OF&G :: The Blog

With our third National Organic Cereals event behind us, it is with some relief we can look back at another successful day.

A packed marquee

More than 220 delegates, exhibitors and speakers joined us for what proved to be another fascinating and very sociable occasion. The weather was even with us again, giving some dust-dampening drizzle early in the morning, then turning into warm sunshine for the bulk of the day.

Once again, the line-up of speakers proved to be very relevant and informative. John Pawsey told it like it is from the perspective of a large organic arable producer, which went down very well. He was followed by contributions from Huw Bowles, of OMSCo, who opened the eyes of many an arable farmer with figures highlighting the demand from his milk-producing members for the crops the arable folk could produce.

Stephen Briggs, of Abacus Organic, our partners in the venture, looked at that crucial part of organic farming, fertility management, while Ed Garner, of research firm Kantar Worldpanel, followed with an insight into what retail data tells us about how to market organic products and what the market is actually doing.

The farm walk was a sight to behold!

This year we had two farm walks; one to look at the standing crops being grown by our hosts, the Liddell family, followed by a second, after lunch, to take a close look at the more than 30 varieties of trial crops which had been planted especially for the day.

Roger Wyartt, of Organic Seed Producers, took delegates through this, with Harold Makant, of Natural England, explaining the agri-environment schemes Fullerton Farms are part of. If we learned something useful on the day it was that we need to give people more time with the trial crops. A packed schedule limited this slightly, so we’ll be looking at better ways of managing that next year.

Having said that, it was worth staying on target time-wise because the afternoon Q&A panel session was lively. BBC Countryfile presenter and farmer, Adam Henson, did us the honour of chairing that, having paid close attention to the issues throughout the rest of the day and did an excellent job.

Adam Henson chaired the afternoon Q&A

The catering once again left everyone thoroughly satisfied, with organic Hampshire lamb served for lunch this year and the now usual tea and cake in the afternoon.

The farm walks were, frankly, incredible and left me wondering if there was a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people on a farm walk…

All-in-all a very good day with bang-on-topic speakers, a great array of exhibitors, some really big kit (and some very clever kit) to ogle and plenty of chances to catch up with familiar faces.

So popular was NOC 10 we were in the unfortunate position of having to turn people away. We’re already doing the post mortem on the event and planning is heavily underway for next year, so do keep a look out for the announcement, perhaps just after Christmas, and get your booking in early if you want to come!

Finally we have to thank our sponsors and particularly our hosts, the Liddell Family, of Fullerton Farms Partnership, Andover.

You can see a full set of photos here.

Here’s our little video taster of the day, including a look at the crop trials and Adam Henson’s summary in the afternoon:

National Organic Cereals 2010

It’s that time of year again! Tomorrow sees National Organic Cereals 2010.

Since we launched this event three years ago it has turned into the biggest get together dedicated to organic farming in the calendar.

We will be hosting at least 225 delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors tomorrow and, sadly, such is the demand that we had to tell an awful lot of people that we were fully booked and couldn’t accommodate them.

We hate doing that because, obviously, we want to include as many people as possible who could have something to gain or contribute to a day focused on this very important sector of organic farming.

The yearly growing demand has been taken on board and we will make whatever changes are necessary to address likely uptake of places next year. We honestly thought we’d done that this year, but NOC 10 really does seem to have become one of the year’s main attractions for the industry.

As it is we will be providing a sit-down organic lunch for everyone, which is no small feat for our caterer, and we’re looking forward to another extremely productive day.

We have national farming press representatives joining us, not to mention BBC presenter and respected farmer, Adam Henson, who is doing us the honour of chairing a discussion panel in the afternoon.

If you use Twitter, members of the team will be posting updates through the day (do a search for the hashtag #noc10 to follow those) and we’ll try our best to update this blog and our Facebook page with info and pics too – though this will depend on the availability of mobile data connections on the site!!

Now I must make sure my bag is packed and hit the road for Andover…

Our team enjoyed a very positive and pleasant (rain aside) couple of days at this year’s Cereals 2010 event.

Our CEO, Richard Jacobs (right), on the Oxford Farming Conference Panel

This really is the key date in the calendar for cereal producers and all of the supporting services. We’ve got into the habit of teaming up with our partners at SAI Global (who work with us to provide inspection services that support our certification process) for the event.

Our Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, joined a high profile panel, including NFU President, Peter Kendall, on Wednesday morning for a show-based spin-off session from the Oxford Farming Conference entitled Science in the Arable Sector: Where are the ideas, which are relevant to cereal production?

It turned out to be a lively and very positive debate and the feedback we got tells us that Richard’s contribution opened a good few people’s eyes to the fact that the organic sector is not dominated by people with an ‘us and them’ attitude to organic/non-organic farming.

Richard (left) being interviewed by BBC Radio 4's Charlotte Smith, with Peter Kendall and (right) Prof Snape

The panel session was followed by Richard, Peter Kendall and Prof John Snape, Head of Crop Genetics at the John Innes Centre, being interviewed by BBC Radio 4 Farming Today presenter, Charlotte Smith (we’re told that should be on tomorrow’s programme).

It was also a great couple of days for our team on the OF&G/SAI Global stand who spoke to a lot of existing and potential licensees.

They felt that this year was particularly good for networking – and lots of great food was being given away. Our Development Officer, Steven Jacobs, said he thought it was a good atmosphere and felt like people were determined to be working together for the good of the industry. They particularly enjoyed the beer poured expertly by the ladies at the Savills stand!

The overall positives of the event have left the team buoyed-up for the next key arable event for us – our very own National Organic Cereals 2010, at which we can focus with the delegates, speakers and exhibitors on the benefits and challenges of our own sector.

In the wake of the gloom that accompanied the demise of the Royal Show, it’s really encouraging to see that well-focused farming events are still well-supported and can be so productive. And as I finish this, Farmers Weekly is reporting a turnout of more than 25,000 people – a very healthy show.

We’re very pleased to have been able to announce today that BBC Countryfile presenter and high-profile farmer, Adam Henson, will be attending our National Organic Cereals 2010 event.

To be held on July 8, in Andover, Hampshire, this year’s National Organic Cereals will be building on an excellent 2009 event and has the backing of key people in the organic arable, seed, feed and milling sectors.

Adam Henson will be chairing an afternoon Q&A panel for us. Adam is not an organic farmer, which suits us perfectly because with National Organic Cereals we don’t want to talk only to the existing organic community. Anyone who is inquisitive about organics and open-minded enough to find out more is someone we would love to see at the event. It’s all about highlighting the opportunities in organic cereals while also examining the challenges and realities.

You can read more about the event in our news release here and book your place here if you’d like to attend. It should be a great day and places tend to fill up fast, so please do book early.

It’s with great pleasure we can unveil details of National Organic Cereals 2010.

This will be the third of our one-day events which take a warts-and-all look at the challenges and rewards of organic cereal production – an area where there’s great potential for growth.

National Organic Cereals, which we run in association with Abacus Organic Associates, has grown tremendously in the three years and this time around we’re looking at staging our biggest and best event yet, with the backing of key members of the industry.

The line-up of delegates and exhibitors really has become a who’s who of the organic arable, feed, seed and milling sector and as well as being chock-full of useful advice and presentations, it’s the biggest opportunity in the organic cereals calendar for a get-together and a great (organic) lunch!

This year we’re once again delighted to have Triodos Bank as our headline sponsor, along with critical sponsorship support from Organic Arable, Robin Appel Ltd, HGCA, Warminster Maltings, B&W Feeds and Norton Organic Grain.

We like to move the event around the country to make it accessible to as many people as possible, so for 2010 we’re in Andover, Hampshire, following Suffolk last year and Shrewsbury the year before.

A key part of the day is the chance to view and discuss the trial crops we’ve had planted, which this year include 21 varieties of wheat, eight of triticale, five of oats and five of rye/spelt. In addition there will be a variety of organic malting barley. This makes the farm walks a very popular part of the day.

If you haven’t been before we recommend taking a closer look. If you have been we very much hope you recognise the value of coming again.

Around 190 people attended last year and we’re gearing up for the same, or more, this year, but numbers will be limited by facilities and we can only feed those who book in advance, so please do grab your booking form and get in early. At £15, including lunch, we believe National Organic Cereals has a value way beyond the ticket price!

Click here for the official blurb and links to download delegate and exhibitor booking forms…

Below is the Flickr set of photos from last year, to give you an idea of what to expect (or maybe spot yourself in the pictures…):

If you aren’t at the Soil Association conference in Birmingham, you can get a taste of what’s been going on by checking out the stream of relevant messages on Twitter.

And it’s well worth a look right now. There’s been a cracking debate going on involving the notorious Oliver Walston and SA director, Patrick Holden.

Click on this link to catch up now.