Strategies to improve quality and safety and reduce costs along the food supply chain

These proceedings document the results of the congress 'Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems' which took place on March 20–23, 2007, at the University of Hohenheim in Germany. This congress was the 3rd in a series organized as part of the EU funded Integrated Project 'Quality Low Input Food' QLIF . The congress was convened in parallel with the 9th Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture in German-speaking countries, entitled 'Between tradition and globalization', hosted by the University of Hohenheim. The QLIF project aims to improve quality, ensure safety and reduce cost along the organic and low input food supply chains through research, dissemination and training activities. Its subprojects cover all aspects of organic and low input food and farming: Consumer studies, quality, crop & livestock production, processing and supply chains, environmental and socioeconomic aspects.