Using agroecological zones to promote European collaboration in organic farmingresearch.

摘要

Agro-ecological and other spatial information can be used to improve ourunderstanding of organic farming research issues, inform the application ofresearch from one area to another, and support collaboration and prioritisationwithin regional research programmes. Of the 25 organic farming researchpriorities identified by the IFOAM EU Group in 2004, 15 were related to regionaldifferences in agroecological conditions. The other priorities were potentiallyaffected by spatial differences in political, institutional and socio-economicconditions. In relation to agro-ecological data, the capacity to identify i)general agro-ecological areas and ii) areas with specific agro-ecologicaladvantage or stress seems particularly useful. The use of a geographicinformation system (GIS) to integrate spatial data to identify and display suchareas is illustrated with two examples.