Concept

Organic-PLUS comprises three large topical work packages. WP PLANT aims to minimise the need for Copper and Mineral Oils used for plant health control. It will build on the results and conclusions of previous research projects in the area (especially the EU-funded project Co Free, targeting copper replacement in potato, apples and grapes). WP LIVESTOCK will consider three categories of contentious inputs: use of natural plant sources of vitamins as an alternative to synthetic products, use of anti-infective and immune-stimulatory molecules from plants products as alternatives to synthetic antibiotics, and use of alternative and novel bedding materials in place of the straw from conventional farms. WP SOIL will consider alternatives to animal manure from non-organic farms and other animal-derived inputs, peat (still the most commonly used growing media in organic plant nurseries and plastic mulches derived from fossil fuels (widely used in organic horticulture to suppress weeds). WP MODEL will assess the operational and economics consequences for different pathways to phasing out non-compatible external input in organic production systems as well as evaluating selected system changes preventing the necessary use of contentious inputs. This will include system modelling for evaluating the cost-benefit, feasibility, and operational management options for the different pathways and methods applied to alternative organic compatible external inputs to targeted aspects of horticulture, plant and an animal production. Specifically, this will include an environmental assessment as well as a sustainability assessment conducted for representative farming systems to test and validate the proposed methodologies and compared and benchmarked with traditional systems and methods. WP IMPACT will be concerned with researching consumer conceptions of contentious inputs and disseminating knowledge gathered form all the other work packages.