ORC is partnering with the UK Grain Lab via the Liveseeding project which is supporting living labs working to increase the uptake of organic seeds and breeding. During a recent event on diverse cereal seed we worked to explore what a future grain economy – that supports the development, production and use of genetically diverse cereal populations such as ORC Wakelyns Population aka YQ – could look like, and the next steps to getting there. This work is building on many decades of inspiration and research led by the late Professor Martin Wolfe and the ORC team.
Broadly speaking, the UK Grain Lab is a network of movement builders focusing on building new economies around grain in the UK. The structure of the network began in 2017 with a convening of farmers, millers, bakers and storytellers interested in YQ. It has since evolved into a broad umbrella that connects together a multitude of projects and ideas across the UK, hundreds of individuals with a range of expertise and interests, multiple localised communities of practise, and partnerships around the world. UK Grain Lab is not a physical lab, it’s a critical and ever evolving social and knowledge infrastructure. Diversity, democracy and devolution are core values in our collective work.
Another exciting milestone was reached within the UK Grain Lab living lab last week too! The photos below are of what we hope will eventually be the most genetically diverse wheat field in the North of England. It’s a decade since Fred Price (Gothelney Farmer) first began screening seed from genebanks to identify parent material for the next evolutionary populations for UK organic farming systems. A selection of that seed has now been drilled in North Yorkshire alongside populations developed by Anders Borgen of Landsorten DK, Andy Forbes and former ORC team member Nick Fradgley. There are also some modern pure-line varieties in there for comparison. The hope is that these trials will provide a forum for further testing of field performance in a different environment, but also a space for local grain changers to gather and imagine what a diverse, democratic and devolved grain economy could look like. ORC’s Principal Researcher in Crop Diversification Charlotte Bickler also works to deliver the Diverse Cereal Seed Project for UK Grain Lab. Charlotte says: “It’s a privilege to be custodian of these precious seeds and I can’t wait to get to know them more in the coming season”.
Finally for now! The other living lab within Liveseeding is focused on organic pulse production. This includes work on variety testing of field beans on organic farms in collaboration with Organic Arable, as well as developing a regional collaboration for value chain development for agroecologically grown pulses for human consumption in the North of England. You can read more about this emergent group here: https://www.northernfoodandfarming.org/northern-food-and-farming-pulses-collaboration/
See also: Boosting availability of high quality organic seed: spring beans
