Organic Farming Scheme

ADAS (2004) Evidence Assessment to Inform the Review of the Organic Farming Scheme - November 2003, http //statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/ofs/... 

Within the UK the position is further exacerbated by the shortage of land for organic cereal production, not helped by the current shortage of funds available under the government s organic farming scheme. 

DEFRA [Department of the Enviromnent, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom] (2002), Economic Evaluation of the Organic Farming Scheme, Final Report prepared by the Centre for Rural Economic Research, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom www.defra.gov.uk/esg/economics/econeval/organic/. 

Table 1. Uptake, public expenditure and average payments for organic farming schemes under EC Reg. 2078/92 compared to all agri-environment options... 

A conclusive assessment of the effects of organic farming on air and climate is given in the following scheme (Table 4-13) ... 

A conclusive assessment on the effects of organic farming on food quality indicators is given in the scheme shown in Table 4-24. 

The sections 4.1 to 4.4 comprised a thorough review of the relevant scientific literature with respect to organic farming and its impact on the environment and resource use. While each section focused on one environmental indicator, this section will now conclude by bringing together the individual results documented in the summarising assessment scheme, whieh eompleted each subsection. 

Several methods of scoring systems are available to assess animal welfare at the farm level. One of these systems, the animal needs index (ANI 35) has got some importance in Austria. Organic farms must achieve a certain minimum level of points to be accepted for organic registration (Bartussek 2003). Roiha (2000) used the same system in 26 Finnish dairy farms. The ANI scores are primarily calculated on the animals environment rather than on animal-based parameters however, many scientists are now arguing for the inclusion of more animal-based parameters for on-farm assessment schemes (e.g. Hegelund et al. 2003, Winckler et al. 2003). 

The possibility of evaluating agricultural systems is limited - except for the certified organic farming - because the systems - even the certified - do not follow a strict scheme. It can happen for example that in a traditional system, pesticides and herbicides are applied once in ten years or always, but only for one out of 20 crops which are cultivated. 

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