Saturday, November 7, 2009

Web Seminar with Iain Tolhurst, Thurs. Nov. 12th, 09

NEWSFLASH (as of September 2010)! The following webinar is now available for viewing for FREE online...click here for Ian Tolhurst. The sound quality gets better a few minutes into the seminar...well worth struggling through the initial strain to access Ian's information!

The BC Organic Network  hosted this webinar.(click here for further info)

November 12 - Stock Free Organic Farming - 8:30 pm (PST)
By using crop rotations, fertility building green manures and sustainable agricultural practices, Iain Tolhurst of Tolhurst Organic Produce, Oxfordshire, UK, farms without any animal inputs, such as manures or animal byproducts. This successful vegetable box scheme producer (the UK equivalent of our CSA) provides more than 400 boxes/week of produce using 90% of his own produce and does so with a very low carbon footprint. Iain's webinar will discuss his stockfree farm, the rotations they use, how biodiversity is managed for pest and disease control, and their marketing structure. He will also show how they have developed a low carbon footprint and the development of carbon sequestration within a farm cropping system.

BIO:
Iain Tolhurst is an independent organic horticulture consultant specializing in advice and training in horticultural business development, vegetable box schemes, with a specialization in Stockfree Organic systems. He is a practicing organic vegetable producer on 18 acres and has been a Soil Association symbol holder since 1976 specializing in supplying organic vegetables through his own box scheme.

Iain’s advisory career began in 1984 as senior horticultural advisor with Elm Farm Research Centre. He has an extensive knowledge of all aspects of organic production and its markets, research and standards development. He has been involved with many national and international organic projects in more than 12 countries.

Iain’s own farm is used extensively for demonstration purposes with visitors from all over the world. A range of seminars are held during the year as well as specific farm tours for individuals or groups. He works closely with a group of clients delivering on farm advice and specializes in a “systems approach” to deal with the problems of fertility, pests and diseases. He currently works through a number of organic organizations and producer groups, is chairman of Thames Organic Growers and founding member of the Organic Growers Alliance.

Publications include “Growing Green” written jointly with Jenny Hall and an extensive range of papers and articles in various organic journals.

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What is veganic agriculture?

Also called stock-free farming, vegan-organics is a system which avoids all artificial chemical products (synthetic fertiliser, pesticides, growth regulators), genetically modified organisms, animal manures and slaughterhouse by-products (blood, fish meal, bone meal, etc).

DIVA employs the word 'veganiculture' to reflect the integration of vegan-organics, permaculture techniques free of domestic animals, and the cross-cultural adoption of veganism as a dietary and lifestyle choice where possible around the world.