Research to support the development of organic food and farming - Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective - page 372

standards applied are included (Lund and Algers 2003). The location of the experiment in terms
of soil and climate is also an important context for the results. The Danish crop rotation experi-
ments are carried out at four different locations in Denmark (Olesen et al . 1999), and even within
this fairly small geographical area the results so far show clear differences between the different
locations (Askegaard et al . 2004). The differences are not only in yields, but also in the interac-
tions between location (soil, climate) and rotations. A further issue is that the organic standards
have changed over time (Woodward and Vogtmann 2004), meaning that past research carried
out within organic systems may not be applicable today. One example of this is Watson et al .
(1993) who describe a farm that imports large quantities of conventional poultry manure.
Trewavas (2001) quotes this work to show that organic farming is unsustainable although the
system in question would now not be certifiable. Regional differences in standards also need to
be accounted for in comparing published literature. Lund and Algers (2003) give examples of
how the organic animal husbandry standards differ between three neighbouring European
countries.
There are also many organic experimental farms used in organic research, but these farms
are less well documented in the literature than the long-term experiments. In Zanoli and Krell
(1999) a preliminary overview is given of some of these farms. Case studies (e.g. Cobb et al .
1999) are a good example of how the socioeconomic and biophysical aspects of organic farming
can be brought together.
Participatory research
Participatory research methods, which have been commonly used in developing countries
(e.g. Bellon 2001), are now being widely accepted in industrialised countries in both conven-
tional (e.g. Cerf et al 2000) and organic farming (e.g. Krell and Zanoli 2000, Andrews et al .
2002). A range of participatory research methods are used from action research to on-farm
research. In action research, the research goals are determined by the participants in the system
in question. On-farm research, however, may be more or less 'participatory' depending on how
much the farmer, farm workers, advisers and others are involved in the research. There is,
thus, no sharp dividing line between on-farm research and the experimental research farms
mentioned above.
Cross-disciplinary research
The desire to make research in organic agriculture more holistic or systemic is based on ideas
and aims within the organic movement: a holistic perception of health, aspirations towards
more fair food systems, and aims to farm in systems that are more self-sufficient, based on
natural structures and processes within the system, and with limited options for utilising
outside inputs as a means to improve growth and protect against pests and diseases. The same
desire can also be found partly within research in conventional agriculture based primarily on
the recognition of farms as systems in their own right. But due to the comprehensive ideas and
aims of organic agriculture, there is a particular emphasis on the problems related to science
being fragmented by disciplinary specialisation. Some in the science community have tradi-
tionally undervalued the need for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work and for meth-
odological and organisational structures that can facilitate such work (Dalgaard et al . 2003)
although recent advances in whole-farm research methods are creating the methods and struc-
tures needed to carry out robust holistic research (e.g. Firbank et al . 2003, Perry et al . 2003).
The notions of systemic science and wholeness-oriented research seem to capture essential
features of an important shift in the conception of what science is as well as in the general
methodology and structure of science. The shift is related to the involvement of science in new
complex areas, such as the socioecological problems of society and environment. Here, differ-
ent disciplines such as ethics, sociology, ecology and chemistry ought to be in close coopera-