IFOAM International Animal Husbandry Alliance
The IFOAM International Animal Husbandry Alliance (IAHA) is an informal network of individuals and organizations interested in supporting and strengthening the development of organic animal husbandry.
Latest News
The IAHA Pre-Conference “Organic Animal Husbandry systems – Ways to improvement ”, linked to the IFOAM Organic World Congress, took place on Monday, September 6th and Tuesday, September 7th 2021.
The IFOAM International Animal Husbandry Alliance offered an exciting and interesting programme with 30 papers and poster contributions. There were sessions on:
- Improving organic cattle systems
- Organic production and product and process quality
- Animal health management and use of bioactive medicinal plants and other alternative therapeutics
- Sustainable livestock rearing and breeding systems for pigs
- Development, research and dissemination needs in specific areas of organic animal husbandry (Discussion in groups)
- The future of animal husbandry – perspectives from farmers and (climate) scientists (invited key-note speakers through video).
The Pre-Conference was organised both, on site in Rennes as well as on-line video conference.
You can download the final updated programme of the IAHA Pre-Conference 2021 and proceedings.
The outcome of Pre-Conference was summarised in the Rennes Declaration of IFOAM Animal Husbandry Alliance (IAHA) .
Several key-note speakers made presentations about the role of animal husbandry in a sustainable agriculture, which can be downloaded here.
Emeritus Professor Donald Broom, University of Cambridge, UK: Assessing Food Sustainability;
Dr Florian Leiber, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, FiBL, Switzerland: Can global grassland regions be a backbone of sustainable food production? A case study roadmap;
Dr Marc Benoit, INRA, France: How could livestock farming maximize organic production at a global scale?
Successful IAHA Video Conference in September 2020
IAHA has organised a video conference on September 21, 2020 (morning) and September 22, 2020 (morning) on Organic Animal Husbandry Systems.
There were 15 paper contributions and 5 posters presented on different aspects of organic animal husbandry. 140 persons had registered.
All the texts of the contributions can be found in the IAHA proceedings “Organic Animal Husbandry systems – challenges, performance and potentials”,September 2020.
Download the proceedings here.
Download the press release here.
Furthermore, you can download here the responses to questions in the chat of the IAHA pre-conference in September 2020.
IAHA Newsletter
In this newsletter you will find the reminder about the deadlines for submitting contributions to both, the Science Forum at the Organic World Congress 2020 in Rennes, France and the IAHA Pre-Conference. There is also more detailed information about the Pre-Conference itself.
History
The October 2011 General Assembly of IFOAM - Organics International recommended that animal husbandry be given more emphasis by our organization. A group of interested individuals, supported by the IFOAM World Board, began to organize and the IFOAM Animal Husbandry Alliance (IAHA) was born in November 2012 upon approval by the World Board. IAHA is the global platform for addressing animal health and welfare, breeding techniques, feeding (e.g. roughage versus concentrates), and related issues.
Objectives & Activities
The most recent IAHA contributions include:
- A platform for researchers, advisors, farmers, and other interested parties to be heard. This was achieved through a pre-conference on animal husbandry held at the 2017 Organic World Congress (OWC);
- A workshop on organic livestock development issues at the 2017 OWC;
- Policy recommendations for the IFOAM General Assembly on the organic sector and movement can support and develop animal husbandry.
IAHA would like to become more active in supporting organic livestock producers through increased advocacy and input into IFOAM decision-making. The network would also like to facilitate learning opportunities at the farmer, institutional, and organizational levels and be in a position to provide recommendations to stakeholders in the organic movement.
Want to get involved? Simply fill out the IAHA-Questionnaire to join the community and receive IAHA's newsletters
Contact
For all IAHA-related inquiries: iaha@ifoam.org
Steering Group
- Otto Schmid ( Switzerland)
otto.schmid@fibl.org - Angela Escosteguy (Brazil)
angela@ibembrasil.org - Chris Atkinson (UK)
catkinson@soilassociation.org - Mahesh Chander (India)
mahesh64@email.com - Muazzez Cömert Acar(Turkey)
muazzezcomert35@gmail.com - Marion Johnson (New Zealand)
marion.johnson@actrix.co.nz - François Labelle (Canada)
flabelle@valacta.com
