Better organic data for Europe: project launches discussion forum on the problems of compiling organic market data

A public discussion on the improvement of organic market data collection in Europe is now open at the Organic Data Forum. The online OrganicDataForum was set up to provide a platform for discussion and the exchange of ideas on any topics related to organic market data and is intended to make available a networking space for organic data owners, collectors and publishers. Through the web forum it is possible to participate actively in the network by proposing topics and issues to be considered in order to make organic market information more accurate, more relevant and more available.

The Organic Data Forum can be found at:
http://www.organicdatanetwork.net/odn-organicdataforum.html

This initiative follows the Organic Data Network stakeholder workshop which took place on 13 March 2013. Around 30 stakeholders from 17 European countries and from Morocco and Tunisia attended the workshop (1) held at the Organic Research Centre in the UK.

Participants identified problems in data collection, improvement opportunities and ease of implementation and also the main areas for which good organic market data are difficult to obtain (availability and quality): retail sales, international trade and price data.

Among the key suggestions were:

• collection of missing relevant data;
• harmonisation of organic market data in terms of methods, classification and definitions;
• use of Rural Development Programmes and other funds to provide incentives for better organic data collection; and
• technical support for data collectors through the provision of advice and a handbook, as well as the creation of national round tables for the exchange of views on data collection issues.

The mandatory collection of market data by control bodies to improve both the inspection system and market transparency was discussed.

A detailed summary of the workshop results will soon be published by the OrganicDataNetwork project consortium and will be available on the project’s website www.organicdatanetwork.net.

Professor Raffaele Zanoli from Università Politecnica delle Marche, the coordinator of the OrganicDataNetwork project, stated: “We hope that we can use this forum to further discuss and refine the challenges related to organic market data collection. This information will feed into a second workshop in Bari, Italy (10-11 July 2014), which will focus on the solutions to the problems identified. We strongly encourage all stakeholders in organic market data collection to join the forum and to input which issues most need attention.”

“The workshop has made it very clear how important it is that we, as a project consortium, provide guidance to data collectors regarding suitable methods. I am happy to announce that one of the next products of the project - a multimedia presentation explaining good practice in data collection - will tackle exactly this need,” he added.

More information

Contact

• Prof. Dr. Raffaele Zanoli, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona
  Italy, Tel. +39 071 2204929, zanoli(at)agrecon.univpm.it, www.univpm.it
• Kai Kreuzer, Bio-Markt.Info, Waldstrasse 4, 36341 Lauterbach, Germany, Tel. +49 6641 6443008, Fax +49 6641 6445189, kk(at)bio-markt.info, www.bio-markt.info 

Note

(1) The workshop was organized by the European funded project “Data network for better European organic market information”  (OrganicDataNetwork). The project "Data network for better European organic market information" (OrganicDataNetwork) aims to increase the transparency of the European organic food market through better availability of market intelligence in the sector in order to meet the needs of policy makers and actors involved in organic markets. It is funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union and runs from 2012 to 2014.

Weblinks

• www.organicdatanetwork.net
• www.organicdatanetwork.net/odn-organicdataforum.html

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