ABSTRACT
The issue of quality assurance is an interesting aspect of the ways in which organic practices and regulation have come to the fore in the food industry. The move by European-type organic agriculture certifying bodies into the distinctly different production environments is interesting in that there has been a cultural exchange of views on the way to establish and assess the sustainability of these types of production systems. The production of chemical-free beef in the channel country of Queensland in Australia has also catalysed support for the prevention of the influx of the cotton production into regions that ultimately flow into the Lake Eyre basin. The core effect is connected to the fact that organic production systems often push to the extreme the requirement for monitoring and biological control, while requiring a far more integrated, whole farm, approach to research.
