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Rizal Dairy Farms and Organic Farming – Production, Training, Consultancy, Inc. are sister companies with that envision an organic future based on the principles of organic agriculture,
We are offering products and services to support LOHAS and Organic Agriculture.
LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.
LOHAS consumers, seek lifestyles that focus on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice.
LOHAS companies are guided are aiming to develop "responsible business activities” by providing goods and services using economic and environmentally sustainable business practices.
LOHAS products and services cover a range of market sectors and sub-sectors, including: Green building supplies, socially responsible investing and "green stocks", alternative healthcare, organic clothing and food, personal development media, yoga and other fitness products, eco-tourism and more. |
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Preamble
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These Principles are the roots from which organic agriculture grows and develops. They express the contribution that organic agriculture can make to the world, and a vision to improve all agriculture in a global context.
Agriculture is one of humankind's most basic activities because all people need to nourish themselves daily. History, culture and community values are embedded in agriculture. The Principles apply to agriculture in the broadest sense, including the way people tend soils, water, plants and animals in order to produce, prepare and distribute food and other goods. They concern the way people interact with living landscapes, relate to one another and shape the legacy of future generations.
The Principles of Organic Agriculture serve to inspire the organic movement in its full diversity. They guide IFOAM's development of positions, programs and standards. Furthermore, they are presented with a vision of their world-wide adoption.
Organic agriculture is based on:
The principle of health
The principle of ecology
The principle of fairness
The principle of care
Each principle is articulated through a statement followed by an explanation. The principles are to be used as a whole. They are composed as ethical principles to inspire action. |
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Principle of health
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Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible.
This principle points out that the health of individuals and communities cannot be separated from the health of ecosystems - healthy soils produce healthy crops that foster the health of animals and people.
Health is the wholeness and integrity of living systems. It is not simply the absence of illness, but the maintenance of physical, mental, social and ecological well-being. Immunity, resilience and regeneration are key characteristics of health.
The role of organic agriculture, whether in farming, processing, distribution, or consumption, is to sustain and enhance the health of ecosystems and organisms from the smallest in the soil to human beings. In particular, organic agriculture is intended to produce high quality, nutritious food that contributes to preventive health care and well-being. In view of this it should avoid the use of fertilizers, pesticides, animal drugs and food additives that may have adverse health effects. |
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Principle of ecology
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Organic Agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them.
This principle roots organic agriculture within living ecological systems. It states that production is to be based on ecological processes, and recycling. Nourishment and well-being are achieved through the ecology of the specific production environment. For example, in the case of crops this is the living soil; for animals it is the farm ecosystem; for fish and marine organisms, the aquatic environment.
Organic farming, pastoral and wild harvest systems should fit the cycles and ecological balances in nature. These cycles are universal but their operation is site-specific. Organic management must be adapted to local conditions, ecology, culture and scale. Inputs should be reduced by reuse, recycling and efficient management of materials and energy in order to maintain and improve environmental quality and conserve resources.
Organic agriculture should attain ecological balance through the design of farming systems, establishment of habitats and maintenance of genetic and agricultural diversity. Those who produce, process, trade, or consume organic products should protect and benefit the common environment including landscapes, climate, habitats, biodiversity, air and water. |
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Principle of fairness
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Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities
Fairness is characterized by equity, respect, justice and stewardship of the shared world, both among people and in their relations to other living beings.
This principle emphasizes that those involved in organic agriculture should conduct human relationships in a manner that ensures fairness at all levels and to all parties - farmers, workers, processors, distributors, traders and consumers. Organic agriculture should provide everyone involved with a good quality of life, and contribute to food sovereignty and reduction of poverty. It aims to produce a sufficient supply of good quality food and other products.
This principle insists that animals should be provided with the conditions and opportunities of life that accord with their physiology, natural behavior and well-being.
Natural and environmental resources that are used for production and consumption should be managed in a way that is socially and ecologically just and should be held in trust for future generations. Fairness requires systems of production, distribution and trade that are open and equitable and account for real environmental and social costs |
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Principle of care
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Organic Agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.
Organic agriculture is a living and dynamic system that responds to internal and external demands and conditions. Practitioners of organic agriculture can enhance efficiency and increase productivity, but this should not be at the risk of jeopardizing health and well-being. Consequently, new technologies need to be assessed and existing methods reviewed. Given the incomplete understanding of ecosystems and agriculture, care must be taken.
This principle states that precaution and responsibility are the key concerns in management, development and technology choices in organic agriculture. Science is necessary to ensure that organic agriculture is healthy, safe and ecologically sound. However, scientific knowledge alone is not sufficient. Practical experience, accumulated wisdom and traditional and indigenous knowledge offer valid solutions, tested by time. Organic agriculture should prevent significant risks by adopting appropriate technologies and rejecting unpredictable ones, such as genetic engineering. Decisions should reflect the values and needs of all who might be affected, through transparent and participatory processes. |
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IFOAM Press Release – August 28, 2008
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Agriculture, instead of chemicals, for food security in Africa
The third African Green Revolution Conference will take place 28 - 29 August 2008 in Oslo, Norway. High level representatives of banks and industry most of them engaged in seeds and chemical fertilizers are meeting to discuss action for an African Green Revolution. While IFOAM is welcoming the attention for the agricultural situation in Africa, it expresses its deep concern about the direction the talks in Oslo are taking: back to the past instead of looking at the future, neglecting recent scientific and societal findings.
Moses Kiggundu Muwanga, IFOAM world board member and coordinator of the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU), says that: ‘The global food crisis has inter-linkages with other man-made crises and we should search for solutions that respond to them systemically. Focusing on chemical fertilizers does not make sense: they emit considerable greenhouse gasses, both through their production and their composition of mainly nitrous oxide, and so they contribute to climate change. With energy prices going up, the cost of synthetic fertilizers will increase even more and are unaffordable for most subsistence farmers.’
Recent international reports and studies support organic agriculture as a solution for the food crisis in Africa.
The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology (IAASTD) (1) held its concluding meeting from 7-14 April in Johannesburg, South Africa, this year. Conceived in 2002 by the World Bank and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the IAASTD began to work in 2004 with the objective of improving life, health and prosperity for millions of poor farmers. The core message of the final IAASTD report is the urgent need to move away from destructive and chemical-dependent industrial agriculture and to adopt environmental modern farming methods that champion biodiversity and benefit local communities. More and better food can be produced without destroying rural livelihoods or natural resources. Local, socially and environmentally responsible methods are the solution. The IAASTD also concluded that such techniques as genetic engineering are no solution for soaring food prices, hunger and poverty. The report is definitely asking for a new agriculture paradigm, focused on the role of farmers and especially on poor farmers.
In the research paper ‘Organic Agriculture and the Global Food Supply’ (2), published in 2007, Badgley et al., from the University of Michigan focus on productivity of Organic Agriculture through a scenario study, comparing yields of organic versus conventional or low-intensive food production. The resulting estimates indicate that Organic Agriculture has the potential to produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the human population without increasing the agricultural land base. Organic yields are mostly much higher than conventional yields in tropical countries, like those in Africa. In addition, estimates of nitrogen fixation from leguminous cover are sufficient to replace the amount of synthetic fertilizer currently in use. These results indicate that Organic Agriculture could contribute quite substantially to the global food supply, thereby reducing the detrimental environmental impacts of conventional agriculture.
The FAO conference on Organic Agriculture and food security, May 2007 (3), aimed to identify organic agriculture's potential and limits in addressing the food security challenge. In conclusion, organic agriculture is presented as a “neo-traditional food system” as it merges science and traditional farming practices. It has the potential to contribute to sustainable food security through reducing input costs dramatically, improved household nutrient intake, contributing to transitional food emergency situations and to healthy diets. It also serves as a national employer through employment generation in rural areas, and can provide global environmental services, while being challenged to help mitigate climate change.
The Tigray project (4) in Northern Ethiopia has succeeded in reversing the negative agricultural developments, in an area once severely affected by problems such as soil erosion and hunger. Here, poor subsistence farmers, researchers, local advisors, agricultural experts, and the Institute for Sustainable Development have together devised a cropping system. This system is based on local inputs, biological diversity, and other ecosystem services. The project has produced a range of positive results such as higher yields, higher groundwater levels, better soil fertility, decreased susceptibility to drought, increased income, and better livelihoods.
Angela Caudle de Freitas, IFOAM’s Executive Director says that: ‘This is not the time to look for short-term solutions through chemical agriculture. It never has been and the world today more than ever needs to be investing in solid, sustainable solutions that benefit people and the environment.’ |
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Organic Pioneer Passed Away
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Masanobu Fukuoka passed away this month of August.
His vision and persistence was a powerful inspiration for generations of practitioners and promoters of a more ecological agriculture worldwide.
Background
Trained as a microbiologist in his native Japan, he began his career as a soil scientist specializing in plant pathology. At age 25, he began to doubt the wisdom of modern agricultural science. He eventually quit his job as a research scientist, and returned to his family's farm on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan to grow organic mikans. From that point on he devoted his life to developing a unique small scale organic farming system that does not require weeding, pesticide or fertilizer applications, or tilling.
The timing and circumstances of Fukuoka's conversion from Western agricultural science, parallels the new movement in the 1940s to organic farming and gardening in Europe and the US, led by pioneers like Lady Eve Balfour, Sir Albert Howard, and J.I. Rodale (founder of Rodale Press). However Fukuoka himself believed that he was going a step further than organic farming:
"The problem, however, is that most people do not yet understand the distinction between organic gardening and natural farming. Both scientific agriculture and organic farming are basically scientific in their approach. The boundary between the two is not clear." (The Road Back to Nature page 363)
At age 94, Fukuoka still managed to lecture when he could, such as at the Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. |
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Natural ingredients 2008:
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Organic Pavilion more popular than ever
Natural ingredients (Ni) 2008 announced today the launch of the Organic Pavilion, a dedicated area on the show floor focused on the booming organics market, held this year at the Paris Nord, Villepinte exhibition centre on 4-6 November 2008. IFOAM will be present at the show.
The addition of the Organic Pavilion to Ni 2008 is driven by the booming consumer market for food and drink with health and lifestyle benefits. Companies from Europe, Asia and North America as far away as Canada and the USA like Tradin, Sunopta, Northland Organic and Sipal Partners will be featuring their organic ingredients to the thousands of visitors expected to the pavilion.
Notes Marjo Eussen, Project Development Manager for Ni and the Organic Pavilion, “The Organic Pavilion, and Ni as a whole, offers the most effective gathering of organic and natural ingredients buyers and sellers in the world. We are excited to have a dedicated Organics Pavilion and expect it to be amongst the busiest areas on the show floor.”
Also new in 2008 is Ni’s co-location with Health ingredients (Hi) Europe. Hi Europe, launched in 2000, is the largest meeting place in Europe for buyers and sellers of a full range of health ingredients. Ni’s co-location with Hi is expected to deliver unrivalled visitor numbers and access to a cross-sector exhibitor base. Marjo Eussen continues, “Aligning Ni with Hi Europe is a natural fit – the crossover from event to event will provide maximum benefit to our hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors.”
As in 2007 IFOAM, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, the umbrella organization that unites, assists and leads the organic world will be present at the Ni. For the past 35 years, IFOAM has been representing and supporting the global organic movement and advocating for sustainable agricultural production systems based on the Principles of Organic Agriculture (Health, Ecology, Fairness and Care).
IFOAM’s Executive Director, Angela Caudle de Freitas, is anticipating yet another significant step in the right direction. “Our presence at Ni means a lot to us, we find Ni being a very important forum for connecting with the international community to further trade in and promotion of organic products, and to expand business networks and develop relationships with consumers, taking advantage of the booming demand for organic products.”
Since 1997 artebio is collaborating with the show organiser and is attending the exhibitors of the Organic Pavilion. Alexandra Thöring: „ We, an international agency for organic trade negotiations, consider the Organic Pavilion to be an essential forum at these international shows. Every year there are a lot of new business contacts established within the more and more complex field of sourcing organic raw materials. Also the show is outstanding due to the many realised deals made possible. This is due to the ideal date of the show in autumn – straight after the evaluation of the harvest.”
The first edition of Ni, which took place in London in 2007, attracted 116 exhibitors from 26 countries, 13,506 visitors and a conference with 206 delegates
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The IFOAM World Board
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The IFOAM World Board. From the left to the right: Masaya Koriyama; Roberto Ugas (Vice President); Urs Niggli (Vice President); Vanaja Ramprasad; Katherine DiMatteo (President); Jacqueline Haessig Alleje; Fabio Piccioli; Ong Kung Wai; Andre Leu; Moses Kiggundu Muwanga.
The IFOAM World Board is a diverse group of individuals working voluntarily to lead IFOAM. The current World Board was elected at the IFOAM General Assembly in Vignola/Italy, which took place from June 22-24, 2008. The President and the two Vice Presidents of the World Board form the Executive Board.
Current World Board Members:
President:
Katherine DiMatteo, USA
 Katherine DiMatteo is Senior Associate of Wolf, DiMatteo + Associates. From 1990 to 2006 she was the Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association in the USA. She is a founding board member and currently Secretary of the Board of The Organic Center. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Organic Materials Review Institute, and Northeast Cooperatives, Inc. including terms as President and Treasurer. She participated as a U.S. delegate on the Organic Working Group of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling from 1995-2006. DiMatteo is internationally recognized for her efforts to build consensus on organic standards and practices, and for making the connection between Organic Agriculture and a sustainable future.
Katherine was co-opted to the IFOAM World Board in 2006. In 2008 she was elected as a World Board member and selected as President of IFOAM.
Vice President:
Urs Niggli, Switzerland
 Urs Niggli was appointed director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in 1990. In addition, he is member of the Board of FiBL Germany and FiBL Austria as well as of the Czech Bioinstitut and the IBLA in Luxemburg. He was a founder of the Swiss inspection and certification company bio.inspecta, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since. In 2003, Urs initiated together with Ulrich Köpke the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) for which he has acted as vice-president since its foundation. He is member of different advisory committees for scientific institutes and universities in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. At the ETH Zürich and at Kassel University, he is currently teaching Organic Agriculture. He was appointed as an Honorary Departmental Fellowship at the Aberystwyth University in Wales.
Most recently, he helped the IFOAM EU Group to develop a long-term Research Vision and a Strategic Research Program 2025.
Vice President:
Roberto Ugas, Peru
 Roberto Ugas is a Peruvian agronomist with studies in Peru, The Netherlands and Japan. He is lecturer and researcher in horticulture at Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, as well as a consultant in rural development, agroecology, agrobiodiversity and organic agriculture. Roberto is main advisor to Peru's National Association of Ecological Farmers (ANPE) and a member of the National Commission for Organic Products (CONAPO), the advisory board that drafted the first organic regulation in the country. He acts as representative of La Molina for several national and international agreements, including those with ANPE and Slow Food. He is a member of several scientific societies, including ISOFAR and SOCLA, and of EducAndes, which promotes education for sustainable development, and has served in the board of SEPIA, a think tank dealing with agriculture and economy. Roberto is a member of GALCI, IFOAM's regional group in Latin America and for 15 years was involved with IFOAM's Accreditation Programme and, later, with IOAS, having been chair of the Accreditation Committee. He was also a member of the task force that drafted the principles and the definition of organic agriculture.
Jacqueline Haessig Alleje, Philippines
Jacqueline Haessig Alleje was born in Switzerland and has been living in the Philippines since 1988. She is co-owner of Rizal Dairy Farms, which is engaged into dairy production since 1992. Rizal Dairy Farms also operates a catering division “Petra’s naturally – green, global, gourmet” to promote organic and healthy gourmet food as a way of life. Jacqueline is teaching “Healthy Gourmet” culinary classes at a Culinary School in Manila. She is the president of Organic Farming - Production, Training and Consultancy, Inc. (OFI), which is engaged into organic vegetable production, technology development and transfer through training and consultancy and networking with producers and the researcher community. She was founding member of the Organic Producers Trade Association and the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines, and serves as Board and EC member of OCCP and actively involved in government policy formulation for the promotion and development of organic agriculture in the Philippines.
Since 1997 she actively participated in IFOAM activities, often centered on gender issues and the producers’ perspective. She is member of the IFOAM World Board since 2005, and had been re-elected in June 2008.
Moses Kiggundu Muwanga, Uganda
 Moses Kiggundu Muwanga is the National Coordinator of the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU). NOGAMU is the umbrella organization that brings together the producers, processors, exporters, NGOs and other institutions involved in organic agricultural development in Uganda. Moses’ involvement in the organic sector has been twofold: firstly by offering technical and advisory support in the areas of designing and developing organic grower schemes and businesses. Secondly he has made key contributions to the structural designing and setting up of an effective National Organic Agricultural Movement.
Moses has served on the IFOAM task force for the development of Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), and participated on the steering committee of Organic Standards East Africa (OSEA) a project run by IFOAM, and was a member of the regional standards technical working group that drafted the East African Organic Products Standards (EAOPS).
Masaya Koriyama, Japan
Masaya Koriyama has been working for a natural and organic foods home delivery company called Radish Boya (Boy) as a public relations and marketing manager since 1992. He has promoted organic food and farming to the general public in Japan for 15 years. Radish Boya started as an environmental NGO in 1977 focused on recycling movement in Japan, and began as an organic movement in 1988. Currently Radish Boya makes weekly deliveries (Box-scheme) to 96,000 households throughout Japan, making it one of the leading distributors of natural and organic farm products. Radish Boya became a member of IFOAM in 1997 and then they established IFOAM Japan in 2001 with producers, distributors, certification bodies, and NGOs to promote the Japanese organic movement.
In addition, Masaya completed masters in Global Politics (Global Civil Society) at the London School of Economics (LSE). Then he worked at IFOAM Head Office as a media fellow from November 2007 to February 2008. He is a board member of IFOAM Japan.
Here you can find an article about Masaya Koriyama published in the popular Japanese Asahi newspaper on 30 July 2008.
Ong Kung Wai, Malaysia
 Ong Kung Wai, based in Penang, Malaysia works as a consultant and trainer with Grolink, an international consultancy service for Organic Agriculture development. He functions as Administrator of Certification Alliance, a collaboration partnership of certification bodies in Asia and Europe. He is Chairperson of Organic Alliance Malaysia, a local organic sector association. He is also Director of Life Spirit, operator of a kindergarten based on Rudolf Steiner’s education method, in Penang.
Kung Wai was formerly Board member and Vice President of the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS), based in the USA. Kung Wai worked as Sustainable Agriculture Program Officer for Pesticide Action Network, Asia and the Pacific from 1994-98 before offering consultancy services. He was elected IFOAM World Board member in 2005 and re-elected in 2008. Since 2006, he has been the Chairperson of the IFOAM Norms Management Committee.
Andre Leu, Australia
Andre Leu is Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia. Its role is to develop the Australian organic sector into a major component of Australian agriculture that delivers benefits to consumers, producers and the Australian environment. The major activity has been working with the Australian Government on a regulatory system for organic products. This system will allow the organic sector control over standards setting with the regulators enforcing it. Andre was the Chair of the Far North Queensland Lychee Growers Association.
Andre is an organic farmer, growing tropical fruits in Daintree, Queensland. He has over 36 years of experience in all areas of Organic Agriculture from growing, pest control, weed management, marketing, post harvest, transport, grower organisations, developing new crops and education in Australia and in many other countries.
Fabio Piccioli, Italy
 Fabio Piccioli is an organic farmer/technician. He has been working in Organic Agriculture since 1986, in a small cooperative founded in 1979 by young unemployed persons. In 1993, he started to work in his small organic farm in Italy producing fruit and grapes for wine. From 1994 to 2000 he was President of AIAB Emilia Romagna, the Italian Organic Association in his region. Since 1999 until June 2008 he has been member of the Regional Board of AgriBioMediterraneo, the IFOAM regional group of Mediterranean Countries, and was appointed President in 2005.
In the ’90s, he started to collaborate in different Cooperation projects on Organic Agriculture and sustainable development in Latin America, Mediterranean, Africa, etc. Since 2002, he is also working as technician in organic certification, for ICEA (Ethic and Environmental Certificate Institute) in Italy and in other countries.
Vanaja Ramprasad, India
 In the past 30 odd years Dr. Vanaja Ramprasad has travelled through valleys and villages in India to understand the mainstream development and its sector-wise impact on the poor. What impacted her understanding was the largely accepted flawed analysis as the real reasons for third world poverty and hunger. Has worked with various international agencies consulting on development related work. Being a development researcher and nutritionist, she had been involved in a study in south of India during the 80s on the impact of green revolution on small farmers in the rain fed regions. The study pointed towards the loss of biodiversity which is the basis of food security .Also the loss of genetic resources at the seed level had a phenomenal impact on farmers’ independence to save their seeds. The foundation for genetic resources, ecology and energy was initiated by her in 1994 and since then has worked intensively on seed saving for and by small farmers in a sustainable manner. Has been actively involved with the State organic farming policy. The work has spread to different eco regions of the state and other parts of south of India. Vanaja ramprasad is a member of many international networks like GRAIN, IFOAM, COMPAS.
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