The Importance of organic Food Production StArt reAding here this information board gives an overview of the importance of organic food production. We hope you'll find it interesting and informative. in addition five information boards detailing local organic producers are also available. What is organic Food Production? Organic farming is friendlier to the environment, better for the land, healthier for humans, and kinder to animals. Chemicals such as pesticides, genetically modified plants, animal cloning, growth hormone drugs or antibiotics are never used. Instead time is taken to work with nature building good soil and encouraging a natural environment that will yield healthy nutritious food. tel: 01584 872665 www.myriad-organics.co.uk Our planet is a large and complex eco-system that relies on co-operation. Organic animals are never kept in cramped conditions, as is the case in factory farming; Virtually nothing in nature happens in isolation and virtually everything that instead animals have access to lots of outdoor space and fresh air, good happens will have a knock on effect somewhere else on the planet. so encouraging normal behavior. Organic farming has minimal impact upon the H Unlike conventionally reared animals, organic standards environment because farmers work with nature D A prohibit the routine use of drugs, vaccines, growth rather than fighting it with chemicals. So for L PP hormones, and the use of genetically modified example, natural predators are encouraged R Y feed and cloning. on organic farms to prevent the need for o H insecticides, whilst clover and green Organic animal health is managed W E manures are used to build up soil using preventative rather than Y good A fertility rather than relying on Greenhouse gas emissions from the curative methods. This fosters H use of nitrogen fertilizers are bad for L energy intensive chemical the environment. Over 20% of the UK’s T strong immunity, good T Organic farms rely upon wildlife fertilizers. emissions come from food and farming. health and lessens the L to help control pests naturally H by encouraging natures own need for drugs. Sick A did you knoW? Y predators, creating open wild animals are treated Soil erosion on organic farms is less of E spaces and utilizing crop rotation. A a problem than on conventional farms. with homeopathic H 50% more plant, insect and bird life is So called “free range” hens are housed in or complementary present on organic farms. There is more plant matter contained within N sheds which may contain up to 32,000 birds and remedies unless Y Soil Association organic soil, which also helps the crops get more I www.soilassociation.org water reducing the need to irrigate so frequently. so are discouraged from roaming outside the M a vet says P sheds. Soil Association standards stipulate that no more otherwise. P 31,000 tons of chemicals than 1,000 birds should be housed in any one shed and the A are used each year to kill animals should be encouraged to explore outside. A weeds, insects and other Bees are responsible for did you knoW? L pests that attack crops pollinating at least a third S H of the food on our plates, Many organic farms have breeds native to their region, on non organic farms. however these amazing little Soil Association 20 creatures are on the decline which have generally adapted to cope with specific regional throughout the world. 15 Reasons for their decline are landscapes, weather conditions and local pastures. unclear, but agrochemicals are one of the prime suspects. 1 tonne10 of 100 tonneS of did you knoW? www.beesactionnetwork.org good bad Oil5 +Water Animals that are It gives off 7 To0 nnes Of greenhouse gases farmed organically www.whyorganic.org are kept longer than Chief Scientific Advisor John Beddington states conventionally farmed good that the world’s food reserves are at a 50-year animals before being low, and by 2030 we need to be producing 50% sent to slaughter. more food. At the same time, we will need 50% more energy, and 30% more fresh water. did you knoW? non-orgAnic milk orgAnic milk Organic milk is 68% higher in Omega 3, 50% higher in vitamin E, 75% higher in the locAl economy cycle beta carotene (which our bodies convert good Work to Vitamin A) and two to three times higher in the antioxidants lutein and locAl orgAnic zeaxanthine than non-organic milk. producerS lutein & zeAxAnthine OMSCO www.organicmilk.co.uk loW did you knoW? food betA did you knoW? mileS lutein & eAxAnthine cArotene The incidence of locAl mArket betA cArotene vitAmin e eczema in young It is estimated that in the Western & ShopS vitAmin e omegA 3 children was S omegA 3 World our bodies contain traces of more good “ Local independent shops between 300 – 500 potentially harmful reduced by 36% Work E are best placed to support chemicals absorbed from food. when they consumed locAl I H did you knoW? local organic growers and community only organic dairy A producers, by providing conSumerS T There is good evidence linking the products. customers with daily I P increase of allergies with over exposure British Journal access to their products. cash kept of Nutrition this enables the growers in locAl reSourceS mAy N P community to chemicals including pesticides. to get on with what they be reuSed U Y British Society for Allergy Environmental do best - producing and Nutritional Medicine healthy organic food.” There are around 500 different M H pesticides licensed for use on E did you knoW? non-organic dairy farms and good good M A around 1550 which can be used o L on non-organic mixed farms. C T Hardly any research has been H conducted on how these Y Y chemicals react together. H Some organic foods have OMSCO www.organicmilk.co.uk T Organic production is more people been shown to contain more H L intensive, people orientated and trace minerals and more vitamins UM A people friendly. The human input is than non-organic food, more research HE greater and it is more fulfilling in this respect. needs to be done. What is certain is that AN organic food has the significant benefit of S PY Organic farms are also often involved in community containing no added chemicals such as pesticides P based projects such as educational farm visits or offering HA work experience or apprenticeship programs for specific sectors of the community. Organic farms tend to be smaller units than conventional farms. Products tend to be distributed and sold through local markets or through independent retailers such as Myriad Organics. As a result profits generated are re-circulated within the local community which helps sustain a dynamic local economy. complete-balance.co.uk @ Helen Mawson helen Project managed by www.wallflowercreative.co.uk Photography & Design by Supported by the ShropShire hillS AreA of outStAnding NaturAl beAuty'S SuStAinAble development fund Mick & Alice Hill Cottage knighton, poWyS salAd mAnge tout cArrotS SpinAch peas beAnS leekS onionS pArSnipS brassicas AlliumS salAd mAnge tout cArrotS SpinAch peas beAnS leekS onionS pArSnipS brassicas StArt reAding here thiS iS WhAt they groW overview Sshhh! It's Mick and Alice. They're speaking! Products Hill Cottage produces around 40 different Details Mick sayS: vegetables mainly throughout the summer and 4 acre rented market garden "It's important for us to work with the autumn. At other times of year they source LocatioN nature and not vegetables grown elsewhere which are always Rhos-y-Meirch, near Knighton, Powys against it" organic and always as local as possible. Produce is sold at local farmers' markets and Started By Mick and Alice in 2008 vegetable bags are produced and sold locally. It includes salad, mange tout, carrots, spinach, Full oRganic status peas, beans, leeks, onions, parsnips, brassicas Early 2010 (such as cabbages and sprouts), and alliums PRoduces (the onion family). Variety of high quality, seasonal organic vegetables including salad, mange tout, Hill Cottage is also involved in a scheme called carrots, spinach, peas, beans, leeks, onions, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). parsnips, brassicas, and alliums Its aim is to develop partnerships between growers and the local community. CSA supports the Years oF Experience grower by investing in the growth of the market Over 25 years between them ALICE sayS: garden to give security to the grower and ensure "Market gardens are certain to have a hugely Committed To important role in the future, as issues of a supply of locally grown food. With this scheme Sustainability and organic food production food security and local food production Hill Cottage offers the option for customers become increasingly prominent" to make an annual payment in advance for Staff produce. In return vouchers are given which Mick and Alice plus one employee are redeemed on a weekly basis at the learning about organic production, weekly market stalls. with two regular volunteers on-site and at weekly farmers' markets thiS iS the importAnt Stuff Mick and Alice also run a programme of Other interesting stuff workshops throughout the year which focus Based on a rented site (land owners also Why organic production? on growing food organically. They also hold an annual open day where members of the public have an interest in local and sustainable Mick & Alice believe that Organic production can visit the market garden and see how things food production and are keen to see the is the only truly sustainable system, and are grown and what Hill Cottage is involved with. land being used positively) the system is completely holistic. They feel that nurturing and cultivating the land is key, which then has an impact on what can be grown and how well it grows.