1. Organic growing at Whitmuir Background to the farm Growing for a local market (100 families) Accepting the climate/changing the micro- climate/tholing the weather Early days

2. Why organic? Systems approach – trying to understand and work with nature, rather than dominate Quality of produce – dry matter, taste Attention to soil health, not just current production Precautionary principle – growing food for self and to sell Wider philosophy of fairness, part of wider choices about future Agriculture more than agribusiness – good work, not units of labour

3. Challenges Fertility Drainage, shale and claggy soil Balancing supply and demand, costs and income Succession Staying enough on top of the weeds Wind

4. profit Leakage to rest of food chain, banks High yields of commodities Plant breeding for yield uniformity, IP Pesticide use Chemical fertiliser pollution Ghg emissions Loss of biodiversity above/belo w ground Loss of organic matter Specialist large scale monoculture High gearing - Specialist large machinery Simplify, control, extract Loss of good work and small farms Comparative advantage, food miles, export, process ‘Conventional’ agriculture

5. Why a rotation? Compromise between monoculture and diversity (interfering enough to get the job done) Reduce likelihood of pest/disease build-up Use different plant characteristics to manage soil/weeds/fertility over the sequence

6. Example rotation 1 Potatoes – need high fertility after ley, canopy helps suppress weeds 1.5 Overwinter cereal/ryegrass by end Sept – incorporate in spring and add more compost or manure before.. 2 Brassicas go out mid May.. Deep-rooting Harvest during autumn/winter, leave weeds or sow clover for ground cover 3 Onions early as poss, leave rest of strip till leeks ready. Plastic helps weed control 4 Carrots/parsnips to follow – sow in May, harvest over winter 5,6 Clover/chicory/grass ley

7. Large pests @ Whitmuir Rooks/jackdaws Pigeons Mice Rabbits Chickens Cows Pigs Children (but not mine of course)

8. Small pests @ whitmuir Leatherjackets - cabbages Slugs – ailing plants Flea beetle – swede, japanese leaves Blight – potatoes, tomatoes Blackfly – broad beans Powdery mildew - courgettes So far, lucky with Carrot root fly, cabbage white, clubroot, white rot

9. Indigenous plants Couch (rack and ruin) Buttercup Dockings Thistles and creeping ones Fat hen Chickweed Unidentified flourishing objects

10. Indigenous plants Couch (rack and ruin) Buttercup Dockings Thistles and creeping ones Fat hen Chickweed Unidentified flourishing objects

11. Some things we’ve learned Covering soil even inside tunnel in clear plastic helps a lot in spring, also fleeces Intercropping can work, but quite specific Time to catch up in spring – except onions Every day counts in autumn Double sow (at least) parsnips Give cabbage seedlings plenty room Direct sowing lettuce saves time Picking outside leaves rather than cutting Japanese leaves work best after midsummer

12. Books we like Charles Dowding on salads and no dig Eliot Coleman on precision Growing Green - Iain Tolhurst and Jenny Hall : good on green manures, and techniques The square foot garden - www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/ gh_sqft.php www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicgardening/ gh_sqft.php