CertCost

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

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.

News

23 June 2010	Sad farewell to Dr. Rainer Bächi
Dr. Rainer Bächi, founder and director of the Institute for Marketecology (IMO), a CERTCOST partner institution, died on June 10 in a car accident. Rainer Bächi was a charismatic pioneer in organic certification and an inspiring person to work with. We are grateful for his contribution and we feel sympathy with his family, his friends and his colleagues at IMO. More about his life can be learned at the IMO website.

28 May 2010	Fourth project meeting well accomplished
The fourth CERTCOST project meeting was held in Prague, Czech Republic, under the auspices of the Hotel Diplomat and organized by Czech University of Life Sciences, CULS. During the project meeting, the partners presented progress and the schedule also made room for important discussions of research results. As usual, The CERTCOST project coordinator, Stephan Dabbert, did a great job to ensure an effective yet positive meeting spirit. The Prague Castle and surroundings made a very pleasant stage for the CERTCOST meeting. The 4th project meeting of CERTCOST took place on 5-7 May 2010 and was well organised by the Czech project partners from CULS in Prague.

29 April 2010	CERTCOST is represented at the 4th European Organic Congress
Several CERTCOST partners are represented at the 4th European Organic Congress in Rome (June 21-22, 2010). Stephan Dabbert from the University of Hohenheim, Raffaele Zanoli, Univ. Ancona, and Beate Huber from FiBL presents preliminary findings and research results from the CERTCOST project. Also Antonio Compagnoni from ICEA moderates a scientific session, while Lizzie M. Jespersen from ICROFS reports from one of the sessions. The initiative is undertaken by the IFOAM EU Group in conjunction with Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) in the frame of the InterBio project. The congress is co-financed by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and DG Environment of the European Commission. It is an opportunity for the organic sector to evaluate and discuss the changing legislative framework for organic farming in Europe. Read the conference programme...

26 April 2010	Get the presentations from BioFach workshop
At a BioFach workshop in February 2010, selected CERTCOST partners presented and discussed fresh results of the EU project. You can get the four presentations by clicking below: 1. Database on European actors involved in organic standards setting and certification 2. A first qualitative insight into administrative costs of organic certification systems 3. Consumer attitudes towards the new EU labelling and the existing organic logos 4. Supervision of the organic control system in Europe

10 February 2010	New organic EU logo on the shelves from July 1st.
Almost 130,000 people have voted online to choose the new organic symbol from three finalists. The winning logo depicts a light green leaf drawn by a number of EU stars. This new organic logo is going to label all organic products produced in the EU. Read more about logos and labelling at ec.europa.eu.