Category: News

The UK could be opening the door to 119 pesticides banned for health and environmental reasons, warns a new report looking at implications of signing up to a Pacific free trade agreement. The deal with…

The Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience and the Organic Research Centre are looking to recruit farmers near Shropshire (16th June) for a participatory study on the use of bioindicators in arable farming systems. Bioindicators…

The fifth European conference on agroforestry, EURAF 2020, was held online recently (17th - 19th May 2021) and ORC was represented by Colin Tosh, Will Simonson and Lindsay Whistance. This conference was postponed in 2020…

A team of six farmers is trialling growing a living mulch under cash crops – if they’re successful, they say the practice could eliminate the need for artificial inputs, cut costs and boost productivity. The…

ORC's Ambrogio Costanzo is a guest co-editor of a forthcoming special issue of Agronomy entitled Organic Agriculture at the Heart of Agroecological Transition. The deadline for manuscript submissions is 15 September 2021. "Agroecological transition is…

Cereals 2021 returns to Lincolnshire on Wed 30 June & Thurs 1 July 2021. Amongst many interesting workshops and demonstrations, ORC's Lucy MacLennan will be chairing the It's all about Biology session on Thursday 1st July…

A new INRAE led study has been published looking into a clear option space for expanding organic agriculture despite nitrogen limits. Recognising that one of the limits of widespread organic farming is the limited nitrogen…

The European database for organic seed has been developed within the EU project LIVESEED. Its objective is to create more transparency for the EU member states and for seed suppliers regarding available offers of organic…

Rothamsted Research has applied for permission to plant a field trial of GM Wheat and a statutory public consultation is now open. Field trials always carry a risk of escape and wheat is a staple food in…

A new book Regenerative Agriculture: Farming with Benefits by Marianne Landzettel is reviewed by ORC's Senior Agroforestry Researcher Colin Tosh. I approached the book with a few misgivings. The cover said ‘textbook’ while the text…

What is your job role at the ORC? Sustainability Researcher How long have you worked at the ORC? Just over two and a half years Where are you from/ where are you based? I grew…

BBC Farming Today visited Andy Gray one of the farmers participating in the new Innovative Farmers Silvopasture field lab. " A field lab being run by Innovative Farmers - a not-for-profit group which links up…

A new DIVERSify legacy website http://plant-teams.org/ has been launched. It includes the Farmer Guide ‘InfoHub’ “for practical information on intercropping agronomy, resilience and ecosystem service provision, on-farm experiences and innovations” and a Policy Toolbox that…

A new paper on our hedgerow work as part of the SustainFARM project has been accepted for publication in Agroforestry Systems and is now online: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10457-021-00631-9 Smith J, Westaway S, Mullender S. et al. (2021) Making…

And Bulletin 122 available for free download

An article by ORC's Head of Research Will Simonson has been included in the March/April edition of e-law, published by UKELA (United Kingdom Environmental Law Association) as part of an issue focusing on the Agriculture…

A new open access paper 'Management to Promote Flowering Understoreys Benefits Natural Enemy Diversity, Aphid Suppression and Income in an Agroforestry System,' co-authored by Jo Smith (now ex ORC) with the University of Reading and…

Would you like to get to know the ORC staff, learn more about what they are working on at the moment and find out what inspired them to pursue a career in organic research? To…

ORC submitted responses to Defra's Consultation on future of gene editing both as part of the English Organic Forum and as an organisation. As a member of the English Organic Forum (EOF), the Organic Research…

Mark Measures ponders some wheat 1995 Mark Measures has been at the forefront of organic farming in the UK for nearly 40 years and has been involved with Elm Farm/Organic Research Centre for most of…

The Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes represent a significant shift in agri-environment scheme delivery in England. Currently, it is envisaged that land managers will construct their own land management plans, possibly with some advisory support…

A new paper arising from the EU Horizon 2020-funded iSAGE project, co-authored by ORC's Stefano Orsini has been published in Sustainability Abstract Given the increasing complexity of the agro-food sector, the analysis of financial performance…

New paper co-authored by ORC's Stefano Orsini is published in Animals. Given the decrease in red meat consumption in the last decade, it is crucial for red meat producers to understand consumer preferences. This international…

For forty years the ORC has been pushing the boundaries of research and development of practical and sustainable organic farming methods in the UK. Last month we announced a dedicated 40th anniversary page had been…