US research which shows us the way perhaps?

Some interesting wheat breeding work going on in the US. A different approach from the Organic Research Centre population breeding work but with a similar hypothesis but perhaps with a more directly commercial approach.  It will be interesting to see whether any of the resulting varieties may be of direct interest to the UK or whether it is the methodology we should adopt to seek to develop more suitable varieties for organic systems our conditions.

 Also, they are exploring the potential for mechanical weed control with minimal soil disturbance which may be of relevance to those exploring non-inversion tillage systems.

 Drawing on the past for organic grains

Corn, SoyBeans, Wheat, Cotton, Organic Farming, Fertilizers | Agriculture.com

Mr Agnew's critical stance on organic systems and enthusiasm for GM technology (see below) failed to mention that some GM solutions available to US farmers are appear not to be providing the benefits originally envisaged. Weeds exhibiting resistance to Monsanto's Roundup herbicide are now being tackled by following an enhanced programme of treatment to prevent this resistance spreading to other fields and in order to encourage farmers to use this enhanced programme financial incentives are being paid.

Monsanto offers incentives to use Roundup Ready products

Fools we are not

Mr Stuart Agnew, MEP for the Eastern Counties, has expressed his views on organic farming and is clearly not impressed. I would ask Mr Agnew to take a more informed approach before dismissing organic farming by looking at some of the many highly successful organic systems that abound - many of which exist in his constituency.

Rather than being fools eastern counties organic farmers are resilient and innovative and producing high quality produce that isn't "submerged in thistles, plastered with fungus or crawling with aphids" as Mr Agnew suggests.

The likelihood of a crop having a high thistle population and high aphid numbers is low as flowering plants within the crop will attract the predator species which feed on the aphids. His comments sound more like ill-informed speculation than genuine observation.

Mr Agnew would be welcome to visit some organic farms in the eastern counties to discover the many benefits organic systems can deliver and why it is a farming system which should be taken seriously by policy makers and not dismissed as foolish.

'stop fooling around' Agnew tells committee