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 4th QLIF congress
Thursday, June 19th
What is QLIF?
QLIF—or QualityLowInputFood—is an Integrated Project under the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) that started in 2004 and brings together European research on a wide range of low
input and organic farming research, from consumer perceptions of quality to individual activities on the farm. QLIF aims to improve the quality and safety of organic and “low-input” food, while reducing its cost to the consumer. The project consortium includes 34 partners from 15 countries.
Details about QLIF can be found at www.qlif.org.
Purpose of the workshops
Many results generated in QLIF will be presented within the 2nd ISOFAR Scientific Conference
“Cultivating the future based on Science” (in the frame of the Scientific Research Track). But, after four years of intense research work, it is now time to review results and put the findings back into the background of organic and low input farming and the current research landscape. For that purpose, we will organize five interdisciplinary workshops. These workshops will spark discussions across disciplines, emphasize how the results are linked together, and join forces to distill ideas for future research.
At the beginning of each workshop, a synthesis paper will be presented and two or three speakers will be invited to comment on it. Then, workshop participants will discuss the synthesis paper focused on a set of questions and aims that will be specific to each workshop. The workshops are open to all conference participants and the synthesis papers will be available online at
www.qlif.org prior to the workshops.
The workshops
Workshop 1:
Product quality in organic and low input farming systems
QLIF researchers have quantified effects on food quality and health of products such as wheat, forage, apples, milk, and meat. The workshop identifies factors that cause variation of the product quality for different commodities. Experimental findings on quality of organic and low input foods will be compared with consumer expectations and attitudes. For selected quality-improving measures, their economic impact will be analyzed. Furthermore, the role of processing in maintaining or
improving specific “organic” qualities will be examined.
Workshop 2:
Safety of foods from organic and low input farming systems
In this workshop, we will summarize the results of the QLIF project on food safety issues. The participants discuss safety problems related to organic and low input standards and techniques for both animal and plant products. They will relate the findings to consumers’ perception and concern. Improved production and processing techniques will be suggested.
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