The Infopoint organizes a lunchtime conference on “Trends in organic agriculture and sustainability standards in low income countries: outlook and development challenge” on March 12 in Brussels presented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).

Organic agriculture – with a constantly growing global market worth over 80 billion euros in 2016 – is also becoming increasingly important in low-income countries. While organic has the largest certified area world-wide and in low-income countries, other Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) such as Fairtrade, UTZ, or Rainforest Alliance are also gaining in importance. Currently, at least 25 percent of the global coffee production and 9 percent of the global cotton is certified according to one of the major VSS (including organic).

At this session, FiBL experts will present the latest data on the status of organic farming and other VSS, with a focus on selected commodities, and the development impact of these standards for low income countries will be discussed.

The lunch conference takes place from 12:30 till 14:00 at the groundfloor of Rue de la Loi 43-45 in Brussels. You can register online here.

Introduction

Christophe Larose Head of Sector Sustainable agriculture and innovation, DEVCO C1 – Rural Development, Food Security, Nutrition

Presentations

• Beate Huber Deputy director, FiBL
• Julia Lernoud Department of Extension, Training and Communication, FiBL

Infopoint conferences

The Infopoint organizes conferences on European external cooperation. Their aim is to tie in with topical events (visit to Brussels by a well-known figure in the field, International Days) by organizing conferences that will engage our partners in development and stimulate debate and different points of view. The conferences are aimed both at the general public, the development community and the staff of the European institutions. Interaction and exchange are key objectives of these sessions.