This is the Project 3 of the program "Integrated Management Strategies for Sustainable Organic Farming in the Ilocos Region".

With the growing concern on food quality and food safety, the philosophy and practice of organic farming have taken a new and greater importance in the country today. Organic farming is not only limited to crop production but also covers livestock production. Livestock organic products that are to be sold in the market must be raised using organically grown feeds. To be considered organic, the feed production area must not have been treated with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for 3 years. Likewise, the organic livestock are to be kept under the natural environment as much as possible and to be treated with natural medicines.

The arising challenges associated in organic livestock production include strategies of controlling parasites, maintaining high quality forage without synthetic fertilizers and carcass quality of converted organic sheep. These could be some of the possible areas to be studied in this project.

The project will be composed of three major components which will be conducted on-station. An initial stock of sheep will be purchased for breeding purposes. They will be converted into organic sheep to produce organic lamb to be used as test animals.

Developed production strategies for organically produced lamb