“These days, the word ‘crisis’ is everywhere. People talk of triple crises including the ecological, social, and economic crises. Ecological crises are resource challenges such as
preserving clean water, fertile soils, biodiversity, and implementing climate change
mitigation. The most pressing social crises are poverty and the one billion—
disgracefully, more than ever—hungry people. The economic crises not only include the banking crisis and the recession in many countries, but also the fact that
transformations in agricultural systems force smallholder farmers out of their
existence. We, as members of the organic movement, realize that these global crises
reflect the sustainability dimensions that the organic world has sought to improve
for as long as it has existed. The organic movement is not just there to fulfill demand for a niche market—although the market is constantly growing and convincing more people. The organic movement offers the world its successful and proven ways
to address the global challenges.
At no other time has there been such an opportunity to make organic principles and systems a beacon for sustainable development throughout the world. Agro-ecological agriculture,
represented best by organic principles and systems, is a multifunctional solution to many global
problems that are reaching crisis proportions, including environmental degradation, hunger, and
economic and social injustice.”
—Markus Arbenz, Executive Director, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)
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ORGANIC PROCESSING
