http://orgprints.org/2710/ Dairy farms: constraints and recommendations for enhancing health, welfare and food saftey (Workshop results) Smolders, G. Walkenhorst, Michael Padel, S. Health and welfare Results - It is necessary to improve the information to the public (who are the taxpayer and pay the subsidies) about organic farming as a system, that improves animal health and welfare. - Consumers must get accurate information about the organic products they buy. - Producers should be informed about organic farming before they convert (so they know what to expect): they should be told about the regluations and pointed to the available information about organic farming. - Veterinarians should be informed (part of the teaching curriculum in vet schools) about the holistic system, the importance of preventive health management on organic farms and about alternative treatments. - In communication to the policy makers (the government), organic farming should be presented as a different farming system and not as a conventional system with some alteration. SAFO Sustaining Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming. A European Commission funded Concerted Action Project Hovi, M. Martini, A. Padel, S. 2003 Book chapter NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://orgprints.org/2710/1/walkenhorst-2003-working-group-report-dairy-farms.pdf Smolders, G.; Walkenhorst, Michael and Padel, S. (2003) Dairy farms: constraints and recommendations for enhancing health, welfare and food saftey (Workshop results). In: Hovi, M.; Martini, A. and Padel, S. (Eds.) Socio-economic aspects of animal health and food safety in organic farming systems. Proceedings of the 1st SAFO Workshop. 5.-7. September 2003, Florence, Italy, SAFO Sustaining Animal Health and Food Safety in Organic Farming. A European Commission funded Concerted Action Project, pp. 91-93. http://orgprints.org/2710/http://orgprints.org/2710/1/