Welcome to CERTCOST
What is CERTCOST?
CERTCOST is a European research project supported by the European Commission. This project runs for three years, from September 2008 to August 2011.
Purpose of CERTCOST
The main project objective is to generate research based knowledge on how to improve the organic food certification system in terms of efficiency, transparency and cost effectiveness.
Read more about the CERTCOST project...
Coordinator of CERTCOST
The project is coordinated by Professor Stephan Dabbert (photo) at the University Hohenheim
Contact
certcost@uni-hohenheim.de
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This project is supported by the European Commission under the SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME, Collaborative project, Small or medium-scale focused research project.
The contents of these pages are the sole responsibility of the publishers. These pages in no way represent the views of the Commission or its service.
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News
| 30 November 2009 |
CERTCOST workshop at BioFach |
At the the World Organic Trade Fair BioFach, the CERTCOST partners will present the CERTCOST project.
Presentation of findings from the project
At the BioFach fair workshop in Nuremberg, the project partners will present findings from the project about
- administrative costs of organic certification systems across Europe,
- consumer attitudes towards the new EU labelling and the existing organic logos,
- supervision of the organic control system in Europe,
- database on European actors involved in organic standards setting and certification
All interested people are welcomed to participate in the discussion about the issues given below.
Event details and further information
BioFach Fair, Nuremberg, Friday, February 19, 2010, 14.00-16.30, in the Hongkong Room E. For further information please contact Michal Lostak from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, who is the member of CERTCOST team.
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| 10 November 2009 |
Third project meeting in Izmir well accomplished |
The third CERTCOST project meeting was held in Izmir Denmark, under the auspices of the Swissôtel and organized by EGE University.
During the project meeting, the partners presented progress and discussed research results. A considerable amount of planning was also on the agenda, and an effective, slightly revised plan for the next vital parts of the project is now in place.
The CERTCOST project coordinator, Stephan Dabbert, did a great and insisting job to ensure an effective and positive meeting spirit, and not least to secure a sound future path of the project.
The Turkish surroundings made an exotic and very pleasant stage for the CERTCOST meeting.
The 3rd project meeting of CERTCOST took place on 5-7 October 2009 and was well organised by the Turkish project partners from EGE University in Izmir, Turkey
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| 27 August 2009 |
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| 29 July 2009 |
Economic theory applied on organic food products |
A new public CERTCOST report applies economic theory on food products and the certicifation system. It also presents a brief overview on the organic certification system itself.
Economic theory applied
Based on a synopsis of the existing literature, the authors have developed a theoretical framework of organic certification and classified relevant transaction costs, which are specifically linked to the production and commerce of organic food products.
Glossary explains organic certification terms
The report also contains a brief and concise overview on the organic certification system itself. This glossary is a very helpful collection and explanation of specific terms for everybody interested in the organic certification system. Relevant terms regarding inspection and certification (part A) and economic concepts (part B) are compiled in the glossary, to be found in the "annex" of this report.
A history of organic certification
The organic certification in place in the European Union was established in the 1990s. The idea of organic agriculture however is much older, dating back to the 1920s. The first chapter of the report presents the development of organic farming and the resulting formation of today’s certification system.
Get the public CERTCOST report |
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| 25 June 2009 |
Second project meeting in Viborg was successful |
The second CERTCOST project meeting was held in Viborg, Denmark, under the auspices of ICROFS and the University of Aarhus.
During the project meeting, the progress and first research results were presented and discussed by the project partners. Future work plans were slightly rescheduled for the sake of the most beneficial overall outcome of the project.
The CERTCOST project coordinator, Stephan Dabbert, made an excellent job to ensure an effective and positive meeting spirit, and there was a sense of motivation and excitement among the partners owing to the presentations of the first preliminary research results. Unfortunately, these results are not made public yet.
The Danish surroundings made a good meeting platform for the CERTCOST partners responsible for the project tasks of the various work packages.
The 2nd project meeting of CERTCOST took place on 25-27 May 2009 and was well organised by Lizzie Melby Jespersen, Grethe Hansen, and Simon O. Rebsdorf from ICROFS in Viborg, Denmark.
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Public reports from CERTCOST
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Project meeting
6-7 May 2010 in Prague
Organic Eprints
Search the open archive database for literature research on organic farming, certification, rules etc. |
Organic rules and certification
Please search this database for organic rules, certification bodies and -systems |
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