The Summer 2018 No.43

ORGANICThe journal of the Organic GROWER Growers Alliance

IN THIS ISSUE THE END OF AN ERA Roger’s rambles...... 2 News...... 3 Innovative Farmers Network Day...... 5 11th OGA AGM...... 6 New OGA committee...... 7 Interview with Alan Schofield...... 8 Traineeships...... 10 Knife culture...... 11 Walk-behind tractors...... 11 Practical soil assessment methods...... 12 GREATsoils field labs...... 15 Riverford field labs...... 16 Organic Farming MSc...... 17 No-till for growers. Part 2...... 18 GPDR: What you need to know...... 22 Nature notes—the opposite wood...... 23 Jason Horner: crop hindsights...... 24 St Swithins and all that...... 26 Desert Island growers: Adam Payne and Dee Butterly...... 27 Biopesticides: a changing landscape...... 28 Biological control of red spider mite...... 31 Book reviews: Steiner or Howard...... 32 The great agricultural resettlement...... 34 Events...... 36

Page 1 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 depth and breadth of experience and technical knowledge and this should be the basis of our future development. There were Roger’s rambles some excellent contributions from LWA members in the room and we are following up on these by meeting with the LWA to discuss “Weather? Don’t talk to me about weather” a number of issues including guidance on structure and funding. as Marvin the Robot might have said. We It has been a very busy time since the last Organic Grower. The seem to have had the lot over the last 3 major Defra consultation ‘Health and Harmony’ had a May 8th months and it has been a much delayed deadline and it was seen as vital that as many responses as possible spring this year. Unless you are lucky and from the organic and agroecological sectors should be submitted. have soils that are always well-drained, The English Organic Forum, of which OGA is a member, submitted I suspect the biggest problem (apart a detailed 35 page document; Kate Collyns submitted an OGA from the temperatures) has been waiting for the outside soil to response and there were a number of individual responses. We had dry out to the point that cultivation, sowing and planting can get hoped to canvas the membership for ideas and suggestions as well underway. I remember our silty clay loam in Carmarthen took as encouraging individual and personal responses. Unfortunately seven dry days before we could get on it and typically it would be the appearance of CoinMiner malware on the website meant that dry for four or five days then the rain would come and push the communication was effectively suspended during the crucial run whole process back. up to the deadline. This has now thankfully been cleared and we The recent dry spell, for most of the country, brings the second have also set up an alternative mailing route via MailChimp. problem. We would have a window of about seven days where There have been a number of important meetings related to the soil was relatively easy to work then it became too dry for easy the Defra consultation that have been attended by members of cultivation. Any clods would turn to bricks and over-cultivated the committee including Kate, Ellen, Tony and Adam. This is a soils would become dusty – yes I was guilty of the ultimate sin: welcome development in that the load is being spread and this is thinking one more pass with the rotovator would not cause any something we intend to continue. Kate also spotted a consultation problems. Nobody said it would be easy and that’s what sets on the National Planning Policy Framework that was ending growers apart from most other folk – a capacity to take things on suspiciously close to the Health and Harmony deadline and she the chin and crack on whatever the weather. was able to submit an OGA response. Weather was a feature of the AGM, held this year at Abbey Home The new Organic Regulation has now formally passed into law Farm. Snow swirled around as a Gloucester apple tree was planted and there is a workshop planned in London on 15th June that will in memory of Keith Denning, head grower from 1998 to 2014. The look at Future Regulatory Options post-Brexit. There will also OGA provided an oak plaque with the words “The garden grows be farmer/grower workshops in Shrewsbury at Pimhill Farm on quietly, never a sound – the fruits of your labour are all around.” 20th June and Cirencester, at Abbey Home Farm on 29th June. We It was a memorable and poignant moment shared with Keith’s hope to get an OGA representative to the London meeting and it family who appreciated the ceremony. would be good if those of you who are reasonably close could get After lunch it was down to business and there were some critical to the farmer/grower workshops. issues to discuss, of which one of the most important was finding Finally, it will not have escaped your notice that there is something replacements for long-serving members who had stood down. called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will We are delighted to welcome Adam Keeves, Antonia Ineson have come into force by the time you read this. The OGA is not Ellen Rignell and Jim Aplin to the committee and they have all exempt from the requirements of GDPR as you will have seen definitely hit the ground running. from our Mailchimp messages and we believe we have done all This did not immediately resolve the question of who would take that is necessary to comply. A relatively simple privacy policy on the Treasurer’s role, managed superbly by Debra Schofield will be made available. This seemingly straightforward exercise since the OGA was set up. If we could not put up a nominated has taken a lot of behind the scenes work to sort out our databases replacement the bank account would effectively have been put on and extract the information to Mailchimp. This is helping to hold so there was relief all round when Ben Raskin took on the simplify the website and reduce the number of spurious accounts role in the interim. It has now passed to Adam Keeves who is and long term lapsed memberships. busy completing the bank account transfer and getting his head Enough rambling – it’s time to get back out and try and catch up round the past records. with my garden cropping. I hope the clement weather continues The other key issues included a discussion around the vision for and that we all have a good season. the OGA and a renewal of the commitment to change the structure Roger Hitchings, Acting Chairman Organic Growers to an incorporated version. There was a definite appetite for the OGA to continue as a separate organisation and not seek to merge Alliance with the Landworkers’ Alliance (LWA). Our greatest asset is the

Cover: Alan Schofield with some valedictory words, as he steps down from the OGA Chair at the AGM (Photo: Phil Sumption)

Page 2 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Brexit news Consultation responses: Defra for a scheme to dramatically increase local fruit and vegetable production following Brexit. Future Farming & Planning Policy

To meet the UK demand for fruit and Agricultural Revolution A New Deal for Many of you will be aware of the Defra consultation which Horticulture: vegetables, a massive scaling up of Ideas for a horticulture took place between February and May of what farming policy renewal programme and production is required. If everyone illustrative case studies should look like post-Brexit, and many will also have made it to in Britain were to eat the ‘Seven a the various countrywide events, and also submitted their own day’ now recommended by Public thoughts and responses to the Health & Harmony paper either Health England, we would need an via the portal on the website, or via email. We also submitted an additional 2.4 million tonnes of fresh official response on behalf of the OGA: if you’d like to see a copy produce, equivalent to a 66% growth of what we sent in, please email [email protected]. We are in UK production. The Eatwell Guide also members of the English Organic Forum (EOF) which sent recommends that 40% of each person’s

New Entrants into Agriculture | 1 in joint response highlighting the benefits of organic growing: if Published by The Landworkers Alliance and Growing Communities diet consists of fruit and vegetables, you’d like to see that response, please let us know. yet currently only 1% of the £3 billion agriculture budget is For our own response, we focused on including smaller scale spent on horticulture. Over the last 30 years the area planted to farmers and growers in statistic gathering and support eligibility; vegetables in the UK has decreased by 26%. highlighted the fact that organic farming has many answers to the Defra’s recently released consultation paper on post-Brexit paper’s stated aims on soil health, biodiversity and other ‘public Agriculture is entitled, ‘Health and Harmony: The future for food, goods’; and stated how new entrants need access to land and farming and the environment in a green Brexit’. Spokesperson housing, mentoring and ongoing support, funding and markets. for the LWA Horticulture Campaign, Rebecca Laughton says, We also emphasised the importance of collaborating with the “If Defra is serious about bringing health into the Post-Brexit planning department to allow a more farmer/grower-friendly agricultural policy, it is essential that they adopt a proactive system of allowing workers to live on the land, beefing up the approach to horticultural regeneration, which addresses the agricultural tie regulation so that planners can feel confident when challenges currently faced by UK horticulture and substantially issuing permission with an agricultural tie that the tie won’t be increases the proportion of the agriculture budget focused on fruit easily broken shortly afterwards, and that the whole thing was and vegetable production”. a ruse to get permission by cynical developers. This should then mean planners would look more favourably on those genuinely Small-scale organic producers can be highly productive while wishing to build for agricultural reasons. integrating many environmental benefits such as soil care, biodiversity increase and resilience to pests and diseases without We also found out on the deadline day (10th May) about a being reliant on pesticides. There are social benefits too: the consultation on the draft National Planning Policy Framework, organic sector is attracting a new generation of highly motivated, and sent a response in via email highlighting the importance of innovative and entrepreneurial UK growers due to the meaningful, working with Defra on this issue of planning for growers and convivial and varied nature of its work. Further expansion, farmers: and suggesting the implementation of a register for those however, is limited by factors such as inadequate training looking for agricultural dwellings, similar to the self-build interest opportunities, lack of secure access to land and investment capital register that councils currently must keep. This means that anyone and the imbalance between living costs and the income possible interested in finding an agriculturally tied property lists their from horticultural production. interest, so whenever a developer tries to lift a tie on a property, stating lack of interest by anyone who could meet the tie, the ‘A New Deal for Horticulture’ accompanies the LWA policy council can point to those on the list – thereby making it harder proposals launched last Autumn, and sets out a vision for UK for developers to break ties, easier for workers to find affordable horticulture and a renewal programme including recruitment, accommodation, and giving the planners confidence that any new training, start-up schemes, production and distribution. The ties issues wouldn’t be flipped straight away so easily. If you’d document outlines how the programme meets many of the like to see a full copy of the email, please let us know. objectives set out in Defra’s ’Health and Harmony’. It also contains six case study sheets illustrating how many of the proposed ideas LWA Horticultural Renewal are already in operation and simply need adequate investment to roll them out to a wider audience. The Land Workers’ Alliance and Growing Communities ​have launched their ‘Horticultural Renewal Programme’, a series of Download a copy of the report here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LGB-dFBroQtYhlIa91n-3Ircsh0krl7b practical proposals, accompanied by illustrative case studies,

Page 3 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Policy/general news Defra organic farming stats for 2017 Dock control Defra and The National Statistics Office have released their The Organic Research Centre in organic farming statistics for 2017. The release presents estimates collaboration with FiBL, the Swiss of the land area farmed organically, crop areas, livestock numbers Research Institute of Organic and numbers of organic producers and processors in the United Agriculture, have recently Kingdom. The results are produced from data compiled by published a comprehensive approved organic certification bodies. Although land area farmed technical guide that aims to help organically has increased again, growth is still slow compared to farmers reduce the impact of our European neighbours. The key findings are: problem docks on their land. • 517 thousand hectares is farmed organically in the UK (2.9% As well as a series of practical of total farmed area). solutions, the technical guide • 64% of UK organic land is permanent grassland. highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this pernicious weed. • 7% of the total UK organic area is used to grow cereals. Docks have a large storage root with regenerative buds at the • 58% of the total UK organic area is in England crown. They also have enormous reproductive potential – and • 2.7% of the total UK cattle population is reared organically. one plant can produce up to 60,000 seeds per year. With its early • 6.6 thousand organic operators in the UK. Up 3.5% since 2016. germination capacity combined with robustness, many farmers • The area of land farmed organically increased by 1.9% may clearly battle to eliminate this problem plant from their land. compared to 2016 Depending on the level of dock infestation, the guide outlines • The area of in-conversion land as a percentage of the total different techniques for removing and suppressing established organic land area showed a small increase in 2017, the third docks. Only by dealing with the causes of dock proliferation can consecutive increase since 2014. the reproductive cycle be broken and long-term control achieved. • The area of organic cereals and vegetables (including However, the most promising approach is a combination of several potatoes) declined slightly in 2017, continuing the downward measures. Significantly, the guide explains how by understanding trend since 2008. However, the area of ‘other arable crops’ the dock’s biology it is possible to exploit the plant’s weaknesses. saw a small increase in 2017. For example, broad-leaved dock spreads most rapidly in New EU Organic rules adopted intensively cultivated grassland with excessive fertilisation or manuring and over-grazing as well as in under-grazed or poorly On 22 May 2018 the Council of the EU adopted new EU rules on managed pasture. Wet fields and soils rich in nitrogen, potassium organic production and the labelling of organic products. The new and magnesium are particularly inclined to encourage docks. regulation will enter into force on the third day following that of Conversely on poor, shallow soils, docks grow rather poorly. its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and And, dock seeds are dependent on light to germinate, so a dense will apply from 1 January 2021. sward will help prevent them getting established in grassland. • Production rules will be simplified and further harmonised The technical guide gives clear guidance on the strategy’s needed through the phasing out of a number of exceptions and to reduce the impact of docks in both permanent pasture as well derogations as arable land. It also outlines techniques for restoring highly • The control system will be strengthened thanks to tighter infested land and presents the latest technical innovations that precautionary measures and robust risk-based checks along have been developed on dock control. the entire supply chain The technical guide has already received praise from the farming • Producers in third countries will have to comply with the sector and Chris Wardle, an organic beef and cattle farmer in same set of rules of those producing in the EU Wales, said, “The technical guide is excellent; relevant, practical, • The scope of organic rules will be enlarged to cover a wider clear and useful.” list of products (e.g. salt, cork, beeswax, maté, vine leaves, palm hearts) and additional production rules (e.g. deer, The Technical Guide – Dock Control: Combining the best methods rabbits and poultry) of successful control, can be downloaded for free or alternatively, • Certification will be easier for small farmers thanks to a new hard copies are available from ORC at a cost of £6.00 including system of group certification postage. https://tinyurl.com/FiBL-docks • There will be a more uniform approach to reduce risk of accidental The technical guide was produced as part of the Organic contamination from pesticides Knowledge Network Arable project funded by the Horizon 2020 • Derogations for production in demarcated beds in greenhouses programme of the European Union. will be phased out.

Page 4 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 General news Riverford to be employee-owned 74% of the company will move into an Employee Trust, benefiting all Riverford employees equally. Guy will retain 26% and a very On June 8th 2018, Riverford will move into employee ownership. active involvement in the next phase of Riverford’s journey. After Founder-owner Guy Singh-Watson, who started Riverford research and reflection over more than a decade, Guy has chosen Organic in 1987, has long seen Riverford’s purpose as more than employee ownership to protect Riverford’s values, ensure its just growing vegetables. Employee ownership (EO) is the next independence, and because he believes the employees are the best chapter. In the last 30 years, it has grown from one man and his people for the job. The rejection of outside investors and choice wheelbarrow (by Guy’s own description a ‘freak on the fringe’) to of EO to secure its succession continues Riverford’s challenging the country’s largest organic veg box business. stance on business norms. EO is a gathering movement, seeing Guy said: “To sell Riverford as a tradable chattel, whose purpose growth of around 60% since 2010. Done well, it has demonstrable would be to maximise short-term returns for external investors, benefits for staff and business, including higher productivity, feels to me a bit like selling one of my children into prostitution.” higher morale, and less debt. Innovative Farmers’ Network Day Innovative Farmers is a not for profit membership network, for farmers and growers who are running on farm trials, on their own terms. Over the past few years the programs has gifted £175,000 to fund research costs and kit. It has produced 17 full field lab reports but with 50 more still in research stage.

The event was held at Sheepdrove Organic Farm in Berkshire compost application, use of green manures for N, soil amendments on a very bright sunny May morning and brought together for top fruit. Nearly all presentations focus was on soil and a good many farmers and researchers, advisors, governmental bodies Q and A proceeded. Interestingly the trials were across contrasting and NGOs. There was a buzz in the air with some of the most scales showing that producers of all size are trying to move in a knowledgeable, passionate and dare I say innovative people more sustainable direction. They were also all strongly focused in Agriculture from all round the country. The day was split on on-farm fertility, the take-home message being that farms can into several subsections with short presentations and panel produce their own fertility. discussions, but most importantly divided with a health dose of The programme over the years has come on leaps and bounds long coffee breaks and lunch. providing evidence of many practices that have been undertaken Many of the trials undertaken are focused on the soil which the by farmers for years and encouraging support for the innovators. first session covered. Trials on co-composting, compost teas, It has become a platform were both organic and non-organic strip tillage and no-till were presented showing the range of the can share experiences and information around sustainable research. The trials have taken place across many soil types and production systems, There was an overwhelming gratitude for the have helped to provide real word applicable results, especially scientific rigour provided by researchers but also gratitude to the for those who farm on trickier soils not usually represented by coordinators that enable the inherent flexibility of the programme. research sites. The consensus was that soil care and research is a Innovative farmers provides a refreshing and dynamic research long term journey, but funding needs to reflect this. Edwin Taylor environment for farmers to solve the issues on our farms. of Durhamfield Farm spoke of waiting up to seven years to see Adam Keeves soil structure benefits from his min-till system. It was clear that . soil science is still a frontier and much more research is needed Biodynamic Agricultural College into understanding what a healthy and productive soil is. Cover crops was the theme through the second session with presentations on both organic and conventional non-tillage arable systems, cover crops in hop production and the use of anaerobic digestate. The trial looking into the termination of cover crops in organic arable I found fascinating, as for many organic farms tillage is the elephant in the room with regards to soil health. After a solid lunch and plenty of time to ‘network’ the day split SUSTAINABLE FARMING AND GARDENING into sector sessions of arable, livestock and horticulture. Within WORK BASED & DISTANCE LEARNING the horticulture sessions less formal presentations were given on humified compost production, ramial woodchip and woodchip www.bdacollege.org.uk

Page 5 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 11th OGA AGM—Abbey Home Farm

Saturday 17th March at Abbey Home Farm, Cirencester was an important day for the Organic Growers’ Alliance. The AGM at 1.30 was chaired by Roger Hitchings, the Acting Chair, followed by a Special General Meeting at 4.30.

The item on the AGM agenda entitled the Future Direction of with this dissolution. The new company will be compliant with OGA was brought forward and there followed an enthusiastic prevailing requirements and the membership will be kept fully discussion, largely arising from the survey feedback previously informed of progress and implications. The process will be carried out earlier in the year. Merger with the Land Workers’ completed by 31st August 2018 at the latest. Alliance was ruled out, and it was clear from those present that As extensive discussion on the Resolution had taken place in the OGA should continue, but the many ideas and suggestions the AGM, a vote was held and those in favour were 36 with as to how it continues will need to be resolved by the Committee. none against and no abstentions. Therefore, the Resolution was New members of the Committee, details opposite, were proposed declared passed. and elected with specific roles to be resolved at a later date. Ellen put herself forward after the AGM and has been co-opted.

The Chairman’s report set out the highlights of the year, covering the various meetings that Alan had attended. Roger paid tribute to Alan Schofield, who stood down as Chair earlier in the year, for the incredible work that he had achieved since the formation of OGA eleven years ago.

In the Treasurer’s Report, Debra, who is also standing down this year, reported that the OGA is in good financial state, with subscriptions, turnover and advertising income all up on the previous year, whilst expenses were generally down. She stressed the need for a new Treasurer as soon as possible and Ben Raskin agreed to be the temporary treasurer. Roger Hitchings paid tribute to Debra Schofield for her very able and committed work as Treasurer over the past ten years.

The current accountant, Sandra Williams will continue for the present time.

The OGA website continues, but requires new energy and The day started with the planting of a ‘Hunt’s Duke of Gloucester apple tree in memory of former Abbey Home Farm Head Grower, Keith Denning who sadly expertise. passed away last year. Below, Roger Hitchings leads proceedings. Tony Little presented the membership report, with news that numbers had increased overall by 14% and Affiliation membership with other organisations needs to be more strongly promoted. There continue to be some IT problems.

Phil Sumption will continue to be OG Editor, although he has stood down from the Committee. Thanks also to Wendy Seel, who has done so much for the OGA in Scotland, in particular, who has also stood down

At the end of the AGM, Ben Raskin, paid tribute to Alan Schofield for his contributions over many years to the work of the SA including most recently his membership of the Farmer and Grower Board. He then presented Alan with an engraved plate in recognition of his service.

The Special General Meeting held at 4.30 was to consider the sole item on the agenda: To dissolve the Organic Growers Alliance as an unincorporated voluntary organisation and to transfer its assets and membership to the Organic Growers Alliance Ltd., a company limited by guarantee which will be set up in parallel Photos: Phil Sumption In the evening we celebrated Tolly’s 65th birthday!

Page 6 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Introducing new OGA committee members Adam Keeves I’m hoping to bring the perspective of a new generation of growers to the committee and I’d like to focus on developing the OGA’s With a BSc in environmental new entrant members. I’m particularly interested in doing this science I got into growing through creating a mentoring scheme between new entrants and through volunteering, then experienced growers. employment, and have been growing commercially for the last Jim Aplin five years, four of which have been I’ve been a grower since 2000, when we at Plowright Organics. However, I have decided to move on to a changed from seasonal farm work to seasonal position at Tolly’s. start up Hotchpotch Organics. In 2003 we I have been an OGA member for about four years, have benefited moved to Worcestershire, where we grow from the magazine and look forward to getting to grips with the about one ha of mixed veg and flowers on Adrian Steele’s farm. OGA structure, functions and aspirations. Hopefully, as a new We sell most of our produce at Stroud Farmers’ Market, where entrant I can bring a new angle on issues and directions and we aim to harvest and sell everything by about Christmas. I take one that we could address is the re-learning that can occur with a breather from veg and do a variety of woodland and orchard new entrants/businesses, maybe offering a mentoring system, work before we start growing again. I’ve had to pick up other with OGA members giving telephone advice for specialist areas. skills – preparing our case for a planning inquiry and challenging Obviously this could become time consuming and need funding, policies when the market was under threat. I also managed to fit but it could be similar to a previous consultation service. Policy is in a BSc with the OU in environmental sciences. also keen interest of mine and I would be happy to be involved in OGA policy development. It would perhaps be useful to start a I’ve joined the committee, as I’d like to pay back some of the help I’ve discussion on farm succession, as I know this is an area of interest. had from OGA and the wider organic movement. I’d like to ensure that the OGA continues to draw on members’ skills, knowledge Ellen Rignell and experience to inform other growers. I have a particular interest in agroforestry, and also ways in which established growers and Prior to training as a grower, I farmers can provide openings and support for new entrants. managed pathology trials on veg crops at NIAB and studied plant Antonia Ineson sciences, but now I am growing on 2.5 acre market garden at Trill Farm I have been running Myreside Organics, Garden in East Devon, where we a small market garden near Meigle, on supply veg to local restaurants and cafes. I recently completed the Perth/Angus border north of Dundee a two year apprenticeship at Trill and been working in organic for 12 years now. In that time, I’ve been horticulture for the last three years. I also work a day a week for involved in work on the Scottish Organic the Gaia Foundation as a Regional Coordinator for their UK Seed Action Plan as an OGA rep on the Scottish Sovereignty programme. Currently, my work combines practical Organic Forum, and in some events growing on Trill with the Seed Sovereignty programme. As the supporting new growers organised by regional co-ordinator I’m working with growers in the East of Nourish. Fifteen years ago, I trained in England, supporting them to grow more seed, whether it be for biodynamic and organic agriculture and on-farm use or commercial sale. This is mainly through organising horticulture at Taruna College in New Zealand, on an eight month training events, mentoring and facilitating information sharing. full time course. I followed this by work on farms and gardens in Scotland to gain experience of both growing and how to run a vegetable business. Before this, I worked in public health for NHS Lothian, including work on food, obesity and community gardening. I have been very fortunate in the training I have had, both formal and informal, in finding land to rent on an organic farm and in finding markets.

I’d like the OGA to be part of making small scale organic vegetable production commercially viable as part of a transformation of the Scottish and UK food systems into ones which support human health and are environmentally sustainable.

Andy Dibben leads a chilly tour of Abbey Home Farm

Page 7 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Interview with Alan Schofield For this issue it seemed to be appropriate to interview our founding Chairman Alan Schofield, who has stepped down from the role after more than ten years in the post. Alan has been an organic vegetable grower since 1982 starting off as a share farmer with a local tomato grower. Since 1992 he has been running Growing with Nature in Lancashire along with wife Debra and son Christopher, working closely with other organic growers, distributing organically grown vegetables and salads into the local area. He has been involved with the Soil Association for over 25 years and for 12 years was the chair of the Horticultural Standards Committee and for three years had a seat on the Standards Board. Alan was on the UKROFS technical committee for five years and worked as a horticultural advisor for the last 25 years and has been instrumental in setting up a growers group on the Isle of Man and establishing a series of Farmers Markets under the Manx Local Organic brand. Alan is passionate about local horticultural production and is keen to ensure that the new generation of market gardeners have access to the experience that they have gained. Alan has played a huge part in making the OGA what it is today, for which we are all extremely grateful. We gave OGA members the opportunity to ask Alan to reflect on the OGA, organic growing and the future.

What lead you to become an organic grower and who What were the reasons why you originally opted were your main influences. Hugh and Patsy Chapman to use organic methods? Who were the writers and I became an organic grower in 1982 when I started working with thinkers, or the practising growers, who influenced Douglas Blair, a local organic tomato grower. Throughout the late you? Were there any books which had a particular 70’s and on into the 80’s pesticides were high on the agenda as the impact or inspired you? Philip Conford world changed from mainly biological based farming systems to I had worked for seven years in agriculture before being given the more chemically based farming systems and the journalists of the opportunity to go organic. During this time I had joined Friends time featured this move. I had worked in agriculture since leaving of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Soil Association. The agricultural school in 1975 and had witnessed first hand some of the early, mainly world was going chemical and soil was treated like dirt and not experimental chemical use in farming and feared for our health and the living breathing ecosystem that we know it as today, so it was future food supply. Food processing was in its infancy and the concept important to me to see if I could grow in a way that recognised these of a ready meal not yet discovered, so fresh produce was very much facts. I had worked in most agricultural situations and used most sold through family owned businesses called greengrocers. I wished of the chemicals that farmers and growers were starting to use. to see this continue and felt that actions spoke far louder than words. I had seen a real down side whilst working on a strawberry growing I have fond memories of Douglas Blair, who along with unit where seven out of ten people who arrived as pickers could not other producers, was involved in forming the Organic manage more than a couple of days. This was because pesticides Growers Association, back in 1980. I believe that you had entered their skin, which was scratched by the leaves, and worked with him and I was wondering what important this made their arms swell up. When Friends of the Earth ran a lessons you learned from him? Carolyn Wacher campaign on big posters in major towns asking which was more Douglas taught me a lot and not all of it was to do with growing. poisonous the strawberries or the punnet they were in, I knew there One of his main passions was the way horticultural growers of the had to be another way. time presented themselves and their produce in the market place. The commercial organic world was in its very early days but three Long before the concept of a ‘brand’ was created by the marketing months after starting to work for Douglas Blair, he lent me his car companies, Douglas was running competitions in the local colleges and sent me off to visit other organic farms in the UK. I visited to come up with a logo for the van and his packaging. This done, he Peter Segger, Patrick Holden and Charlie and Carolyn Wacher in then went on to talk about the importance of presentation of both West Wales and then went on to visit Francis and John Blake in produce and packaging with high levels of grading being one of his Somerset. They all welcomed me with open arms and were eager main points. It strikes me how right he was and 36 years later his to impart their knowledge to those who were just starting like me. words still echo in my head when I see poorly presented produce My main influences were the writings of Lawrence Hills of on the market. Of course, good visual quality has a lot to do with HDRA (now Garden Organic) as well as a 1940’s horticultural land type, varietal choice, fertility and being free from pests and writer called J.O. Baker who wrote such romantic novels such as diseases and I also learned how to be discerning in these areas as Two Acres and Freedom and The Complete Market Gardener. Rachel well as grading and packing. I became aware of the importance of Carson’s Silent Spring was so frightening that I knew I had to do workers and how to make them feel valued by working and also it differently. spending break times with them. We always have a meal with any visitors these days, of course made from our own produce.

Page 8 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 I would like to know your top tips for running a successful vegetable business and any challenges for future - and also, what was your biggest mistake? Mick Marston

Running a vegetable business is fraught with danger but if I have to prioritise I will try!

• Good quality land is essential for good quality produce without years of fertility building and good drainage so the land is accessible when necessary. Access to water is essential (though preferably not at water company rates)

and a watering system that allows you some time off. This is Ben Raskin presents Alan Schofield with an engraved plate at the AGM. essential for dry years but also for top quality of leafy crops. What is your most joyous memory leading the OGA? • It’s important to have enough money to see you through Wendy Seel the tough times like the hungry gap, high interest rates, Seeing the enthusiasm of the next generation of farmers and breakdowns and always try to keep borrowings realistic. It’s growers coming together at an OGA event and talking openly and also helpful to have sufficient funding to be able to afford freely about what many would consider to be trade secrets. good quality polytunnels so you can grow early and late What is your proudest achievement? Kate Collyns • Knowing your customers is essential but also your competition so you can find out what makes you unique. Marketing is vital, I think it was to have been a part of the early discussions on the so try and create a good logo and image that reflects what you apprentice scheme and to see continuity in our sector. Many years do and then use it all the time. A good website, packaging, ago I was the only person present, without grey hair, at one of labels and constant communication are also essential. It’s Lady Eve Balfour’s last talks and I questioned where the continuity important to monitor the market, looking for those new ideas was then. To see it all now, at present day events, is heart lifting. to keep things fresh, and if possible, trial new varieties. Even Carolyn Wacher conducted the interview after 36 years of growing we are always on the look out for Alan will respond to more general questions, largely about the future of more disease resistance or high grade 1 produce. Our system the organic sector, and including those from Wendy Seel, Mick Marston, has optimised yield so all we can go for is quality. July Steele, Sue Johnson, Matthew Hayes and Kate Collyns, in the next • Get as much free advertising as you can by entering issue of the OG.

competitions, writing for the local paper or responding to 100% peat-free other points of view. Attend markets and be present at local events, and in fact do anything to get noticed! It is not that others are ignorant they just need a little help to understand more, so be friendly and patient. Many of our customers have been with us for over 20 years and we have seen their Proven peat-free growing media and ingredients children born, grow up and then leave home. Trusting good • Sylvamix® Natural Melcourt’s Soil Association-approved food is what we have always been about. sustainable peat-free growing medium is widely used throughout the UK for a wide range of applications from seed sowing to After 11 years at the helm, do you see prosperity ahead for containerisation those OGA members who believe that ‘Small is Beautiful’ • Bark-based growing medium ingredients are unrivalled - or are the economics too heavily stacked against us? in quality and consistency and Soil Association approved Wendy Seel • Bark-based mulches are effective, consistent and cost competitive Times have changed since I started, but the most challenging All Melcourt products are based on materials sourced and manufactured change has been the frequency with which people eat out or buy in the UK - backed up by customer service that is widely acknowledged take-away meals. Food processing, which I have always believed as being second to none. should mainly happen in the home, has now become a major Melcourt have been supplying the grower market in the UK for three player in the food market and we desperately need people who decades and have been certified by the Soil Association since 1991. continue to enjoy cooking, value food and eating a healthy diet. To me, our land and production systems are our strongest asset in promoting this and I think there will always be a market for the (loud) local producer. Melcourt Industries Ltd • Boldridge Brake • Long Newnton • Tetbury Gloucestershire GL8 8RT T: 01666 502711 • F: 01666 504398 • E: [email protected] www.melcourt.co.uk @melcourtltd

Page 9 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Traineeships A group of trainees and growers who already host informal traineeships outside of schemes such as Future Growers in the southwest met up at Trill Farm in Devon at the end of March this year. Our starting point for meeting was that there are very few routes into organic sustainable farming in the UK, and informal traineeships are a key entrance point. They are by no means perfect, but they exist and will continue to, and in recent years seem to be growing in number. Farms are, however, organising and running these traineeships individually, without any external guidance, support or accreditation. The idea was to discuss how different farms run their traineeships, to share what works well and what people struggled with and want to improve on, and to create a support network for growers and trainees to share resources and organise farm visits and teaching days amongst themselves.

In practise the discussion was far more wide-reaching. As a group, of two and a half years; and one trainee gets a stipend for seven we shared our horticultural and traineeship experience, and four months. This makes up most of his workforce; he has one full-time themes emerged from the first half of the meeting. Firstly, a few paid assistant in addition. Alongside Kai Lange who works with the experienced growers expressed their lack of confidence in hosting Biodynamic Association and their very established apprenticeship or ‘teaching’ trainees since they themselves did not have any scheme, Andy had the most structured traineeship arrangement formal horticulture training. Secondly, there was agreement that of the group, owing a lot to the Future Growers scheme, and his it would be helpful to research what does/did exist in the way of traineeship includes after work ‘sit-down’ taught time every week. traineeships in the UK, and why it does/didn’t work. The point The other five growers present felt unable to pay their trainees. was raised that currently traineeships are specific to the farm Ed Hamer, who farms at Chagfood CSA in Devon, currently hosts name and host grower, and that it would be good to have a wider two trainees a year. He has recently been looking into government identity, recognition and/or accreditation associated with a larger apprenticeship schemes, his main motivation for this being to pay organisation or network. A couple of growers present had been their trainees a better wage. Government apprenticeships require hosts to the Future Growers scheme and felt a lot could be learnt eight hours teaching a week, so Ed has been in communication from it and from why the two-year apprenticeship programme with a local college about teaching his trainees for a day a week. folded. Thirdly, the idea of developing a syllabus to share and There are very few organic modules at colleges like his local one; potentially to formalise/standardise traineeships was discussed. we discussed how if several growers in a region enrolled their This could help with defining and managing expectations of both trainees and requested more organic and sustainable farming trainee and host from the start. Finally, we talked about having modules, this could positively affect the opportunities offered a platform to share resources, and about creating a database of at agricultural colleges and also affect those enrolling in those trainings offered around the UK, one benefit of which would colleges and entering farming. be that it would be easier for people searching for a learning opportunity to find a farm set up that they are really interested in, We tried to keep the discussion solely to traineeships; but worthy and in turn growers would have better matched applicants. of note, Dee Butterly, membership secretary at the Landworkers’ Alliance, reported an idea that came up at the OGA AGM this We spoke about elements of traineeships that are often difficult to year. The suggestion was made that at some point in the future, the communicate to new entrants, and about things that growers want LWA could work with the OGA to set up a mentorship scheme to to teach, or impart, that are not quantifiable. For example, how support new entrants who have started growing with older more to communicate to trainees that growing is a continual learning experienced growers, so as to continue support and learning for process and two seasons’ worth is just the beginning! How to new entrants, and to value inter-generational knowledge, so that warn about the summer madness and that there is unlikely to be a new generation of growers don’t have to start from scratch and any ‘sit-down’ learning in the busiest months, but for trainees to make all the same mistakes again. (There are current discussions feel like this test of stamina is not exploitation but a worthwhile with the ORC and others to look at funding for this – Ed.) learning experience, and important to see if they are on the right career path, and how to plan and fit in more teaching and contact We concluded our meeting by agreeing that we want to create time in the quieter months to make up for this. Also, how can a network of current trainees and growers hosting traineeships. growers share an appreciation for the beauty of why we do what We have set up an email list, we have a Google Drive to share we do; how to inspire passion for growing. our syllabuses and resources, and several growers have agreed to organise a farm visit and/or a day of teaching for the current Discussion around pay was inconclusive (as ever!). In the opinion trainees in exchange for other growers doing the same. Things of some growers who had hosted Future Growers, the two-year that we would like to work on in the future: find an appropriate programme ended because the Soil Association were unable to organisation to host and advertise a database of traineeships find enough farms that felt they could afford to pay a wage to an on their website, to create a publicly available syllabus as a tool apprentice. Andy Dibben, the grower at Abbey Home farm, pays and guideline for others, for the network to grow so that it is not three trainees or apprentices the minimum wage for a contract

Page 10 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 defined by region but is more fluidly open, and to think about accreditation, which could be useful for post-Brexit agricultural Knife culture policy proposals and accessing funding for start up grants. I use Wilko’s cheapest kitchen knives for From my personal perspective as a second year trainee, I have many tasks. They come in a pack of three for to admit I feel conflicted about informal traineeships. I know less than £2. Two flat bladed ones can be re- that I would not have felt able to do a traineeship had I not been sharpened many times on a stone, and there lucky enough to have savings, and I therefore feel uncomfortable is a serrated one which stays sharp for ages. about who these opportunities are available to. Traineeships are Good for picking and trimming most crops. an important route into agroecological farming in the UK, and The short ones are good for dibbing when I think there are many benefits in strengthening and improving pricking out. Sue Johnson what is in existence and is working already. Whilst I do not want to perpetuate an expectation that unpaid labour is OK, I also feel We absolutely rely on the Morakniv, cheap quite certain that there is too much that needs to change in many and cheerfully coloured so no long-grass different parts of the food system before many growers will feel losses! We aim to sharpen them every two that they are able to pay, or have time for, untrained individuals. weeks but that particular job often gets shifted From an entirely selfish point of view, I am in the middle ofa down the list...! Moon, Vallis Veg traineeship and I have six months left to get the most out of it; Here at Plowrights we use a 10 inch cabbage knife for almost this network will hopefully provide a few more farm visits, an everything made by Robert Herder. Though a little on the opportunity to meet more growers, and a bit more tuition time... pricey side they are but fantastic quality metal and go on for Rita Oldenbourg years. Adam Keeves (from OGA forum) Trill Farm Garden, second year apprentice Southern Roots Organics, employee Review: Farming with walk-behind tractors

I was interested to read ‘Farming with Walk two-way), rototillers (for secondary tillage, strip tillage, sheet Farming with Behind Tractors’ because we’re deciding whether Walk-Behind Tractors composting, seed bed preparation and furrowing), mowers at Kerr Center’s Cannon we could use our BCS two wheel tractor for the Horticulture Project (rotary, sicklebar and flail), crimper rollers and hay rakes. majority of tillage at the market garden where I Included in this section is information on minor adjustments work. Buying the appropriate attachments is a you can make to your machine (such as wheel weights or fair investment so I hoped this publication might axle extensions) to optimise your tractors performance. by GEORGE KUEPPER advise us on whether we should transition from Horticulture Program Manager-Retired Aside from a few Americanisms which were incomprehensible four- to two-wheels. Given that the publication is to me (until I googled them), ‘Farming with Walk Behind aimed at people deciding whether a walk behind KERR CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, POTEAU, OKLAHOMA • 2018 Tractors’ is easy to read and has lots of photographs to tractor would work for their site, as well as for illustrate the text. The only word of warning I would give use as a ‘how to’ manual, I had high hopes. to anyone considering buying the publication, is that it’s heavily Having expected a fairly dry (yet informative) read, I quickly found focused on BCS tractors, models 732 and 853. Although other makes myself pleasantly surprised. Written by George Kuepper, the are mentioned (namely Grillo and Carrarino), and much of the retired Horticultural Programme Managed at Kerr Center Cannon general advice is universal, I think the manual would be of limited Project, an educational centre for small scale farming in the US. use to someone using a two wheel tractor make other than BCS. He draws on a decade of experience using two wheel tractors and All in all, it’s a useful publication for people with limited experience (more to the point) a decade of training people to use two wheel of using walk behind tractors and for those who are looking at tractors. The result is a thorough publication, full of information on whether they could feasibly manage their site using one. I think how to use these tractors and their attachments. It’s also peppered it would also serve as helpful ‘recommended reading’ if you’re with bits of personal (and almost paternal) advice on how to use training anyone to use two wheel tractors on your site. these machines without causing undue stress on your body. As for whether we’re going to switch to two wheels where I work, The report combines rudimentary information with detailed the jury’s still out, but I think the publication will help inform our accounts of how to use each tractor attachment. Kuepper isn’t afraid decision. to cover the basics. There’s one section on how to turn around at the end of a row without straining your back and another which Ellen Rignell troubleshoots hitching and unhitching tools. Alongside the basics, The report is available as a downloadable PDF for 5 USD http://kerrcenter.com/ publication/farming-walk- behind-tractors/ the manual details how to use ploughs (rotary, mouldboard and

Page 11 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Practical soil assessment methods for different horticultural systems The GREATsoils project ran for three years and came to an end in March 2018; it was a collaboration between the Organic Research Centre (ORC), the Soil Association and Earthcare Technical, and was funded by AHDB Horticulture. Anja Vieweger and Dominic Amos from ORC report from their work with horticultural growers across the UK, who have selected, tested, and rated different practical soil assessment tools for their specific growing systems.

During a two-year field study as part of the GREATsoils project, UK growers from different horticultural systems such as field vegetables, top fruit and protected cropping systems have selected, tested and directly compared a number of promising (to them) soil assessment tools in their own fields. The methods were protected crops as examples of the main horticultural systems in relatively new to the growers in that they have seldom used them the UK. The documents are also available for free download on before, but they were seen as interesting new approaches, practical the ORC and the AHDB GREATsoils websites, and their content is and relatively easy to use, cheap and most importantly seemed to summarised in the following sections of this article. For more deliver useful results to inform sustainable soil management. information on different practical soil assessment tools and links The aim of the field comparison of soil assessment tools was on to where they are available, please refer to the AHDB Information one hand to (re-)connect growers with their soils, increase their Sheet 05 - Soil Assessment Methods. confidence to personally assess and measure the health of their soils, and to evaluate which indicators might be most useful and relevant to monitor in their specific circumstances and horticultural systems. On the other hand, this work aimed to identify if certain horticultural systems, such as field veg, top fruit or protected cropping systems, might require their own specific soil assessment methods, combinations of methods or individual interpretation of results.

The outcomes of this study are a set of recommendations for specific horticultural systems, based on the practical experience of growers who have tested and compared different soil assessment methods in their fields. The recommendations reflect their feedback on each individual tool, as well as the feedback from a larger group of growers and consultants, who have followed the project and participated in field days and system specific workshops over the past two years.

The outcomes clearly show that simple and practical soil assessment tools can be highly useful to growers who:

• Aim to evaluate the health of their soils themselves,

• Wish to monitor changes in their soils over time (e.g. structure, fertility etc.), or

• Aim to assess the effects of certain soil management strategies and activities that they perform.

The study confirmed that different horticultural systems need different soil assessment methods. They also showed that growers can benefit greatly from (continuously) trying out different and new approaches of soil assessment themselves, and over time develop, combine or adapt practical tools that suit their own specific system the best. The three documents of recommendation AHDB Information Sheet 05 - Soil Assessment Methods. Soil assessment tests developed from this work are focused on top fruit, field veg and evaluated and rated by growers

Page 12 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Visual Soil Assessment (VSA) Earthworm counts Method Field Top fruit Protected Earthworms are some of the more common and easily assessable vegetables systems crops soil organisms and are widely accepted as an indicator for soil Visual Soil Assessment fertility, health and organic matter. First, it is crucial to perform (VSA) the counts in spring and/or autumn, when the worms are most Earthworm Counts active in the top layers of the soil. And secondly, when heavy tillage machinery and tools are used, earthworm populations Soil Health Laboratory can decrease very quickly. Ploughing, for example, will smear Test or close vertical worm tunnels and might cut some apart, but generally it might do less damage to earthworm populations Simple Infiltration Rates and their habitat than for example rotating tillage machinery. The OPAL earthworm surveys guide used in this study offers a Simple Compaction Test brief introduction to earthworms and explains its technique for sampling in a short and practical manner. Growers of different systems rated the following methods according to how useful. Many growers were very interested in earthworm counts, but As there is no VSA tool specifically designed for horticulture none had any previous experience with this tool. After trying it available yet, the selected method for this study was the ‘Healthy out, field veg growers stated that the method can be very useful if Grassland Tool’ developed by Eblex/DairyCo. This tool consists a good base population of worms is already present in a field, and of a two-page glossy soil scoring sheet, with colour pictures to if an assessment ‘routine’ can be adopted for long-term monitoring. compare the own sampled soil to, as well as a small pocketbook for They also highlighted that expertise needs to be built up over time further detail and information. It provides practical instructions as and the relatively substantial time investment needs to be taken into to how to sample a soil block with a spade and how to assess and account. As for many soil assessment methods, earthworm counts compare it with the provided pictures and their scores. are most useful when repeated regularly, maybe twice a year over a couple of years, to get used to the method and get a feel for the The growers saw this tool as highly useful for more extensive ‘normal’ number of worms and natural fluctuations of populations horticultural systems such as top fruit systems. They stated that in the specific field or soil. Finding ten worms in a spade sample can if the test is used regularly and on several locations in the field, it be a lot in some soils, whereas in others it might be a very low result. gives great insights into the general soil health in an orchard. They highlighted that it assesses soil structure, but also root development Simple infiltration rates — pattern and vigour — as well as soil smell and colour; and For this test we used a piece of 5cm provides the opportunity to count earthworms etc.; all providing diameter drain pipe, tightly fixed on the a practical and quick way of getting an impression of the health bare soil surface, then 100ml of water of the soil and the cash crop. However, many growers in the field are added and the time is measured vegetable and protected crops sectors were more sceptical about that it takes for the water to completely its usefulness in very intensive horticulture systems. Especially infiltrate into the soil. This is repeated at when growing on beds (e.g. carrots or lettuce) or in highly intensive several locations throughout each field rotations for protected crops where the soil is worked very regularly or plot. We found that for most soils this and heavily, and soil structure assessment in the top 30cm is not is a very efficient method, and growers possible or useful for most of the year. In such situations, timing were excited about this simple test and of assessment is very important: e.g. in early spring, just before keen to try it out themselves. the field is ploughed and prepared for planting/sowing, when an assessment of structure is possible after the soil has had a short rest. This test was seen by the growers as a very useful tool for assessing soil structure and compaction as it is very easy to use and generates self-explanatory results that are easy to translate into soil management strategies. However, the method requires measuring the time it takes for 100ml of water to infiltrate into soil, and depending on the soil type, structure or moisture content, this can take rather a long time. So, while this tool was seen as highly useful and informative in lighter soils, and for a closer assessment of areas where compaction was previously suspected, in heavier soils it may take over 10 minutes per sample, which tends to stretch a grower’s patience and therefore hampers the practical use of this tool in such conditions. Photos: Anja Vieweger/ORC

Page 13 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Simple compaction test For this test, a blunt knife, soil probe or corer is pressed straight into the soil to get an impression of how much force or pressure is REPORT needed to get to a certain depth of the soil. This action is repeated in Report No. 56183 Cropping: Farm Details: Client: L703 ORC-AUJS VIEWEGER RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Sample No. 339490 No cropping details given SOIL ELM FARM RESEARCH CENTRE several locations across the field in an ‘M’ shape for example, or in Sample Ref. LOD PM Field Area: .5 Ha HAMSTEAD MARSHALL NEWBURY BERKSHIRE different lines leading into a suspected compacted area of a field, or Date Received: 13/04/2017 Date Reported: 21/04/2017 RG20 0HR through tramlines into the bed etc., to get a feel for the differences. Soil Chemical Analysis Index Result Low Marginal Target Marginal High P 4 54.2 mg/l K 3 255 mg/l This simple test also received very positive feedback from the Mg 3 105 mg/l Organic Matter (LOI) 6.5% Level data not available for this crop growers. It was seen as a useful tool for assessing soil structure Very Acid Acid Neutral Alkali Very Alkali Soil pH 7.3

Where no future crop code has been given, levels are calculated assuming an arable crop. If general fertiliser and lime recommendations have been requested, these are given on the following sheets. and compaction, although it is one of the most subjective of the The analytical methods used are as described in DEFRA Reference Book 427. The index values are determined from the DEFRA Fertiliser Recommendations RD209 8th Edition (Appendix 4). methods compared by the growers. The level of resistance felt Microbial Activity Index Result Very Low Low Moderate-Low Moderate High Very High when pushing a blunt knife or soil corer into the ground is subject CO 2 Burst 5.4 222 mg/kg Potential N Mineralisation (kg/ha/yr) - Based on CO 2 Burst to personal interpretation and cannot be numerically ‘measured’. Very Low (<15) Low (15-25) Moderate-Low (25-45) Moderate (45-75) High (75-105) Very High (105-123) Textural Classification Nevertheless, the growers can calibrate themselves by practising 100 10 90 Heavy Soil Breakdown: Sand24% Silt 41% Clay 35%

20 Clay Loam 80 Medium Soil Soil Textural the method and testing it in different fields and soils etc. The test Class: 30 70 Light Soil Clay Major Soil Medium

40 was seen as a very fast, cheap and easy to use method to locate 60 Percent silt Classification: o 50 Slope: 0 50 Percent clay Silty Sandy clay 60 areas of compaction in a field; and with some experience, even the 40 clay Water Erosion Risk 70 Key: 30 o Clay loam Silty clay > 7 Very High Sandy clay loam loam 80 o depth of the compacted layer can be estimated. 20 3-7 High

Slope o 90 2-3 Moderate 10 Sandy loam Sandy silt loam Silt loam o < 2 Lower Sand Loamy sand 100 Light Medium Heavy 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Percent sand Soil Health Index - Based on soil chemical, physical and biological results. 5.8

0123456

Very Low Low Moderate-Low Moderate High Very High

NRM Coopers Bridge, Braziers Lane, Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6NS Tel: +44 (0) 1344 886338 Fax: +44 (0) 1344 890972 Email: [email protected] www.nrm.uk.com

NRM Laboratories is a division of Cawood Scientific Ltd, Coopers Bridge, Braziers Lane, Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6NS Registered Number: 05655711

activity, microbial biomass C or basal respiration rates, etc.). These tests are often relatively expensive (e.g. up to £150-200 per sample for food web tests), and interpretation of their results, as well as correct sampling requires great skills and caution. Microbial communities in the soil often vary significantly during different seasons, weather Laboratory soil health tests conditions, moisture levels, temperatures and even times of day! So while these tests have great potential to provide useful information There are relatively newly developed laboratory tests, often for soil management, it is crucial to be aware of the issues above providing an overall soil health index or soil health score based when using them in practice. From a practical point of view, both on chemical soil health indicators (P, K, Mg, pH, total soil organic microbial biomass and respiration rates could ‘equally’ be used to matter), physical indicators (texture) and biological indicators assess labile soil organic matter fractions. As the NRM soil health (respiration), with certain soil management recommendations test includes a measurement of respiration rates, amongst other derived from the results. highly relevant soil health parameters (P, K, Mg, pH, total %SOM, This test was included in the study as many growers were very etc.), and for a relatively affordable price per sample (around £45), keen on increasing soil organic matter in their soils and are looking this test was chosen in our trials to evaluate its value for growers for a method to monitor organic matter over time. Total soil organic and to assess its potential to reliably inform soil management matter is very difficult to increase in the short term, e.g. during 3-5 strategies to improve soil health and fertility. years expected changes often do not exceed 0.5%. Total soil organic Such laboratory tests were seen by the growers as potentially very matter is often analysed by loss on ignition (LOI) or other laboratory useful in the future, once more information is available about soil methods that measure all fractions of organic matter in the soil, biology indicators, and once useful testing procedures/protocols from the highly fixed ‘inert fraction’ over the easier decomposable are developed for routine soil biology testing and monitoring ‘stable fraction’ to the highly reactive and manageable ‘active/labile over time. Particularly for intensive horticultural systems such as fraction’. It is the latter that farmers and growers are most interested protected cropping systems it was seen as a very promising soil in, as they can potentially see effects of changes in soil management assessment method. strategies relatively quickly. The active/labile fraction covers all soil biology (fungi, bacteria, etc.) and there are several lab tests currently Anja Vieweger and Dominic Amos, available to measure this fraction (e.g. food web tests, enzymatic Organic Research Centre

Page 14 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 GREATsoils field labs Green manures for N availability crops on the three sites are potatoes (using PCN mustard ahead of the cash crop), sugar beet (using a split field approach with radish This field lab, run in conjunction with Innovative Farmers (IF), aims cover crop, compost applications and chicken litter applications to compare how different green manures affect the availability ahead of the cash crop), and lettuce (using oats as overwintering of nitrogen and key nutrients to a following spring green crop. A green manure ahead of the cash crop) field trial has been set up in Lancashire with Chris Molyneux of The group met for an update meeting in March 2017 to exchange Molyneux Kales who was keen to learn more about what different first results and discussed their experiences during a field day on 17 combinations of green manures could bring to his system in July 2017 with a wide range of growers and farmers in the region. terms of nitrogen availability. Chris’s motivation was wanting During autumn and harvest, the participants have collected data to save money by reducing his nitrogen bills but he has also seen on yield and quality of their cash crops (e.g. sugar content of beets, improvements in drainage and the workability of the land. After skin finish of potatoes etc.) and these results are now being written discussions and planning with the farmer over trial design and set- up for a report, available soon on the Innovative Farmers website. up, the green manures were drilled in March and terminated in July 2017. A field lab open day took place in July prior to the termination Amendments for soil health in fruit of the green manure, with data on the green manure biomass and nitrogen content collected on the same day. Sampling has continued Many growers are already through the season with most of the results now available and using green waste compost or shared with the group. An open day took place in March 2018, with composted woodchip to add results disseminated and discussions around whether to take the fertility and organic matter to field lab forward with other growers in the area. their soils. However, there are also a range of products being Improving soil health across a promoted to boost the health shared rotation and fertility of soils. Working out not only which of these This field lab, also run with IF aims to improve soil health and will have a positive impact organic matter in an arable/horticulture system where different in specific farm systems and businesses use/rent the same field at some point in their rotations. environments, but also which The collaborating growers and farmers assess the effects of each give the best value for money, introducing more cover crops in their rotations on cash crop yield is often difficult. To address this and quality as well as soil health and long-term sustainability. Photo: Phil Sumption challenge, a group of growers Mycorrhizal dip for fruit tree planting Growers often rent or share land that they may only use for one has decided to undertake a field year of a rotation, meaning that any investments in soil health may lab to carry out some practical comparison experiments of currently not directly benefit them in the short term, especially if others in available soil amendments, with a focus on top-fruit systems. the rotation don’t make similar efforts. Taking a longer-term view and working cooperatively should lead to benefits for all as well Six growers have started to set up small field experiments to assess as helping to protect and enhance soil health. the effectiveness of different soil amendments, including enriched biochar, ramial (uncomposted) woodchip, composted woodchip, The two arable farmers and the horticulture holding are each green waste compost and mycorrhizae inoculant. Each grower chose using a specific field, to conduct this experiment of bringing in the amendments or combinations thereof according to their interest more cover crops or adding organic matter to the soil. The cash and suitability for the system. Individual monitoring programmes have been devised for each site to monitor the effects of the amendments and collect data on soil health and fertility parameters, as well as potential effects on tree/plat health, fruit quality and yield.

The group has just successfully applied for an IF research grant to support the trials and enable growers to carry out more in-depth on-farm monitoring of their trials to confirm the effects of the soil amendments; and fund the involvement of a researcher on each of the six sites to support them in this process, ensuring sound and reliable results. Anja Vieweger, Dominic Amos and Sally Westaway Organic Research Centre

Page 15 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Riverford field labs

Riverford Organic are backing farmer-led research by investing in humus-complexes and long-chain humic acids, as well as other three field labs. The trials will be coordinated from their HQ in Devon high quality humus substances, within 6 - 8 weeks. ORC are and led by Assistant Farm Manager, Ed Scott, but they’re open to working as researchers with the Land Gardeners on this trial. This everyone. Growers can either join the group and replicate the trials year the group is looking into the effects on crop growth of different on their own farms, or learn from what happens at Riverford. composts. Following a meeting at Wardington Manor in January 2018, a pilot trial was set up. The field lab will also look at effective A kick-off meeting took place at Riverford HQ in November with in-situ compost testing methods, as well as some relatively cheap the topics for research presented and discussed. A more focused and accessible lab analysis of compost pile chemistry and physics. follow-up took place in January with the triallists from each topic to plan the 2018 experiments and further explore trial design and One of the main research questions centres around identifying methodology. The topics under investigation are: the microbial community of the controlled aerobic compost and this has presented a significant challenge to moving the field lab Comfrey teas for improved crop yields forward as sophisticated molecular analysis is needed to answer Comfrey tea is reported to be a very useful biofertilizer, with a effectively questions of microbial diversity. Approaches have been particularly high potassium content. Growing it and making made to various soil microbiology experts to participate in this home-grown comfrey tea can be considered more sustainable lab and help investigate microbial communities. It is hoped that than using products such as seaweed extract and may allow less compost biology will be addressed by a Cranfield MSc student productive parts of the farm to be used to cultivate the plant. As who will investigate the effects on soil microbial community at well as the trial at Riverford, with a commercial product being Wardington and test the compost in the lab. applied to a tomato crop, an additional trial at Organic Blooms Dominic Amos will explore the efficacy of homemade comfrey tea compared to the commercial product. Organic Research Centre Zone tillage for lower inputs and healthy soil A machine is being developed to till strips in a pre-existing green manure leaving 2/3 of the land untilled. Three small pilot trials are being set up to test this system and record effects on crop yield compared to their standard farm practice of ploughing. It is hoped that the energy input of the strip tillage will be reduced compared to ploughing, with the system also offering advantages in terms of soil structure, protection against erosion and improved carbon sequestration. The question is can it work in a horticultural system without reducing crop yield? Trials will begin this Spring. Hot water treatment to reduce leaf spot This topic stems from interest in investigating how effective hot water seed treatment on leaf beet is in the field. Seeds are tested pre- and post-treatment for various diseases to determine efficacy but there appears to be a disconnect between the success of the seed treatment and any tangible benefits in the field. A trial is being developed to help determine if benefits from treating the seed can be determined in comparison to an untreated control. Producing efficient high-quality humified compost This field lab is investigating the controlled aerobic composting method of producing compost. It is claimed that it can produce a fully nutrient and crumb stabilised compost, in the form of clay-

Page 16 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 PGDip/MSc Organic Farming course at SRUC: A grower’s experience

I have just completed three years of the MSc. in Organic Farming at SRUC, Aberdeen. I was first aware of the course from an advert in this magazine and I wanted to share my experience of it. I decided to do the course because I wanted a new challenge and intellectual stimulation, and I felt it might help me in my role. Alternatively, if the rather shaky business of growing organic veg in unpromising soils and climate for an economically deprived market failed as often seems possible, I would have something to fall back on. The part-time distance-learning format suited me as a working grower and part-time single parent.

The first two years (a PGDip) are taught modules and they don’t specifically cover horticulture, and this is obviously a drawback for growers. Some of the content such as the livestock module will only be of academic interest, unless like me, you have a farm that has livestock and wish to understand it better. The course is much more about understanding the whole organic system and developing critical thinking, research and communication skills about the topic. That may sound very abstract but the approach is quite practical with an emphasis on studying real examples and many visits to farms and organic businesses, including a few vegetable growers. Study visit to Vital Veg with Wndy Seel

The soil and nutrients module is obviously directly relevant my free weekends to it and putting in some fairly long sessions at to growers and although it is not something that excites me, I the computer. Travel was also a nightmare - the journey from West can see the large potential benefit of the finance and marketing Wales to Aberdeen takes a whole day whatever method you use. module. Other modules on the history and regulation of organic Overall, I feel it helped a lot with my work as a grower not so farming and on environmental issues are relevant if you see your much by teaching me specific things, although I certainly picked role as broader than just running a business. I certainly now feel up some useful knowledge along the way, but more by giving much more confident and knowledgeable when discussing and me the tools and confidence to analyse and change what I was advocating for organic and sustainable farming. doing. It also helped me think about my growing holistically and There is also quite a lot of scope in some modules for focusing developing it into a system that works in our climate, soils and on your own farm or business, both in individual assignments market with a rotation that considers fertility building, long-term for example studying your own soil, and in the work placement weed control, crop choice and the business as a whole. Before I module which you can do in your own workplace by studying it had some good ideas that I had discovered and elements that and doing a project to make improvements or recommendations. seemed to work but also problems that were not addressed. I’m The module I enjoyed most was the case study, where you had to sure there is no perfect system and always more to learn but I feel come up with a five year organic conversion plan for a real farm, in a very good position to assess and improve things. effectively virtual farming; although it is an arable farm to start While I was studying, Banc Organics was changing and growing, with this didn’t stop me putting a few field vegetables in the plan. becoming more efficient and mechanised and adding a more Learning from other students is a big part of it, depending on who customer focused on-line shop element to our box scheme which is in your year (together with the one above and below) and there had previously really struggled. It helped me plan and manage seem to be a fair number of growers. Everyone is keen to swap that change with confidence. ideas not just on the course content. The third year is all your own research on a topic of your choosing. I also really enjoyed the opportunity the study weekends gave me So often things I try might seem to work (or not) but you can’t be to get away from home and live student life for a few days. The sure if the weather or soil conditions or mere chance were really weekends are packed and they organise a number of social events responsible. This is an opportunity to properly and thoroughly in the evenings including ceilidhs and the staff are mostly great, investigate something with expert support. I conducted trials enthusiastic and helpful. using biodegradable plastic film mulch on my own plot with some very interesting and relevant results, which I will report in It was quite a lot of work. My original plan of doing the work the autumn OG. when my kids were in bed didn’t work out, they started going to bed later and I was just too tired so I ended up giving over most of Martin Samphire, Grower, Banc Organic, Carmarthenshire

Page 17 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 No-till for growers: Part 2 - Soil health practices for growers

Following on from the article in the last Organic Grower magazine, here are some of the ways that growers can apply the soil health principles in their operations to get improved soil crumb structure and better crops.

Reconsider options for raising a tilth does not provide a number of benefits, but it’s important to be aware of the consequences of its usage. We’ll consider ways to There’s no doubt that transplanting into soil with a good tilth is mitigate the negative effects of tillage and how to get improved much faster and more pleasant than where it is poor and for direct results when necessary. sowing, it is perhaps essential. However, the creation of that tilth can be incredibly destructive, especially where repeated, and it certainly delays the whole job of establishment. This can be a problem, especially as it would appear that the spring cultivation window is getting narrower each year. There are two distinct types of tilth: mechanical tilth that is generated through tillage, and biological tilth which is the kind of natural crumb structure that good organic soil becomes, otherwise known as aggregation. This is found around the roots of healthy plants, whether crop or Recently tilled soil. Little evidence of aggregate structure or pore spaces cover crop and this structure is resistant to weathering and degradation. The trouble with mechanical tilth, raised by cultivation, is that it is short-lived. The seed bed may come up Use biology to improve tilth nicely, which is sufficient for planting but it doesn’t last more than Once again, soil structure is a product of the action of soil a few weeks or days before settling back into a packed, consolidated organisms. It’s the production of gels and slimes (biotic glues) and homogeneous structure with little pore space. The picture that serve to hold finer crumb structures between cultivations below illustrates the aggregation visible around the roots of an and to bind together disparate soil particles that would otherwise over-wintered green manure. consolidate or pack into dense physically bonded structures. The application of the soil health principle of diversity in mixtures, and in rotations can bring improved tilth following cultivation. The example below compares the tilth following a spring cultivation – a standard rye/vetch overwinter green manure compared to a cocktail cover crop - with 8+ species (seeds kindly supplied by Cotswold Seeds).

The photos show soils following the standard spring cultivation of the whole horticultural block, with multiple passes of a power harrow. There’s a marked difference in the fragment size between the two treatments. Which of these would need fewer passes to Repeated tillage to prepare the soil for planting may therefore raise a seed bed and would be better for transplants? Thanks to reduce structure and fertility thereby forcing the need for lengthy, grower, Adam Beer, for these pics and feedback on the trial. fertility-building phases where the land is out of production. The trouble is that the tillage triggers the destructive digestion of soil organic matter (SOM) by particular soil organisms, which can give a yield boost - through a flush of newly available nutrients, known as mineralisation, but contributes to a net loss in SOM and in structure, tilth and aggregation over time.

In the end, this makes the soil hard and unworkable as well as resulting in a dense structure which requires further cultivation, and inhibits infiltration, requiring additional irrigation. Tilled soil is often the soil with the worst structure. This is not to say that Adam Beer Pitney Farm - Spring cultivation. At left: cocktail cover crop. At right: rye vetch cultivation isn’t a useful, and in some cases essential tool, or that it green manure

Page 18 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Another area for further exploration is the use of biological growth promoters like aerobic compost, composted manure, seaweed, humic acids, molasses, sugar or mulches. These can be applied Dean Organic Fund to soils to engender microbial activity at the surface and should have a short-term tilth-creating effect, and when combined with applications of liquids, will increase the depth of activity. Interest free loans for organic/ecological Raise a tilth by hand producers and food businesses In the transition phase, to facilitate efficient planting as the biological tilth is building-up or developing, it is a good idea to find a means The Organic Research Centre is now inviting of loosening surface soil layers. On a small-scale, the most useful applications for loans from small-scale organic/ ecological producers and food businesses, including tool is a broad fork, which is a large two-handed fork. It is used to those that are not certified organic but whose loosen soil prior to planting, once or twice per year. A sub-soiler operations are closely aligned with organic principles. may do the same job and other methods include sheeting down, The interest-free, unsecured loans, for investments overwintering e.g. with silage plastic and a top-dressing of mulch. in equipment, stock or other working capital (not In this case, growers have reported soil conditions suitable for direct land), will typically be in the range of £5,000-£25,000, planting, albeit with a few vole burrows to deal with but of course repayable over periods of up to five years. it will be weed-free. Applications are welcome from companies, sole traders, community/social enterprises and charity-owned Trial alternative tillage practices businesses. There are a number of options for applying the minimal disturbance principle including reducing the number of tillage passes, reducing the amount of land tilled in one go, altering the If you are interested, please contact Nic depth or method of tillage, as well as leaving strips untilled. Each Lampkin one has benefits and limitations. Firstly, strip or zone tillage can ([email protected]) for further information. be a simple method, where alternate strips of a biennial based cover crop are rotovated in and planted with a cash crop. This means that half of the land is down to green manure at any one time and half the land is out of production. But it also has a real rationale in terms of the soil food web, as the untilled strips provide Use mulches where possible a ‘refuge’ for mycorrhizal fungi, that would otherwise be denied Mulches can specifically feed soil organisms, creating crumb a food source by the loss of living roots with which to associate. structure and protecting soil from rain and sun, as well as After having their hyphal networks completely rearranged, the preserving surface tilths and improving infiltration, thus reducing established mycorrhizae can quickly grow outwards and colonise the need for irrigation. However, they tend to be bulky and can be the newly planted cash crop from this refuge. They continue to difficult to handle and apply. Where mulching is considered, trials produce glomalin and fix stable carbon into soil organic matter should be carried out to assess practicalities as well as impacts or humus. Together with alley cropping, this refuge principle is, I on slug populations etc. And, where widespread mulching is think one of the secrets behind Mark Shepard’s impressive results adopted, it is helpful to streamline application with spreaders, over 10 years in soil improvement. loaders, two-wheeled barrows etc. Implementing new cropping systems The soil health principles are primarily a strategic tool, helping to inform management choices and the simplest way to put them to work is through an analysis of existing crop rotation. Each change- over or break is a possible point of intervention. You can therefore identify these points and compare your management options, ranking them based on the number of principles they meet. Over a year, there may be a dozen or more points of intervention. Analyse your rotation Complex problems are hard to manage, so make them more manageable by using a design approach, as with permaculture. In this case we can deconstruct or analyse the production system, Mark Shepard. Strip-till sweet clover & courgette

Page 19 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 finding points of intervention within the rotation where we can Optimise propagation capacity apply the soil health principles. Good record-keeping is another way - we know we need to record crop failures and yield in order The key to keeping ahead of the weeds and maintaining living to outline the management activities we carry out as standard. The root is being able to transplant directly into a newly cleared creation of a detailed rotation plan, in addition to a cropping plan, bed, or between a standing crop and to be able to close-plant - is essential and this should ideally have rows or columns for: for additional weed-suppression and output. You will need a ready supply of decent quality and potentially well established • Crop, indicating first and last planting dates transplants and plenty of propagation space. Larger module • Intercrops or under-sowing cell sizes are beneficial— anything up to 75mm. This can result in a real bottleneck or a significant financial burden and for this • Green manures or cover crops can be included, especially reason, designing and installing efficient propagation facilities of where they are under sown, appropriate size is important. Two-tier propagation benches as • Ground preparation or cultivation work, it could be in the well as bottom-heat, tenting and potentially space heat for night same row as the crop• time in critical tunnels. This could be solved by rocket mass heater • Weed control operations, when they are carried-out, together or by air through convoluted subterranean pipes. with the method used,. This is especially important where Be ready to market extra produce cultivation is utilised. The up-shot of these systems is, hopefully, more production. This may seem an onerous task but once created, a good template But over-production can be as much of a problem as under- will help everyone review the work carried out and make production, with the additional picking and handling. Once the judgements on the different practices, as well as acting as guide cultivation periods have been removed from the operation, that to future planning. time is then substituted with longer cropping periods and coupled Step-by-step, and identify easy wins with the intercropping of main crop plants, this all means more crops per year and more crops of fast growing plants like lettuce. By analysing the rotation it is possible to isolate each one of So, it’s important to have an outlet for this produce, ensuring that the existing management practices, looking at opportunities to it doesn’t go to waste or cause a backlog in picking. Therefore, substitute or eliminate them one by one. Identify the simplest it’s probably a good idea to have a short-term wholesale buyer first and look to implement them in year one. If one tillage pass who can make use of the continuous supply of the high quality can be removed every year, by the end of five years, you’ll have salads you’ll be producing. This is another reason to review the eliminated most or all of them. If you currently do a lot of direct production area, as if you can maintain existing supply on less sowing, you might consider transplanting more crops, as this land and then scale-up, all the better. doesn’t require a seed bed and then possibly consider investing in a mechanical transplanter. Convince yourself - do some trials Review land under management Many of those who have carried out side-by-side operations have seen clear differences between the various treatments. In one case, in the It has been shown over time that it is possible to get more US, the production from the no-till portion significantly outstripped production from the same land when it is managed better or the tilled portion in just the first season, and as the result was clear more intensively. So, if you’re struggling to keep on top of the they have been no-till ever since. The same may not be true in your weeds and are experiencing repeated crop failures, it is possible case, but with this in mind, it’s important when transitioning to new you’ve got too much of your land down to cropping. This can be management practices to set up small in-field trials and test these addressed by taking land out of production, at least temporarily. practices in-situ, before rolling-out site-wide. When setting-up a trial, Consider putting more beds down to cover crops or longer-term it’s important to select a crop that is fairly straightforward to husband, cover crops, and as long as they are properly established, this perhaps one where you already have an excess of transplants, and will free you up to focus more of your time and attention on the to establish a clear metric for quantifying success. The most obvious remaining areas. It will also enable you to apply relay-cropping, option would be identifying marketable yield but it’s also prudent to intercropping and successional production more thoroughly, and have a separate line in the accounts, for each plot when harvesting, to whilst there may be a net drop in output in the short-term, as you ensure that each pick gets weighed and logged separately. However, master the system this should take up the slack. You are more estimating grade outs as a proportion of the crop might also be worth likely to grow healthier, better looking crops with less out-grading considering, as well as potentially quantifying savings, in time, from and less stress and if you have commitments to CSA members, ask weeding and prepping. for their buy-in. It is a big ask but, if you want to see results you need to make radical changes and I know of one example where Additionally, ‘get technical’ by measuring plant performance, net receipts increased significantly when a problem part of the and soil health directly using visual assessments, all these work field was taken out of production particularly well in side-by-side trials. For example, refractometers

Page 20 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 (Brix meters) give an indication of plant health and how it is responding in real-time to management treatments. This shows the amount of dissolved solids in the sap, which is a measure of both the level of photosynthetic activity (% Brix value) and the degree to which the plant is converting those sugars to more complex and useful compounds. One test that I think is essential is the “spade test”, to visually investigate the soil structure and aggregation and this can often be radically different between plots and is an indicator of future plant health and cropping success. It’s good to know that what you’re doing or not doing is actually making a difference, down below.

A list of tests and instructions of how to carry them out can be found at the Sectormentor for Soil website: https://soils.sectormentor. com/soil-tests/. When accompanied by the app it makes the work of monitoring soils and crops greatly more pleasant and actually manageable. A question of scale: find the solution that best fits Most of the examples given here are appropriate for smaller-scale operations that are not mechanised or have little use for machinery. This is not to say that the soil health principles can’t be applied at scale, this is certainly not the case but the solutions isolated will simply be different. With this in mind, specialist equipment like transplanters, under-cutting weeders are heavily indicated. Faced with the challenge of implementing these practices, some growers have gone the other way and just increased the labour force, which compensate for the additional production. There is obviously a marketing implication in all of this. The opportunities are accessible, but eventually, the object is to create a bespoke set of solutions that apply the soil health principles that fit your situation and scale. Final thoughts As I mentioned in Part 1 of this article in OG42, advice like this can seem somewhat glib or patronising but I feel that there are some real opportunities for growers at any scale in the UK. Once again, the steady and on-going application of the soil health principles will lead to cumulative gains and ultimately the complete solution At Elsoms we have a superb is an accumulation of small changes that accrue over time. If in selection of organic and each year you can improve or eliminate one or two practices, your soil will steadily move to a healthier state. In turn this will bring non-chemically treated seed, benefits to the crops and the production which will mean that backed up by an experienced implementing more soil health practices will become easier year- on-year. Starting with a rigorous analysis of current practices team of specialists. and mapping these out in a detailed crop rotation plan and then substitute the existing management practices with ones that tick For more information please contact the most soil health principles, for a given point in the rotation. Keely Watson or visit our website: Niels Corfield Niels Corfield is an independent advisor, specialising in soil health, agroforestry t 01775 715000 w elsoms.com and whole-farm planning. Look out for his courses and talks in 2018. Next one: https://www.facebook.com/events/152898018767970/

Page 21 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 GDPR and the implications for growers What is GDPR? it clear what people are consenting to when they give you their The Data Protection Act 1998, which controls how your personal personal information. If in doubt then be overly explicit and data is used by organisations, businesses and government, is cautious. For example ‘tick here to keep in touch’ may not be being superseded by new EU legislation called the General Data enough. ‘Tick here to get news from the farm, and here to get Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although GDPR came into force offers from Ben’s Bountiful Organic Box Scheme’ with separate on 24 May 2016, businesses and organisations had until 25 May boxes for each would be clearer. 2018 until the law actually applied to them. If you haven’t yet Here are a few examples of how to approach consent from the ICO done anything about how you manage your customers personal website (there are more!) data then this article is for you. • Consent requires a positive opt-in. Don’t use pre-ticked boxes The legislation governs how personal data can be lawfully processed. or any other method of default consent. The general principles are that you must do it fairly, lawfully, • Explicit consent requires a very clear and specific statement of transparently and respecting the privacy rights of the individual. consent. However this is quite vague and as you would expect there are a • Keep your consent requests separate from other terms and whole raft of further principles and guidelines to follow. The ICO conditions. (Information Commissioners Office) has a website with some good (and relatively accessible advice) so I would highly recommend • Be specific and ‘granular’ so that you get separate consent for looking at that – there are pages for organisations and for individuals. separate things. Vague or blanket consent is not enough. ANY organisation that collects information about people must be • Make it easy for people to withdraw consent and tell them how. transparent about how they collect that information, what they • Keep evidence of consent – who, when, how, and what you do with it and how they process it. GDPR provides indviduals told people. with enhanced rights including the right to be informed, object • Avoid making consent to processing a precondition of a service. and be forgotten as well as rights regarding access, rectification, Right to be forgotten erasure, restrictions on processing, data portability and automated The new legislation specifically gives individuals the right to be decision making. For most growers the last two may not be very forgotten. They can ask verbally or in writing and they have one relevant but the others all apply. month to respond. In practice for growers this will probably mean How do you gather personal information? that you are not able to keep records of all customers from the last People need to know exactly what they are signing up to. We have 30 years and keep emailing them. Although we are all getting fed all fallen foul of the ‘please uncheck this box if you don’t want to up of the “please let us know if you want to keep in touch with” receive new from our partner organisations’ type request. You emails that every organisation is currently sending round. You must ensure you give enough information so that people know might well need to do this with historic contacts if you want to keep exactly what is being asked. It must be clear and transparent contacting them. Or it may be safer just to press the delete button. and you should provide them with a clear affirmative action or How long can you keep people’s data? statement by which they signify their agreement. How do you store information? The new law requires you to retain personal data no longer than Where do you hold personal information about people? Is it secure? is necessary for the purpose you obtained it for. In practice this Do you have lists of phone numbers and emails in an unlocked means that YOU need to prove you still need that information for drawer in the packing shed. Do you have copies of customers banking the original purpose you collected it for. So, if a customer stops details? Does your computer have up to date security systems? Do having a box you might need to explicitly ask them if you can keep you have systems in place for dealing with security breaches or their details to contact them in the future. requests for information? These are some of the questions you should You also need to ensure that personal data is disposed of when be asking yourself. You are required to have a person responsible for no longer needed. This will reduce the risk that it will become data and systems and processes to show that you are keeping to the inaccurate, out of date or irrelevant. law. These do not need to be complicated, and you may be doing IN summary – though not necessarily a high-risk area for growers many of them already, however you should be documenting them. who will generally know most of their customers – you should The law is putting burden of proof on the business to show they have familiarise yourself with the new law and make sure that you behaved properly and fairly. So having a documented system will act have the right systems in place. There is lots of information and in your favour if anything does go wrong. guidance on the ICO website https://ico.org.uk/. How do you use information? It is unlikely that any of you will be selling your customers Ben Raskin information to third parties, but the onus is still on you to make Ben is Head of Horticulture at the Soil Association

Page 22 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Nature notes – the opposite wood

Gazing out over an English landscape of fields and woods it seems The slope is formed where the reasonable to suppose that change is always towards greater cleave of the brook descending exploitation, less wildness and in particular less trees. For much of from the high land above opens the country this is probably the case, but in our own little valley and into the greater valley of the river. in the greater valley into which it feeds the opposite applies. Here On the right bank the heights run the retreat of farming due to the agricultural depression of the 1930s away southward in an escarpment was not entirely stalled by the post-war policy of financial support with some (by local standards) for production. It was then encouraged again by golden handshakes reasonably level ground at its foot, aimed at “rationalising” milk production and by the inability of but on the left bank and northern somewhat marginal land in smallish parcels to keep up with the side they extend into a gradually diminishing spur. With the help industrialisation of arable crops. In the three and a half decades since of a fault in the strata of the underlying rock the brook has gouged we came here the sound of the forage harvester and combine has away at the side of this spur so that it rises 250 feet in 600 (measured been largely replaced by that of the topper and ride-on mower. on the 1:2,500 map) and in places approaches a scree slope, stones shifting and slipping as you tread. It seems extraordinary that this There is a wood on the steep slope opposite to us across the little ground was ever cleared and enclosed. The only possible thing valley of the brook. It forms the backdrop to our life here and I look in its favour is that it slopes south at perhaps an optimum angle into it through the window as I write. Its changing countenance for absorbing the sun’s rays, and John remembered early potatoes through the seasons - sunlight on the bare stems of winter, the being grown on a less steep patch of it. gorgeous vibrancy of its spring awakening, the heavier green of summer maturity, the wind-borne rain that can be traced against Such evidence of land hunger and past use is far from being its darkening autumn colours and the curious vapours that may unique to our valley. The hopeful nibbling away at land that unpredictably rise from it and hang there during steady rain on a has since been abandoned can be seen, for instance, in the form still day – these are familiar, appreciated but unremarkable. So too of mediaeval lynchets (terraces resulting from cultivation) on the flight of the ravens and buzzards that nest on its upper edge, Dartmoor moorland and on some of the steeper slopes of the often enough locked in their immemorial squabblings as they rise Wessex downs – ground that no farmer, however rapacious, into the sky above. would look at now. The threat of dearth and starvation brought about a high tide of settlement and exploitation in the thirteenth There is a thirty yard cut through it that runs first obliquely from and fourteenth centuries which only ebbed when the Black Death its lower edge and then straight up to breast the skyline. This dramatically reduced the number of mouths to be fed, but there accommodates the stout wooden poles of a high-voltage line are nineteenth century farms too formed out of marginal land supplying electricity to our neighbouring village, installed in the and soon taken back by the heath and moor from which they 1930s. Due to the convexity of the slope two of these poles are were wrested. Elsewhere some of the most extensive evidence outlined at the summit, their cross-arms clear against the sky. One of aborted land hunger can be found in North America. There’s more would make a Golgotha. Every so many years a chainsaw woodland in Wisconsin that, despite looking to the unfamiliar eye gang works its way up through, clearing back encroaching as if it had been there for ever, has grown back over land which growth. Looking at this gash there seemed something brutal in it had been cleared for agriculture within the previous century. In and I remarked as such to John Clarke, the dear and now departed New England there are an estimated 100,000 miles of stone walls, contractor who gave us so much help with his tractor and digger, enough to circle the world four times, now under dense tree cover. between mechanical break-downs, when we were first here. ‘Oh The fields they enclosed and the homesteads which for a while no’ he said ‘the powerline was there before the wood’. This seemed they supported are as if they had never been. to be turning things upside-down, but looking more closely across the intervening few hundred yards it was possible to see that most To anyone with an empathy for the extraordinary labour demanded of its trees were indeed young ash and sycamore, poles rather than by this clearance and boundary-building it is a sad, even a painful stout trunks. Later on when we penetrated it (getting on for a mile sight. But it is a hopeful sight too. I can’t believe there can be any away along the public road) we could see that it was only on the more appropriate covering for the slope opposite than the trees old hedgebanks, now invisible except at close quarters, that there that now grace it. Trees will grow practically anywhere that the were mature trees. The unprepossessing ground flora of ivy and climate allows. They don’t need to be planted or cared for. They hart’s tongue fern with here and there clumps of wispy etiolated just need to be left alone (by humans, farm livestock and now by brambles is a classic of secondary woodland. The banks are shown deer) for a few years of establishment. Whatever mess we make on the early twentieth century OS map enclosing a few fields of trees will redeem it, and outlast us as they do so. two or three acres each. Only at one end was there a small area of Tim Deane established woodland.

Page 23 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Jason Horner’s Horticultural Hindsight: specific crops What follows are a series of observations and tips that have accumulated over twenty plus years of growing organic veg. You probably won’t find them in any text book or on any website, they have been gathered by careful observation and gleaned from other growers over many seasons. They are by no means definitive and may in cases only be relevant to my operation here but I thought it may be useful to share with newer growers and those just starting out. If nothing else they will make the reader think about the various crops in a different way and use their own observation to build up their own knowledge. The focus is on crops I have grown regularly so there will be gaps as I don’t grow every crop.

Aubergines in mid-May. This sowing will produce most of the summer but I have tried a few varieties but Moneymaker F1 is the only one sowing for a late crop inside sometime in June may be worthwhile that works here. Leave it on the hot bed until the end of May from for an autumn harvest, dependent on good weather in September a mid-March sowing by which time it should have flowers. Plant and October. Variety Dunja F1 out and you should have first fruit in July. Cucumbers Beetroot For a good few years I have grown a small variety called Melen For the last few years I have been growing a variety from Irish Seed F1 as an early cucumber, this year it had disappeared from the Savers called Early Wonder in the tunnel. Sown direct in early March catalogues as these things do and so I am trying Passandra F1. it crops towards the end of May. This should then lead into the What I found with these smaller varieties was that they were outdoor crop that is sown in early May for which I have been using hardier and could be sown earlier for an earlier crop. I usually Robushka Globe from my own seed originally sourced from the Seed sow mid-April for mid-May Planting and mid-June first harvest. Co-op. They are sown at twelve inches between rows and thin to I usually sow the standard length cucumber Kalunga F1 about a three inches between plants. Boron deficiency can be a problem here month later and even then these can be tricky enough. This year so I use seaweed dust and also solubor as a liquid feed to try and I am trialling a Japanese variety called Shintokiwa to see what’s avoid that. That outdoor sowing will last the whole season. that’s like—watch this space. Calabrese Garlic The variety Fiesta has been tried and tested here over the years and Due to the wet nature of our soil I tend to grow garlic in the tunnel produces a good amount of regrowth shoots. This year I am trying at five inches in the row and ten inches between rows through an OP variety from Seed Co-op. I undersow with white clover if mypex. Usually get it in around end of December and the first conditions allow and find this a very useful way of keeping weeds varieties are ready from mid-June onwards. down and fertility up. Kale Carrots There is a variety called Uncle Johns from Irish Seed saver that is For an early crop of carrots in the tunnel, sown mid-March I have very tender and also has the quality of being very late to go to seed experimented with a number of different spacings over the years. in the spring. I plant some in a tunnel late summer for the winter This year I am trying a double row at twelve inches allowing a ten and have Kale pretty much all year round. inch oscillating wheel hoe down between rows. I thin to about two Lambs lettuce inches between plants. I have found that Nantes 2 Milan from the I tried multi-sowing lambs lettuce in September for an over winter Seed Co-operative to be the best variety as they always grow strong crop. If you can find a large-leaved variety and cut carefully you tops for bunching. With a pre-emergent flaming I usually mange to will get three or four cuts in a mild winter. get away with two hand weedings and regular hoeing. Leeks Climbing French Beans I sow leeks in blocks two to a cell in the middle of March and plant A couple of years ago I trialled Mr Ferns from Irish Seed Savers out at six inches between stations and eighteen inches between which, in a very average summer, out-yielded Cobra on account of rows. Regular hoeing and gradual earthing up works well for me. a lot of its flower trusses having 8 flowers rather than 6 or 4. Also I Onions noticed last year that a lot of plants got mould and died after planting. I have been growing onions from seed for a good ten years after I discovered that this was the decomposing skin of the bean shell from finding that organic sets were prone to mildew. The variety I am the seed infecting the plant. This year I flicked those outer casings off growing is Buan from Irish Seed Savers. Sown four to a 77 module as I planted and don’t think I have lost any plants this year….so far! tray and then planted out at five inches in the row and eighteen Courgettes inches between rows to fit two passes of a ten inch wheel hoe. If Recently I have been growing an early crop in the tunnel sown you can hoe every ten days you will keep on top of weeds and in mid-March and planted out mid-April with the first courgettes

Page 24 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 get a good crop as onions can suffer the jury is still out on this trial. Sown early Feb from weed competition. The spacing versus sowing in late-March last year - result in the row will dictate how big or was only two weeks between them at harvest. small the final onions are. I prepare I also have a theory that the time to first ripe the ground using compost as onions tomatoes depends on when tomatoes get don’t need too much nitrogen or planted into their cropping place rather than they tend to get bullneck. I dry the when they are sown. I also prefer to see flowers crop on pallets in a tunnel. on the plants before I plant them out. Peppers Early growth from Onion, Buan I grow mainly cherries; Sungold and SS100. Lipstick is my go-to variety available Also, I grow a range of heritage tomatoes including this year from Real Seeds and Irish Seed Savers. Again, the trick is to leave Cherokee Purple, Gabacho Negro, Polen, Brown Envelopes it as late as possible on a hot bed and plant out once there are Seeds’ Gobstopper, Black Krim and my own variety which is a flowers. Lipstick will produce a crop of red peppers right up to Brandywine X Galena that I am calling Pinky for the moment. Christmas from September if you can keep the frost off it! One thing that occurred to me a while back was that re-using the tying strings was bad practice as all the spores from the grey Potatoes mould would stay on the string and infect the following crop, so I I have grown an early variety called Premiere for many seasons in stopped doing that. I don’t feed tomatoes once planted and I only a tunnel. It is as its name would suggest a very early variety and water once a week, I treat ‘em mean and hope for a bumper crop! produces a good crop of floury potatoes. I have found that using a broadfork to loosen the soil before planting reduces the number of My mission potatoes that come out through the top of the drill. This is because I am growing on two thirds of an acre, half of which is under the potatoes are not pushing against any pan below and so can plastic. I plant mainly on the flat and as you can see from my swell under the ground. I plant at 16 inches between rows and use spacings everything is very tight. I save a good bit of seed both a wheel hoe ridger to earth them up. for myself and Irish Seed Savers. I would like to arrive at a point Rocket and orientals where I am growing all open-pollinated varieties that have been Sown in 77 cells about ten seeds to a cell, planted into the tunnel tried and tested in this region. I have a bit to go on that yet. at about three inches and twelve inches between rows. Direct- sowing is pointless here where we have a big chickweed problem, Jason Horner, so transplants are the only solution. Leen Organics, Co. Clare, Ireland Spinach beet Having had a lot of problems with the spinach beet var. Erbette bolting over the last few years I have gone back to using Kings own selection of leaf beet that I used when I first started growing. It is not available as organic but will crop for the whole season if treated well. Spring cabbage I have never managed to grow spring cabbage outside here as the winter is too wet. Usually sow some in October and leave in the trays until January and plant into a tunnel for an April harvest. Variety Myatts Offenham from Brown Envelope Seeds. Spring onions They work well over-winter in the same way as the spring cabbage. Six seeds to a cell. Squash I plant mainly Uchiki Kuri and then usually try a couple of different varieties. I have been under sowing with phacelia and white clover and this works well if timed right. One handy thing after planting out I find is to place a fist sized stone on a leaf to stop the plant from moving too much in a wind, or else cover with fleece for about a month until plant gets growing. ☎ 01775 840592 ✉ Tomatoes [email protected] Gosberton Bank Nursery, Gosberton, Spalding, Lincs, PE11 4PB This is one of my favourite crops. I have done lots of experimentation Biodynamic and Organic Plant Breeding and Seeds Limited, trading as Seed Co-operative Registered under the Co-operative and Community BeneÞt Societies Act 2014 as a with tomatoes, growing with compost versus growing with FYM - Community BeneÞt Society, registration number 7013.

Page 25 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 St Swithins and all that...

Spring often sees periods of dry winds and these conditions may continue into the summer. Although it’s interesting how summer is commonly damper than spring and last year was a case in point, the weather pattern changed in mid July to moist south westerlies. That was around the time of St Swithin’s Day and I find it a good marker to forecast weather in late summer.

Not many vegetables grow in dry soil, but many tolerate it. • Clear all weeds, making sure to leave the roots of annual Brassicas in particular are good at putting growth on hold until it weeds in the soil, but extricate the roots of any perennials rains, when they suddenly grow almost overnight. such as couch grass (there should not be too many if you prepared ground correctly in winter and spring) Vegetables most in need of general watering are salads, celery and fruiting plants such as peas, beans, courgettes, cucumbers, • Make small holes, preferably with a dibber, pop in plants and and, from July, tomatoes. I use a hose rather than sprinkler, to water well conserve water, get it where needed and avoid watering weeds. • If sowing seeds, draw a drill 1-2cm deep and water along it, New plantings need thorough watering to their roots during the but not the soil around, sow seeds, then cover over with un- first week after planting. Once established, you can water less, watered surface material whether it’s soil or compost. especially if you have conserved moisture by not digging or rotovating. June plantings include leeks, brussel sprouts, climbing New veg in late summer beans, winter squash in their first week, plus lettuce and cabbages As you clear the remains of summer crops such as peas and early for autumn harvests. potatoes, keep sowing and planting throughout the summer. New veg in June - no dig method Plant leeks in July, and sow and plant kale and purple sprouting broccoli. By August you can sow many more vegetables for June sowings include carrots, swede, purple sprouting broccoli autumn and winter harvests, such as spinach, pak choi, rocket, for spring harvests, calabrese for autumn harvests, lettuce for salad mixes of oriental leaves, coriander and chervil. In late summer cropping and beetroot for the autumn. I multi-sow August, sow spring onion and spring cabbage. beetroot in June to plant after any early summer harvests, and they make good sized roots by autumn. Late blight Here in Somerset, the 20th of June is an excellent date for heads of The Met Office website offers free advice on whether conditions autumn calabrese in October. are favourable to late blight on potatoes and tomatoes, but it is

I sow purple sprouting broccoli at the same time, to plant after sponsored by two corporations selling fungicide. They have broad beans. adopted a baseline ‘Hutton criteria’ which makes blight look more probable than the previously used ‘Smith periods’. Also you can sow more coriander, parsley, spring onions, French and runner beans, outdoor cucumbers and basil. Growers and gardeners are led to worry unnecessarily about blight, because of the increased warnings. The best approach is Summer sowings and plantings are significantly easier when the to watch for it in warm, wet weather. If leaves suddenly turn pale soil is left undisturbed. This is how I replant with no dig: brown and translucent, cut off all potato stems at ground level, to • Twist out any stumps and stalks of plants you are clearing, prevent spores accumulating and then infecting tubers. Harvest such as cabbage, lettuce, spinach etc your potatoes within a week, on a fine day so they can dry before you put them in paper sacks for storage. Second earlies will be almost finished by mid-July, when I harvest Charlotte every year, then they store until March.

Tomatoes under cover need never suffer blight, as long as their leaves stay dry. Water carefully at soil level only, keep greenhouse vents closed during rain, and to improve airflow you can cut and then remove the lowest leaves and finished trusses. Pinch out the tips of cordon tomatoes by mid-August, to stop them forming green fruits which will have no time to ripen. Charles Dowding Photo: Charles Dowding Home Acres in Summer

Page 26 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Desert Island Market Garden Adam Payne and Dee Butterly This issue it is the turn of Adam Payne and Dee Butterly of Southern Roots Organics to be castaway on a desert island with the same climate as Dorset. They are, however, allowed to rescue a few items to establish a market garden. Due to limited space, they are allowed to bring five of their favourite varieties of seeds, one tool, one book and one luxury item.

Rescued Why? Pic 1 Agretti This was our highest value crop per m2 last season and probably our most profitable too. It’s easy to grow, goes well with the fish that are likely to feature in our diet and will help ingratiate us with any restaurateurs on the island. Easy to save seed from as well.

2 Chicory – A great hearting chicory – very beautiful, delicious and suited to multiple uses both cooked variegata di and raw. Loads of diversity in the variety should help us breed from it and give us something Castelfranco to play with in our spare time too.

3 Squash - Our favourite squash and a winter staple for us. Great flavor thick flesh. Squash is a real Buttercup winner for us being easy to grow and brightening things up when winter gets tough. Another Open Pollinated variety as well so we can save seed without relying on seed companies to come by the island. Seeing as we’ll only have the one variety we may even get around to it this time! 4 Kale - A great kale and another nutritious treat for the long wet winters we are going to have on Cavalo Nero the island, although productive and tasty in the summer too. We love how competitive and resilient Cavalo Nero is to grow and that it’s so popular.

5 Onion – A delicious onion, selected mostly because we’re going to be cooking over a fire a lot and Long Red these are the best onions we’ve found for BBQs and grilling. Really sweet and tasty, very Florence popular as a fresh onion.

Tool: We’ve chosen the Hori Hori as it’s our new favorite hand tool. Part knife and part planting Hori Hori trowel with a weeding function as well it will give us multiple uses. We really like this with its holster as a market garden essential as it means we’re not always looking around for where we put the trowel again… Book: Probably the most interesting growing book we’ve read for a while. There’s plenty to The Lean disagree with but also some great insights and new ways to think about growing. The source Farm of this seasons top field game ‘I spy an inefficiency’. Perhaps the island isolation will finally give us time to write a critique as well.

Luxury: A nice big section of this will help keep the Cavalo Nero safe from everything else that loves Enviromesh Brassicas whilst giving us secondary functions as a huge hammock and a net for fishing and gathering ocean plastics. We will use this to fashion into some sort of protected cropping set up in which we can grow the gardeners ecstacy tomato seeds smuggled onto the island under our fingernails…

Page 27 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Biopesticides: A changing landscape

As we leave the EU and regulations change, will biopesticides be the answer to successfully managing pests? Here we explore the benefits and drawbacks, and AHDB provides some best practice tips

Many progressive growers are turning to Integrated Pest Predators, parasitoids and nematodes, on the other hand, are not Management (IPM), a system in which a range of different crop and require completely different types of regulation. This is also protection tools (chemical, biological, physical and cultural why you need pesticide handling certificates, such as PA6 and 7, controls, alongside plant breeding) are combined together in in order to work with biopesticides. complementary ways. This includes biopesticide application Biopesticides are becoming more attractive to UK growers, and which aims to achieve effective pest control without harming the challenge is getting the most out of them in a cost-effective the environment or increasing the chance of pest resistance. way. The AHDB, working in conjunction with The Warwick The term ‘pest’ is used here to include invertebrates, plant Crop Centre and others, launched the AMBER (Application pathogens and weeds. and Management of Biopesticides for Efficacy and Reliability) According to Defra, there are around 67,000 different crop pest project in 2016 to increase awareness of the benefits and uses of species, which together reduce the world’s crop yield by about biopesticides. 40%; one reason why the popularity of IPM is growing rapidly. Leading the project, AMBER’s Dave Chandler, gave the following The EPA estimated that in 2012 (the most recent year of data) insight: over 18 million acres were treated with biopesticides in the US alone. We are now reaching a tipping point where more “On paper, biopesticides have some attractive properties for use biopesticides will be registered and come onto the market than in IPM, such as being exempt for residue testing, and very low traditional pesticides. Over 40 different biopesticide products are re-entry intervals after spraying. However, because they are new already on sale in the UK, but we fully expect this number to rise products, growers do not have much experience yet of using considerably, with more products already available in mainland them, and some have reported variable results. The purpose of the Europe and elsewhere. AMBER project is to develop sets of management practices that growers can use to improve the performance of biopesticides.” What are biopesticides? A new direction A biopesticide is any crop protection agent based on living microorganisms or natural products (e.g. insects) that can be Regulations on crop protection shifted fundamentally – and used as a pest control device through its predation of pests or irreversibly – with the implementation of the Sustainable Use problem plants. Directive on pesticides in the EU, making IPM the default method for tackling crop pests for all farmers and growers. Given the There are three main types of biopesticide: increasing harmonisation of plant production standards around 1. Bioinsecticides are biological agents (predators, microbes, the world, we fully expect the tenets of the Directive to apply in pathogens, naturally occurring substances) used to control the UK in the future irrespective of what happens with Brexit. harmful insects. This group contains the bacterial biopesticide Fortunately, many growers in the UK already use IPM, providing most widely used against insect pests - Bacillus thuringiensis an excellent starting point for adopting biopesticides. (Bt) - as well as semiochemicals; chemical compounds However, biopesticides are not a simple like-for-like replacement produced by one organism, which induce a behavioural for traditional pesticides. It is important not only to understand change in other organisms (e.g. sex pheromones deployed in the pros and cons of using biopesticides, a good understanding of pest monitoring, mating disruption and trapping). how each biopesticide works is needed in order to decide whether 2. Bioherbicides specifically control pest weeds that grow they are suitable for your own circumstances and – if you decide between crops, but without harming the valuable crop itself to use them – how to get the best performance out of them. 3. Biofungicides consist of beneficial fungi and bacteria that Pros attack and colonise harmful plant pathogenic fungi and bacteria. Many naturally occur in soil, making them an • Safety: Biopesticides are usually considered to be minimal environmentally-friendly pest control tool. risk products for people and the environment. The European Commission has just formally classified semiochemicals and It is important to note that biopesticides are subject to plant micro-organisms used in plant protection products as ‘low protection products regulations in the same way that conventional risk’ active substances, and – given the obvious benefits pesticides are, including getting authorisation from EFSA for use. from using low risk products – we expect to see retailers and

Page 28 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 others having a real drive to see more of these used by their It is worth emphasising that we see them being used alongside suppliers. other products and control options as part of IPM. • Residues: Many biopesticides are residue-exempt and are not Make practice perfect required to be routinely monitored by regulatory authorities or retailers. Re-entry and handling intervals are becoming The majority of growers share the desire to use biopesticides, more important considerations, and many biopesticides have and when applied accurately in specific conditions, biopesticides a zero or low re-entry and handling interval. have the potential to work well. In practice however, inconsistent results have been reported when applied commercially. The • Biological activity: Some microbial biopesticides can reasons for these inconsistencies are not yet known and are likely reproduce on or near to the target pest/disease, giving a to be complex; especially considering the wide range of cropping degree of self-perpetuating control. Some of these microbial systems involved. agents are able to boost plant growth and can help improve water uptake under conditions of drought stress. During the two years the AMBER project has been running, the aim has been to improve the efficacy and understanding of • Pesticide resistance management: Biopesticides can help biopesticides for horticultural businesses. Benchmarking trials on reduce selection pressure for the evolution of pesticide commercial sites in the first year highlighted gaps in application resistance in pest populations, with evidence that some practice knowledge. microbial biopesticides can even stop the expression of resistance once it has evolved. The risk of pests and disease In year two, the Silsoe Spray Applications Unit, Warwick Crop developing resistance to biopesticides is often considered to Centre and RSK-ADAS identified potential pitfalls and key be low, certainly for agents with multiple modes of action. messages regarding application. Application should account for However, in principle the target pest/disease could potentially the crop, pest/disease, biopesticide being applied and the grower’s develop resistance or tolerance, dependent upon the size of the particular circumstances. The AMBER team have undertaken case selection pressure, therefore we think it good practice to adopt studies to identify potential improvements specific to a grower, an anti-resistance strategy when using biopesticides. but also for generic messages applicable in a range of situations. A major focus of the case studies so far has been to see if volumes of • IPM compatibility: Biopesticides often have good spray liquid can be reduced – likely to be one of the biggest benefits. compatibility with biological pest control agents (natural enemies) and with traditional pesticides, so can be readily In order to maximise the efficacy of biopesticides through incorporated into IPM programmes. application, a workshop in October 2017 highlighted the importance of the following areas: • Development costs: Costs of developing a biopesticide are significantly lower than those of traditional pesticides, which Cleaning should encourage companies to develop a wide range of Thorough tank pre-cleaning is essential to ensure the integrity of products, particularly for use on minor crops. the product is maintained and optimal control achieved. Normally Other considerations assumed to remove residues, washing tanks and lines three, or even up to six times still left identifiable residues of incompatible There are disadvantages to biopesticides and a balanced approach products; demonstrated with soluble dyes. This could affect the to evaluating them is required. Comparison with traditional viability of the biopesticide and ultimately reduce its efficacy. If pesticides isn’t necessarily appropriate, since biopesticides often possible, consider investing in a separate tank for biopesticides work in a different way and are not a straight ‘swap’ for pesticides. and incompatible products. Also regularly check and clean However it is worth noting that: nozzles and filters prior to application. • Many biopesticides have a slower rate of control and often a lower efficacy and shorter persistence than traditional pesticides.

• Microbial biopesticides have a greater susceptibility to adverse environmental conditions.

• Because biopesticides are not as ‘robust’, they require a greater level of knowledge on behalf of the grower to use them effectively. The AMBER project is attempting to provide this knowledge.

• Some of the botanicals are reported to cause leaf scorching when exposed to high levels of sunlight. Photo: Silsoe Dispersal tests at Silsoe

Page 29 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Mixing • Understand where the spray needs to reach and use equipment that can best achieve this To ensure a full dose of biopesticide is applied at the nozzle, • Optimise the applied volume (which in many cases means a thoroughly mix the formulation before application to release the reduction) to maximise the total quantity of active substance active ingredient. Sustained agitation of the formulation during in the right place on the crop and improve its distribution application is also essential with most products to maintain equal dispersal of the active ingredient. • Be aware of your forward speed – this has to be part of your calibration. Increasing forward speed is a more effective way Storage to reduce volume than reducing pressure, but might not be Some biopesticides are based on living micro-organisms and possible without some automation. If you compare 0.4m/sec therefore require appropriate storage conditions to maintain (a typical walking speed for manually operated spray booms) the optimum viability of the product; it shouldn’t be assumed with 1m/sec – the lower volume applied at the higher speed that they can be stored in the same way as traditional pesticides. resulted in less active ingredient on the floor Read all product information in advance to establish the required • One size doesn’t fit all; adapt the application to fit your conditions. growing system

Calibration Biopesticide manufacturers are aware of the importance of application accuracy, and are increasingly aware of the need to Accurate calibration of spray equipment on a regular basis is liaise with industry through work such as the AMBER project, crucial to optimise the dose applied to the crop and ensure that to ensure the maximum potential of biopesticides is achieved on legal requirements for use of the products are met. It will also commercial sites. enable the spray operator to identify when equipment is worn or damaged, and needs replacing to maintain performance. What’s next? There are plans to develop another application workshop focusing on ornamental crops, likely to be held in summer 2018. Growers, spray operators and biopesticide manufacturers are all encouraged to stay up-to-date with the project, and feed in their experiences and questions to the project team via the AMBER website and at future events. Georgina Key Photo: Warwick University Biopesticides being sprayed AMBER is a five-year project designed to help growers improve the performance of biopesticides. Find out more by visiting http://bit.ly/AMBERproject

Label guidance AHDB project code: CP 158

Many growers report difficulties with label guidance and the AHDB contact: Joe Martin limited technical information that is present on the product label. Project leader: Dave Chandler, University of Warwick, cropcentre@ Speak directly with the relevant manufacturer to gain additional warwick.ac.uk technical information that they may hold to assist in optimising application techniques. Application www.blackberrylane.co.uk It is critical to get the basics right when applying biopesticides: - order online • Invest in appropriate equipment and ensure it is well maintained. If possible, dedicated equipment for biopesticides BroadForks, Glaser Collinear & should be used Oscillating Hoes, Wheelhoes, Soil Blockers, Korean Ho-Mi, EarthWay • Understand the pest life cycle. Control may vary depending on the susceptibility of the development stage of the target. Seeders - and much more The AMBER project is specifically looking at this in more unique garden tools which really make a difference . . . detail • Take into account crop structure. Vine crops and bedding Tel. 07792 592068 plants are going to require different approaches to application for catalogue

Page 30 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Biological control of red spider mite

Red spider mite Tetranychus urticae is a prolific pest affecting a variety of crops in the field and protected systems. In my experience, peppers and tomatoes are unaffected by red spider mite but I have witnessed devastation in borlotti beans and cucumbers grown in polytunnels. In the summer of 2017 I researched and devised a new biological control programme for red spider mite and I have summarised some of the results of these findings here.

Red spider mites get their name from their Feltiella acarisuga is a predatory gall midge, which ability to construct elaborate webbing, occurs naturally worldwide and can potentially which enables a fast and destructive introduce itself. This winged predator can quickly spread through a crop. You can identify target red spider mite hotspots when choosing an an infestation first by the signs of feeding egg laying location. F.acarisuga requires a fairly damage, yellow mottling of the undersides high prey population to become established but of leaves. The mites eat through the plant larvae can eat at least five times as many red spider tissue to consume the leaf cell contents, mites per day as P.persimilis. The two predators including the chlorophyll. The mites are considered complementary, although if the themselves are less than 1mm in size but pest population is low P.persimilis can eat the eggs visible to the human eye and not always of F.acarisuga. F.acarisuga prefers temperatures red, the colour can vary depending on the between 15-25°C and over 80% Relative Humidity crop on which they are feeding. They can be Red spider mite doing its worst on Cucumbers (RH). Temperatures above 30°C or below 30% RH identified with a hand lens, by two spots on are fatal to the eggs and larvae. This predator is their back, giving rise to their other name – the two-spotted spider relatively expensive but easily introduced by placing pots of pupae mite. If a spider mite infestation is not controlled by summer it can in sheltered locations within the crop, where humidity is highest. be expected to return the following summer after overwintering In the summer of 2017, the following biological control programme in crop residue, bamboo canes or weeds. In severe red spider mite was implemented for 400m2 of polytunnel crops including infestations, you will notice webbing at the tops of plants, where cucumbers, aubergine and borlotti beans. Amblyseius californicus the conditions are hot and arid as preferred by red spider mites. mites were released on 29th June followed by fortnightly Concentrations of mites will cluster on leaf tips and dangle down introductions of Phytoseiulus persimilis in vermiculite until 29th on webbing to quickly infest lower leaves and other plants. September. Feltiella acarisuga pupae were introduced for three Amblyseius californicus is a predatory mite suitable for low pest consecutive fortnights from 3rd August. On inspection I found populations since it can survive without finding any mites by many more F.acarisuga larvae than P.persimilis, possibly because eating only pollen if necessary and it can tolerate low humidity. they are slower moving. Although there was a red spider mite However, these predators only consume an average of 5.3 spider infestation this was mainly contained within a few host plants and mite eggs per day. even the worst affected cucumber plants had re-grown leaves and produced fruit again by 18th September. Visually this appeared to Phytoseiulus persimilis is the most popular choice of predatory mite be an improvement on previous years. for spider mite control. The nymphs and adults can consume up to 30 spider mite eggs, nymphs or adults per day. To be an effective Prior to 2017, only P.persimilis had been released fortnightly for control the temperature needs to be maintained between 18-27°C the control of red spider mite. In 2017 the productive cucumber with a relative humidity of at least 60%. At 20°C Phytoseiulus season was 24 days longer than in 2016 and 9 days longer than persimilis can reproduce at twice the rate of red spider mite but in 2015, with total cucumber yield up 236% and 227% on yields temperatures above 30°C cause eggs to dry out. P.persimilis can from 2016 and 2015 respectively. There were many other variables be released from a vermiculite substrate, which should be laid at play in 2017 such as a change in feed, variety, polytunnel and horizontally for 20 minutes, to enable the predators to disperse the weather. However, this experiment shows that for every £1 throughout the tube and then be distributed evenly among plants. spent on biological control, £7.60 net profit was made from the sale Where red spider mite is a recurrent problem, the bean-leaf of cucumbers. I would highly recommend the use of bought-in substrate is likely to be a far superior product to the vermiculite biological controls for red spider mite in organic systems that are product. The bean leaf product contains both P.persimilis and red suffering. With careful experimentation and close monitoring, each spider mites. By giving P.persimilis a food source this prevents year should see a cleaner crop than the last until the pest population the females from eating the males, as they do when starved, and is lowered enough for in-situ predators to control any outbreaks. allows faster reproduction once released. The vermiculite product Elysia Bartel contains no red spider mite but up to 90% female Phytoseuilus persimilis, taking much longer to establish a breeding population.

Page 31 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Book reviews: Steiner or Howard? Dan McKanan: Eco-Alchemy: Anthroposophy and the History and Future of Environmentalism (University of California Press, 2018) Gregory A. Barton: The Global History of Organic Farming (Oxford University Press, 2018)

During the past few months, two books have been published experimented which should be required reading for anyone interested in with biodynamic the history of the organic movement. They are significantly methods on his contrasted, in that one of them emphasises the influence of Rudolf East Kent estate, Steiner and biodynamic cultivation, playing down the importance and held a conference there in 1939 at which Pfeiffer was one of Sir Albert Howard; while the other emphasises the importance of the main speakers. Regrettably, McKanan perpetuates the of Howard – and of his second wife Louise – and devotes to myth that Northbourne coined the term “organic agriculture”, biodynamics just a short section. which Northbourne explicitly denied (see p.71 of my book The Dan McKanan’s Eco-Alchemy comes as a welcome surprise. Development of the Organic Network for details). Welcome, because it deals with a problem which has until now In order to play up the importance of the biodynamic movement received little detailed attention from scholars: how significant in organic history – and the chapter entitled ‘Roots’ provides much were the ideas and practice of biodynamic cultivation for the valuable evidence of its quickening influence – McKanan has to organic movement’s progress between the 1930s and the 1980s? play down the role of Sir Albert Howard. He even speculates More specifically, was the influence of Rudolf Steiner’s disciples in that without biodynamics there might have been no organic the English-speaking world greater than that of Sir Albert Howard movement at all, since “Howard was no movement builder”. and those who adopted his Indore Process of composting? And We shall see below what Gregory Barton’s book has to say, by Eco-Alchemy is a surprise, because one might have expected such implication, about this sweeping statement. In Britain, Ehrenfried questions to be addressed by agricultural historians rather than a Pfeiffer impressed not only Lord Northbourne, but leading Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. organicists Viscount Lymington (later the Earl of Portsmouth) and That this book’s author holds such a post does in fact make sense, Eve Balfour; while in America he contributed for many years to as Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual teachings, known as Anthroposophy, Jerome Rodale’s journal Organic Farming and Gardening. are a form of esoteric Christianity. They have spread to many McKanan provides useful detail on late-twentieth-century countries since they were formulated during the first quarter developments in environmentally-minded forms of cultivation. of the twentieth century, and have influenced agricultural and He notes the part played by the soil scientist Herbert Koepf, who educational practice; and they have played a significant role in the succeeded Pfeiffer as the leading promulgator of biodynamics. The growth of environmentalism. anthroposophist establishment Emerson College in Sussex provided McKanan describes his stance as “neutral with regard to the spiritual tuition for Sue Coppard, who founded WWOOF (Working practices and worldview that are unique to anthroposophy”: a Weekends on Organic Farms – now Worldwide Opportunities on sound position from which to write about controversial ideas. Organic Farms), and of course for Patrick Holden. “My judgment,” says McKanan, “that environmentalism has been The organic movement has always been closely associated with enriched by anthroposophy is pragmatic, focused on the effects of initiatives promoting economic reform, and McKanan believes anthroposophically inspired initiatives”. He is not an evangelist that Community Supported Agriculture is one aspect of the for Steiner’s ideas; equally important, he is not a secularist enemy new economy which anthroposophy can claim as its intellectual of them, eager to carry out a demolition job. He has visited many property, since it was the anthroposophical banks and the anthroposophical projects, spent three summers in a Steinerian biodynamic movement that introduced the idea during the 1980s. community, and is fully aware of the various criticisms which can He examines how this came about in Germany and in the USA. be levelled at anthroposophy. More generally, McKanan shows how anthroposophy has changed As an important strand of his argument that anthroposophy from a ‘self-reinforcing’ movement to one which is ‘self-dispersing’: has enriched environmental activism, McKanan examines the increasingly open to those sympathetic to its environmentalist ideas influence of Steiner’s biodynamic methods of cultivation on the without subscribing to its esoteric philosophy. organic movement’s growth in Britain and North America. He Eco-Alchemy offers a thought-provoking perspective on the organic maintains that they were much more significant than has hitherto movement’s origins and development. For those interested in the been recognised. McKanan therefore lays emphasis on the roles broader history of environmentalism, it provides a fair-minded, played by Steiner’s follower Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and by Lord wide-ranging account of the ways in which anthroposophy has Northbourne, author of Look to the Land (1940). Northbourne percolated into the mainstream of a worldwide campaign.

Page 32 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 The evidence which McKanan marshals to demonstrate the In 1921, the Rothamsted scientists H.B. Hutchinson and E.H. influence of biodynamic activists on the wider organic movement Richards published an article which laid out the principles of might cause those who, like myself, see Howard as the key organic farming: namely, “that composting vegetable matter such figure in the British and North American organic movements, as straw into a fertilizer as potent as animal manure in an age of a to stop and re-consider – but only until they read Barton’s book. decreasing supply of animal manure could change agriculture in a McKanan’s view that without biodynamics there might not have significant way”. Barton argues that Howard did not give full credit been an organic movement at all simply does not stand up to the to Hutchinson and Richards, whose work provided the basis of the evidence which Barton brings forward: evidence which is based Indore Method. Instead, he popularised his own work “by pointing on what is surely the most exciting piece of detective work yet to the romantic notion that the origin of his own innovations achieved in the field of ‘organic history’. were Indian and Chinese peasants”. Perhaps future scholars will uncover material in the Howard archives which will challenge this It is probably well known that the whereabouts of Sir Albert contention. (Equally, perhaps they will not.) Nevertheless, Barton Howard’s papers – if indeed they had survived – used to be a offers substantial evidence that Howard was, earlier in his career, a mystery; just a few items were lodged at Wye College, which was much more ‘orthodox’ scientist than he later became. later subsumed by Imperial College, London. With the help of his mother, a skilled researcher on Ancestry.com, Barton investigated We have noted above that biodynamic methods were championed the ancestors of Howard’s wives, Gabrielle and Louise Matthaei; in North America by Jerome Rodale. Rodale also championed Howard had no issue from either marriage. The Bartons discovered Howard’s ideas, but Howard was thoroughly sceptical about a relative of the Matthaei sisters and traced descendants, eventually Steiner’s cosmic theories. Dan McKanan describes Howard as being contacted by Louise’s niece Charlotte, who, astonishingly, having a ‘secularizing’ approach and being without ties to any had the Howard archives in her garage in Birmingham. Sir Albert spiritual movement. In fact he was closely associated with the died in 1947, and Louise in 1969, so it is something of a miracle that ‘Christian sociologists’ who ran The New English Weekly, and with the papers had never been disposed of. Barton’s book is therefore the Council for the Church and Countryside. based on a mass of completely fresh material. Certainly, he was more than ready to debate with other agricultural The Howard papers are being lodged at St. John’s College, scientists and farmers, and the pages of the agricultural press in the Cambridge, where Albert was a student, and so will become 1930s and ‘40s demonstrate that he rallied many farmers behind available to other scholars. Barton has told me that he has by no him in the cause of observing the Rule of Return of wastes to the means exhausted their material in his book, using only the parts soil. Barton himself perpetuates a myth by writing that Howard’s he needed. Needed for what, in particular? The answer is, for two ideas were ignored, rather than challenged, during the 1940s. dominant purposes. One, is to show that Louise Howard played Actually, the agricultural press was full of letters and articles a vital part in helping spread Albert’s ideas, and that she should about “the great humus controversy” during the war years, a therefore be recognised as a major figure in the development period which Barton largely ignores despite its importance for the of the international environmental movement. Barton sees her growth of the organic movement. Rothamsted’s centenary in 1943 as having, during the 1950s and ‘60s, connected past ideas of provided an ideal opportunity for the advocates of humus and the wholeness to twentieth-century scientific narratives. The second advocates of artificial fertilisers to clash with each other. purpose is to uproot the misconception that Howard’s humus- Barton’s book is impressively wide-ranging and detailed, based philosophy of agriculture was arrived at primarily by full of new information and insights. Its summary – far from observing the methods of peasant cultivation. Barton identifies me hagiographical - of E.F. Schumacher’s life and thought may, for as one of this myth’s uncritical chief purveyors, though the myth’s readers of The Organic Grower, prove to be one of its most unsettling origins lie in Howard’s own summing-up of his career (see p.17 sections. Barton looks at the various strands which came together of Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease, Faber, 1945, or Soil to form the organic philosophy, and he is particularly strong on the Association Organic Classics, 2006). organic movement’s roots in imperialism and forestry. Although the book traces the stages by which the organic movement became The question therefore arises, of why Howard so explicitly misled ‘globalised’, it has of necessity to focus on certain areas of the his readers. The implications of Barton’s argument seem to be that globe, and there is an interesting section on Japan as “a key player Howard wanted to present a simplified and combative picture of on the global organic scene” from 1945 onwards. where he stood towards the end of his life. The material which Barton presents demonstrates beyond doubt that Howard’s After reading Barton’s book, it is frankly impossible to accept Dan scientific pilgrimage towards uncompromising advocacy of McKanan’s view that there might have been no organic movement humus farming was much more complex and ambivalent than he at all without biodynamics. If McKanan had had the opportunity was prepared to reveal in his two last books. Indeed, it appears to read Barton before writing Eco-Alchemy I doubt that he would that Howard actually owed a considerable amount to work done have made such a claim. at Rothamsted Research Station, a place of which in his later years Philip Conford he wrote scathingly, condemning it as “the Mecca of orthodoxy”.

Page 33 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 The great agricultural resettlement

I am a farmer and that is where my world begins. What is an agriculture? I say it is a culture of cities, towns and villages, bridges, roads, canals, harbours – of trades’ people and the trades, which have been created by the specialised cultivation of fields. The industrial revolution was a revolution within agriculture – germinated by fossil fuels, so that today, nearly every culture on Earth is an agriculture. The farmer has a lot on his or her shoulders, because the greatest towering city, and all its goings-on, is utterly dependant on the crops – although in my Utopian picture, trades and pleasures of every kind bear their own egalitarian apportionment of the weight, so that the labours of fields gain new springs to their steps.

Farms disrupt natural systems ancient cultures have carelessly mined their own good soils to the point where all that would grow were a few twisted olive trees… The more husbandries imitate and integrate with natural systems, (That’s another tale of the pillage of empire). so the less they disrupt – but still they will disrupt to some We gratefully accept the linear gift of sunlight to heal the wounds degree. Good husbandry reflects our ordered minds more than in our flawed agricultural cycles. We can claim the food/timber the complexities of nature. Nevertheless, it imitates, as best it can, dispensation and continue without guilt as we’ve done for several the cyclic behaviours of organisms. The highest crop yield will be thousand years, but we cannot claim to be reversing climate achieved by the closest integration. “You never enjoy the world change. We can only claim to be doing less to cause climate change aright, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the than some others. stars”, meditated Thomas Traherne in the Seventeenth Century. To which the farmer pragmatically adds – and shod with soil To end our contribution to climate change we must stop burning fauna, shaded with green leaves, watered by clear springs and fed both fossil mass and living mass (biofuels) and also leave as much by the lives we’ve fed in return. as we can of Earth, untouched by agriculture. Climate has been changed by fire. We can only heal it by quenching the fire. Personal I must note that true yield is output minus input – massive sequestration claims, presented to excuse personal fire, do real inputs massively reduce true yield, so that organic methods out- harm. An organic grower once claimed his (enclosed) carbon- yield all others. rich soils pardoned his twice-annual holiday flights. Pshaw! Such So, in attempting to do the best we can, we choose the least worst self-help nonsense can be found in popular, monk-pardoner farming techniques. This is important to keep our humility and carbon footprint calculators. It was also delusively applied to the gratitude intact. It is also an important part of discussions on climate convenient projections of the Paris Accord. change. There have been outrageous claims of carbon sequestration (so-called negative emissions) by a variety of farming techniques, The dispensation for farming is the such as grasslands or organically-managed lands – or regularly-felled growing of food woodland, or coppice. But the most these can achieve is a balance and There is no dispensation for fire. Energy-opulent ways of life will that balance, given the flawed nature of all human practitioners is destroy themselves. Even an imagined and perfectly balanced unlikely. As weather grows more unpredictable, as climate change farming system with a thriving soil fauna will do nothing in itself accelerates, so that balance will become still more unlikely. to mitigate climate change. It will have minimised its agricultural Yet, we must grow food and timber disruption as a contribution to climate change, but it cannot go further - towards negative emissions. We must remove the cause That is the dispensation – hunter-gatherers don’t need the - we must end the burning - for cultivation, processing, transport, dispensation, but we agriculturalists do. Claiming the dispensation electricity generation and heat. (for clearing natural forest) is a heavy responsibility. We should call on it to the smallest degree we can. Some organic lobby groups If you are a grower or woodsman, would you be happy to shoulder claim that converting a lifeless cereal prairie to organic techniques those so-called negative emissions, which are the foundation will sequester tons of carbon as soil fauna returns. It is an arrogant of the Paris Agreement? That’s what’s expected of us - are you claim and arrogance is a problem. It is true that soil life will return confident enough to accept them, when considering the happiness – redressing a critical harm – but only to an optimum point, when of your children? the farmer can only do their best to maintain that near enough Perhaps you boast the sequestration power of extensive balance. Organic, biodynamic, or perma-cultural methods do a grasslands? Are you sure? Who told you so? Was it a lobby group fraction of the harm that so-called industrial techniques cause, for pasture-fed beef or an organic, consumer lifestyle magazine? but still, they disrupt natural systems – still, they create harm. Agriculture had disrupted for thousands of years before artificial Farmers, growers and lumberjacks are supposed to recognise fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides existed, but the bullshit when they see it. The bullshit is everywhere - from green atmospheric/terrestrial balance remained unaffected. Some sources too. This is urgent. There is very little time.

Page 34 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 A new agricultural revolution maintain something like a balance. I know it daily. I see it in the deepening or paling green of my crops – the colours reveal the The catalyst of climate change could ferment a new agricultural intensity – the rise and fall of the flow of life. They often reveal revolution as we leave those millions of years of sequestered the flaws in my husbandry. photosynthesis to lie quietly in their strata. Negative emissions? - there they are. Leave them sleeping. Instead, we can re-learn There is no perfect agriculture our parts in nature – a curious, inspiring, daunting, sobering, No agriculture – no food, or timber system can achieve ‘negative intoxicating, fearful, delightful, difficult, liberating and hopefully emissions’. possible journey. Perhaps rage at what we’ve done, combined with To pull back from catastrophic climate change we must remove humility at what we must do, may propel our first and diffident the cause – we must remove fire from our culture. The linear gift steps. Those first steps are not into the Garden. We remain outside of sunlight heals some cracks in agricultural cycles, but it can do in the Fall. Our steps imprint. no more – the flaws are intrinsic to practitioners – to me. Only our hunter-gatherer cousins can walk lightly enough to We love fires. We must quench them. It’s a very tall order, but stay in that original home. All great religions and philosophies nevertheless, here ends the industrial revolution. Machines replaced narrate stories of the Fall and evolve codes to manage the journey people. Now people can replace machines. That looks arduous, but – because, it seems, we are never properly settled. Agriculture is it also looks liberating. Growers can take it to their hearts. never quite at home. Patrick Noble Although our great resettlement can only come about by a mass personal change of all we personages, nevertheless we are social beings and need a vision of the greater moral of how and why we change. It is useful to have Utopia as a measure. Of course, in turn, Utopia must have nature as its measure. The flaw in Utopia is myself. What’s more – Utopia is not the Garden – It is the best of all settlements of the Fall. As we head towards the Utopian (unattainable) landfall, natural truths will be revealed by our natural mistakes – without the mistakes, we don’t find the truths, or the new methods. In that respect, I can consider my naturally- flawed nature to be useful. We learn because of our flaws. Humility is also useful “Ne never had the apple – the apple taken been – ne never would our lady – have been heaven’s queen – so blessed be the time – the apple taken was – therefor may we sing – Deo gracias.” people sang as they danced in the Fourteenth Century. Yes. People danced to religious songs then. They were called carols… Of course, we could compose a dancing song for many aspects of the Fall – of passages from the ease of hunter/gathering to the labours of fields. We yearn for the ease of the Garden. Since that cannot be, we do our best to find a working happiness.

Natural truth will partially escape both myself and my Agricultural Utopia – that’s why scientific hypotheses are always wrong – overturned by new hypotheses. Today’s accepted and peer- reviewed hypotheses will also be wrong. They will have emerged through cracks in our perception that allow the new light in. They remain useful and they remain flawed. Deeper commons – inherited moral truths are unchanged from pre-history. The rule of return is A 100% biodegradable paper mulch that blocks weeds, promotes healthy growth and degrades at the end of the growing season. one. We cannot take from the soil which feeds us without feeding it • Conserves moisture during dry spells • Blocks light, eliminates weeds Enter Code in return. Deeper, both inherited and bequeathed commons contain • Moderates soil temperature • Can be worked into soil once decomposed Bio16 contracts with nature as well as social contracts. • Promotes strong, early growth for discount • Biodegrades at the end of the season Limited Offer That’s why as a farmer I can take the sequestration claims of • An environmentally friendly alternative to plastic this or that research paper with a pinch of salt. I am outside the Garden. I am in Agriculture and its commons and I struggle to

Page 35 - The Organic Grower - No 43 Summer 2018 Station, SASA’s seed storage (with a Scottish landrace collection) and Events the variety testing site. 11am – 4 pm. Sunday 10th June: Seed Co-operative Open Day - meet the team, Saturday 14 July. Basic Seed Production Training Day, Newton Dee guided tours in am and pm. Gosberton Bank Nursery, Lincs. Camphill Village nr Aberdeen. The event will also include a session https://www.seedcooperative.org.uk/ to map and discuss the further roll-out of the Seed Sovereignty Tuesday 12th to Thursday 14th June: Organic Farmers Fair: RAI Programme in Scotland. Lunch will be provided. @ 10 am – 5 pm. Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://www.greentech.nl/toff/ www.organicgrowersalliance.co.uk Wednesday 20th June 2018: Future regulation for organic farming. Producer meeting in Shrewsbury, hosted by ORC. 2-4.30pm. First Small ads come first served. Book by emailing [email protected] Sarah Green’s Organics, East Essex, are looking for a full time Thursday 28th June to Tuesday 3rd July 2018: Grower and Co-ordinator to join our small team. The candidate will Regenerative Agriculture and Chromatography. Fully be involved in all aspects of the business from the field to the final catered residential course at Ragmans Lane Farm, Forest customer. Responsibilities include co-ordinating daily packing of Dean, Gloucestershire, GL17 9PA with Jairo Restrepo. of wholesale orders, packing the weekly vegetable Box Scheme, http://www.ragmans.co.uk/learn_with_us/courses/ managing polytunnels producing Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines in summer, and oriental leaves in winter, and our Friday 29th June 2018: Future regulation for organic farming. potted Herb enterprise. For full details www.sarahgreensorganics. Producer meeting in Cirencester, hosted by ORC. 2-4.30pm. First co.uk/jobs or email [email protected] come first served. Book by emailing [email protected] Thursday July 12th 2018: Vallis Veg Open Evening, Frome, Individual seeking to contact people interested in growing with Somerset 5pm - 7pm, tea and cake in the garden. Keep an eye on a professional, progressive approach, who are looking for or the Vallis Veg Facebook page for more info... have good land. Francis 07925178827. Wednesday July 18th 2018: Agricology Field Day. Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester The Thursday 15th to Friday 16th November 2018: Organic Producers’ Conference. Dunchurch Park Hotel near Rugby ORGANIC GROWER

Seed Sovereignty Programme The Organic Grower is edited by Phil Sumption, with help from Carolyn Wacher, Kate Collyns, Chloe Blackmore, and Susi England Seward. If you have any news, events or ideas for articles please Saturday 16th June. Crop selection for seed production workshop get in touch. with Ben Gabel from the Real Seed Catalogue. Trill Farm Garden, [email protected] East Devon. Contact [email protected] for bookings. Thanks to all our contributors. Adverts: John Crocker [email protected] Sunday 17th June 2018. Introduction to seed saving workshop Copy date for next issue: August 15th 2018 with Hans Steenbergen of Seed Co-operative. Clervaux Trust near The Organic Grower is the membership magazine of the OGA. Views Darlington. Contact Page Dykstra, [email protected] expressed in The Organic Grower are not necessarily those of the OGA or its committee. Every effort is made to check the factual accuracy of Scotland statements made in the magazine, but no guarantees are expressed or implied. In particular, readers should satisfy themselves about the This summer a couple of training events will be offered around authenticity of products or inputs advertised. Material may not be seed saving, open-pollinated varieties, organic and/or commercial reproduced without prior written permission. seed production. The events will be open to anyone with an interest in OGA committee these topics and will also be used for Roger Hitchings Carms 07980 579444 [email protected] Acting chair/Secretary networking among participants in Adam Keeves Oxon [email protected] Treasurer the programme. Events are free but Tony Little Wales [email protected] Membership/events reservation is required at maria@ James Smith Cumbria 015395 61777 gaianet.org or phone 07388086438. Antonia Ineson Scotland 07872 057985 [email protected] Scotland Monday 11 June. Tour of SASA Ben Raskin Wiltshire 07990 592621 [email protected] SA liaison/Future Growers (Science and Advice for Scottish Jason Horner Ireland ++35 3876 454120 [email protected] Ireland Agriculture), Edinburgh. SASA has Kate Collyns Wiltshire 07957 615199 [email protected] Vice-chair the statutory task for seed and variety Jim Aplin Glos 07796 317542 [email protected] testing in Scotland. SASA will open its Jonathan Smith Scilly 07528 136678 [email protected] doors, to see the Official Seed Testing Ellen Rignell Devon [email protected] Co-opted

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