Organic-PLUS is an EU-wide research project to minimise – and eventually phase out – certain contentious inputs occasionally used in certified organic agriculture.
Coordinated by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, the Organic-PLUS project involves 10 universities and 15 research institutions and NGOs across nine EU and three non-EU countries and runs from May 2018 to April 2022.
By phasing out contentious inputs, organic food systems can be more true to the IFOAM organic principle of ‘ecology’. This principle is now shared by the EU bio-economy agenda, focusing on renewable biological resources from land and sea.
However, the objectives of Organic-PLUS are equally applicable to non-organic farming systems seeking to adopt more agroecological solutions. This combined focus on organic principles and bio-economy will not only lead to more resilience and quality assurance within organic production, but also reduced environmental impact and fairer, more reliable rules and regulations that organic consumers (current and new) can trust, further encouraging the growth of the sector.
Vegan organic principles
This summer, Dr Dennis Touliatos of Coventry University has been visiting and interviewing vegan organic growers (sometimes known as ‘veganic’ or ‘stock free’) across the UK as part of the Organic-PLUS team’s efforts to identify pathways to phase out contentious inputs from organic horticulture. In organic certified systems, the use of animal manure from non-organic (but not intensive) farms is currently permitted which raises issues such as the potential to import pesticide residues. In addition, the use of any livestock-derived inputs is not compatible with vegan organic principles.
Vegan organic growers use a range of plant-based approaches (e.g. legumes, green manures and compost) to build soil fertility. As well as removing animal-derived fertility, these approaches often negate the need for external inputs altogether.
Dennis will put the data gathered during his interviews into RISE, a modelling software used by agronomists to assess the economic, social and environmental sustainability of agricultural production at the farm level. As part of WP6 Model, the RISE methodology will be used to assess the potential and practicalities of vegan organic horticulture, and will compare it to other organic and conventional growing systems.
The overall aim of the Organic-PLUS project is to provide high-quality, trans-disciplinary, scientifically informed decision support to help all actors in the organic sector–including national and regional policy makers–achieve the next level of the organic success story in Europe.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 774340. Follow the project on Twitter.
