Introduction

The Organic Unit is one of the Greenmount Campus farms designed to give students and farmers experience of a range of farming systems, technologies and techniques. It is used for development and demonstration of organic farming methods on a scale typical of Northern Ireland.

Greenmount has had an involvement with organic farming since 1989, developing a range of information, education, training, and advisory products for prospective and existing organic farmers, and consumers.

The need for a Campus based organic farm has been apparent for some time, and in late 2001 the opportunity arose to start work on the development of a suitable 36ha block of land as an organic farm.

The Unit is registered with the Soil Association and started conversion in the spring of 2002. It achieved full organic ‘symbol’ status in March 2004.

The Unit is invaluable for developing and demonstrating organic farming methods, and for facilitating research in a truly organic context. It is being used as an integral part of organic short courses at the Campus.

Over the last 17 years many hundreds of local farmers and growers have had contact with the Campus’s organic development team, and availed of its expertise, knowledge and experience.

It is a small, highly integrated team, and is known much further afield than just Northern Ireland.

The provision of the Organic Unit allows this specialist team to deliver enhanced information, education, training and technology transfer as the Unit matures. Many of the principles demonstrated on the Unit have much wider application in conventional agriculture in Northern Ireland.

© DARD 2008