Contribution of organic farming to public goods in Denmark

Model of state support for organic farming of Kazakhstan in the context of creation of international regulatory framework for the industry

The paper evaluates the status and prospects for a wider market capacity of organic foods and items. The paper analyzes regulatory framework for organic market in Kazakhstan. The paper describes the conditions for the development of the organic market. The transformation of global food market structures has influenced the organic farming. Demand for organic products has been growing rapidly. Whereas the European Union has put in place at the time an effective system for regulating organic production, the EAEU, CIS, and SCO countries can see this production taking shape only now. It is argued that Kazakhstan is harnessing its agricultural potential only partially, including organic food production. The paper proves that the development of green farming entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan will enable agricultural organizations, aided by the measures of state support, to form a new niche in the market for organic products and expand the supply of organic products in the world market. New approaches are proposed for the first time in regard to formulating regulations, model laws, and recommendations of international unions.

Organic Farming Support Policy in a Sustainable Development Context: A Polish Case Study

This paper assesses the extent, scope and importance of financial support for Polish organic farming from 2004 to 2019. The analysis focuses particularly on how the changes in the amount and structure of organic farming payments affected farmers’ interest in specific organic crops during three financing periods: the 2004–2006 Rural Development Plan, the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) and the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme. This paper aims to answer the question of whether and to what extent the organic farming support policy impacted the development trends followed by, and transformation processes affecting, this sector. It follows from this analysis that in the first decade after joining the European Union, Poland implemented a policy of making payments easily available. It was primarily focused on the quantitative growth of organic farming rather than on stimulating supply. As the payments were easily accessible and decoupled from production, subsidy-oriented farmers were additionally encouraged to seek political rent. This resulted in the instability of a large group of farms who discontinued their organic farming activity in 2014. That year, the policy was amended because of the need to improve the allocation efficiency of subsidies and to couple them with the provision not only of environmental public goods but also of private goods in the form of organic farming products. The current support policy opens up greater opportunities for leveraging the potential of organic farming while reaping environmental and socioeconomic benefits and contributing more than ever to sustainable development.

Antibiotic and medical zinc oxide usage in Danish conventional and welfare-label pig herds in 2016-2018

This register-based study compared the usage of antibiotics and medical zinc oxide (ZnO_med) in three different pig production systems: organic, conventional free-range and conventional indoor in 2016-2018. ZnO_med is used to prevent weaning diarrhoea with a dosage of max 2500 mg zinc/kg feed for 14 days post weaning. The treatment incidence (TI) of antibiotics (injectable and oral) and ZnO_med was calculated as the total number of animal daily doses (ADD) per 100 animals per day at herd level over a calendar year. Zero-inflated negative binomial models were used to compare the antibiotic and ZnO_med usage across the three production systems. The correlation between antibiotic and ZnO_med usage was evaluated using Spearman's correlation coefficient. In all age groups, the antibiotic TI was highest in the conventional indoor system, lower in the conventional free-range system and lowest in the organic system. In weaners, which is the age group with the highest antibiotic usage, conventional indoor, conventional free-range and organic herds had an average TI of 7.20, 3.37 and 0,48 ADD/100 animals/day, respectively. Another important finding in the study was that non-use of antibiotics is more common (>30% of herds) in welfare-label production systems (organic and conventional free-range) than in conventional indoor production (16% of herds). The overall differences in usage of ZnO_med between the three production systems were not statistically significant, but the probability of not using ZnO_med, was significantly higher for organic (36%) and conventional free-range herds (61%) compared to conventional indoor herds (19%). There was a weak to moderate positive correlation between antibiotic and ZnO_med usage at herd level with the weakest correlation in conventional indoor herds (0.31). The results indicate that ZnO_med does not appear to replace or prevent the use of antibiotics and suggest that ZnO_med is used differently in different systems. A weak correlation between the usage of antibiotics and ZnO_med in conventional indoor herds could reflect a frequent use of routine treatments within this system. The lower level of antibiotic usage in welfare-label systems indicates that a significant reduction in antibiotic use in pig production would require housing and management changes or regulatory changes in the conventional indoor system. The large variation in both antibiotic and ZnO_med usage between herds in similar production systems indicates that a further reduction in use of antibiotics and ZnO_med is achievable.

Effect of Three Husbandry Systems on Environmental Impact of Organic Pigs

This study examined the environmental impact of the three common organic pig husbandry systems, indoor (n = 24), partly outdoor (n = 30), and outdoor (n = 10), in eight European countries. Global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), and eutrophication potential (EP) was assessed per 1000 kg pig live weight on 64 farrow-to-finish pig production chains (cradle to farm gate). GWP, AP, and EP varied greatly, and the most important source was feed production, followed by housing. GWP did not differ between systems (p = 0.934), but AP in indoor systems and EP in outdoor systems were higher than in partly outdoor systems (p = 0.006 and p = 0.010, respectively). The higher AP in indoor systems can mainly be explained by NH3 arising from manure spreading, while PO4-eq arising from feed consumption and emissions on pasture accounted for the higher EP in outdoor systems. Associations of farm characteristics with (reduced) environmental impacts were mainly found for AP and EP, and included: (Increasing) farm size, numbers of piglets born and weaned per litter, (bought-in) mineral feed, and high-protein by-products, the latter probably connected to beneficial effects of appropriate dietary digestible lysine levels and feed conversion ratio. Increasing carcass weights and dietary cereal proportions were associated with higher environmental impacts. Overall, variation was mostly higher within than between systems, and measures to mitigate environmental impact were identified.