The research interests of SOAR cover a wide range of subjects within organic agriculture and food systems:

• Farming system research
• Crop production
• Resource management
• Ecosystem services
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Livestock production
• Animal health and welfare
• Consumer and citizens’ involvement
• Regulations and policies
• Food chains
• Food sovereignty

SOAR Mission Statement

SOAR is an open network between partners funding or contributing to research education within organic farming and food systems.

SOAR's vision

SOAR aims to be a valuable partner in strong national and international networks to offer courses relevant to organic food and farming research at highest international level, across institutions and disciplines.

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SOAR is based on collaboration between different research institutions and universities. The funding of SOAR is secured by the institutions represented in the Steering Committee.

In addition, SOAR takes part in various networks and forms partnership with research institutions and universities:

Networks
AGROASIS - the Nordic School of Agroecology/Ecological Agriculture, NOVA University Network. AGROASIS consists of the five Nordic universities; University of Copenhagen, KU (Denmark), Aarhus University (Denmark), The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU (Sweden), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, UMB (Norway) and University of Helsinki, HU (Finland).

Affiliated partners
A number of institutions contribute to activities in SOAR and host PhD students who research within the field of organic agriculture and food systems. Some of them are also represented in the Scientific Panel of SOAR [LINK]. Affiliated partners include

- National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark
- National Food Institute Technical, University of Denmark
- National Environment Research Institute, Aarhus University

Collaborative partners
Joint organisation of courses and activities, exchange of researchers, ....

- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna BOKU [link + description of agreement]

Projects that SOAR participates in
SOAR participates as project partner in the following projects:
- Productivity and growth in Organic Value Chains, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark, with participation from Makarere University (Uganda), University of Nairobi (Kenya), Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania), LIFE (Denmark), NERI (Denmark) and DJF (Denmark). This project comprises 8 PhD studies in East Africa [LINK til project hjemmeside – endnu ikke eksisterende]

For further information and suggestions of collaboration at any level please contact head of SOAR Mette Vaarst [LINK/email]