Interdisciplinary monitoring of an organic stockless farming system has been carried out over ten years on a fertile silty clay loam in the main vegetable production area of the UK. The results draw together economic outcomes with agronomy, soil science and agro-ecology. Organic management has been used at the Kirton research site since conversion of a 3.2 ha unit in 1997. There is great variability in crop yields and marketing results but overall a successful ongoing vegetable production system has been established. Soil fertility, weeds, pests and diseases have been managed successfully without imports of animal manures or green waste compost. Production costs are well controlled and marketable yields are good. However, because the site is a research farm, the actual marketing of produce was sometimes weak and caused a low farm net margin. The site contributes valuable information to the European network of long-term fi eld experiments in organic farming for this particular farming system.

This poster reviews the use of case studies in studying farms converting to organic production. Particular reference is made to the 'Conversion to organic field vegetable production' project, which is making use of case studies. Case studies facilitate an in depth analysis of a farm during the conversion to organic production and enable researchers and farmers to gain a greater understanding of the complex changes that take place. Case studies also provide a valuable tool for disseminating the results. APPROACHES Case studies are an in depth analysis (usually carried out over a number of years) that contain data collected on working farms with the aim of forming an understanding of different farming systems. The criteria for adopting the case- study approach has been documented in Lampkin & Padel (1994). These include the advantages that case studies provide real data and thus enable researchers, advisors and farmers to understand the decision-making processes and factors that contribute to the successes or failures of the farm. They also provide ideal opportunities for the dissemination of information either through on-farm open days or through written material. Disadvantages of the case study approach are that statistical analysis is difficult and generalisations become problematic, as all farms are unique. Case studies have been a useful way of helping to understand and convey the complexities and diversity of organic farming systems. This approach has been used in European studies investigating the conversion to organic farming systems (Lampkin & Padel, 1994). Recent UK studies looking at the conversion to organic arable (Cormack & Elliot, 2001), organic milk (Haggar & Padel, 1996) and organic sheep and beef farming systems (Keatinge & Elliot, 1996) have made detailed studies of one main site and supplemented this with data from several 'link' or 'reference farms'. This has enabled comparisons of the physical and financial performance of the farm's performance to be made over several years.

This poster reviews the use of case studies in studying farms converting to organic production. Particular reference is made to the 'Conversion to organic field vegetable production' project, which is making use of case studies. Case studies facilitate an in depth analysis of a farm during the conversion to organic production and enable researchers and farmers to gain a greater understanding of the complex changes that take place. Case studies also provide a valuable tool for disseminating the results

The 'organic movement' has a tradition of self-motivation and independent thought. In the UK this tradition has been strongly guided by environmental and health concerns, but also by a strong tradition of holistic scientific and rational enquiry. After a period in which organic has become a popular consumer choice for both environmental and health reasons, a period backed up by government funded research aimed at 'fact gathering' and 'comparison', the debate has moved into more detailed analysis and counter analysis of policy implications for various strategies with the overall agricultural policy framework. This approach has increasingly focused on serving the needs of 'professional' policy makers who have become increasingly stakeholder (or 'customer') orientated, without, in most cases, actually defining who those stakeholders are with any degree of rigour. This has to some extent isolated farmers and growers as well as consumers. Recently the rise of direct selling (e.g. box schemes, farm shops) and the diversification of certification bodies and independent grower and farmer groups can be seen as a way for farmers and growers to attempt to retake at least some of the ground lost. Research and advice for, and into organic farming systems, and even organic weed management, has to some extent mirrored the trends in the organic movement as a whole. A case can be made that the original research agenda was driven by enthusiastic individuals (e.g. Lawrence Hills, Eve Balfour) who encouraged a wide range of people to become directly involved in setting the agenda and carrying out the research with 'rational enquiry' being used to produce outputs relevant to the participants. Lately this agenda has become much more driven by large projects, funded by government and policy makers, which has had a similar effect to that described above, in that researchers have become isolated from farmers. Crucially researchers have also become more isolated from farm advisors as formerly publicly funded extension services have also been privatised so that they tend to address the issues of most concern to those with the ability to pay (i.e. large scale and/or external input intensive farms) or with something to sell (e.g. input suppliers). In this context it has become pertinent to ask what is the future of organic weed research? Organic research programmes have traditionally focused on practical outcomes and in this context farmers want research results for two basic reasons; firstly to provide solutions to everyday problems that will certainly vary from day to day and season to season and, secondly, to supply ideas that help them remain in business in the longer term. This is certainly true of weed management. Farmers require access to two different types of information on weeds; easily accessible information on specific technical problems and access to 'background', 'market' or 'contextual' information that helps them to maintain their cost effectiveness. All information, but especially specific technical knowledge, needs 'adapting' to specific farm situations. This explains the overwhelming preference for receiving weed