on which the organic production system could affect
the nutritional value and the content of health-re-
lated compounds (Brandt and Molgaard, 2001). How-
ever, the research on this aspect is not conclusive
and only some trends have been individuated: a
higher content of vitamin C, dry matter, phosphorus,
titratable acidity, phenols (antioxidant) and less of ni-
trates in organic fruit and vegetables in comparison
with conventional ones (Lairon, 2009; Bourn and
Prescott, 2002; Brandt and Molgaard, 2001). The in-
terpretation of the results of the investigations pub-
lished in the scientific literature is difficult, because
of methodological differences related to cultivar se-
lection, growing conditions, sampling and analytical
methods.
Most of these studies fail in describing the field ex-
periment design and represent only one seasonal
harvest. In a recently published systematic review, in
which the authors adopted a series of criteria to se-
lect the comparative studies conducted over the past
50 years, only a higher content of phosphorus and
values of titratable acidity in the organic products
were confirmed (Dangour et all., 2009). This shows
that further research is needed on this subject be-
fore conclusively stating if differences exist in the nu-
tritional quality between organically and
conventionally grown fruit and vegetables.
In the decade 1 999 – 2009 the organic agricultural land
has increased from 11 million to 3 7.2 million ha. Aus-
tralia, Argentina, the United States, China and Brazil
are the countries with the most organic agricultural
land. However, if the share of the organic agricultural
land out of the total agricultural land is considered,
small countries such as Falkland, Liechtenstein, Aus-
tria, Switzerland hold the first positions in the world.
The countries with the largest numbers of organic pro-
ducers are India, Uganda, Mexico, Ethiopia, Tanzania.
In these countries the average farm size is low, and
the conversion to organic agriculture could represent
a quite easy option to the small farmers, because they
are used to producing more or less “organic”, with lit-
tle or no application of chemical inputs.The role of small-size farms is fundamental in pre-
serving and enhancing biodiversity. Worldwide small
farmers are those who generally practise high-diver-
sity agriculture, both in terms of cultivated crops and
varieties of a single crop. This practice is necessary
also to increase food security, because it provides
more options to cope with pests and diseases. Gen-
erally, the small farmers cultivate local varieties of a
crop, because well adapted to local conditions and
able to resist or tolerate the typical diseases of the
crop.
Promoting this high diversity of crops and varieties
has doubtless positive effects on human health. Fruit
and vegetables have a fundamental role in diet, be-
cause they are the main natural sources of micronu-
trients, dietary fibre, bioactive compounds. Many
factors can affect the nutritional content of horticul-
tural crops, including climate, geography, soil, fertil-
ization, but the differences between varieties are often
by far more relevant. Interestingly, the nutrient con-
tent of the less-known cultivars and wild varieties has
often resulted higher than that of the widely-culti-
vated cultivars, thus suggesting the need of composi-
tional researches to characterize these products and
providing data useful for their protection and use (Lu-
taladio et all., 2010). The market where small farmers
can sell their products is different from that of the
large-size farms.
These latter select the crop and varieties to cultivate in
a way to match the standards fixed and the amount de-
manded by the organized distribution chains. Instead,
the final destination of the products from small-size
farms is mainly represented by the local markets or
the so-called short food supply chain, such as farmers’
markets or other forms of direct selling from the pro-
ducer to the consumer. These short supply chains are
gaining more and more interest among consumers in
western countries, thus creating a new relationship
between agricultural and urban worlds. The organic
small farms often find the commercial outlet for their
products in this kind of market (Böhnert and Nill,
2006 ).258