Ocado have funded a collaborative venture with The Soil Association to support producers through knowledge sharing on reduced inputs, increasing biodiversity, and improving soil health with agroecological principles. The fundamental outcome of this project is to simply encourage growers to adopt a more sustainable approach to growing their business. The Orchard Fruit Company were very honoured to be asked if we could use Boxford Farms (our main UK top fruit grower) to demonstrate and host one of the events.
The plan is to use demonstration farms to be at the centre of a focused learning network, providing examples of best practice, trials, and innovation in agroecology through hosting farm walks, speaking at events and investigating training opportunities where appropriate. A demonstration farm will have already adopted system level agroecological principles or be in the process of implementing the changes to their farming systems.
The event was extremely useful and informative. Attendees included various organic producers from operations of different scales as well as representatives from Natural England, Agrii, Ocado and The Soil Association. All were impressed with the achievements the farm has made in supporting and demonstrating sustainable environment practices. These include an Anaerobic Digestion Plant, which creates heat and power for the farm, hotel and golf club and also a breeding program for beneficial bugs which helps to reduce the use of pesticides.
Bruce McGlashan, Head of Technical for The Orchard Fruit Company said, “Boxford Farms has a fantastic closed loop sustainability model which they have worked hard at over the last 10 years. With the AD plant, the irrigation systems, organic fertiliser production and more recently their Phytoseiulus production, they continue to demonstrate outside the box thinking to build on their already strong environmental and sustainability credentials”