1 The editors mention that they use the term “prototype” in the same way as Riquois [41] did, implying that organic food and farming “[are] a laboratory for the development of sustainable agriculture and food production”. Before that, however, Overridden and his colleagues in The Netherlands and other European countries had used the same term in relation to testing innovative farming methods in pilot farms, in the process of developing ecological arable farming systems. Their systems involved activities and products through five basic steps : (1) hierarchy of objectives ; (2) parameters and methods ; (3) design of theoretical prototype and methods ; (4) layout of prototype to test and improve, and (5) dissemination [42]. Bellon and Pervern have accomplished a necessary task, bringing the concept of prototyping from a purely experimental setup into a review of what the organic movement and related research institutions have achieved in recent decades. Mainly what the French sector (50 out of 74 contributors) can show, with the addition of relevant examples of research from other Western European countries and specific ones from Canada, the United States and Australia.

2 The authors divide the book into three parts according to the facets or interpretations of organic farming as a prototype : (1) system’s functioning ; (2) organic performances ; and (3) development dynamics. Aseries of distinct interpretations of what organic farming is or should be can be found in several chapters, as authors speak of eco-functional intensification, conservation biocontrol, agroecological crop protection, ecological redesign, innovative production and organisational modes or multi-scale integrated assessments. Some of these concepts often mean almost the same, but certainly contribute to the confusion of anybody interested in organics but not aware of different interpretations (Hill, in chapter 22, entitled “Considerations for enabling the ecological redesign of organic and conventional agriculture : a social ecology and psychosocial perspective”, even speaks of deep and shallow organic, which is not very different from a prevailing understanding in Latin America that tends to see organic farming as a transitional phase towards truly sustainable farming systems based on agroecology). After an excellent Chapter 1, “Organic food and farming as a prototype for sustainable agricultures”, by the editors, the rest of the book reads like a collection of very interesting but also highly specific and technical chapters that sometimes seem to belong in other of the three parts of the book. Perhaps an introductory section in each of the three parts might have helped to visualise and understand the logic behind and the connections between chapters and case studies. This, nevertheless, does not prevent the book from being an excellent update of the state of the art in organic farming research in Western Europe with a multidisciplinary perspective.

3 But there is no common understanding of what organic agriculture is. Sure, most organic regulations have similar definitions with regards to the enforcement of certification standards. These standards regulate (depending on the focus and quality of the certification system) what farmers and gatherers of wild products do in close to the 80 million hectares certified organic worldwide, as informed annually by Fibl and IFOAM [43]. In recent years, however, criticism of these narrow definitions (or at least the implementation of them through certification) has increased. Some consider that organic standards do not sufficiently tackle key issues like water conservation, energy use in agriculture, farm worker welfare or waste management. In 2008 IFOAM proposed the principles of health, ecology, fairness and care as the basis for organic agriculture and food systems, and in the definition states that it “combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved”. Some of the forces that aim at representing a purer, broader, deeper or more efficient vision of organic agriculture are somewhat present throughout the book, but not made evident by the editors. An elaboration of these sometimes differing perspectives by practitioners and researchers would have been useful. The relationship between agroecology and organic farming, for instance, is mentioned as having “some commonalities in their principles and practices”, but this obscures the fact that one can find practitioners that consider themselves at the same time organic and agroecological, while movements with a stronger ideological character see organic as a market imposition based on input substitution and no redesign. Finally, a few years ago key European stakeholders started discussing what is now referred to as Organic 3.0, with a goal of enabling “a widespread uptake of truly sustainable farming systems and markets based on organic principles and imbued with a culture of innovation, of progressive improvement towards best practice, of transparent integrity, of inclusive collaboration, of holistic systems, and of true value pricing [44].” This book is a valuable contribution towards this discussion.

4 Is the concept of a prototype, or of prototyping, adequate for the further development of organic food and farming ? After all, the editors mention that “there is no optimal, universal and immutable system but, instead, multiple methods that must be combined and activated depending on a set of varying situations and contexts”. In my Latin American context, organic and/or agroecological practice is better understood as a laboratory, also mentioned by the editors. And by many others :

5

“Organic agriculture may be seen as a laboratory for ecological innovations […] Individual organic farmers who constantly try, fail, learn and retry, are largely responsible for most of such innovations, assuming all the associated risks and costs. This farmer-driven process of knowledge and technology generation has led to crop yield levels that are worldwide barely 20 % lower on average than those attained under conventional farming [45]”.

6 The central role of farmers, often linked with collective action, is essential to the understanding of organic farming in the Global South, and farming is almost by definition an experimental endeavour in living laboratories. It is true that peer-reviewed research about organic farming in Latin America is very scarce, and that most systematizations of farmers’ experiences are not available in English, but there is abundant scientific literature on agroecology and other alternative schools of farming in the region published by researchers in the United States (Miguel A. Altieri, Stephen R. Gliessman and others), the same with European researchers writing about the African and Asian contexts for organic farming. And of course all that is published in English in those continents. It is disappointing that the realities and concerns of the developing world are not given enough consideration in spite of what is available in the English language. Perhaps then, this valuable book could have also dealt with issues like food security and food sovereignty, the strengthening of local institutions, the promotion of territorial approaches and localised food systems, the role of gender or the improvement of productivity in peasant systems, without which proposals arising from prototypes or laboratories cannot be understood, let alone properly assessed. This, however, should not diminish the interest in this book and its “outstanding analysis of what has been achieved, as well as an insight into what the future avenues for organic farming will be”, as Urs Niggli puts it in the preface.

7 Roberto Ugás

8 (Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Pérou)

9 rugas@lamolina.edu.pe