Organic Cereal Varieties: The Results of four years of Trials

Modern breeding has focussed on producing plants that perform well in a monoculture; they are designed to interfere minimally with their neighbours under high fertility conditions, where all ameliorable factors are controlled. The aim of this design is to provide a crop community that makes best use of light supply to the best advantage of grain production. Wheat is the most developed example of this approach - with a high proportion of seminal roots, erect leaves, large ears and a relatively dwarf structure - but all other cereal breeding follows it. This 'pedigree line for monoculture' approach is highly successful but it has delivered crop communities that do best where light is the only, or the main, limiting factor for productivity. Therefore the products of this approach to breeding require inputs to raise fertility, and to control weeds, pests and diseases. Clearly this is not the case in organic farming. Quick acting inputs are not generally available to control or mitigate negative abiotic and biotic interactions. Even within well-functioning organic systems the number of relatively uncontrollable factors and the complexity of their interaction across farms, fields and years are an order of magnitude different from conventional production

The economics of irrigating wheat in a humid climate - A study in the East of England

In the UK, wheat is the most important cultivated cereal, grown extensively as a rainfed crop. Irrigation of wheat has previously been considered uneconomic, but increases in world wheat prices and recent droughts have led to some farmers revising their views. Widespread adoption of wheat irrigation would have major implications for wheat production, the irrigation industry and water resources in regions that are already water scarce. This study investigated the financial viability of irrigating winter wheat grown on a sandy loam soil in the East of England. Long-term climate data (1961–2011) for Silsoe (Bedfordshire) was used to drive a biophysical crop model to assess irrigation water requirements and yield response. Modelling assumed a typical irrigation schedule to maximise yield and quality, and average reported wheat prices for 2007 to 2012. Irrigation costs were calculated assuming an overhead mobile hosereel–raingun system applying river water, abstracted either in summer and used directly, or abstracted in winter and stored in an on-farm reservoir. The results suggest that the yield benefit would justify supplemental irrigation by farmers who have unused irrigation equipment and unused summer water, although irrigation of higher-value field vegetable crops later in the season would normally take precedence – the Added Value of Water (AVW) usefully applied to milling winter wheat under these conditions ranged between 0.24 and 0.32 £ m−3. Investment in new irrigation schemes could also be marginally viable if unused summer river water was available for direct abstraction (AVW = 0.08 £ m−3). Investments in new farm reservoirs for irrigating wheat are currently not profitable (AVW = –0.23 £ m−3). Sensitivity analysis suggests that in the longer term, the expected increase in world wheat prices and the impacts of climate change are likely to make the financial benefits stronger, particularly in the drier catchments further east and on low moisture retentive soils, but competing demands for water would still make extensive wheat irrigation unlikely

The international competitiveness of the UK cereals sector

The decoupling of support for crops under the reform of the CAP has led to concern within the UK as to whether its cereal sector can remain competitive when exposed to unprotected international commodity prices. This paper reports on a Global Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis of the UK Cereals Sector. The UK cereals sector was broken down into: Animal Feed Manufacture; Malting, Brewing and Distilling; Flour Milling and Baking; Industrial Applications Starch, Bio-Fuels, Pharmaceutical. Four panels of UK experts were assembled. Each panel identified six main competitor countries to the UK for each supply chain and compiled a list of key factors affecting competitiveness. A total of 1500 questionnaires were distributed. Assurance, traceability, enforcement of regulation, and quality control procedures are regarded as strong in the UK. Supply chains have a good size structure providing a stable supply of raw material, well-located for usage outlets. However there appears to be a lack of co-operation, integration and trust within the supply chains. Specific training and education is required and there is a problem of recruiting and retaining skilled staff. There is a lack of benchmarking and sharing of good practice. There is concern that productivity improvement is threatened by the erosion of the UK research base. Overall a lack of confidence in the future of the sector is impeding entrepreneurship and innovative strategic investment.UK Cereals Sector, International Competitiveness, International Relations/Trade,

Traditional Markets under threat: why it’s happening and what traders and customers can do

Traditional markets in the UK find themselves at a crossroads; on one hand pushed out by changing retail trends and urban redevelopment, on the other championed as desirable, vibrant spaces which are the key to reviving town centres. Regeneration plans threaten what many traders and customers see as a unique and necessary public space in the heart of our towns and cities. This report has two aims; 1) To critically examine the changing fortunes of the traditional market, with an emphasis on wider urban regeneration and gentrification strategies 2) To explore ways in which customers and traders can successfully maintain markets as places which serve particular and often marginalised groups of people, and in which the social value of these spaces is maintained. The report is aimed at campaigners or potential campaigners, people with a general or academic interest in regeneration, retail and urban development, and policy-makers (especially at a local level). It draws on campaign work and the analysis of campaign groups such as ‘Friends of’ market groups in Birmingham, Leeds, Peterborough and Queen’s Market (East London), as well as trader groups like Shepherd’s Bush Market Traders Association and grassroots housing activists like Tower Hamlets Renters