Outlook of Present Organic Agriculture Policies and Future Needs in Sri Lanka

Many countries are formulating organic agriculture or organic farming policies aimed at sustainable agricultural development. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: to understand the present situation of organic agriculture policies in Sri Lanka and also in other countries where successful organic agriculture is operating; identify problems in the organic agriculture sector; and suggest potential policy measures to be implemented in Sri Lanka in future. The research was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, a thorough literature review was conducted to study the suitable policies available in other countries and also in Sri Lanka at present. In the second stage, two field surveys were carried out using pre-tested questionnaires, from December 2019 to May 2020, in order to gather farmers’ and extension officers’ information related to organic farming policy suggestions. According to the findings of the literature review, organic systems in some countries are more integrated with national strategic plans and visions. Those governments are more involved in new initiatives and farmers are encouraged to go organic through reliable and feasible policies. Although Sri Lanka has a high potential for organic agriculture, at present it is at an initial stage. While most organic products in Sri Lanka go to the export market, a small portion is kept at local markets. Demand for organic products in export as well as domestic markets is increasing. Even though there are seven international food certification agencies operating in the country as external inspection and certification bodies, a limited number of accredited certifications exist for products on the domestic market. Results of the farmers’ survey showed that even if farmers have a significant level of knowledge, few of them practice organic farming due to several existing problems. Moreover, extension officers have also identified similar types of problems that are faced by the farmers related to organic farming. Evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) related to organic agriculture in the country helped to identify key problems facing policy-makers when balancing the supply and demand sides of organic products. Also, in developing organic agriculture, an effective linkage and coordination among government and private participants is crucial. Therefore, in Sri Lanka in this context, strategic focus on policy support for organic agriculture is needed. Current organic farming programs need to be revised in order to formulate policies covering all areas related to production, handling, processing, certification, labeling and marketing, in order to bring the benefits of organic agriculture to farmers, marketers and consumers in a fair manner.

Woodland Expansion in Upland National Parks: An Analysis of Stakeholder Views and Understanding in the Dartmoor National Park, UK

Woodland expansion on a significant scale is widely seen to be critical if governments are to achieve their net zero greenhouse gas ambitions. The United Kingdom government is committed to expanding tree cover from 13% to at least 17% in order to achieve net zero by 2050. With much lowland area under agricultural production, woodland expansion may be directed to upland areas, many of which are national parks under some degree of conservation jurisdiction. This may prove to be controversial, requiring full engagement with the interests of those individuals with a stake in their protection and management. In this paper, we explore how a range of stakeholders view the prospect of woodland expansion in Dartmoor National Park in southwest England, UK. Fifteen stakeholders—a mix of key informants and farmers—were shown different woodland expansion scenarios in map form and consulted using semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest widespread enthusiasm for woodland expansion, but with significant differences in terms of the scale and approach. Stakeholders raised topics of biodiversity gain, climate change mitigation, environmental benefits, cultural ecosystem gain, and forest crop benefits. Caution was expressed regarding target setting, the place of woodland expansion in the national debate, and the potential for harm from inappropriate new planting. The constraints identified were land tenure patterns, notably tenancy insecurity and ‘common land’ challenges, historical farming policy and culture, landscape objectives, and future policy design.

Family farming policy network in Brazil

Resumo Este artigo apresenta uma análise de redes de políticas públicas com foco na Política Nacional de Agricultura Familiar no Brasil. O estudo coletou dados por meio de análise documental, consultas orçamentárias e entrevistas, submetendo as informações obtidas a análise de conteúdo e, com isso, identificou a composição da rede de atores envolvidos na gestão da política, bem como as características das relações estabelecidas entre eles. Esse tipo de análise constitui interessante instrumento para os estudos de implementação e de avaliação de políticas públicas, na medida em que evidencia de que modo as características da interação entre atores podem afetar o alcance dos objetivos das políticas públicas. A rede da Política Nacional de Agricultura Familiar existente à época da pesquisa se mostrava densa em seu centro e flexível em suas margens, ou seja, era formada por um importante conjunto de atores atuando de modo concomitante em diversos programas e outro conjunto de atores atuando de modo mais pontual ou localizado. Porém, tanto no centro quanto nas margens, observou-se que diversos atores nem sempre são tão atuantes quanto seria esperado. Assim, com base no referencial teórico de análise de redes de políticas públicas, sugere-se que tal situação compromete o funcionamento da rede e o resultado das políticas subjacentes. Ademais, as características da rede estudada demonstram a importância do pacto federativo para o funcionamento da Política Nacional de Agricultura Familiar e mostram que os gestores subnacionais devem ter seus interesses e demandas efetivamente considerados para que os resultados almejados sejam atingidos.

Legions of Pigs in the Early Medieval West

Early medieval communities were thinking seriously about their environments. They saw themselves as part of a complex and dynamic universe that was propelled by interconnected organisms and forces. In that system, even the smallest creatures or events could have far-reaching consequences. The big picture was tied to hyperlocal circumstances. The people who lived in the early medieval West (in what is now northwest Africa and Europe) brought these perspectives to bear on their farming, policy making, and philosophizing. And pigs were both a means and a motivation for doing this. They were a flexible species that could handle a diversity of ecologies. They illustrated the benefits of being adaptable. But they were also a constant reminder that humans had to adapt to their animals and landscapes: total control or assimilation was unthinkable. Pigs were nearly everywhere in the early medieval West, and they left their hoofprints on laws, politics, philosophy, religion, and even humans’ own sense of themselves.

Archiwalia Państwowego Banku Rolnego jako źródło do badań nad historią gospodarczą polskiej wsi i rolnictwa w I poł. XX w.

Archival materials of the Polish Agricultural Bank as a source for research on the economic history of the Polish countryside and agriculture in the first half of the 20th c. The body of work of historians regarding the Polish countryside and agriculture in the first half of the 20th century is relatively extensive. The majority of studies on farming primarily address the post-war period, discuss the interwar period to a lesser degree, with barely touching upon the Nazi occupation. The situation is similar when it comes to publications regarding particular areas of agriculture and the means of production. Unfortunately, what those publications have in common is that none of them uses materials connected to agricultural banking. The objective of the article is to encourage those who study or intend to study the economic history of the Polish countryside and agriculture of the first half of the 20th century to research the records of the State Agricultural Bank (1919–1949) kept by the National Archives. Analysis of the publications related to the State Agricultural Bank (hereinafter the PBR) and the archive materials connected with its activity, kept by the National Archives, suggests that: 1. The BPR had a key role in implementing the farming policy of the national authorities and was crucial to the development of agriculture and the countryside; 2. the legacy of the PBR in the National Archives is remarkably vast (tens of thousands of archive units) and covers a wide range of issues, from banking through the development of farming to the situation in the countryside in the first half of the 20th century; 3. the vast credit records of the PBR kept by the National Archives offer a wide range of possibilities for the researchers focused on the economic history of the Polish countryside and agriculture, as they provide a plethora of interesting information on the situation of agriculture and farmers between 1919 and 1949.

Agricultural cooperatives remaining competitive in a globalised food system: At what cost to members, the cooperative movement and food sustainability?

There are more than 40,000 agricultural cooperatives in Europe with 9 million farmer members and over 600,000 workers. Due to the democratic nature of the cooperative form, it is assumed agricultural cooperatives empower their members and allow small farmers to have a stronger voice in the supply chain. However, much of the academic literature on agricultural cooperatives focuses on the economic analysis of their performance, while hardly any research has been done on analysing the impact that policy, long supply chains and the internationalisation of the food system have on members and labour dimensions. This article contributes to covering this gap by analysing how agricultural cooperatives are being shaped and misshaped by European farming policy and the architecture of global food systems. Following Schneiberg’s thesis on social movements being a condition for processes of diffusion and mutualism, this article reflects on critical issues in organisational studies related to agricultural cooperatives, the cooperative movement and sustainable food systems. Case studies from Spain and United Kingdom are used to illustrate the Northern and Southern European perspective. The concept of deviant mainstreaming is applied to discuss how agricultural cooperatives are being co-opted and losing their transformative potential as a result of pressures to remain competitive, with effects on members, social justice and the environment. The findings suggest policy changes at the European level, and the increasing internationalisation of the food system is fuelling the amalgamation of agricultural cooperatives, which is threatening their local embeddedness and creating organisational tensions between the local, co-operative space and the global, capitalist space.

Delivering a better natural environment? The Agriculture Bill and future agri-environment policy

This article reviews the options for delivering a new approach to agricultural support post-Brexit, and in particular the development of a new approach to delivering environmental protection and biodiversity improvement through future farming policy. It considers the options for developing a policy based on 'public money for public goods', and argues for the development of an approach based on payment for the ecosystem services provided by land management and by farming. If a 'payment for ecosystem services' approach is to be successful, however, careful consideration must be given to the reform of land tenure law in order to secure a stable platform for the long term management of ecosystems and landscapes. And new legal models will be needed for capturing multi-party obligations for the purchase and sale of ecosystem services. Brexit offers many opportunities for developing a new and innovative approach to agri-environmental policy, but the development of a market for the sale and purchase of the important ecosystem services provided by agriculture will present significant challenges.

Environmental Concern, Income, and Nature Experience in India

The relationship between income and environmental concern has only in some samples been found to mirror an Environmental Kuznets curve of pollution behavior by U-shaped preferences. Inconclusive aggregate findings may be due to the differential presence of mechanisms causing a linear relationship, or a psychological equivalent to tunneling maximum pollution. We enquire into determinants of such a mechanism previously unrelated to income-concern literature, which could arise from persistent influence of environmentalism of the poor through economic development, until affluence and postmaterialist values become effective. It is empirically captured as influence of past nature experience on concern at critical intermediate income, retained by individuals that have abandoned farming and advanced to such income. The resultant moderated mediation model is calibrated on representative survey data from highly heterogeneous, urbanizing India. Our results explain pollution behavior within this middle-income country by a corresponding, U-shaped income-concern relationship. However, in addition, this relationship is hidden by bridging, i.e., particularly pronounced influence of past nature experience at middle-income for individuals that switched out of farming. Policy leverage may thus derive from reducing the attitude-behavior gap in India and fostering persistent positive nature experience elsewhere.

Brexit’s Shades of Green—(Missing) the Opportunity to Transform Farming in England?

The UK Government’s ‘green Brexit’ includes fundamental reform of agriculture. We use resilience thinking to examine the complex relationship between farming policy and environmental sustainability. Farming is a social ecological system that will be disturbed by leaving the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. Reforms could reinforce persistence of the status quo or shape transformation to ‘better’ sustainability. We argue Brexit is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the hegemony of sustainable intensification to be challenged by enhanced agroecological farming practices. The interdependency of social and ecological factors is a critical threshold for transformative change, which we explore through three key sites of struggle: farmers’ cultural identity, connection to land, and security. We suggest transformative law and governance measures built upon Wild Law jurisprudence and resilience principles of diversity, scale, flexibility, relationality, education and participatory decision-making. We conclude that the Government’s approach falls short of the transformation needed for a resilient, sustainable farming system.

Opportunities and Challenges in Marketing of Organic Food Products in Uttarkhand

Rising population, economic growth and awareness regarding environmental sustainability is making the consumers as well as companies to look for alternative products. In this regard, organic food product is one of the source to reduce environmental degradation as well as lead to increased employment opportunities. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities of marketing organic food products in Dehradun city and nearby areas. Additionally it identifies the demand-supply gap and the economic viability of using organic products. Descriptive study is done on the information obtained from retailers/suppliers to study the disparities in the prices of organic food products and the reasons behind them. The study considered organic farming to be a feasible production system towards sustainable development and recommends development of an organic farming policy in Uttarakhand through wide consultation with all stakeholders. Further scope may include recyclable (environment friendly) packaging, other sustainable products such as e-vehicle for logistics and all.