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…
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…
'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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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?…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Cereals 2021 returns to Lincolnshire on Wed 30 June & Thurs 1 July 2021. Amongst many interesting workshops and demonstrations, ORC's Lucy MacLennan will be chairing the It's all about Biology session on Thursday 1st July…
A new INRAE led study has been published looking into a clear option space for expanding organic agriculture despite nitrogen limits. Recognising that one of the limits of widespread organic farming is the limited nitrogen…
The European database for organic seed has been developed within the EU project LIVESEED. Its objective is to create more transparency for the EU member states and for seed suppliers regarding available offers of organic…
LIVESEED is organising an online (Zoom) workshop on the current organic seed market trends, the results of research on organic seed businesses and on the different policy measures to boost the production and use of…
Rothamsted Research has applied for permission to plant a field trial of GM Wheat and a statutory public consultation is now open. Field trials always carry a risk of escape and wheat is a staple food in…
A new book Regenerative Agriculture: Farming with Benefits by Marianne Landzettel is reviewed by ORC's Senior Agroforestry Researcher Colin Tosh. I approached the book with a few misgivings. The cover said ‘textbook’ while the text…
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