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An EU FP7-funded project that aims to increase the transparency of the European organic food market through better availability of market intelligence to meet the needs of stakeholders involved in organic markets. The three-year project, started in February 2012, is led by the Universita Politechnica della Marche in Ancona, Italy and involves research and industry partners from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Estonia, Turkey and the UK. ORC’s role will be to lead the development of an inventory of organic market data collectors and case studies on improving data quality in Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, the Mediterranean region and the UK. More...

An EU-FP7 funded project to develop innovative methods, tools and concepts for the replacement of copper in European organic and low-input fruit, grapevine, potato, and tomato production systems. The 4.5-year project, started in January 2012, is led by Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen (Germany) and has 11 partners across 10 EU countries. It aims to develop copper-free production systems by providing alternative compounds; developing ‘smart’ application tools; and integrating these tools into traditional and novel copper-free crop production systems. ORC’s role will be to evaluate the potential of agroforestry-based apple production systems for replacing copper inputs. More...

A CORE Organic 2/Defra-funded project that aims to make use of the benefits of reduced tillage and green manures under organic farming conditions, including improved soil structure and biological activity which can be damaged by traditional mouldboard ploughing. The three-year project, started in September 2011, is led by the Swiss Research Institute for Biological Agriculture (FIBL) and includes partners in 10 European countries as well as Newcastle University in the UK. ORC’s role is to monitor an on-farm trial at Duchy Home Farm, where conventional ploughing is compared with the use of a reduced tillage machine (the Ecodyn cultivator), continuing a trial that was started by ORC at Duchy Home Farm in 2010 in collaboration with the Institute of Organic Training and Advice (IOTA). More...

A CORE Organic 2/Defra-funded project that aims to produce economically profit-able feeding strategies based on 100% organic feed which will supply poultry and pigs with the required level of nutrients in different phases of production and support high animal health and welfare. The three year project, started in October 2011, is led by Aarhus University and has 13 partners across 10 countries as well as FAI Farms Ltd near Oxford. ORC’s role will include the availability of feedstuffs, feed trials on pigs and poultry, assessing the value of the range for feed resources, as well as being responsible for overseeing knowledge transfer from the project. More...