FARMING SYSTEMS ECOLOGY (FSE) GROUP

COURSE DESCRIPTION

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE AND SOCIETY

(FSE21306)

Course coordinator: Egbert Lantinga

Lecturers:

Egbert Lantinga, Erika Speelman, Kees van Veluw, Pablo Modernel, Dirk van Apeldoorn (FSE),

Cor Langeveld (CSA), Hans van Trijp and Ynte van Dam (MCB), Jessica Duncan (RSO),

Pytrik Reidsma (PPS), Costas Nikiforidis (BCT)

Contributions from invited speakers:

Fiona Morris, Joris vd Kamp, Rhiannon Pyburn,

Ronald van Marlen, and Darko Znaor

Period 1, 5 September 28 October 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 3

2. GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION 3

2.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES 3

2.2 COURSE STRUCTURE 4

2.3 COURSE COMPONENTS 4

2.3.1 LECTURES 5 5

2.3.2 PRACTICAL EXCERCISES 5

2.3.3 THE GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT 5

2.3.3 EXCURSIONS 5

3. ASSESSMENT AND GRADING 7

4. LOCATIONS AND CONTACT DETAILS 8

5. LITERATURE 8

5.1 OBLIGATORY READING 8

5.2 ADDITIONAL READING 9

6 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 9

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1. INTRODUCTION
The development of organic agriculture started as a response to excessive use of chemical fertilizers
and pesticides during the middle of the 20th century. During the early sixties Rachel Carson, became a
pioneer of the environmental movement after publishing silent spring. This book extensively
described potential threats of biocide-based agriculture: what we have to face is not an occasional
dose of poison which accidently goes into some article of food, but a persistent and continuous
poisoning of the whole human environment. What started as a critical note on main-stream
agriculture has evolved to a global movement for increased sustainability. The paradigm people,
planet and profit is currently being adapted by increasing number of small and large (corporate)
businesses. In a time of global crisis, organic agriculture is continuing to be one of the fastest growing
segments in production agriculture. Moreover, during the past decades conventional growers are also
increasingly implementing practices to address sustainability issues. This as a response to an
continuously growing group of increasingly aware consumers that demand products that are being
grown in an environmental-friendly and socially-acceptable manner. Therefore, there is a need for
students and professionals to gain a better understanding of different aspects of the organic sector
and to critically assess its potential role in global food production and rendering desirable ecosystem
services. At WUR, we have developed an unique training program centered around organic agriculture
(MOA) of which this course is an integral part. In addition, this course is open to students from
different disciplines and backgrounds. It provides an overview of key components and aspects of the
entire organic production chain and specific applications. It provides a platform for system-based
learning and critical thinking which will be put into an applied context via excursions of diverse organic
operations. In addition, the course will allow students to enhance their presentation, group work and
communication skills. During this course, we follow the production chain from farm to fork and
students will be exposed to a range of production, processing and marketing strategies aiming to make
organic foods more readily available to a larger group of people. The format of the course consists of:
(guest) lectures, exercises, excursions, student presentations, and group work.

2. GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION

This course is geared towards a systems based exploration of the organic production chain. The
course discusses global issues related to todays food production and the role of organic agricultural
production within that. In addition, the course specifically focusses on the production, processing and
marketing aspects of organic production with an emphasis on the production aspect. The course is
strongly interdisciplinary and includes economic, social and biological sustainability issues that are
integral part of the continuous expansion of organic production systems worldwide.

2.1 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this course you are expected to be able to:
analyse the organic production system and chain;
evaluate sustainability of organic agro-ecosystems;
understand the motivation of consumers and farmers;
explain principles of organic regulation and certification;
indicate strong and weak points, chances, threats and perspectives for organic agriculture,
processing and marketing
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2.2 COURSE STRUCTURE
During this course, we will explore the different components of organic production chains in both
developed and developing regions. Students will be exposed to system-based thinking and gain
experience in quantifying and qualifying processes and integrate system component at different scales
starting from a farm scale towards a more global level. The course is structured in following the farm
to fork setup with production, processing and marketing aspects being dealt with in separate weeks.
Global issues on food production and the role of organic production within this, are discussed in the
first and last week (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1: COURSE OVERVIEW PER COURSE WEEK SHOWING MAIN AND SUB COMPONENTS.

2.3 COURSE COMPONENTS

This course consists of three main activities; 1) Lectures, 2) Practical exercises, 3) Excursions, and
4)Group research project. Every week, lectures introduce and discuss the main concepts and issues
related to global issues of organic production or the production, processing or marketing aspects. The
associated practical exercises and excursions offer hands-on skills and demonstrate real-life examples.
The group research project runs like a red threat through the course. In small groups of 5 -6 students,
groups will look in depth into the value chain of a by the students selected product from farm to
fork.

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2.3.1 LECTURES
During lectures, we will outline key components of the entire organic production chain. The power
point presentation of lecturers will be made available on blackboard via my portal
(https://myportal.wur.nl). Active participation and attendance of lectures are required since they also
entail discussions, assignments, and team activities and are therefore integral part of this course.
Students are expected to read a selection of scientific papers supporting the lectures. These papers
will be made available on blackboard. An overview of these selected papers can be found at the end of
this document.

2.3.2 PRACTICAL EXERCISES

During the first two course weeks, several practical exercises are scheduled to provide more insight
into the topics introduced in the lectures. These exercises include finding sound arguments, debating,
and making calculations.

2.3.3 THE GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT

The group research project plays a central role in this course and aims to effectively integrate different
course components and reinforce conceptual aspects using a project-based and target-oriented
learning environment. This will allow students to develop their writing and communication skills and
to become exposed to various aspects of the entire production and marketing chain using a policy
brief type of format. Student groups will consists of five to six students. Groups will be formed groups
with optimal diversity and complementarity in terms of backgrounds, skills and/or disciplines.
Thereby, we foster synergy and students can benefit from each others skills, experience and
expertise. During interactive group sessions you will be working on structuring sustainable solutions to
a growing organic market demand while also comparing conventional and organic production,
processing and marketing chain of a specific crop or product. The main goal of this project is to define
strategies and tactical measures, and when applicable, provide recommendation for governmental
policies. Project activities will be coordinated and supervised by Erika Speelman and Cor Langeveld.
For more information please read the Group research project guide.

2.3.4 EXCURSIONS
A total of six excursions will complement the lectures. For every excursion, adequate preparation is
needed. Please discuss the excursion in advance within your group research project teams and
prepare a list of questions. Possible questions to ask during excursions may include:
How important is this type of operation in the Netherlands?
How large is the operation that you visited and is it representative of the sector and/or what
are its unique or differentiating features?
What crops are grown/animals are being kept
What kind of mechanization is being used and what strategies do farmers use for enhancing
soil fertility and quality?
How does the operation enhance biodiversity ?
How does the operation deal with ethical issues?
What are the main production constraints and ongoing innovations?

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 What are the marketing outlets that are being used and are producers involved in direct
marketing and/or added value activities?
What recommendations could you make to make the system more sustainable/profitable
both in terms of farm design and resource management?
What is the processing and marketing chain like for these products?

Excursions are obligatory. All excursions will be by bus or by bike and will will leave from in front of
Radix at 8.30hrs. It is advisable to bring rain boots, rain coat and warm clothing for the field
excursions.

Excursion 1 (by BIKE)

The first excursion is an introductory bike tour around Wageningen. We will visit and discuss the
history of agricultural landscape surrounding Wageningen. In addition, we will pass by a conventional
and an organic farm.

Excursion 2 (by BIKE)

The second excursion is in the second week of the course when we focus on soils and crops. The
excursion will be to the Droevendaal experimental farm located in Wageningen. This experimental
farm is part of Wageningen University and Research Centre and is used for experiments with arable
farming. The excursion will deal with different types of soil tillage, agro-diversity and cropping
diversity.

Excursion 3 (by BIKE)

In the third week of the course, the focus is on animal subsystem and integrated systems. Related to
this theme, we will visit a socio-technical network of organic farmers (De groene cirkel,
http://www.degroenekring.nl/index.php). This network consists of:
1) De Lingehof - An arable organic farm of 85 ha with GPS-based tractors with a rotation
including grass clover, silage maize, cabbage, onions, pumpkins, wheat,
2) Opney - A dairy farm with 100 roodbont dairy cows,
3) De Groene Stroom A vegetable production cooperative with 4 ha of vegetables
production for subscriptions for weekly vegetable packages.
These three companies collaborate in different phases of the production chain. To give an example:
The arable farmer provides the dairy farmer with forages and receives manure in return. The arable
farmer also does part of the tillage for the vegetable cooperative and grows some of their crops while
the vegetable cooperative markets some of the arable farmers products while. The vegetable
cooperative uses the facilities of the arable farmer for packing and processing their vegetables
packages.

Excursion 4 (by BUS)

During the fourth course week that focuses on processing, we will visit an organic diary and cheese
making farm named the Groote Voort of family Remeker in Lunteren (http://www.remeker.nl/en/).
This innovative farm has Jersey cows. They locally process the milk and produces special brand of
cheeses that are directly marketed to restaurants and gourmet shops. In 2016, they won the price the
agrarian entrepreneurial price!

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Excursion 5 (by BIKE)
The fifth excursion during the course week in which well focus on marketing, will be to a local
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation, named the Nieuwe Ronde, in Wageningen
(http://www.denieuweronde.nl/index.php/info2/information-in-english.html). This operation has a
very specific marketing strategy in which trust and commitment plays an important part. On an annual
basis, people can pay to become a member. Members are allowed to assist in the agricultural work on
the farm and harvest for their own consumption what they need.

Excursion 6 (by BUS)

The last excursion of the course will be to an organic distribution centre, named EOSTA in
Waddinxveen (http://www.eosta.com/). EOSTA is one of the a largest international distributor of
organic produce in Europe. They work with farmers from all over the world that produce the
vegetables they trade to improve their produce as well as improve their lives through additional
projects. On the other end of the spectrum, EOSTA develops specific marketing strategies to raise
awareness on the need for sustainable and/or organic food production. During the excursion, they
will present their nature and more program and safe our soils campaign - a joint program with
FAO.

3. ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

The final grading for the course is based on:
1. An individual written exam (60%),
2. The group research report (30%), and
3. An individual contribution to group research report (10%).

All components have to be completed with a mark of 5.5 or higher.

The written exam is exclusively based on:

1. The information presented during lectures,
2. Required reading material,
3. Practical exercises, and
4. The excursions

The group research report will judged based on the following criteria:
Format includes lay-out, structure, presentation (20%)
Language includes writing style, grammar, spelling (10%)
Content creativity, correct application of concepts, critical analysis (70%)

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4. LOCATIONS AND CONTACT DETAILS
All lectures, practicals and group work are scheduled in the Orion and Forum buildings but
check the detailed schedule below for specific times and locations and planned activities
during the course, as rooms maybe changed during the coming weeks!
The detailed schedule can be found on blackboard.
For the excursions, we will meet in front of the Radix building at 8.30hrs.

Exam date: Tuesday 25 October 2016, 8.30-11.30 C1040 / 2050 / 2051

For any questions, please contact Erika Speelman (erika.speelman@wur.nl).
Please. always refer to the course code FSE 21306 - in the email subject, when
corresponding about the course.

5. LITERATURE
5.1 OBLIGATORY READING
Week 1
Kristansen, P.,2006. Overview of organic agriculture, IN: P Kristiansen, A Taji & J Reganold
(eds), Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective, CSIRO, Collingwood, Vic. pp. 1-23,
http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/5325.htm
Lopez-Ridaura S., O. Masera, and M. Astier. 2002. Evaluating the sustainability of complex
socio-environmental systems. The MESMIS framework. Ecological Indicators 2: 135-
148.
Reganold, J.P., Wachter, J.M., 2016. Organic agriculture in the twenty-first century.
Tittonell, P., 2014. Ecological intensification of agriculturesustainable by nature. Current
Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 8, pp.53-61.
Week 2
Seufert, V. N. Ramankutty, J.A. Foley. 2012. Comparing the yields of organic and
conventional agriculture. Nature 485: 229-233. INCLUDING supplement
Week 3
Ferguson, R.S. and Lovell, S.T., 2014. Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement,
practice, and worldview. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 34(2),
pp.251-274.
Gliessman, S.R., 2007. Agroecology, The ecology of sustainable food systems. Chapter 19.
Week 4
Hatanaka, M., Bain, C. and Busch, L., 2005. Third-party certification in the global agrifood
system. Food policy, 30(3), pp.354-369.
Seljsen, R., Kristensen, H.L., Kretzschmar, U., Birlouez-Aragon, I., Paoletti, F., Lauridsen, C.,
Wyss, G.S., Busscher, N., Mengheri, E., Sinesio, F., Zanoli, R., 2016. How to understand
the complexity of product quality and the challenges in differentiating between
organically and conventionally grown productsexemplified by fresh and heat-
processed carrots (Daucus carota L.). Organic Agriculture, 6(1), pp.31-47.
Week 5
Lang, T. and Heasman, M., 2015. Food Wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and
markets. Routledge: Oxon. Chapter 2: The Food Wars Thesis pp 16-58.
Lockie, S., Halpin, D., Pearson, D., 2006. Understanding the market for organic food'. IN: P
Kristiansen, A Taji & J Reganold (eds) Organic agriculture : a global perspective, CSIRO,
Collingwood, Vic. pp. 245-258, http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/5325.htm

5.2 ADDITIONAL READING

Ferrier, P., Lamb, R., 2007. Government regulation and quality in the US beef market. Food
Policy, 32(1), pp.84-97.
Grunert, K.G., van Trijp, H.C.M, 2014. Consumer-Oriented New Product Development,
Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems 2: 375-386.
Lohr, L., 1998. Implications of organic certification for market structure and trade. American
Journal of Agricultural Economics, 80(5), pp.1125-1129.
Milestad, R., Kummer, S., 2012. Does growth hurt? Resilience of farms in growing local
organic food networks. In Producing and reproducing farming systems. New modes of
organisation for sustainable food systems of tomorrow. 10th European IFSA
Symposium, Aarhus, Denmark, 1-4 July 2012.. International Farming Systems
Association.
Ponisio L.C., MGonigle, L.K., Mace, K.C., Palomino, J., de Valpine, P., Kremen C., 2015.
Diversification practices reduce organic to conventional yield gap. Proc. R. Soc. B 282.
Ponti, T. de, B. Rijk, M.K. Ittersum. 2012. The crop yield gap between organic and
conventional agriculture. Agric. Systems 108: 1-9.
Smith-Spangler, C., Brandeau, M.L., Hunter, G.E., Bavinger, J.C., Pearson, M., Eschbach, P.J.,
Sundaram, V., Liu, H., Schirmer, P., Stave, C., Olkin, I., 2012. Are organic foods safer or
healthier than conventional alternatives?: a systematic review. Annals of internal
medicine, 157(5), pp.348-366.
Speelman, E.N., Lpez-Ridaura, S., Aliana-Colomer, N., Astier, M., Masera, O., 2007. Ten
years of Sustainability Evaluation using the MESMIS framework: Lessons learned from
its application in 28 Latin American case studies. International Journal of Sustainable
Development and World Ecology 14: 345-361.
Gomez Tovar, L.G., Martin, L., Cruz, M.A.G., Mutersbaugh, T., 2005. Certified organic
agriculture in Mexico: Market connections and certification practices in large and
small producers. Journal of Rural Studies, 21(4), pp.461-474.
van Ittersum, M.K., Cassman, K.G., Grassini, P., Wolf, J., Tittonell, P., Hochman, Z., 2013.
Yield gap analysis with local to global relevancea review. Field Crops Research, 143,
pp.4-17.

6 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
General information on organic farming:
www.orgprints.org
European commission on organic farming:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/download-information_en
Food and Agricultural Organization information pertaining to organics:
http://www.fao.org/organicag/en/
FIBL:
o http://www.fibl.org/en.html

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 o http://www.organic-world.net/index.html
Centre for environmental farming systems:
http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/resources/guides/organicproductionguide.html
Dutch database for publications on research and developments of the organic sector
kept by the library of Wageningen UR:
http://www.biokennis.org/nl/biokennis/bioKennisbank.html
Louis Bolk Institute Centre for international advice and research on sustainable
agriculture, nutrition and health care: http://www.louisbolk.org/

The content of this syllabus is subject to change and might be updated during the course.

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