Introduction - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 2

Chapter 1
Introduction

Bernhard Freyer and Jim Bingen

1.1 Foreword

As we witness the continuing growth in organic food production and markets around
the world, we join with many others in our concern that “organic has lost its way”
or, lost sight of its first or fundamental philosophical principles and assumptions.
The discussions that led to this volume started in June 2007 during a short visit by
Jim Bingen to the Division of Organic Agriculture, University of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria in order to explore of teaching and
research exchanges between Michigan State University and BOKU under the
auspices of ELLS-NA. 1 Based on shared concerns discussed during this visit, we
organized an open roundtable to explore these concerns with other researchers at
the Second Scientific Conference of ISOFAR 2 in Modena, Italy from 18 to 20 June
2008. At this meeting, Bernhard Freyer invited Jim Bingen to apply for a Fulbright
Distinguished Chair position at BOKU. During this incredibly rich and stimulating
4-months (October 2009-January 2010), we jointly offered a seminar on Organic