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Organic Agriculture

Dr Els Wynen is a principal of Eco Landuse Systems, which commenced operating in 1991. Els first trained as an agronomist, and subsequently as an agricultural economist.

Eco Landuse Systems provides high quality, impartial research and advice on a fee-for-service basis. Our customers range from private individuals to international governments, and we undertake work from one day to one year in duration. Terms and conditions are negotiable. Areas of expertise include:

  • Economics of farm production (description) or (publications)
  • Marketing and trade (description) or (publications)
  • Environment (description) or (publications)
  • Research policies (description) or (publications)

    Click the link "description" for a brief summary, or "publications" to go direct to a listing of downloadable papers.

    Before 1991, Els had worked with:

  • the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Africa;
  • the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Thailand;
  • the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) (the present Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences) in Canberra.

    Mid 1980s, Els decided to specialise in the econonomics of organic agriculture in Australia, and commenced a PhD on that topic at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She carried out extensive surveys with organic and conventional farmers. Since that time, Els has been involved in different areas of organic agriculture in Australia, in both policy and research. In the early years she was involved with the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA), first as a founding member (1984) and later as Publicity Officer (1986-88), Project Officer (1988-89), Overseas Marketing Consultant (1990), and Policy Adviser (1991-92). Els was a member of the Organic Produce Advisory Committee - at its inception in 1990 and again in 1995-1996 - which advised the Australian Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; and of the R&D Advisory Committee of the Organic Systems Program of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC)- at various times from the early 2000s. Els is one of the founding directors of the Journal of Organic Systems (JOS), which was established in 2005 and endeavours to publish articles of relevance to organic agriculture in Australasia and the Pacific. Els was a board member of the Organic Federation of Australia (OFA), the umbrella organisation for organic agriculture in Australia until 2008, and helped OFA establish Organic Trust Australia - Research and Education (OTARE) in 2009 - and chaired this Trust until 2017.

    In the early 2000s, Els was employed in the Australian Parliamentary Library, at various times as Agricultural Economics Specialist, and Trade Specialist.

    Early involvement with the international organic world occurred, in the early 1990s, through positions such as Overseas Marketing Consultant for NASAA, and on the Program Evaluation Committee of the International Federation for Organic Agricultural Movement (IFOAM) - to evaluate organic certification organisations in different countries. Since that time, Els has worked in and with various international institutions, including:

  • the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome: three reports relating organic agriculture to food security, research priorities and the certified organic market;
  • UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD): edit of a book on organic agriculture and developing countries, and report on harmonisation/ equivalence of organic standards and regulations in the world;
  • the Danish Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Economics (SJFI) in Denmark: report on the effect on Danish agriculture of a major shift to organic farming;
  • the Danish Association of Organic Agriculture (LOEJ): analysis of the scope for a UN Soil Convention;
  • several EU universities, such as in Jutland (Denmark) on marketing in the EU, and Aberystwyth (UK) on EU policies;
  • Swiss Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FIBL): literature review;
  • the UK Department for International Development (DFID): review of a report on organic agriculture in Bangladesh;
  • World Bank: report on multifunctionallity;
  • OECD: report on organic producers and their problems;
  • International Trade Centre (Geneva): report on collection and dispersing of data aiding trade in organic products from developing countries.

    More recently Els has worked on the availability and measurement of farm-gate data of organic farms in Australia.

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