Colin Tosh
Senior Agroforestry Researcher
I grew up in a farming community in NE Scotland then became an ecologist in the UK university system. Now returning to agriculture as a researcher in agroforestry with the Organic Research Centre (ORC). The climate and biodiversity crises were a big draw back to agriculture for me. If we can’t tackle mainstreams agriculture’s negative impact on the natural environment, then there is no chance of tackling these big environmental issues. Just like the ORC, I’m not exclusive in who I will work with or advise. It doesn’t have to be organic. If a farmer currently farming in an unsustainable way wants to improve, then I am happy to help.
Author contributions
A cut and paste approach to landscape management… reflections from ORC agroforestry researchers
Three of civilisation’s great current obsessions; Artificial Intelligence (AI), carbon, and biodiversity loss are a focus of one part of the EU-funded REFOREST project that the agroforestry ORC team are currently working on.
How do English farmers learn and finance agroforestry? New insights from the Agroforestry ELM Test project
Following a well-received evidence review in which the main factors holding back agroforestry in England were identified, the Agroforestry ELM Team, led by the ORC, Woodland Trust, Soil Association, and Abacus Agriculture, have now moved on to detailed interviews of England’s leading agroforestry farmers and analysis of their responses.
A researcher’s reflections on EURAF 2021 – the fifth European agroforestry conference
The fifth cross-European conference on agroforestry, EURAF 2021, was recently held online and attended by several members of the ORC.
The Agroforestry ELM Test project: Transforming the English agricultural landscape with trees
Interest among UK farmers in planting trees on their land has skyrocketed recently. Only ten years ago a survey indicated that very few farmers know what the term “agroforestry” means. One conducted least year showed that almost all farmers are familiar with it now.