Category: Research

Biotic stress and yield stability in English organic silvoarable agroforestry

New paper from Agromix project suggests that silvoarable researchers should be focusing on how trees impact plant pathogen dynamics

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Agroforestry experts needed: Climate Change Resilience in Agroforestry Systems

AGROMIX project survey. Agroforestry experts needed to gather insights on climate change resilience in agroforestry systems.

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Supply Chain Perspectives on Breeding for Legume–Cereal Intercrops

The widespread adoption of intercroping will only succeed through the collaboration of all supply chain actors, breeding approaches that take into account the complexity of the supply chains, and implementation of diversification strategies in every process from field to fork.

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Overcoming barriers to crop diversification uptake in Europe: A mini review

Review shows that addressing barriers to crop diversification by farmers requires a simultaneous and coordinated approach.

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New Horizon Europe project focusing on the expansion of agroforestry

ReForest has launched! Agroforestry at the forefront of farming sustainability in multifunctional landscapes in Europe – a 4-year Horizon Europe project, bringing together 14 institutions from 10 European countries with extensive expertise in this field.

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Including diverse leys in arable rotations

New Practice Abstract written by Katie Bliss and Mark Measures as part of the DiverIMPACTS project. Bliss K, Measures M (2022) Including diverse leys in arable rotations. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6241557 Problem Leguminous leys are a cornerstone…
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Assessing the multidimensional elements of sustainability in European agroforestry systems

New paper published from the SustainFARM project team. A real team effort with Laurence Smith, Samantha Mullender, Sally Westaway and Jo Smith contributing authors from ORC. Smith LG, Westaway S, Mullender S,  Ghaley BH, Xu…
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LIVESEED project comes to an end after 52 months

The LIVESEED project came to an end on 30 September 2021, after 52 months of activities. Started in June 2017, 51 project partners put their hearts and souls into boosting organic seed and plant breeding.…
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Boosting hedgerows by 40% would create 25,000 jobs, new ORC research for CPRE reveals

In this research, commissioned by CPRE, the countryside charity, and undertaken independently by the Organic Research Centre, we provide an evidence-based analysis of the environmental and economic benefits of hedgerows. The research investigates what 40%…
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New paper on farm network field-scale, cultivar evaluation of organic wheat

A new open access paper on our work on organic wheat variety trialling, arising out of the LIVESEED project, has been published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development. Cultivar choice and post-emergence weed management strategies are…
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Agroforestry for the transition towards sustainability and bioeconomy

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…
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Organic Agriculture at the Heart of Agroecological Transition - call for submissions

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…
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A clear option space for expanding organic agriculture despite nitrogen limits - new INRAE led study

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…
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Ten minutes with Lisa Arguile

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…
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InfoHub on intercropping launched

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…
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Making hedgerows pay their way: the economics of harvesting field boundary hedges for bioenergy

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…
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Measuring the Economic Performance of Small Ruminant Farms Using Balanced Scorecard and Importance-Performance Analysis: A European Case Study

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…
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European Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Red Meat Labelling Attributes

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…
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Benefits and challenges of herbal or diverse leys

Opportunities for farmer involvement

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The importance of our local sheep breeds

How do we encourage people to value heritage breeds?

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New resources from OK-Net Ecofeed

New Practice Abstracts and videos

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Living mulches: The holy grail of no till?

Field lab featured on BBC Farming Today

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Farming for nature pays off for organic Wimpole

Nature and soil health are flourishing at the National Trust’s organic farm

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Farmer and growers - what soil inputs do you use?

Survey as part of the Woodchip for fertile soils project

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