ORC had a big presence at National Organic Combinable Crops, Organic Farmers & Growers’ (OF&G) flagship event hosted by John Pawsey at Shimpling Park Farm, near Bury St Edmunds on 7 July 2015.
ORC has pioneered an evolutionary breeding programme to produce a hugely diverse population of wheat suited to organic and low-input farming systems. This year, for the first time, ORC is marketing it as ORC Wakelyns Population. ORC chose the event to officially launch its ORC Wakelyns Population wheat, with grain from the crop milled and baked locally for the conference’s breakfast and lunch.Bruce Pearce gave a presentation on the history and background behind the launch.
Nick Fradgley gave a presentation on the trials on display at Shimpling Park Farm, including Grazing Cereals, Coordinating organic plant breeding activities for diversity (COBRA) and OSCAR (Optimising Subsidiary Crop Application in Rotations). Delegates had a chance to explore the OSCAR cover crop toolbox on the ORC stand and visit the trials in the field.
Beth Cullen introduced Organic Knowledge Network Arable (OK-NET Arable) and Agricology.
