Future Growers on a Cold March Weekend Early This Year, Our Current Group of Future Grower Apprentices Met up for the Final Event in Their Two- Year Apprenticeship
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The Summer 2015 No.31 ORGANICThe journal of the Organic GROWER Growers Alliance IN THIS ISSUE Schofield scribbles.....................................2 News .........................................................3 8th OGA AGM - Stroud CSA ................8 UK launch of Farm Hack .......................10 Nature notes: Two onion kind ...............13 Creating a robust seed system ...............14 Breton organic seed growers ..................16 Roscoff caulis for the hungry gap ..........18 Agroforestry at Tolly’s ...........................20 September sowings for winter salads ....22 Building carbon in farm soils ................24 2015 box scheme report ..........................26 Grower profile: Simon Duffy .................27 German organic science conference .......28 Apprentice corner...................................29 Exit interview - Hankham staff .............30 Horticultural costings ............................32 Welsh Spring Fair ..................................35 Events .....................................................36 Page 1 - The Organic Grower - No 31 Summer 2015 been discussing. We will be letting you all know more about these as we develop them. Schofield scribbles On the 16th and 17th May Debra and I attended the Welsh Spring Fair at Builth Wells manning the OGA part of a joint stall with the North West Passage Land Workers Alliance and the Community Supported Agriculture Network. This was something we had talked about doing earlier in It is just under three months since I last the year and we had a fair bit of interest in what we were doing. I scribbled and I think that I had more have written more about this elsewhere in this edition. favourable things to say about the weather in the middle of winter, than I have now! I could not attend the Farmer and Grower board meeting this time Here in the North West, we have had due to the workload at home but have an IFOAM EU group and predominantly windy, wet and cold weather this last two English Organic Forum meeting planned for July to find out the months with one memorable ten-day slot in which we had the latest on the proposed new EU regulation and the progress that foresight to prepare our growing land. Since planting onions they has been made. I shall report back on this next time. have been partially flooded twice, potatoes went out three weeks So until then, I wish you all a fruitful growing season with late and our tomatoes, even though planted a week later than hopefully the right balance of work and play to enjoy the summer! usual, were frosted in the tunnels four days after planting. Many local potato growers have also suffered from the late frosts and Alan Schofield, Chairman Organic Growers Alliance the local early crop has been much reduced. It is in years like this with a late start that the tunnels really come into their own, and apart from the tomatoes, all other early crops have performed well and are now producing well, providing a variety of crops for our markets. As for the tomatoes - 98% of them pulled through and are setting fruit nicely as we go into June. I sincerely hope these problems are restricted to our corner of the North West and that many of you have fared better than we have. In mid February, I attended a Soil Association Horticultural Standards committee meeting in Bristol to give my views on the development of the new SA Horticultural Standards, which are being written over the next 18 months or so. We reviewed several differing ways of presenting the Standards to growers in order to make them easier to read and also how to link them to advisory notes on how to achieve the Standards. I feel that when finished, this will be a benefit to new entrants who often struggle with understanding the Standards and what is required of them. I will not be re-joining this committee but will look forward to reading through the new proposals and passing comment. On the 21st March we held the OGA AGM at Brookthorpe Village Hall, just across the road from one of the Stroud CSA’s sites, which was well attended by approximately forty OGA members. Apart from some traffic problems on the M5, which meant that Debra and I arrived late, the day went well in the capable hands of Jan Deane who was the chair for the business part of the AGM. A full report is elsewhere in the magazine. One of the areas that the OGA committee has been working on is diversifying our membership offer, making the OGA magazine and benefits of membership more widely available. One of the ideas that came out of our discussions is putting together a package for colleges offering courses in Horticulture. Just after our AGM, our own local college, Myerscough near Preston, organised a visit to our nursery by a group of students from their organic module and I was able to talk to the tutors about the ideas we have Front cover: Keith Denning Page 2 - The Organic Grower - No 31 Summer 2015 Business news Food, Values, Fairness: How values Jane Davidson of the University of Wales Trinity St David led a discussion on what a better food system for Wales might look influence the food system and life like. A working group is now being set up to produce a Food in Wales Manifesto for Wales. People across Wales think that fresh, healthy food ought to be Younger shoppers value organic but available to everyone – regardless of their social status. Good food shouldn’t be a luxury commodity. People also care about where don’t follow through their food comes from and more and more of us want to get in touch Future Thinking, the business intelligence research consultancy, with growers and the skills involved in producing good food. has revealed the findings of the 2015 Grocery Eye, an annual independent study of supermarket shoppers to identify These are just a few of the findings from a new report on values in perceptions towards purchasing and consuming food and drink the food system jointly produced by Organic Centre Wales (OCW), as well as non-food products. The survey, now in its second year, Aberystwyth University and the Public Interest Research Centre monitors the sentiments of over 2,000 consumers to determine (PIRC), who used a series of community food events to investigate consumption and behaviour trends. The research shows that the values that people express when they talk about food. 54% of millennials (those aged between 16-34) believe the role of Explaining the inspiration behind this research, Jane Powell of organic products to be important compared to just 30% of over OCW said: “Organic food is based on a vision of a healthy soil 55’s, which is surprising when factoring in the cost of organics. supporting a healthy society, not just food production as an However, this younger generation appears to lead less healthy economic activity. We wanted to see if people in Wales shared lifestyles. 80% of 16-34 year-olds purchase fresh fruit and veg that view of food, and I think to some extent they do. It’s not all compared to 96% of over 55 year- olds and only 63% of 16-34 year about price, and I think people do want to see a fairer food system -olds include fruit and veg in their diets compared to 88% of over that is in balance with nature.” 55s. Furthermore, confectionery is, by far, the under 34’s favourite The report draws on a body of work called Common Cause, which item to shop for, chosen by 29% of respondents. Conversely, over seeks to apply an understanding of values to strategies for inspiring 55’s prefer to buy fresh fruit and veg, chosen by 38% of that age social change. Values are the guiding principles underlying attitudes group, which would suggest the young make less healthy choices. and behaviour and include, for instance, broadmindedness, security, The over 55 age bracket consider themselves to have the most social justice and ambition. They are expressed in the language we nutritious diets, with 40% thinking they already have a healthy use when talking about food – is it for instance a commodity, a diet compared to 28% of those aged between 16-34. They are also pleasure, a human right or a badge of identity? Rebecca Sanderson more likely to look out for low salt foods (29%) and high fibre of PIRC said “Everyone shares values and society can shape these items (23%), whereas it is barely an issue for those under 35 (14%). values by reinforcing particular messages. Values are not set in stone, they can be strengthened like muscles the more we engage The Grocery Eye also showed that 16-34 year-olds feel it is more them. This is important because we need to ensure our institutions difficult to get by on their tight food budget, have a greater and policies actually reflect and engage the values that people care tendency to snack between meals during the day and look for about – otherwise we can unwittingly undermine them.” packaging to fit with their lifestyles, illustrating the changing needs of millennials. The report also looked at Welsh Government policy and found that food could have an important role to play in grounding the Claudia Strauss of Future Thinking, comments on the report agenda for sustainability in Wales. findings: “There is an unjustified perception that millennials are not engaged with food compared to their older peers. Whilst it is Dr Sophie Wynne-Jones of Aberystwyth University suggested clear that their lifestyles and lower incomes result in their eating that “Food will be central to implementing ‘The Well-being of habits to be less healthy, millennials are more socially conscious Future Generations Act’. Food matters to everyone.