The Bio-Foundation Switzerland published end of this year a picture book titled Organic Agriculture - Basic Principles of Organic Agriculture. This little book written by Dr. Rainer Bächi aims to make farmers, students and consumers think about the basic principles of organic “agri-culture”.
You are cordially invited to discover the book and its background online on the website of the Bio-Foundation .
(22.12.2011/loh)

The new Bio-Foundation homepage is online in german and english. We invite you to visit it and inform you about the Bio-Foundation: www.bio-stiftung.ch
The Swiss Bio-Foundation is a non-profit-oriented foundation for the promotion of environmentally-friendly products and alternative patterns of consumer behaviour.
(05.12.2011/loh)

IMO staff members in Switzerland cycled about 12 000 km for the environment this summer.
Instead of public transport or private cars they took their bicycle for travel to work. Some of them cycled around 60 km per day. This action was part of the program “cycle to work” and aims to reduce the environmental pollution.
(07.11.2011/loh)

On the 19th June 2011 Hans Ueli Eisenhut passed away peacefully. Since the establishment of the Swiss Biostiftung (Organic Foundation), he was a member of the foundation council; in this role he actively took part in the formation of the Institute for Marketecology (IMO), a department of the Biostiftung.
Hans Ueli Eisenhut put his heart and soul into the organic movement and with his passion he contributed to its success and the flourishing of many other initiatives. As the business leader of Vanadis AG (now Biopartner) he played a leading role in making the expansion of the organic trading company possible. As a board member of the Demeter Alliance and in their trade mark protection commission, as the president of the Konsumenten Verband, as an active member of the Biostiftung, as the initiator of Biocreda (funding for the organic specialized trade) and through a row of other ommitments he learnt to support and participate in a mediating, objective and competent way. In the anthroposophy he gained his strength and enriched his work with its spiritual content.
He was a great person and his death leaves a great gap which will hardly be filled.
(28.06.11/lh)

In 2010 400 IMO experts from around the globe performed inspections in about 90 countries. IMO now offers certification and/or inspection according to 70 different ecological and social standards. The upward trend was especially pronounced in the areas of Aquaculture & Fisheries, Forest & Timber and Social Responsibility & Fair Trade. However in 2010 the IMO Group also faced major challenges. On the 10th of June 2010, Dr. Rainer Bächi, founder and director of IMO, died in a tragic car accident while on a business trip in Georgia. It was due to the outstanding discipline and dedication of the IMO staff and the way in which Rainer Bächi had approached his work that the operational processes could be continued without major difficulties. The positive outcome is illustrated by constant growth, introduction of new services and exceptional innovations in almost all of our business sectors in 2010.
You are invited to find out more about our newest developments in this booklet. >> Download PDF Version
(03.03.2011/ih)

The Swiss Bio-Foundation and IMO will present the new version of the Fair for Life Social & FairTrade Certification Programme on the Biofach fair, held between 16th and 19th February 2011 in Nuremberg, Germany. At the same time, the new Fair for Life Logo will be presented. Read press release or visit the Fair for Life website www.fairforlife.net .
(15.02.2011/ih, ta)