Wild edible food walk, and talk and quiz
The wild edible food walk, talk and quiz had several aims: firstly as a social event to allow farmers to get together and have a realaxing afternoon, secondly to get them to think about local weeds in another way and thirdly, to test their identification of common edible weeds. Whist weeds need to be controlled in fields because they compete with the crop for nutrients, light and space, agricultural plant protection products (PPP) may be used to control weeds along the edges fo walkways, paths and unused areas of the farm. If farmers can be shown that not only do natural (wild) plants (weeds) encourage and sustain biodiversity but that also many are edible and taste good, they may be less inclined to spray them off with PPP. They may be persuaded to leave some small areas that would promote semi-natural habitats, and encourage more flowering native plant species, potentially resulting in an increase in biodiversity, including more natural enemies, along with a more diverse landscape. The session demonstrated that although many plants are considered "weeds" within the landscape, not only are many edible but that they also harbour many associated insects that can be beneficial (pollinators, natural enemies) as well as being edible to humans. The edibility was resulted in a barbeque and salad that consisted of foraged plants and fungi and knowlege acquired during the event was demonstrated by a quiz.
Farmer Clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems (FRAMEwork)
Ongoing | 2020-2025
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- United Kingdom