Exchanging knowledge to improve organic arable farming: an evaluation of knowledge exchange tools with farmer groups across Europe

Organic farming is knowledge intensive. To support farmers in improving yields and organic agriculture systems, there is a need to improve how knowledge is shared. There is an established culture of sharing ideas, successes and failures in farming. The internet and information technologies open up new opportunities for knowledge exchange involving farmers, researchers, advisors and other practitioners. The OK-Net Arable brought together practitioners from regional Farmer Innovation Groups across Europe in a multi-actor project to explore how online knowledge exchange could be improved. Feedback from the groups was obtained for 35 ‘tools’, defined as end-user materials, such as technical guides, videos and websites informing about practices in organic agriculture. The groups also selected one practice to test on farms, sharing their experiences with others through workshops, exchange visits and through videos

New records and distributional and ecological notes of leptodactylid frogs, Leptodactylus and Eleutherodactylus, from the British Virgin Islands

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Effect of seeding date on winter canola (Bassica napus L.) yield and oil quality in southern Ontario

Winter canola or winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is not commonly grown in Canada. While winter oilseed rape is the dominant growth form in Europe, Canadian canola production is dominated by spring types in western Canada. Research conducted in the 1980s indicated that the environmental conditions in southern Ontario are well suited to the production of winter canola. Since then, however, interest in the crop has ebbed and little to no research has been conducted on the agronomic issues that potentially limit its adoption in the province. The objective of this research was to identify an optimal seeding date for winter canola in southern Ontario. Three winter canola hybrids were evaluated across five seeding dates ranging from early September to late October. Results established the first two weeks of September as the optimal seeding period for winter canola in southern Ontario. Seeding winter canola during this period, such that greater than 600 GDD could be accumulated before the first fall frost, not only reduced winterkill to approximately 20% but also maximized yield potential and ensured optimal oil quality. Winter canola showed great potential for production in southern Ontario and its addition to current crop rotations would diversify and enhance crop production practices in this portion of the province.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author