cumbria organics - events and activities

Recent Events and Activities

CUMBRIA ORGANICS organises events to help to put people in touch with one another and to provide information and workshops on organic production and marketing opportunities.

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REPORTS ON RECENT EVENTS



	9^th AGM on February 6^th 2008 36 people enjoyed the superb supper provided by members and organised by Ana Jones. The Chair, Treasurer and Network Co-ordinator reported on CO activities in the past year. Subscriptions have been reduced to £25 for Full and Associate Members. The main issues that the Committee needs feedback on are: 1) New Management Committee members Chris Evans has resigned from the Management Committee, due to extra business commitments. We thank him very much for his commitment to running the group for the past 3 years. There are now 2 places to fill. The time commitment would be to attend up to 6 Committee meetings per year and to get involved in organising one or two events. You could be co-opted for this year to find out if it suits you and then be elected at the next AGM . Thank you to Jeremy Jackson and Pauline Sprott for already coming forward as co-optees willing to help. 2) Provision of services to Cumbria Organics Paul Casson has agreed to stay on in his role as Chair. He has been talking to the Cumbria Farmer Network and NWOC about how Cumbria Organics can replace some of the time and energy put in by the Co-ordinator for the past few years. When potential service arrangements have been fully considered, the Management Committee will make a proposal to members. If you have comments or ideas to share on this, please get in touch with the Committee.
	The Winter Get-together was a great success, 35 people attended and most of them were new entrants to organic farming or thinking about it. The supper was delicious, kindly sponsored by Northwest Organic Centre and made up by Low Sizergh Barn tearoom and The Watermill tearoom from CO members supplies. NWOC also paid for the room hire. Richard Knight , MRCVS, from the Westmorland Veterinary Group covered key areas for positive animal health management and answered questions. Susan Woof led the review of the organic feed situation and members shared their experiences in growing feed and fodder crops this season. Thank you to all who contributed to the event.
	The Northwest Organic Centre organised an Energy Saving Conference for Farmers and Land Managers in February at Macclesfield, Cheshire . The event provided up to date information and helpful practical steps for land managers and farmers to save energy in a climate of ever rising costs. The event was enjoyable and packed with useful information. It covered the whole range of practical things that can be done to reduce energy use on the farm and also to evaluate the different options for home generation of energy. Hopefully there will be a chance to repeat this in Cumbria or Lancashire soon. If you are interested to know more about the event, contact Kate and look on the Northwest Organic Centre website.
	Producer Conference, 10^th and 11^th December 2007, Cirencester ‘Doing it Right, Doing it Better’. The workshops highlighted the main issues with feed supplies and marketing of lambs. These are national problems, but as usual, affect the northern upland farms more than anyone! CO and the NWOC have done more than most areas to address these issues, through the work of Sue Woof in developing supply networks for feed and livestock. This year has been the most difficult for a long time on feed supply and marketing finished lambs, but thanks to Sue’s work over the past 6 years it has been easier than it could have been. (It probably doesn’t feel that way for her or you, but it’s true!). The workshops on learning and transfer of knowledge were interesting. Most of the advisers recommended developing networks of producers and organising events where knowledge could be shared between them. So CO and the NWOC are probably on the right track! The news about having to have an EU logo on top of the individual certifying bodies ones didn’t go down well. The workshops on saving energy were useful and highlighted the need for all businesses to understand their costs, make savings and reduce their vulnerability to price rises and interruptions to supply. The event was well attended by growers as they also held the AGM of the Organic Growers Alliance. This meant that the range of experience in the workshops was vast. They shared experience on seed selection, use of green manures and other fertility sources, and marketing. Look on the Organic Inform website for more details from each of the sessions www.organicinform.org and lots of other up to date articles.

	The Introduction to Organic Certification for food advisers and small businesses went down well. It was sponsored by the Northwest Organic Centre and Distinctly Cumbrian and helped 7 businesses and 4 advisers to get a better understanding of what it involves. New members Caroline and David Welch, from Cote How guest House also attended and shared their experience of the process as newly certified caterers.

	Apple Day and Tatton Park were successful marketing opportunities and a chance to work with children to raise their awareness of organic farming and food.

	The new dairy entrants also had a meeting on the 14^th November to discuss the topics that they would like to have speaker / workshops in the next few months to help them get to grips with organic farming techniques and record-keeping. If anyone would like to go to the next meeting, (date to be arranged, possibly in January) on record-keeping and the North West Organic Milk Producers Ltd, please ring Kevin Beaty on 016974 73264 or 07775993212 or Kate on the number below.

	The Cumbria Organics Visit to Growing Well, Low Sizergh Farm, Kendal, on 31st August was very interesting and an inspiration to us all in how to run a complex business venture, provide vital training for people interested in a career in horticulture and also provide support for people recovering from mental health issues and returning to work. Thank you very much to Debbie and James who gave us a good insight into their work. Growing Well are inviting people to support and participate in the running of the Social Enterprise by becoming a member. Please contact the team on 015395 61777 or info@growingwell.co.uk or www.growingwell.co.uk

	Cumbria Organics and NWOC hosted a series of informal drop-in sessions at the café in I Love Organics, Wainwrights Yard, Kendal. The idea was to enable consumers to meet like–minded people and discuss issues around organic food and local sourcing. Thanks to the producers who dropped in and chatted to people.

	The social at the Watermill on the 25th May was an enjoyable, tasty and stimulating event. Nick had put together a presentation from the 3 conferences that he had attended earlier in the year on Post Peak oil, Climate Change and Sustainable Communities. He did this in a thought-provoking and entertaining way and it was decided that others would probably like to see it at a later date, when silage–making was not also on the agenda! Thank you very much to Ana and Nick for hosting us and their time preparing food and the presentation.

	Monday 11^th and Tuesday 12^th December 2006 - Organic Producers - In Principle and In Practice. This was a Conference for organic producers, organised by the Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm - for 3 reasons: To launch the Organic Inform project, a DEFRA - funded scheme, to improve the dissemination of information from production and market researchers to producer businesses. To have a producer focussed event on the issues that producers wanted to discuss. To address some of the issues that had been brought up in the past 6 months in the Press regarding organic production standards possibly being weakened as the sector grows rapidly. There was genuine and open discussion about the ways that organic food is being and could be produced, within the original principles, yet on a sustainable increasing scale and in response to the broadening market. Kate took part in this event and recorded key points from some of the discussion sessions for CO members: can beef from the organic dairy herd be produced well and economically to supply the increasing market for cheaper cuts of beef? – or would it fail if set up like conventional systems because of the health problems associated with transporting and mixing calves. Is it possible with milk and feed prices as they are? use of OP’s – definite rejection in the livestock sessions - how are we going to deal with scab in the northern uplands? serious lack of arable converters and tightening of feed regulations - ask livestock producers to pay arable farmers to convert? how to sustain businesses that are producing pullets and day old meat birds to organic standards, when derogations are still needed to ensure the numbers of stock needed for the increasing market. The Campaign for Real Organic Poultry (CROP) was launched the Organic Growers Alliance (OGA) was formed. This is a new organisation focussed on growers issues with certifiers and researchers and to share information and training on technical and marketing. This group will also have a healthy social agenda too! First event to be held at Schofield’s in the summer…. The hard-core of the organic movement were there, people who had many years experience and the tenacity to hang on while the market was small and slow growing. The new market and production challenges, the political threats and supports were up for discussion, with the marketing organisations, certifiers and DEFRA representatives who were there. The overall mood of the conference was positive and encouraging that the sector was growing, with the associated pains and adaptations. Catherine Phillips, Manager of the Organic Inform project is likely to come up to visit CO and NWOC this year to find out how we disseminate research findings and share information and experience locally.