The forthcoming UK Onion & Carrot Conference will be held on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th November 2015 at the KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough.
This is a well-established meeting point, conference and trade show for all those involved in production or allied to these significant industries from home and abroad. An additional highlight is the dinner on Wednesday, 4h November, which will return to the Holiday Inn Peterborough West.
Jake Freestone, who manages the 1,500 ha Overbury Farms in Worcestershire, will speak on the Onion Day, 4th November. Jake, who is a Nuffield scholar, will explain how he puts sustainability at the top of the farm's agenda. Overbury Farms, which includes combinable crops, potatoes, sugar beet, peas, spring onions, stubble turnips and grassland in it's rotation, also has an 1,100 strong flock of North Country Mule sheep.
Jake's Nuffield Research enabled him to learn lessons from around the world - and to understand how he could more effectively focus on soil management to increase the resilience and sustainability of the overall farming business. Zero tillage, cover cropping and widening the rotation have all contributed to the positive development of the business in recent years. He will mention the many areas of the farm which have positively benefitted from techniques which have been incorporated - including soil structure, plant health, yield improvement and cost efficiency.
