ORGANIC FARMING

Organic livestock production

Organic farming has been defined by FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission as “a holistic production management system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs. This is accomplished by using, where possible, agronomic, biological, and mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfil any specific function within the system.” European Union, USA, UK and Australia are among the world’s leading countries in organic food production and utilisation. Organic production is carried out under an extensive regulatory setup because organic products are sold as value-added products with certified organic labelling in developed countries. Production is strictly monitored at every step in production chain. Certification also ensures that the consumer knows from where the product is coming.

Worldwide organic food industry is growing at a phenomenal rate of around 10 to 20% per year. Organic production uses traditional tillage systems, crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, mineral bearing rocks, and biological pest and weed control to maintain soil productivity. Thus, an organic farm should be a self contained system of production with minimal dependence on external inputs. Those farms having dairy as one of the active components will have to convert to organic livestock management so that manures supplied are as per requirements for organic production. The dairy products can also be certified organic to fetch higher prices. Organic farming is a highly labour intensive enterprise. Therefore, it offers greater opportunities for rural employment.

The Principle Aims of Organic Production and Processing

Organic production and processing is based on a number of principles and ideas.

• To produce food of high quality
• To interact in a constructive and life-enhancing way with natural systems and cycles.
• To consider the wider social and ecological impact of the organic production and processing system.
• To encourage and enhance biological cycles within the farming system, involving microorganisms, soil flora and fauna, plants and animals.
• To develop a valuable and sustainable aquatic ecosystem.
• To maintain and increase long term fertility of soils.
• To maintain the genetic diversity of the production system and its surroundings, including the protection of plant and wildlife habitats.
• To promote the healthy and proper care of water, water resources and all life therein.
• To use, as far as possible, renewable resources in locally organised production systems.
• To create a harmonious balance between crop production and animal husbandry.
• To give all livestock conditions of life with due consideration for the basic aspects of their innate behaviour.
• To minimise all forms of pollution.
• To process organic production using renewable resources.
• To produce fully biodegradable organic products.
• To produce textiles which are long-lasting and of good quality.
• To allow everyone involved in organic production and processing a quality of life which meets their basic needs and allows an adequate return and satisfaction from their work, including a safe working environment.
• To progress towards an entire production, processing and distribution chain which both socially just and ecologically responsible.

Global Production

Among the global organic industry’s top producers, organic dairy and poultry production have shown stronger growth rates than organic beef and pork production. In the United States, more than half of the states with organic agriculture have certified organic livestock production, with eggs and dairy representing by far the fastest growing sectors. Over the 1992-1997 period, production of organic laying hens increased to over half a million birds (1,123 percent), while the number of certified organic milk cows increased by nearly fivefold.

In the EU, Austria and Denmark are large producers of organic dairy and livestock products. While most Austrian organic farmers are vegetable and grain producers, organic livestock and dairy production is an integral component of that country’s organic sector. Nearly one third of Austrian organic production is exported. Current estimates place Danish organic production at just under 4 percent of total agricultural production, with an estimated 20 percent of Danish milk production produced organically. Austria's major organic products are beef and milk; in fact, there is an oversupply of the latter only 40 percent of organic milk is sold as organic, and the rest is marketed as conventional.

Livestock production and especially ruminant livestock production forms an integral part of many organic farms due to its role in nutrient recycling on farms. The market share of livestock products, however, is very different from product to product. In Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and Finland milk products are the most important organic products. In India although there is an large scale attempt to produce and export organic milk, there is however little progress in the production of organic meat and its export.

Markets

• Demand for organic produce is growing strongly both in the developed and in some of the wealthier developing countries. Internationally, organic dairy and poultry production have shown stronger growth rates than organic beef and pork production.
• Markets for organic livestock products in developed countries are increasing. In the EU, access to these from the developing world may be become more difficult because of policies, as in the UK, to narrow the ‘organic deficit’. EU enlargement in 2004 will encompass countries in Eastern Europe, making the EU as a whole more self-sufficient in organic livestock products
• However, there are growing domestic markets in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and India and there may also be regional markets in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia
• The retail market for organic livestock produce in the UK is dominated by supermarkets, some of which have a positive policy to buy only UK organic meat. This may be a potential barrier to farmers in the developing world
• UK consumers’ choice of livestock products is not influenced by country of origin but by product presentation and price. At present most organic produce is sold by supermarket chains and not by small conventional and halal butchers. Small retailers are prejudiced against purchasing imported meat citing poor quality, health risks and poor traceability as reasons for adopting a UK sourcing policy.
• Internationally, organic dairy and poultry production have shown stronger growth rates than organic beef and pork production.
• Demand for organic livestock products is growing in the USA, EU, Argentina and Brazil.
• In the EU, Austria, Denmark, Germany and UK are the largest consumers of organic livestock products. Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and UK import significant proportions of their organic produce
• The EU is a net importer of organic beef, sheep and goat meat, but is a net exporter of organic milk, milk products, pork, poultry and eggs. Consumers pay a large price premium for organic food, particularly in Austria, Belgium, Germany and UK.

Organic livestock trade

• Organic livestock products form only a small proportion of organic exports from the developing world. At present only a few countries in the developing world, predominantly in Latin America, participate in trade in organic livestock products, although a few more export organic honey
• Many of the poorer developing countries cannot export meat products because of animal health issues but they can/could export organic honey and textiles
• Tariffs and quotas may potentially restrict exports unless the organic price premium outweighs the costs of entering developed world markets including the costs of certification
• The requirement for separate and documented production, processing, storage and handling of organic and conventional produce limits organic livestock production for export to those countries with adequate infrastructure or a sufficiently large potential organic market to justify the investment.
• The case studies show that trade in organic livestock products is likely to be a risky business for most producers in the developing world because of animal health issues and gaining access to an assured marketing chain. Those that are successful have overcome these barriers.
• Most developed countries operate a system similar to the EU with lists of countries from which livestock food products are permitted or restricted and, in some cases, establishing quotas. For example, Canada permits meat imports from Argentina. Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, UK, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, USA and Uruguay. The USA has a complicated system of quotas specifying the total volume of import in certain categories.

The global regulatory framework for the export of organic livestock products serves to control and sometimes restrict exports from all developing countries. Perhaps the biggest overall problem for all developing countries is the sanitary regulations. Foot and mouth diseases, swine fever and Rift Valley fever, restrict export from much of the developing world. Satisfying additional requirements for organic certification adds to these difficulties. The additional burden of organic certification is made even more onerous by the fact that symbol awarding certification agencies in developed countries may demand production to ‘additional voluntary standards’ above the legal minimum required by the EU regulations. This in itself has been considered a significant ‘non-tariff’ barrier to trade

• One of the biggest overall problems for developing countries wishing to export organic livestock products is the sanitary regulation. Only a few developing countries are able to export conventional livestock products
• The need to comply with EU regulations constitutes a considerable barrier to the entry to EU markets
• EU regulations for organic livestock are new, complex and evolving. The easiest for developing countries to comply with is honey
• An additional constraint is quotas. Those that might benefit from exporting organic livestock products to the EU are those with conventional livestock quotas
• The international trade in livestock from the developing world is a risky business. An exporter must have an assured certified supply chain in order to successfully enter international markets
• In the UK, corporate policies of retailers play a large part in determining the country of origin and supplier of organic products
• In some production systems, communal land holding practices and traceability may be constraints to organic certification
• Large-scale commercial farms undertake most organic livestock production for export. The exception is organic honey.
• Small livestock producers have little hope of entering developed country markets with organic livestock products. The best opportunities appear to be organic honey and ruminants
• Organic production on large-scale commercial farms can increase rural employment opportunities and can thus increase incomes for the poor.

Last updated: 04-1-2008