IOAS are pleased to confirm the appointment of Herman Van Boxem to the IOAS Board. At the same time we wish to express our gratitude to Rikke Lundsgaard, who is retiring from her position on the IOAS Board, for her time and support over the years.
Herman is an organic food and farming expert who started his career as an agricultural engineer and worked at the Flemish VELT association on organic gardening. His special interest in soil, plant production, pesticides and knowledge of contamination led to his pioneering work as a co-founder of the first organic control body in Flanders in 1986 and co-initiating the Belgian organic umbrella and label “Biogarantie.”
During his 22 years of employment with the European Commission he contributed to the first European Action Plan on Organic farming and to establishing the Regulations 834/2007, 889/2009 and 1235/2009. As the EU DG AGRI’s delegate and representative, Herman dealt with the Codex Guidelines on organic production to the Codex Alimentarius Commission on Food Labelling, as well as contributing to the FiBL & Co Anti Fraud Initiative and the IFOAM – FAO – UNCTAD Organic Equivalence and Harmonisation think-tank.
After retiring from the EU in June 2019, Herman continues to have a keen interest in organic agriculture and in emerging perspectives such as agro-ecology and in food, environmental and societal policies and to share his expertise of the smart use of targeted sampling and pesticide residue analyses as a means of detecting fraudulent practices in organic production.
