Abstract
Global community has recently shown a significant interest in environmental conservation in
order to assure food safety and quality. Organic Agriculture (OA) as an alternative approach to
the conventional intensive farming responds to these demands and has significantly been
developed in many European countries and elsewhere. Organic Animal Farming (OAF) systems
and the related grassland farming have also gained a significant importance for these systems.
However, ten years after the application of organic agriculture, a combination of problems
(lack of technical knowledge and information, reliable system for promotion of organic products)
are present. In order for the organic agriculture to continue its growth, solutions to these problems
have to be found. Through this frame, the use of Internet can give solutions to the problems listed
above.
The aim of this study is the presentation of a reliable service platform, that can operate as the
major information source for people related to organic agriculture (veterinarians, agronomists,
farmers, food enterprises, consumers etc) in European Union, and in parallel provide e-services
regarding OA. The platform is designed and implemented according to the European Union
programme e-Content 11293 “Bio@gro”. 2The countries participating in this programme are
Greece, Germany, Romania and Cyprus. The content of the portal is given in English and in the
four languages of the participant countries, thus the portal can be accessible by a vast number of
users. The information provided through the platform is taken from all possible sources (e.g.
Ministries, Research Institutes and Organisations) that deal with OA in general. In particular the
aim of Bio@gro as regards access to information is the presentation of reliable information
(legislation, practice guides etc) and services for the promotion and support of organic agriculture.
However, Bio@gro is more than that. It is a comprehensive e-services platform, covering:
a) E-commerce b) E-learning c) Digital Library d) Calendar of events related to organic
agriculture e) The option of exchanging opinions.