Organic farming and organic foods, including plant-based foods, must be developed in relation to specific production conditions if Danish organic farming is to maintain its international leadership and meet future consumer demands.
In 2024, the government allocated 70 million kroner to organic research through the 10th edition of the Organic RDD program. The funds finance 10 new, exciting research projects that support Denmark's ambitions for growth and development in organic farming.
The project themes:
In ICROFS' invitation for new Organic RDD 10 projects, emphasis was placed on the projects broadly addressing the six focus areas in ICROFS' Research and Development Strategy 2023: Circular bioeconomy, Climate and environment, Biodiversity, Health and welfare, Future organic consumer, and Organic farming as a livelihood. As seen in the list below, the 10 selected projects reflect this broad approach.
At ICROFS, we look forward to sharing news and knowledge from the projects that will start in early 2025!
Below, you can visit the individual project websites to learn more about the projects' content and planned studies.
WaspAlliance
The project will measure the effectiveness of wasps as pest controllers in kale and compare it with existing protection to see if wasps can replace plastic nets. At the same time, methods will be developed to ensure that there are enough wasps in the fields and that they can be handled without posing a danger to humans. Wasps are not only suitable for protecting kale. The expectation is that they can protect many other crops against many different pests.
Project participants: Aarhus University - FOOD, Aarhus University - Ecoscience
RUPIN
"Development of organic high-quality rye and lupin for human consumption"
The project aims to develop new high-yielding, quality-stable varieties of rye and lupin, which are necessary for organic farmers to produce high-quality crops for the food industry while ensuring reliable and safe supply to buyers. The project will explore and analyze a broader range of quality characteristics in rye in addition to falling number, which is traditionally used as the primary quality indicator.
Project participants: Nordic Seed, Technological Institute, Aarhus University - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, University of Copenhagen - Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
GLORY
"Grain Legume and Oilseed Rape integration in robust organic cropping systems"
The project focuses on how winter rape combined with either peas for consumption or clover grass best fits into crop rotations while keeping nitrate leaching and thus greenhouse gas emissions at a low level. This includes ensuring a satisfactorily low weed pressure before and after the cultivation of the crops while reducing disease levels.
Project participants: Aarhus University - AGRO, Aarhus University - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Organic Consultancy Denmark, Phidan Engineering
GRAINGOOD "Quality assurance and diversity in organic grain products"
The project will develop new exciting grain varieties for human consumption, which will improve the quality of Danish grain products. The focus in breeding is to ensure baking quality under organic conditions with low fertilizer levels and diversity in the supply. To achieve this, the project will develop new genetic methods to identify resistant varieties with high baking quality.
Project participants: Landsorten, Agrologica
QUALIPORK "Adding value in the organic pig production by improving the quality of pig life, pork, and environment"
QUALIPORK's goal is to improve the competitiveness of Danish organic pork in national and global high-quality markets by promoting multidimensional quality from 'farm to fork'. This will be achieved by exploring, developing, and demonstrating an alternative to the current organic pig production. A key element is to offer pigs varied and stimulating free-range environments supplemented with seasonally differentiated forage crops.
Project participants: Aarhus University - AGRO, Aarhus University - ANIVET, Aarhus University - FOOD, Innovation Center for Organic Farming, Risbjerg, Hallundbjerg, Spis min gris, Funager Frilandsdyr
NextOrganic "Next Generation Organic Feed for Pigs and Poultry Enriched in Essential Amino Acids"
A major challenge for Danish and European organic pig and poultry production is that organic feed cannot provide sufficient amounts of essential amino acids, and therefore protein is given in excess to meet the animals' amino acid needs. This leads to lower feed efficiency and production, poor health, aggression, increased feed costs, and nitrogen emissions. NextOrganic addresses these issues by developing new organic solutions to enrich organic feed with the most limiting amino acids.
Project participants: Aarhus University - ANIVET, DTU, Vestjyllands Andel, Innovation Center for Organic Farming, Risbjerg Farm, Gothenborg, Agriculture & Food, Danish Agro
SoilHeal "Tailored management of organic dairy crop rotations to reduce carbon footprint and improve soil health"
Increased carbon storage mitigates climate change while promoting soil health and functionality. The purpose of the SoilHeal project is to identify and quantify the effects of cultivation measures in organic cattle crop rotations that maximize carbon storage while improving soil health and minimizing nitrogen loss.
Project participants: Aarhus University - AGRO, Innovation Center for Organic Farming, Thise Dairy
CloseFerVeg "Closed cycles and fertile soils by undersown catch crops in vegetable production"
The project aims to reduce nitrate and nitrous oxide losses from intensive vegetable production, maintain soil fertility and carbon sequestration in high-yield vegetable production, document the climate footprint of vegetable cultivation and undersown catch crops using life cycle analyses, and promote climate- and environmentally-friendly production of organic vegetables using catch crops.
Project participants: Aarhus University - FOOD, Aarhus University - AGRO, HortiAdvice A/S
ØKO-HOLDBAR "Optimal longevity in organic dairy cows"
Longevity in dairy cows plays a significant role in production economics, animal welfare, and climate/environmental impact. The project will develop a model that can predict the optimal longevity in individual organic dairy herds. The model will consider various herd-specific factors and optimize both production economics, climate footprint, and animal welfare. Additionally, the project will investigate consumer attitudes and preferences regarding the importance of longevity for animal welfare and climate impact.
Project participants: Aarhus University - ANIVET, SimHerd, University of Copenhagen - Department of Food and Resource Economics, Velas
CloverValue "Increased organic plant and biogas production based on expansion of grass-clover on stockless farms"
Organic crop production has insufficient access to nutrients, relies on conventional fertilizers, and has a high climate impact per unit of production. The project's goal is to increase yield and reduce climate impact by improving nutrient supply based on nitrogen from nitrogen-fixing plants. Clover makes nitrogen available to crops and is enhanced through biogas production. The aim is to create plant-based fertilizers, investigate value chain barriers and motivations, and evaluate the biogenic carbon flow.
Project participants: Innovation Center for Organic Farming, University of Copenhagen - Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Nature Energy, Danish biocommodities, Aarhus University - Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University - Agroecology
Organic RDD stands for "Organic Research, Development, and Demonstration Program," and is a Danish research program coordinated by ICROFS in collaboration with GUDP (Green Development and Demonstration Program), which funds the program.