This past winter, UC President Janet Napolitano was eating high-end organic food at legendary Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse with a group of UC chancellors, an event hosted by famed restaurant proprietor Alice Waters.

Among the topics were population growth, world hunger and sustainable farming practices. Napolitano found the meal and conversation so inspiring that she reportedly started scribbling out ideas for a universitywide compact on a napkin. And then, in a moment that would have made John Hancock proud, all the people at the table signed it.

In July, Napolitano went public with this ambitious plan to develop food practices systemwide, expand classroom offerings about sustainable food, and increase sustainable farming practices at all UC campuses. The UC Global Food Initiative will harness the University of California's resources to address one of the critical issues of our time: how to sustainably, equitably, and nutritiously feed a world population expected to reach 8 billion by 2025.

UC Santa Cruz is poised to play a pivotal role in the movement because the campus is nothing less than "the Mothership" of sustainable agriculture, said Daniel Press, executive director of UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS).

"There is no other university with such a well-established sustainable agricultural program," said Press. He met with Napolitano in June to discuss how the campus can help push the initiative forward. After all, CASFS has been an epicenter for sustainable farming for more than 45 years, and many of the organic farmers on the West Coast have trained at the center.

Since 1967, UC Santa Cruz has been a destination for those interested in learning organic farming and gardening skills. Trainees have come from around the world. "The training we provide here is being picked up in Latin America, Europe and Asia," said Press.

With its long history as a training ground, CASFS has a national reputation for the skill and knowledge of its instructors and researchers. The center recently received a $4 million gift that is being used to create an endowment to keep CASFS a leader in the sustainable food world. This gift from an anonymous donor is the first step in building a $10 million endowment that will ensure the center's long-term productivity and impact.

Along the way, knowledge and best practices exported from UC Santa Cruz have helped "sustainable" and "organic" go mainstream.

The world has changed since the days when a group of hardworking UC Santa Cruz apprentices set up makeshift tents on the 30 acres of campus land that have become the Farm & Garden.

"Sustainable farming is no longer seen as a 'flaky, hippie' activity," said Press. "The world has taken a different view of organic agriculture than it used to."

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Food for thought

With obesity and diabetes levels rising in the Kingdom, many consumers are now taking up a bigger slice of the health food market in the country. Doctors in the city are recommending that people eat organically produced vegetables and fruits because they are more nutritious and can aid in the prevention of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, strokes and cancers. It also assists in helping people maintain a healthy weight. Mahmouda Yahiya, a dietician and blogger on healthy living, said recently: Several retailers and vendors are using chemicals these days to make vegetables and fruits look fresh. The rampant use of such chemicals destroys their nutritional benefits. Thats why we are advising patients suffering from health issues to consume foods that are grown naturally. She said that since demand has risen, many supermarkets have special sections only for organic products, making it easily available for consumers. According to the Middle East market consultancy firm Orient Planet, the organic food market in the Kingdom was estimated at over SR1 billion in 2009 accounting for 90 percent of the Gulf Cooperation Councils organic food market. A similar report issued in the same year by Frost and Sullivan projected Saudi Arabias health food market would grow by 11.8 percent a year. Mohammad Othman, a retail executive manager, said: Saudi Arabia is considered among one of the largest organic food markets in the Gulf due to the growing demand from people for the health benefits they offer. The major part of the health food market in Saudi Arabia is imported from western countries because there is a lack of consistent local suppliers. This forces retail companies to charge relatively high prices. However, the healthy food market is flourishing and is expected to increase in the coming years, he said. Yazeed Khalid, a Syrian national living in Jeddah, said: I prefer to use organic products to avoid health hazards. Although they are much more expensive, there is little chance of contamination and the end product is of good quality. Many people did not know about organic food, but now there is growing awareness as the desire to stay healthy has increased.

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Organic food gaining popularity among health conscious

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Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biological pest control. Depending on whose definition is used, organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) if they are considered natural (such as bone meal from animals or pyrethrin from flowers), but it excludes or strictly limits the use of various methods (including synthetic petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides; plant growth regulators such as hormones; antibiotic use in livestock; genetically modified organisms;[1] human sewage sludge; and nanomaterials.[2]) for reasons including sustainability, openness, independence, health, and safety.

Organic agricultural methods are internationally regulated and legally enforced by many nations, based in large part on the standards set by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), an international umbrella organization for organic farming organizations established in 1972.[3] The USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) definition as of April 1995 is:

Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony."[4]

Since 1990 the market for organic food and other products has grown rapidly, reaching $63 billion worldwide in 2012.[5]:25 This demand has driven a similar increase in organically managed farmland which has grown over the years 2001-2011 at a compounding rate of 8.9% per annum.[6] As of 2011, approximately 37,000,000 hectares (91,000,000 acres) worldwide were farmed organically, representing approximately 0.9 percent of total world farmland (2009).[7]

Traditional farming (of many kinds) was the original type of agriculture, and has been practiced for thousands of years. Forest gardening, a traditional food production system which dates from prehistoric times, is thought to be the world's oldest and most resilient agroecosystem.[8]

Artificial fertilizers had been created during the 18th century, initially with superphosphates and then ammonia-based fertilizers mass-produced using the Haber-Bosch process developed during World War I. These early fertilizers were cheap, powerful, and easy to transport in bulk. Similar advances occurred in chemical pesticides in the 1940s, leading to the decade being referred to as the 'pesticide era'.[9] But these new agricultural techniques, while beneficial in the short term, had serious longer term side effects such as soil compaction, soil erosion, and declines in overall soil fertility, along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering the food supply.[10]:10

Soil biology scientists began in the late 1800s and early 1900s to develop theories on how new advancements in biological science could be used in agriculture as a way to remedy these side effects, while still maintaining higher production. In Central Europe Rudolf Steiner, whose Lectures on Agriculture were published in 1925.[11][12][13]:[14] created biodynamic agriculture, an early version of what we now call organic agriculture.[15][16][17] Steiner was motivated by spiritual rather than scientific considerations.[13]:1719

In the late 1930s and early 1940s Sir Albert Howard and his wife Gabrielle Howard, both accomplished botanists, developed organic agriculture. The Howards were influenced by their experiences with traditional farming methods in India, biodynamic, and their formal scientific education.[11] Sir Albert Howard is widely considered to be the "father of organic farming", because he was the first to apply scientific knowledge and principles to these various traditional and more natural methods.[18]:45 In the United States another founder of organic agriculture was J.I. Rodale. In the 1940s he founded both a working organic farm for trials and experimentation, The Rodale Institute, and founded the Rodale Press to teach and advocate organic to the wider public. Further work was done by Lady Eve Balfour in the United Kingdom, and many others across the world.

There is some controversy on where the term "organic" as it applies to agriculture first derived. One side claims term 'organic agriculture' was coined by Lord Northbourne, an agriculturalist influenced by Steiner's biodynamic approach, in 1940. This side claims the term as meaning the farm should be viewed as a living organism and stems from Steiner's non scientific anthroposophy.[19] The second claim is that "organic" derives from the work of early soil scientists that were developing what was then called "humus farming". Thus in this more scientific view the use of organic matter to improve the humus content of soils is the basis for the term and this view was popularized by Howard and Rodale. Since the early 1940s both camps have tended to merge.[20][21]

Increasing environmental awareness in the general population in modern times has transformed the originally supply-driven organic movement to a demand-driven one. Premium prices and some government subsidies attracted farmers. In the developing world, many producers farm according to traditional methods which are comparable to organic farming but are not certified and may or may not include the latest scientific advancements in organic agriculture. In other cases, farmers in the developing world have converted to modern organic methods for economic reasons.[22]

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Organic farming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey, a nonprofit that supports organic food and farming in New Jersey, is offering farmers a sneak peek into the organic certification process through a three-session course called Road to Certification.

This course will be held at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, in Morristown, on Monday evenings Nov. 24, Dec. 1, and Dec. 8 from 6-9 p.m.

Featuring presentations by organic farmers, an organic inspector and an accredited certifying agent, attendees will have the opportunity to explore organic certification with professionals in the industry.

We have been getting numerous requests for this course, so we are excited to finally be able to offer it, said Camille Miller, NOFA-NJs Executive Director. There are so many questions about what it means to be certified, how to do it and whether its worth it. This class brings all of the players into the room and gives farmers a chance to really learn about the process."

Attendees will receive an introduction to organic certification, including an overview of the regulations; an in-depth look at the Organic Systems Plan; and an overview of the process in stages, from transitioning to inspection to certification and beyond. Its designed to help farmers organize their path to certification and prepare them for each step. Organic certification can offer distinct advantages to farms such as price premiums in the market and a popular consumer guarantee but the increased management time and record-keeping that it requires may be a deterrent for some.

Its our hope that this class will help interested farmers start off on the right foot, which can save them time and money, said Justine Cook, NOFA-NJs Director of Farm Operations.

The course registration fee is $200 for NOFA-NJ members and $250 for non-members. Additional details and registration information is available at http://www.nofanj.org.

This course is sponsored in part by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program of the Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, Project #1243 and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #2011-49400-30739.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-NJ) is dedicated to supporting organic and sustainable food, farming, and gardening in New Jersey through education, technical assistance, and policy action. NOFA-NJ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

For more information, visit http://www.nofanj.org.

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Organic certification class offered for North Jersey farmers