4 th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ORGANIC AGRICULTURE IN MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATES: THREATS AND SOLUTIONS

Summary

Because of the pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, 4th IFOAM AgriBioMediterraneo (IFOAM
ABM) Conference on Organic Agriculture and 11th Ecology İzmir Fair activities were postponed in
2020 to a later date. After 2 years, the Ecology fair organized on 26-29 May 2022 in Gaziemir İzmir
Türkiye. The 4
th International Conference on Organic Agriculture in Mediterranean Climates:
Threats and Solutions organized together with Ecological Agricultural Organization Association
(ETO), IFOAM AgriBioMediterraneo (IFOAM ABM), International Society of Organic Farming
Research (ISOFAR), Ege University Agriculture Faculty, the Aegean Exporters' Associations, İzmir
Fair Services Culture and Art Works Trade. Inc. (IZFAŞ) and Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
Bari (CIHEAM Bari). The Conference was a three-day meeting consisting of oral and poster
presentations and panel discussions. The Conference was organized at the İzmir Fair (Gaziemir)
Conference Hall, which also hosts two fairs as Ekoloji for organic products and services, OLIVTECH
Olive, Olive Oil, Dairy Products, Wine & Technologies Fair during the same period. This created an
opportunity to visit stands and meet the exhibitors.
The 4
th International Conference on Organic Agriculture in Mediterranean Climates: Threats and
Solutions aimed to bring together academia and practice in the Mediterranean as well as in regions
where Mediterranean climate prevails. The participants could be able to discuss different facets of the
threats of today and future posed on organic agriculture and deliver applicable solutions during the
conferance. The climate change issue was a major threat with high probability and high impact on land,
water biodiversity and human resources, which in turn affects the system designs, production patterns,
pest, disease, and weed prevalence, human resources, and the marketing channels of organic goods
and services. The Mediterranean Sea is already a tragic symbol of migration. Migration whether
domestic from rural towards urban or to other countries, or from one continent to the other will be
triggered with the climate change and others as economic or political instability. Aging of the population
especially in rural requires innovative solutions not only in agriculture but also in related fields. Organic
agriculture with basic principles that favor health of the soil, plant, animal, human and planet as
indivisible can bring solutions for agroecosystem management to overcome challenges of climate
change and deliver healthy and nutritious produce. Services brought by can be better preserved,
managed and/or diversified. The Mediterranean diversity embeds healthy diets, culture, and tourism as
regional values. Sharing research results, experiences and best practices could contribute to identify
the problems and threats, to discuss sustainability point of view, to derive applicable solutions and to
establish cooperation for future networking. This very rich and diverse programme was only possible
thanks to a strong engagement of the organizing committee (Alexis Giannarakis, Alev Kır, Barbaros
Çetinel, Constantinos Machairas, Ebru Pınar Saygan Ayaydın, Emre Bilen, Gökçem Delibacak,
Muazzez Cömert Acar, Nebahat Kılıç, Nurhayat Bayturan, Oğuz Aşçıoğlu, Osman Çetin, Uygun Aksoy,
Ülfet ERDAL) and the support of the with ETO, IFOAM ABM, ISOFAR, Ege University Agriculture
Faculty, The Aegean Exporters' Associations, IZFAŞ. CIHEAM-Bari and TÜBİTAK. We very much
acknowledge the support by members of the Scientific Advisory Board, which helped to review the
papers. A special thanks go to Prof. Dr. Uygun AKSOY and Özge ÇİÇEKLİ from ETO for their support
and Prof. Dr. Gerold RAHMANN from ISOFAR for backup-help with the proceedings. A big thank you
to all the presenters for providing interesting papers.