Organic Centre Wales Factsheet 1: Information on organic conversion for farmers in Wales

This factsheet is aimed at producers that are interested in finding out more about converting to organic farming. It sets out the steps that be taken, such as contacting the Organic Centre Wales helpline and registering for Organic Conversion Information Service that will help you to explore the technical implications of conversion. The factsheet contains further information on organic conversion for farmers in Wales

Some reasons for non-conversion of horticultural producers in Wales

A questionnaire survey of about 2500 farmers who had contacted OCIS in Wales since 1996 was used to find out why more horticultural producers were not converting to organic production. Of 272 respondents, 43 had a horticultural enterprise on their farm and 26 identified horticulture as one of their main enterprises. Twelve of these converted, but the main reasons given by the remainder for not converting were the cost of certification and the low level of OFS payments. The OFS provides only limited support for horticulture enterprises as payments are based on area, and many holdings are small and may even be ineligible for payment. No concerns were expressed about the market

Thriving as an international student: personal responses and the trajectories they create

During a study investigating their experiences on a British university campus, relatively successful long stay international students critically reflect on their experiences of cross-cultural interactions and how these have shaped not just their current behaviour but also their longer term attitudes and aims, or in Wenger's term their trajectories. A tentative taxonomy of trajectories is described and its pedagogical relevance discussed in terms of ways that this understanding can inform staff interventions to enhance intercultural learning, not only of international students but of home students and staff also, and lead to further critical reflection by all participants on their own cultural influences

Assessing quality of plant raising media for organic systems

Good quality transplants are vital to growers for a number of reasons. Their ability to better tolerate pest, disease and weed problems and their capacity to make better use of newly incorporated green manures (compared to direct drilling) make them all the more so in organic systems. The availability of high quality growing media is essential to producing healthy vigorous plants, but the organic standards restrict the choice of products available and many growers do not feel they have sufficient information to base their choices. OCW, with support from Farming Connect, coordinated a project to assess the certified products and looked at a green waste based product under development to help address this problem. Growers were supplied with samples of certified products (details provided in the table below) and were asked to test them on range of crops. In order to support this work, scientifically robust trials were carried out by a plant raising specialist on cabbage leek and lettuce

Advice and knowledge transfer services for organic producers in Wales

The report records the outputs and achievements of advice and knowledge transfer activities in Wales for organic farmers and those considering conversion between 2001 and 2007. It explores how these activities have contributed to the delivery of the Organic Action Plans for Wales. It has the aim to inform the future development of advisory and knowledge transfer activities in Wales over the course of the next Rural Development Plan (2007 – 2013) The review is principally concerned with two main services: • The Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS) comprising of the OCW helpline, an information pack and advisory visits, and • Farming Connect advisory services and knowledge transfer activities. In this context, ‘Advisory Services’ include the Farm Business Development Plan, Technical advice and the Environmental Opportunities Review. ‘Knowledge transfer’ refers to the demonstration and development farms network, the discussion groups, the programme of training, conferences and seminars and the development projects. The report also makes recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government on the future direction of these services. ‘Short term implementation’ relates to current contracts (up to March 2008). Medium term recommendations relate to new arrangements that might be implemented in future (from April 2008), for example as part of the new RDP

Organic Horticultural Seed in Wales - A survey of growers’ experiences of varieties grown from organic seed in 2006

The Organic Standards require organic producers to use organic seed. However, a derogation can be obtained from certification bodies to allow the use of non organic seed where appropriate organic material is not available in the UK. An official database of organic seed availability, ‘Organicxseeds’, has been developed and is used as the basis for derogation decisions. However, there is a lack of information and a great deal of uncertainty in the minds of growers, about the performance of many varieties available in organic seed. This means that growers could potentially have to make variety choices on the basis little or no information. For the last 4 years, Organic Centre Wales, with support from Farming Connect, has coordinated a survey to help organic growers in Wales share information about the performance of varieties grown from organic seed. The survey (see Appendix I) was sent to all members of Farming Connect Horticultural Discussion Groups and other individuals who had responded in previous years or otherwise expressed an interest in the project. The information from the returns was collated and analysed and the results sent back out to growers in time to inform their variety choices for the 2007 season

A farmer’s guide to organic fruit and vegetable production

This guide is aimed at farmers who are considering diversification into horticulture. It assumes a sound and system-based understanding of agricultural systems, but limited knowledge of fruit and vegetable production. It gives a general introduction on organic systems and soil fertility components including factors and examples of successful crop rotation. For the main pests and diseases simple and system-based measures are highlighted, as e.g. considering the right timing of control measures, crop rotations and tillage. For weed management weeding machinery is briefly explained. Basic questions on how to choose the right variety and the equipment for weeding, harvest, and storage are discussed. Additionally, the guide gives a rough overview and understanding of energy and greenhouse gas emissions and possible adaptation measures on farm level. The economic aspect are separately highlighted with a given example. Summing up, horticultural farmers, get an overall guideline to establish a system sound production of field and fruit vegetables, including fertility building strategies and protective structures. Useful addresses of advice services, certification bodies and research Centres are listed up for Welsh farmers

Global Cue Inconsistency Diminishes Learning of Cue Validity

We present a novel two-stage probabilistic learning task that examines the participants’ ability to learn and utilize valid cues across several levels of probabilistic feedback. In the first stage, participants sample from one of three cues that gives predictive information about the outcome of the second stage. Participants are rewarded for correct prediction of the outcome in stage two. Only one of the three cues gives valid predictive information and thus participants can maximise their reward by learning to sample from the valid cue. The validity of this predictive information, however, is reinforced across several levels of probabilistic feedback. A second manipulation involved changing the consistency of the predictive information in stage one and the outcome in stage two. The results show that participants, with higher probabilistic feedback, learned to utilise the valid cue. In inconsistent task conditions, however, participants were significantly less successful in utilising higher validity cues. We interpret this result as implying that learning in probabilistic categorization is based on developing a representation of the task that allows for goal-directed action

Organic Farming in Wales 2003 - 2004

Organic Centre Wales (OCW) was originally formed to act as an information source for producers enquiring into organic farming; in our second phase, in response to changes in the sector, we have an increased remit on policy issues. It has been a busy time, seeing the production of a second Organic Action Plan, the implementation of the CAP reform and development work on agri-environment reforms. The year also saw the start of organic maintenance payments for farmers. This Annual Report contains accounts of the progress that has been made on many fronts during the last 12 months, particularly in market knowledge due to the research for the recently published report, 'Organic Food: understanding the consumer and increasing sales'. This information, together with continuing product development work, will enable Welsh organic producers to be proactive in building a solid consumer base

Chromium Tolerant Microbial Communities from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Chromium tolerant bacteria were enumerated from portions of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and examined for their potential to reduce Cr(VI). Water and sediment samples were collected from various locations in Baltimore Harbor and Bear Creek, as well as Sandy Point State Park in Maryland and the Anacostia River in Washington, DC. Samples were spread onto agar plates with CrO42- (5 ppm) as the sole terminal electron acceptor. Plates were incubated anaerobically and colony forming units (CFU) enumerated. CFU arising on minimal-CrO42- medium ranged from 103-104 mL-1 or g-1 and community estimates from sites in proximity to Baltimore City were approximately 6-30X higher than distal sites. Bacterial identification by BIOLOG™ or 16S rRNA sequencing indicated the presence of bacteria of the genera Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Kluyvera and others. Typical Cr(VI) reduction rates by these isolates were significantly lower than Shewanella oneidensis, a known metal-reducing bacterium. Results suggested that microbial communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, particularly in Baltimore Harbor and Bear Creek, had a high tolerance for Cr(VI) and/or could grow slowly with Cr(VI) as a terminal electron acceptor. However, the isolates did not rapidly degrade Cr(VI) in the laboratory