DEFINING POLICY AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

When the organic sector development needs relevant to policy makers and the beneficiaries have been defined, it is then possible to define the specific objectives of the action plan.59 _{It is assumed that the pro-}

cess of defining objectives is aimed at meeting sector needs, although in reality the policy process may include ‘hidden agendas’, or it may be difficult to establish clear and systematic connections between the objectives and the measures to achieve them. This is part of the ambiguity of policy processes. However, formulating clear and open objectives is a useful start to devising suitable actions and measures and as a basis for evaluations.60

ORGANIC A

CTION PL

Table 4.2 Organic action plan – priorities for development and desired outcomes

Priority for

development Desired outcome examples

Organic food and farming sector development

• Increased consumer demand for organic food • Regional, national and export supply chains

strengthened to meet demand

• Increased public awareness of the benefits of organic

production

• Reduced barriers to entry into organic farming sector • More organic food in mass catering (including public and

private procurement)

• Competitive and innovative organic food sector through partnerships, research support and knowledge exchange Economic, food market/ consumption and rural development objectives

• Improved profitability of organic farming

• Agricultural prices that meet the true cost of production

to producer, reflecting ‘externalised’ environmental and

social costs

• Protecting farm livelihoods and supporting rural economies

• Creating employment and opportunities for skills training Environmental, public health and other societal/public benefits

• Enhanced biodiversity, increased natural capital resulting in more resilient farm ecosystems

• Promoting transition to a low-carbon economy and

resource efficiency

• Meeting demand for high quality food, delivering for the environment and high animal welfare

• Promoting health through improved diet and food awareness

Aims and objectives can be considered in a hierarchical context, where the top-level aims represent the overall aspirations and vision for the programme, but may be less clearly defined, with strategic objectives and action points (operational objectives) providing more specific details on targets and activities. To navigate the hierarchy, one can either start at the top and ask the question ‘how?’ with the answer representing the next level down objective, or start at the bottom and ask the question ‘why?’ with the answer representing the next level up objective (see Table 4.3).

Table 4.3 Hierarchy of objectives

Top-level aims Economic/market growth and rural development

Environment, public health and societal

benefits

How?

Why?

Measured by: impacts, e.g., increase in employment, GDP, reduction in pollution, increase in biodiversity, etc.

Strategic objectives

Increase profitability

and competitiveness of organic sector by x% (or value target)

Increase land area under organic

management by y% (or area target)

How?

Why?

Measured by: results, e.g., change in

profitability of organic businesses, increase in

turnover, change in area of organic land, etc.

Actions points / operational objectives • Promotion of organic products • Investment in processing and market capacities • Financial support for conversion and maintenance • Investment in research and innovation • Investment in training and advice

Measured by: outputs, e.g., area supported, number/value of projects funded, number of

beneficiaries supported, etc.

Top-level aims: Overall aims at sector, economic and societal levels

The overall aims of an organic action plan and the specific objectives of each individual policy measure should be agreed at the outset. When defining overall objectives for an action plan, it is helpful to place them in the context of wider (non-organic) policy objectives, thus demon- strating how organic sector development can contribute to general economic policy goals related to food and agriculture as well as wider social, environmental and health policy goals.

From the experience of previous organic action plans, at least three types of top level objectives or aims should be considered:

ORGANIC A

CTION PL

Organic sector development: Focus on the development (growth, competitiveness and sustainability) of the organic sector, including SMEs, reflecting the goals of sector stakeholders, but potentially also contributing to the delivery of broader policy objectives

Economic and rural development: Focus on broader agriculture, food and economic policy goals, including meeting consumer de- mand for organic food, where the expectation is that growth and improvement of the organic sector will make a positive contribution, e.g. creation of employment, economic growth and regenerating rural communities

Environmental, public health and other societal benefits:

Focus on delivery of public goods as a result of organic land man- agement and organic food consumption

From a policy maker’s perspective, the development of the organic sector is more a means to an end in pursuit of economic and societal level aims, not an end, whereas organic sector stakeholders are more likely (but not exclusively) to see the development of the organic sector as an end in itself. Reconciling the interests of different stakeholder groups is central to the development of organic action plans.

Strategic objectives and targets

Organic action plans can include a multitude of objectives, and the process of agreeing objectives will inevitably involve compromise be- tween the varying and sometimes competing interests of stakeholders, according to their needs, their internal strengths/weaknesses and the external opportunities/threats.

During a series of EU national workshops at Member State level (in the ORGAP project), participating stakeholders were asked to comment on the relevance of a set of generic objectives based on their experiences of policies in different European countries. From these workshops, the following strategic objectives were formulated.59 _{While these may be}

useful as a guide, each organic action plan may require objectives that are specific to the particular context, while the individual action points will in almost all cases be unique to a specific action plan.