Organic tillage production is technically challenging and while farmers are successfully growing a range of tillage crops across the EU not much of that technical information is shared. A new platform has been launched to fill that gap, – OK-Net Arable – is a project linking partners across Europe to promote exchange of knowledge among farmers, farm advisers and scientists. IFOAM EU are the project co-ordinators and are working with 17 partners to bring the web based platform initiative to farmers across Europe.
Gillian Westbrook, IOA General Manager and Chairperson of the IFOAM EU Council stated that “together we in the organic sector can now use OK-Net Arable to find practical organic solutions, and at the same time discuss how it works in the field with our geographical and climatic conditions. This should enable us to give feedback on the solutions, improve them and, ultimately increase productivity and quality in organic arable cropping all over Europe”.
She continued by outlining that “key areas the project concentrates on are soil quality and fertility, nutrient management, pest and disease control, weed management and solutions for specific crops. Not only can we find solutions and engage with each other via this platform, we can also propose solutions. We hope this will help improve exchange of knowledge among farmers”.
