Like many other agricultural organizations, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements has an interesting history.
To have an overview about IFOAM, it is interesting to note that this association was established at the height of the period when mass movements took place protesting the use of artificial chemicals and fertilizers. The History of IFOAM traces back to November 5, 1972 at Versailles in France, when an international congress on organic agriculture was organized by the French farmer organization Nature et Progrès. Although the need for a powerful organization was felt much before that, yet it took time to establish such an organization. The late Roland Chevriot, President of Nature et Progrès was the main entrepreneur behind taking the initiative of forming such a concern. Since they were of the belief that Organic Agriculture is the only way to save the world from degrading the land quality, the formation of such organization was inevitable.
It was in that same year, when 5 founding members representing different organizations grouped together to form the IFOAM. Among the members, there were, Lady Eve Balfour representing the Soil Association of Great Britain, Kjell Arman representing the Swedish Biodynamic Association, Pauline Raphaely from South Africa and Jerome Goldstein from United States. The joint collaboration of these people and the diligent effort put forward by the people has made it a success. They held a number of fruitful conferences including the second international congress in 1974 in Paris and the third IFOAM General Assembly at Seengen in Switzerland in 1976. Since the History of this organization, it tried to meet all the demands for making eco-friendly agriculture possible. In the history of agriculture there were very rare such organizations.
As most of the countries were not aware of the role played by organic farming and the importance of using organic foods, it was most apt to have a unified and organized voice for transmitting of information on the principles and practices of organic agriculture. Overcoming the barrier of language and accessibility, the IFOAM looked forward to carry this message to all corners of the world. The History of this organization reminds us that it was formed as a federation of movements, which decided to offer a voting membership to groups and associations, whose aims and goals were in line with the principles of organic agriculture. The History of this organization would not have been so memorable and glorious without the presence some renowned people like, Elliot Coleman of U.S.A, Gunnar Videgard from Sweden and others.
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