Garden Organic's project, set up to conserve ancient orchards, nears its conclusion. Its achievements include not just the orchards it has saved but also the 'Orchard Champions' trained to protect them and now using their skills to save others.
In 2011, when a charity was set up to protect some of Britain's dwindling number of traditional orchards, no college could be found to train volunteers in the skills needed to maintain them. Sustain member Garden Organic stepped in, and provided instruction on orchard wildlife and ecology, fruit identification, pests and diseases, pruning and restoration. The volunteers, known as Orchard Champions, also received detailed training on the importance of organic growing methods in these precious environments.
By spring 2018, when it ends, the project will have restored 45 orchards that would otherwise have been in decline, and replanted many old fruit varieties that had been lost from their original areas.
Karen Humphries, the project coordinator, added, 'Our biggest success has been the Orchard Champions. The legacy of the project is the volunteers who will continue working with at-risk orchards and pass on the skills they’ve learned working in traditional orchards. Many of them are already doing further training and inspiring others. They’re not only advocates for orchards but they’re keeping these rare and vital skills alive.' Read more here.
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Published Thursday 12 October 2017
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
