Farm Woodland Forum 2021 annual meeting: Agroforestry in Brexit landscapes
20th Apr 2021
In the light of the UK government's ambitious tree planting targets - what is the role for agroforestry? Draft agenda: Role of agroforestry and hedges in UK climate targetsDefra’s agroforestry vision, response to tree strategy…
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Making hedgerows pay their way: the economics of harvesting field boundary hedges for bioenergy
20th Apr 2021
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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New paper on managing understoreys in agroforestry to promote natural enemies
31st Mar 2021
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…
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Ten minutes with Colin Tosh
29th Mar 2021
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…
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Farmers and researchers are teaming up in the first ever farmer-led study into the benefits of agroforestry
22nd Feb 2021
Farmers in the UK, for the first time, are getting the chance to co-design research to determine the benefits of integrating more trees on their farms. A farmer-led agroforestry project launching this month will spend…
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Preparing the Evidence Base for Post-Brexit agriculture in Scotland - Case studies on alternative payments
7th Jan 2021
This report led by the Organic Policy, Business and Research Consultancy, with ORC, SRUC and IEEP on the future public good agricultural policy options for Scotland including organic farming, agroforestry and rewilding has now been…
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Farewell to Sally Westaway
17th Dec 2020
This week we say goodbye to the wonderful Sally Westaway. Sally has worked within the ORC’s agroforestry team on a range of projects since 2013. The last 7 years have been so much fun and…
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Agroforestry and the Basic Payment Scheme
11th Dec 2020
ORC welcomes the recognition by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) of the benefits of agroforestry with new guidance on how agroforestry can be compatible with the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). This is a major breakthrough…
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Agroforestry: Trees on upland farms webinar
7th Dec 2020
Agroforestry webinar, led by the Soil Association, as part of the WRFFC Conference which was held from 16-19th Nov 2020. Speakers include Tim Pagella (Bangor University), Dr Lindsay Whistance (Organic Research Centre) and Gareth Davies…
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Roadmap to a greener farming future
7th Dec 2020
ORC welcomes Defra's roadmap for a transition to deliver a better, fairer farming system in England. We strongly support the participatory approach and are involved in three of Defra's Environmental Land Management 'Test and Trials'.…
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