News

How can agroforestry contribute towards biodiversity conservation?

In October this year, national representatives will gather for the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15). During which they will work to review progress in the…
Posted in Events, News and events
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Organic Matters

Horticultural Conference hosted by the Organic Growers Alliance The OGA has announced their second Organic Matters conference. The conference will be a day long event for experienced horticulturalists and new entrants based at Stretford Public…
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OF&G's National Organic Combinable Crops 2021

Ambrogio Costanzo presenting at NOCC21. Photo: OF&G Now in its fourteenth year OF&G’s #NOCC21 was an amended version due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions still in place at the time. A full report…
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Growing the staples

Join the OGA in this webinar exploring field-scale production. How can we grow the basic crops efficiently yet regeneratively? About this event While many new entrants are being drawn into growing vegetables on a small,…
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New paper on farm network field-scale, cultivar evaluation of organic wheat

A new open access paper on our work on organic wheat variety trialling, arising out of the LIVESEED project, has been published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development. Cultivar choice and post-emergence weed management strategies are…
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Historic reform to food system needed to protect the NHS, improve the health of the nation and save our environment

The National Food Strategy has called on the Government to commit to a historic package of reforms in order to build a better food system for a healthier nation. In a landmark report, food entrepreneur…
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Ten minutes with Lubna Arif-Schmidt

Would you like to get to know the ORC staff, learn more about what they are working on at the moment and find out what inspired them to pursue a career in organic research? To…
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The Case for Local Food

Building better local food systems to benefit society and nature This report from Sustain presents a vision for a revival in localised, nature-friendly food systems, supported by investment in infrastructure, skills and co-ordination, alongside policies…
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'State of Seed' survey results and Seed Diversity and Resilience Exchange Opportunity

'The State of Seed' survey results and report.  In Spring 2021 the Landworkers’ Alliance and the Gaia Foundation Seed Sovereignty Programme worked together to survey farmers and growers across the UK to gather the views…
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Soil – the heart and soul of organic growing

Growing in soil is vital for the integrity of organic production. Join the OGA for this evening webinar reaffirming the importance of soil. This session will explore the reasons why soil is so important to…
Posted in Events, News and events
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New report highlights benefits of organic farming for biodiversity

A new report by IFOAM Organics Europe highlights the contribution of organic farming to protecting Europe’s biodiversity. The report recommends Member States to fully use Eco-schemes and agro-environmental measures in their CAP Strategic Plans to…
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Defra: multi agency response to GM wheat trial 21/R08/01

GM Freeze, the Organic Research Centre and twenty six other organisations came together to ask Defra not to allow Rothamsted Research to plant an open field trial of genetically modified wheat. Read the response hereDownload…
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Exploring the impact of crop diversification on workload and quality of life of farmers

Crop diversification results in a fundamental change in activities: production, management, processing, crop sales and new relationships with the value chain all need to be re-assessed. The Organic Research Centre led an explorative study using…
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Living mulch field lab on Farming Today

The No-till with living mulches field lab was featured on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme on 29th June 2021. Listen to the feature with Rebecca Rooney talking to James Alexander, Mark Lea and Jamie…
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Farmers collaborate to find hop varieties for the growing organic beer market

Innovative Farmers field lab is bringing organic hop growers, breeders and brewers together with the Organic Research Centre to co-design practical on-farm research Brewers and hop merchants say demand for organic beer and locally-sourced ingredients…
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ORC Bulletin 134 on its way!

And Bulletin 122 available for free download

Posted in Inform, News, News and events
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New report explains why UK farmers still aren’t planting trees on their land

A Defra-funded systematic review by a team of progressive UK farming and woodland advocacy organisations points the way to increased adoption of agroforestry by farmers post-Brexit. An influential new report written by researchers at the…
Posted in News, News and events, Press Releases
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Organic Research Centre strengthens Board with the appointment of three industry leaders

Appointments will bring senior experience in food policy, agricultural economics, rural policy and food retailing to ORC’s Board. The new appointments – Janet Dwyer, Honor May Eldridge and Jake Pickering – will bring a breadth…
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Ten minutes with Rowan Dumper-Pollard

What is your job role at the ORC? Business and Markets Researcher How long have you worked at the ORC? I started at the beginning of 2021 Where are you from/ where are you based?…
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New Pacific free trade agreement could bring 119 banned toxic pesticides to UK

The UK could be opening the door to 119 pesticides banned for health and environmental reasons, warns a new report looking at implications of signing up to a Pacific free trade agreement. The deal with…
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What are weeds? What can they tell us about our soils? Do they have any other benefits?

The Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience and the Organic Research Centre are looking to recruit farmers near Shropshire (16th June) for a participatory study on the use of bioindicators in arable farming systems. Bioindicators…
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Agroforestry for the transition towards sustainability and bioeconomy

The fifth European conference on agroforestry, EURAF 2020, was held online recently (17th - 19th May 2021) and ORC was represented by Colin Tosh, Will Simonson and Lindsay Whistance. This conference was postponed in 2020…
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Could living mulch be the ‘holy grail’ of arable farming?

A team of six farmers is trialling growing a living mulch under cash crops – if they’re successful, they say the practice could eliminate the need for artificial inputs, cut costs and boost productivity. The…
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Organic Agriculture at the Heart of Agroecological Transition - call for submissions

ORC's Ambrogio Costanzo is a guest co-editor of a forthcoming special issue of Agronomy entitled Organic Agriculture at the Heart of Agroecological Transition. The deadline for manuscript submissions is 15 September 2021. "Agroecological transition is…
Posted in News, News and events, Research, Uncategorised
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