Natural England provides a free advice service to help farmers and land managers in England consider the practical implications of converting their business to organic production.
Offering clear, accurate and targeted information and advice on converting to organic farming, the service also provides advice and information on the organic strand of Environmental Stewardship, Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS).
Find out more about:
The Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS) aims to:
Natural England has appointed the Organic Research Centre (ORC), based at Elm Farm, with support from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), to deliver the new service. The ORC service offers:
If you are interested in using OCIS, you should first ring the free helpline. Advice is offered on a strictly first-come, first-served basis and you will be asked to provide details confirming your eligibility to receive the service. These details and basic information about you, such as your contact details and an indication of the nature of your business, will be recorded. ORC will then post you an information pack.
The helpline number is 0800 980 0048. Lines are open from 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (an answer phone is available outside office hours and during busy periods). When calling you will need to have to hand your:
OCIS provides a comprehensive and detailed information pack, which includes a questionnaire covering your holding and businesses. The completion and return of the questionnaire to ORC will be used to register your interest in receiving on-farm advice, and determine your eligibility for receiving a free on-farm visit.
All the documents in the information pack are available electronically and can be emailed direct to ORC.
Not all customers who contact the helpdesk and complete and return a questionnaire will necessarily receive a free on-farm visit. Indeed you may find that the information contained in the pack is sufficient for your needs.
There are two types of on-farm visit:
Free of charge, and offered on a strictly first-come, first-served basis, the visits are delivered by suitably qualified organic farm consultants with a track record in advice delivery. They will focus on the mechanics of conversion and whether holdings are capable of being run to organic production standards.
The consultant will:
Ongoing and post-conversion advice will not be provided by the service.
You will need to meet all of the following eligibility criteria to qualify for an on-farm visit:
Once your eligibility to receive a visit under the service has been determined, you will be offered either a half-day or a full-day visit. If you have a number of enterprises that you are considering converting, you will normally be offered a full-day visit. If you are considering converting only one or two main enterprises, you will most likely be offered a half-day visit.
You will then receive a written report setting out the relevant options and opportunities available to you, to help you to plan your conversion and develop your organic business in a way that will be financially viable, environmentally sound and acceptable with regard to your compliance with organic standards. The report will also identify where other specialists might need to get involved and where other forms of specialist advice can be obtained.
If you are looking for advice on how to convert your business, please contact the Organic Conversion Information Service, operated by ORC on behalf of Natural England, at:
The Organic Research Centre
Hamstead Marshall
Newbury
Berkshire
RG20 0HR
Website: www.organicresearchcentre.com
Email: info@ocis.org.uk
Telephone: 0800 980 0048
For general information about the service, please contact Nick Cooper, OCIS Project Manager:
Natural England
Victoria House
London Square
Cross Lanes
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 1UJ
Email: nick.cooper@naturalengland.org.uk