Organic Farm Tours 2006

On Saturday 26th August a Land Rover full of COFCO box scheme members headed off on the 2006 organic farm tours. The first port of call was Shelford Delicatessen, to collect some delicious filled rolls which Drew had prepared for us. We then headed to Russell Smith farms, where we were met by Robert Smith himself who gave a very interesting talk about his farm and in particular the excellant work they do in accordance with the LEAF mark. We saw organic sweetcorn, cabbages, cauliflowers, jerusalem artichokes and parsnips, plus of course, a lot of wildlife. The land rover successfully pulled us through some pretty rough and muddy terrain where we found a nice patch of woodland and a convenient log where we sat down to enjoy the packed lunch.

The second Farm visited was Adrian Izzards farm in Abingdon. There were several greenhouses which we went into and saw tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines and salads growing. Points of interst included the little packes of insect larvae that hatch into predatory insects as a biological control against pests, and a box of bumble bees to pollinate the tomatoes.

All who attended found the tours highly informative and interesting. If you missed out this time be sure to look out for next year's organic farm tours.