gov.ie 

Liam Aylward is in charge of Animal Health and Customer Services. His email address is liam.aylward@agriculture.gov.ie
 
Eamon O'Cuiv is now (June 2002) the head of the newly-created, Ministry of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. He has responsibility for LEADER, Community Development Support Programmmes, the Western Development Commission (which had a strong organic element), RAPID, CAIT and CLAR programmes, the Gaelteacht (native Irish-speaking areas) and the off-shore islands. he is probably going to have charge of the ADM-funded groups also.

 (The junior ministers in the Dept. Agriculture up 'till June 2002, were, Minister of State For Food and Horticulture (and with responsiblity for organic farming) Noel Davern, FF member for South Tipperary. Email; noel.davern@daff.irlgov.ie.. The other Minister of State was Eamon O Cuiv TD. 

Teagasc is the Irish Agricultural and Food Development Authority. It is mainly funded by the Dep. Ag. It runs several agricultural education facilities and the farm advisory services. In a new departure, it has been developing Mellows College, Galway, and its 138ha farm, as an organic education, training and demonstration facility. It is due to open fully in the autumn of 2003. The Authority published a booklet on organic farming in 2002 and there are some research results on organic farming on its site www.teagasc.ie . 
Director; Jim Flanagan, jflanagan@hq.teagasc.ie 
Director of Administration; Tom Kirley, tkirley@hq.teagasc.ie 
Public Relations and Information, Michael Miley, mmiley@hq.teagasc.ie  Tel. 01 637 6000.  

Teagasc has a governing board. Its members are (Jan 2003); Pat Fottrell, Jim Flanagan (Director, Teagasc), Michael O'Dwyer, John Malone (Gen.Sec. Dep. Ag), Ruaidhri Deasy, Tom O'Dwyer (chairman), Jimmy Brett, Tom Gill (Teagasc, Mayo), Eva Coyle, Joe Fitzgerald, Peter Kiely and Anna May Mc Hugh.
Some details on members of the Board. Email addresses where known.

Dr. Tom O'Dwyer. Held a number of key positions in the EU Commission in Brussels, including Director of Livestock Products, Director of Education, Training and Youth and Chef de Cabinet to two EU Commissioners.

Ms. Eva Coyle. Former President of the Irish Countrywomen's Association

Ruaidhri Deasy. Farmer and Deputy President of the Irish Farmers Association.

Prof. Pat Fottrell. Former President of National University of Ireland, Galway

Mr Peter Kiely. Farmer and former National Chairperson of Macra na Feirme

Mr James J. Brett. Managing Director, The Brett Group, Callan, Co Kilkenny.

Mr Michael O'Dwyer. Farmer and former President of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society

Mr Joe Fitzgerald. Farmer and member of Administrative Committee of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association

John Malone - Secretary General with Dept. of Agric and Food, john.malone@agriculture.gov.ie

Anna Marie McHugh. National Ploughing Assoc. furrow@eircom.net 

Irish Food Board, Bord Bia, is the state-funded promoter of Ireland's £ 5.5 billion, food export industry. They have recently taken an interest in organic farming and have a report on their website www.bordbia.ie which, however you will need Adobe Acrobat to download.   Hard-copy £20.00. The contacts for organic food are, Padhraig Brennan and Una Fitzgibbon. Tel. 01 668 5155 (Dublin).

Bord Glas, is the Irish Horticultural Board. Email: info@bordglas.ie. Website; www.bordglas.ie. 

Green MEPs.

Ms Nuala Ahern. www.nualaahern.net  

Ms Patricia McKenna www.pmckenna.com, email; pmckenna@europol.eu.int

Dept of the Environment and Local Government, Minister, Noel Dempsey TD. www.environ.ie , email; secretary-general@environ.irlgov.ie . 

European Commission in Ireland, www.euireland.ie. European Parliament in Ireland, www.euparl.ie. 

United Kingdom

Since June, 2001, MAFF, the UK, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, not-so-affectionately known as the MAFFIA is now called, Dept., for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - DEFRA. The Secretary of State is Margaret Beckett and she has the brief for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Alun Michael is Min of State for Rural Affairs. Michael Meacher is Min of State for Environment and there are two Parliamentary Secs, Elliot Morley - Fisheries and Lord Whitty. We presume that all MAFF tel. nos and email addresses remain the same. www.defra.gov.co.uk 

Northern Ireland, Dept. Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister, Ian Pearson www.dardni.gov.uk.
For organic information, see www.ruralni.gov.uk/bussys/organic/. Adrian Saunders, Organic  Adviser, Greenmount College, Antrim, BT41 4PU, is the contact there, email: adrian.saunders@dardni.gov.uk .

EU

www.europa.eu.int Official site of the European Commission.The reference site to Agriculture DG. http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/mailbox/dg_en.htm#agriculture 

This site will give you access to Ag. Comm. Fischler's speeches etc. http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/fischler/index_en.htm. 

European Commission, Agriculture Directorate-General (Sept. 2001) http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/new/index_en.htm 

EU, Health and Consumer Protection, Directorate General, Commissioner David Byrne (Irish).

European Commission: Standing Group on Organic Agriculture http://www.organic-europe.net/europe

European Commission's Organic farming website; http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/qual/organic/index_en.htm The website includes the following information; EU legislation on production and labelling standards for organic produce; guideline documents; a list of inspection authorities/bodies in charge of the specific inspection regime in organic farming; a list of accepted conventional ingredients which are not available; the organic farming logo; a selection of useful links to other sites on organic farming; Agri-Environment Programmes.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/envir/index_en.htm Organic Agriculture in Europe: General.Results of the EU-Funded Research Project CAP-Reform and Organic Agriculture http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/~i410a/ofeurope

Agricultural Library of the EU. Mary Brown, email; Agri-Library@cec.eu.int 

Statistics About Organic Farming in Europe at the internet site of the Organic Centre Wales http://www.organic.aber.ac.uk/stats.shtml

Conference proceedings of the Vienna Conference on Organic farming in Europe, May 1999. http://www.eurotech.co.at/html/engl/intro.htm

Report, Green Supply Chain Initiatives in the European Food and Retailing Industry, in PDF-format (258 kB), IV. http://www.vu.nl/english/o_o/instituten/IVM/pdf/

http://www.soel.de/inhalte/oekolandbau/statistik_europa.html

Homepage of the IFOAM- EU-Group. http://www.ifoam.org/europe/index.

 

International

www.fao.org  Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. See particularly, proceedings of conference, Food Safety and Quality as affected by Organic Farming, in Portugal, July, 2000.

www.ifoam.org The international organic co-ordinating body.

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REFERENCE

www.linksorganic.com  Attractive site but news by moreover.com.

www.organictrader.net  Matches buyers and sellers for organic products.

www.google.com One of the best search engines. Go to, Google Web Directory, click Science, Agriculture, Farming Practices and Systems and Organic Farming – 109 sites.

www.organicfood.searchking.com  Organic World Portal.

www.excite.co.uk  Search for Organic Farming finds many good sites.

www.organichub.com  A kind of portal!

www.hempreport.com Promoting, or re-establishing hemp as an industrial product.

www.webdirectory.com Environmental organisation directory

www.gks.com  Ecological network.

www.ema-online.org. Environmental Media Association, amongst other worthy projects awards the (other) Turner Prize.

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ACTIVISTS

THE ACTIVISTS' GUIDE TO THE INTERNET, Fiona Osler and Paul Hollis, Prentice Hall, April 2001, £13.95. www.informit.co.uk Osler connected with Red Pepper and www.getethical.com

Friends of the Earth, Ireland, publish the excellent Irish edition of the magazine, Earthwatch. Email: foeeire@iol.ie and www.iol.ie/~foeeire/ . Enquiries about the magazine, email; ewmag@eircom.net 

Sustain; The Alliance for Better Food and Farming has, August, 2001, put forward a wonderful discussion document, Organic Targets Campaign. www.sustainweb.org To get a copy of this document email; organictargetsbill@sustainweb.org. 

Small and Family Farm Alliance, Cornwall, email michael@mhart.fsbusiness.co.uk. 

Small Farmers' Association, Devon, www.small-farms-association.co.uk

Confederation Paysanne, www.confederationpaysanne.fr Josè Bovè's co-author, Francois Dufour is a member.

European Farmers Association, Brussels, www.cpefarmers.org. 

www.sustainusa.org The organisation that was very influential in changing US Dept.of Agriculture’s new organic standards (NOP). It has the resources to develop "innovative communications’ strategies to help win environmental victories".

www.greenpeace.org Good projects and achievements of course but need a better website. Same applies to www.greenpeace.org.uk/

www.percyschmeiser.com  Mr Schmeiser is a Canadian farmer recently prosecuted by Monsanto who has become  an articulate celebrity speaker for the anti-GM movement. 

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Ireland, 2, Camden Quay, Cork. Tel. 021 450 6411and 021 450 6308. This is also the address of the Chernobyl Children's Project Ltd., which has done such wonderful work over the years, under the leadership of the indomitable Adi Roche. Tel. 021 450 6411. Fax 021 455 1544.

www.ethicalconsumer.org.uk The alternative consumers' organisation looking at the social and environmental records of the companies behind the brand names.

www.neweconomics.org are an independent think-tank dedicated to building a new economy centred on people and environment.

www.fluoridefree.com Campaigns for fluoride-free water. Recently, pointed out that Guinness exported from Ireland has high levels of fluoride and therefore possibly illegal in some European ccountries. Canadian Government Report Questions Value Of Water Fluoridation. Dated 23/4/01. http://www.e-dental.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID={2F4410D3-37D6-11D5-A770-00D0B7694F32

www.vshiva.net  Dr Vandana Shiva is one of the world's great communicators about organic agriculture and GM food. She heads the Indian, Research Foundation for Science,Technology and Ecology .

www.foodfirst.com See  Peter Rosset's articles in particular. Very good resources on Cuba's organic revolution. Email; foodfirsr@foodfirst.org. 

www.confederationpaysanne.fr  Find out the latest about the doughty Daniel Bove, the French pro-organic activist and Mc Donald-buster. 

www.wwf-uk.org. World Wildlife Fund,  

Terram, Chile, www.terram.cl have a very good report on salmon farming. 

www.ciwf.co.uk Compassion in World Farming. Irish office, Hanover Street, Cork. Tel 021 272 441.

 

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

UK

For organic resources in Northern Ireland, see www.ruralni.gov.uk/bussys/organic/ or contact  Adrian Saunders, Organic Development Adviser at Greenmount College, Antrim, BT41 4PU. Email: adrian.saunders@dardni.gov.uk .

Centre for Human Ecology, Edinburgh runs MSc cource in Human Ecology. Email: info@che.ac.uk  www.che.ac.uk .

www.cat.org.uk Centre for Alternative Technology. This centre, now over 25 years old, has been a pioneer in alternative energy and recycling. It has become one of the most popular visitor centres in Wales.

www.organic.aber.ac.uk The Organic Centre Wales, opened in July 2000, acts as a focal point for information on organic food and farming and meet the needs of organic agriculture through: research and development; training and education; an organic demonstration farm network; advisory services; specialist information and publications The centre is funded by the National Assembly for Wales and the EAGGF. It is based at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and run jointly by ADAS, Elm Farm Research Centre, The Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER) the Institute of Rural Studies (UWA) and the Soil Association. The Centre's Web page contains a lot of information, including graphs on the development of organic farming in Europe.

Scottish SAC is promoting organic agriculture: http://www.sac.ac.uk/organic-farming

www.soilassociation.org  publishes a list of educational and research centres offering their approved courses.

Leatherhead Food Research Association has a current report, International Market for Organic Foods, publ. Nov 2000, £325.00. The report looks at developments in over 20 countries and concludes that organic is "..one of the most dynamic sectors of the international food markets". www.lfra.co.uk.

Cab International is a UK-based, international, non-profit, scientific organisation. Founded in 1928, it has a prodigious list of publications, CDs etc. Its avowed aim is "help improve human welfare world-wide through the dissemination, application and generation of scientific knowledge in support of sustainable development. www.cabi.org

Keynote Report on Health Foods, Oct 2000, says "..organic foods .. the most dynamic sector in terms of growth". Also says that due to prices, policies, politics and pro-environment (their allit.) fertilisers and agri-chemicals sales are down by 20%, 1996-2000. www.keynote.co.uk.

H.M. Stationery Office has the UK Report on Organic Farming (26th Jan 2001) on its site. There are 37 major recommendations to Government in this publication. www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk 

Ireland

Teagasc is the Irish Agricultural and Food Development Authority. It is mainly funded by the Dep. Ag. It runs several agricultural education facilities and the farm advisory services. In a new departure, it has been developing Mellows College, Galway, and its 138ha farm, as an organic education, training and demonstration facility. It is due to open fully in the autumn of 2003. The Authority published a booklet on organic farming in 2002 and there are some research results on organic farming on its site www.teagasc.ie. 
Director; Jim Flanagan, jflanagan@hq.teagasc.ie 
Director of Administration; Tom Kirley, tkirley@hq.teagasc.ie 
Public Relations and Information, Michael Miley, mmiley@hq.teagasc.ie  Tel. 01 637 6000.  
Teagasc has a governing board. Its members are (Jan 2003); Pat Fottrell, Jim Flanagan (Director, Teagasc), Michael O'Dwyer, John Malone (Gen.Sec. Dep. Ag), Ruaidhri Deasy, Tom O'Dwyer (chairman), Jimmy Brett, Tom Gill (Teagasc, Mayo), Eva Coyle, Joe Fitzgerald, Peter Kiely and Anna May Mc Hugh.

Irish Seed Savers' Association, Co.Clare, does wonderful work on a slender budget saving our heritage seeds. Founded by the inspiring Anita Hayes 11 years ago. Email; issa@esatclear.ie 

Bord Glas, the Irish Horticultural Development Board. www.bordglas.ie. Email; annmaria.fagan@bordglas.ie 

An tIonad Glas, Centre for Organic Education. Irish institute offering certificate and diploma courses. www.organiccollege.com

www.theorganiccentre.ie  The Organic Centre is an Irish not-for-profit compay, providing training, information and demonstrations of organic gardening on their 19 acre farm and extensive facilities at Rossinver, Co. Leitrim. A large range of courses on alternative crafts and gardening throughout the year, are detailed on their website and in a widely available booklet. Email; organiccentre@eircom.net. 

Irish Food Board, Bord Bia, is the state-funded promoter of Ireland's £ 5.5 billion, food export industry. Recently taken an Interest in organic farming and have a report on their website www.bordbia.ie which, however you will need Adobe Acrobat to download and of course the time to do it and the space to store it. A text version on-line would be useful. Hard-copy £ 20.00. The contacts for organic food within the Board are, Padhraig Brennan and Una Fitzgibbon. Tel. 01 668 5155 (Dublin).

Sustainable Building courses are periodically run at Cork University. Included are modules such as, Sustainable Architecture, Building with Straw Bales, and Solar and Wind Energy Solutions. Contact Donal Counihan, 021 4904717 or Rob Hopkins at 023 47001.

Europe

www.uni-kassel.de Univ. of Kassel, Germany. Its faculty of Agricultural Development and Environmental Protection was the first in the world to offer degree courses in Ecological Agriculture.

www.fibl.ch  Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland. Originators of the famous, Therwil, Doc Trial – the only long-term, comparative, scientific study of conventional, "integrated", organic and bio-dynamic methods. They have been established for over 25 years and have a staff of 80+. Informative annual report.

www.organic-europe.net  has country-by-country reports, EU documents on organic farming and comprehensiive address database and links.

www.uni-hohenheim.de  Many specialised reports and publications. Has ties also with Welsh Institute of Rural Studies; www.irs.aber.ac.uk

www.oel.fal.de/  New Institute of Organic Agriculture in Germany.

 

World

www.foodsafety.org  National Food Safety Data-Base, Univ. of Florida

www.rodaleinstitute.org The site of one of the pioneering US organic institutes.

www.earthlink.org 

www.organic-research.com  Relaunched April, 2001, substantial professional database, partly paid subscription

Organic Farmers Research Foundation. Contact details?

Jerry Mander, International Forum on Globalisation. Difficulty finding contact details. Help?

Vandana Shiva, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, India. www.vshiva.net -  look at the Mustard Oil Tragedy. 

David Suzuki Foundation, Canada. Dr David Suzuki, broadcaster, geneticist is a world authority on sustainable ecology. Most reports free. www.davidsuzuki.org

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Director, Mark Ritchie, promotes "resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems through research and education, science, technology and advocacy". www.iatp.org.

 

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