Autumn 2019 No.48 The ORGANICThe journal of the Organic GROWER Growers Alliance Mulch systems and rotational no-till in vegetable farming p20 Meet the growers p11 Comfrey p26 Agroforestry at Gibside p32 Scottish veg day at East Coast Organics p18 Page 1 - The Organic Grower - No 48 Autumn 2019 IN THIS ISSUE The ORGANIC GROWER Kate’s Comment ................................................ 3 The Organic Grower is edited by Phil Sumption, with help from Carolyn Wacher and Kate Collyns. If you have any news, events News .................................................................. 4 or ideas for articles please get in touch. [email protected] Horticultural hindsights: Kevin O’Neill .......... 7 Thanks to all our contributors. Adverts: John Crocker [email protected] Nutrient cycling ................................................ 8 Copy date for next issue: November 15th 2019 The Organic Grower is the membership magazine of the Organic Maximising Organic Production Systems .... 11 Growers Alliance CIC (OGA). Views 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 statements made in the The Lilliston rolling cultivator ....................... 14 magazine, but no guarantees are expressed or implied. In particular, readers should satisfy themselves about the authenticity of products Desert Island Grower: Nir Halfon ................. 16 or inputs advertised. Material may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Printed by Severnprint on 100% recycled paper using vegetable based Simon White.................................................... 17 inks and powered by renewable energy, with a view to seeking out more environmentally friendly mailing solution on all future copies. Overwinter growing in polytunnels .............. 18 Organic Growers Alliance CIC Company No. 11551999 Mulch systems and rotational no-till ............. 20 Registered in England and Wales Aminopyralid ...........................................................23 The Penpont Project ........................................ 24 Editor’s notes Welcome to the Autumn issue of The Organic Grower! With Comfrey ........................................................... 26 plummeting temperatures there is a definite nip in the air. Hopefully with evenings lengthening you can catch up on your Farming for health .......................................... 29 reading of the OG and think about contributions for the coming Getting off the plastic treadmill ...................... 30 issues - we count on our members to keep us grounded! One benefit of being based in Germany is that the organic sector Agroforestry at Gibside ................................... 32 here is thriving and I can get to visit organic farms that are a little different to the UK. Read about my inspiring visit to Bio-gemüsehof Book review: Agroforestry Handbook ............. 33 Dickendorf and their pioneering field-scale rotational no-till veg growing on p20. I do miss the UK farm walks though and, if you Nature notes – nuts! ....................................... 34 weren’t there either, you can catch up on the Scottish growers event The wealth of fields and nations ..................... 35 on p18 and the Agroforestry Innovation Network workshop on p32. Getting together with other growers is really valuable, not just for Events .............................................................. 36 information gathering and sharing but also for business reasons. Meet the growers in Ireland who have joined together under the Maximising Organic Production Systems (MOPS) scheme to work OGA CIC Directors together to supply growing market Kate Collyns Wiltshire 07957 615199 [email protected] Chair demands and ensure sustainable Adam Keeves Oxon [email protected] Treasurer/minutes continuity of supply (p11). Tony Little Wales [email protected] Wales You may also be inspired by the Pete Richardson Wiltshire 07821 403739 [email protected] Penpont Project, where OGA Antonia Ineson Scotland 07872 057985 [email protected] Scotland members Vina and Gavin Hogg are Ben Raskin Wiltshire 07990 592621 [email protected] SA liaison/Future Growers harnessing young people’s passion Jason Horner Ireland ++35 3876 454120 [email protected] Ireland/N. Ireland for conservation and the natural Jim Aplin Worcs 07796 317542 [email protected] Secretary/events world to effect tangible change (p24). Ellen Rignell Devon [email protected] Membership Phil Sumption, Editor Cover: Johannes Storch with MulchTec planter at Bio-Gemüsehof Dickendorf (Photo: Phil Sumption) Page 2 - The Organic Grower - No 48 Autumn 2019 Speaking of mentors, James Smith stepped down as a director over the summer, and we are very grateful for his years of work Kate’s comment on the old OGA committee and new directors’ board, sharing his expertise in growing and also fund-raising, as well as keeping his What interesting times we are living finger on the pulse of the growing scene in the north of England. in indeed. As I’m writing this politics We are therefore actively looking for more represention in the north has taken another turn for the surreal of England, to ensure we don’t become too south-centric: otherwise with the prorogues gallery: it’s very we have little representation on the board between the Midlands difficult not to get caught up with and Scotland. Please do get in touch if you might be interested in politics, policy and lobbying at what getting more involved, even if it’s just to find out more. feels lilke such a critical time for growers, the food industry and all of us as individuals too. I So back out into the fields we go, doing our own small bit to have attended several meetings in the last few months which ground the discussions of climate change, food security and food have had the unknowns of Brexit waving us in the face during miles into the soil we work. My squash and pumpkins have done discussions, but we have tried to second-guess outcomes as best very well again, which is a sure sign that we’ve had plenty of sun; we can. At the English Organic Forum meeting in June we decided now it’s time to bring them all in, and reap what we have sown - to send the draft English Organic Action Plan to Defra, which has which feels as apt in the fields as it does in Westminster. taken a couple of years to take shape and nail down; this was just Kate Collyns, Chair Organic Growers Alliance days before the National Food Strategy led by Henry Dimbleby was announced, and we have invited him to our discussions too, in order to make clear the benefits organic can offer to health, environment, emissions and many more areas. In the same week I attended the Soil Association Farmer & Grower Board meeting, where we talked about the Agriculture Bill which is supposed to go through next spring; we saw market reports which showed that fruit and veg has been the biggest organic produce growth area, up 26% from 2014-2019, driven by organic carrots and salads (mostly via supermarkets). A third of new applicants for certifcation with the Soil Association are Photo: Kate Collyns fruit and veg producers, and most of these are small-scale veg Kate’s pumpkin patch producers. On the next agenda is the pressing issue of on-farm plastics (packaging and other use on farm), which promises to be an interesting dicussion, along with the new set of standards. The Fruit and Veg Alliance is continuing its good work, pushing for government to work on joining up thinking when it comes to food production and health, and we continue to hold roundtable edible horticulture meetings with Defra staff and ministerial representatives. However, getting out into the fields and getting our hands dirty are what we are about, and without us food producers the whole country would grind to a halt very quickly. Practicality is the reason the OGA is putting on our own conference on October 22nd in Bristol: if you haven’t booked your tickets yet, please hurry as we’re close to selling out! All eight sessions have been put together by growers, for growers, with practical and useful take-away info at the heart of them all (check out the OGA website for details). We will be including a session on mentoring at the conference, with details of our latest plans for a mentoring scheme run in conjunction with the LWA, CSA Network and Ecological Land Co-operative. We’re planning on launching this pilot scheme in early 2020, so please look out for the Expressions of Interest forms that we have links to on our regular monthly e-newsletters, and come along to the mentoring session too to find out more. Photo: Phil Smption Healthy soil under mulched brassicas. Biogemüsehof Dickendorf. See article p20 Page 3 - The Organic Grower - No 48 Autumn 2019 OGA/organic news Organic Matters: UK Horticulture News and events Conference – Get your tickets now Have you got something to share? Let us know and we can share Organic Growers Alliance launches Organic Matters, the first UK with the OGA membership. We send out a monthly e-newsletter horticulture conference created by growers, for growers. Dedicated to all our members, and we can put news or events on the website. exclusively to exploring innovative solutions and technical issues in There are some amazing events (full list on back cover or on UK organic and sustainable horticulture, Organic Matters fills a vital our website) coming up this Autumn including our very own gap for UK growers of all kinds. Both experienced and new entrant Starting a Sustainable Horticulture Business. Kate Collyns (chair) growers are invited to join this day-long conference where growers is leading this intensive workshop day at Abbey Home Farm, nr can connect, share new ideas and learn about pioneering techniques. Cirencester, which will cover fundamentals in business with a Taking place on 22nd October 2019 at the Trinity Centre in Bristol, Q&A, a grower-led farm tour and of course a delicious organic Organic Matters will be a day-long event, featuring 8 x 90-minute lunch.