In September 2021, the French city of Rennes will receive thousands of visitors for the emblematic Organic World Congress – the largest organic gathering in the world! But did you know that in the days leading up to the congress, some delegates will also participate in one of eight, topic-specific pre-conferences? Interested in joining but don’t know which one to choose? No problem, we have created an overview to help you!
Policies Driving Sustainability in Agriculture
- Applying the concept of true cost accounting in policymaking
- Using the power of public contracts
- Developing organic and agroecological action plans
- Building a Community of Practice and linking it with related networks
- Increasing awareness of strong connections between sustainability and ethical values of organic food systems
Date: 7 September 2021
Organic Animal Husbandry Systems – Their Performances, Potential, Possibilities and Challenges
- Organic husbandry in a farming system approach
- Animal-friendly, sustainable feeding and grazing systems
- Breeding programs and strategies
- Animal welfare approaches and strategies
- Animal health and use of bioactive medicinal plants
- Role of animals for optimizing plant production systems and global agricultural production
- Organic livestock products and marketing organic livestock practices
- Importance of livestock to healthy soils, pastures, ecosystems, nutrition
Date: 6-7 September 2021
Read More: Organic Animal Husbandry Systems
Publish or Perish – Intensifying and Qualifying Scientific Publication of Organic Agriculture Research
- ‘How To’ for scientific publishing in peer-reviewed journals, publication standards, technical procedures and research marketing
- Introduction to ISOFAR (International Society on Organic Agriculture Research)
- Research on organic agriculture
Date: 7 September 2021
Read More: Publish or Perish
Seed Ambassadors: Building an International Network to Advance Organic Seed Systems
- Celebrating culinary diversity and exploring the potential to breed for taste and flavor
- Plant breeding methods, approaches, and models for supporting the transition to truly sustainable food systems
- Participatory plant breeding and seeds as commons as tools to integrate biodiversity in society
- Supporting the growth and success of the next generation of organic plant breeders and seed ambassadors
- Innovating a systems approach for organic plant breeding to reflect IFOAM principles, addressing the needs of people and planet
Date: 6-7 September 2020
Read More: Seed Ambassadors
Improving Transparency Along the Supply Chain and the Relevance of Organic Farming Statistics
- Global data on organic agriculture
- International trade data for the European Union and the US: status and issues
- The perspective of exporting countries
- Traceability tools and the role organic farming statistics can play in their improvement
- Recommendations for tools, actions, interactions, innovations, models, and policies to improve data availability, transparency, and fraud prevention
Date: 7 September 2021
30 Years of PGS Development: a Root and Branch Appraisal
- PGS implementation and adaptation in cultural contexts
- Marketing approaches
- Participation, motivation, and strategies for ensuring economic viability of PGS initiatives
- Government recognition and donor support
- Scope of quality guarantee
- Benefits of and challenges for upscaling PGS
- Creation of international PGS networks
- Best practices for technology, knowledge building, and continuous improvement
- PGS strategies for building and managing knowledge
- How PGS initiatives are using digital tools to support social innovation
Date: 6 September 2021
Read More: 30 Years of PGS
The Future of Organic Farming and Agroecology in Europe: The Role of Regions
- Elaborating strategies for the development of organic farming and agroecology management in Europe
- Have a better understanding of the priorities of different regions across Europe
- Identify the strategies in place and how to achieve them by making the best use of the new European policy framework
Date: 7 September 2021
Read More: The Future of Organic Farming and Agroecology in Europe
For information about OWC 2020, please visit the event website: