LLOOF project launch in Ireland

Delegates from 14 different European countries attended the launch of LLOOF – Living and Learning on Organic Farms - at Organico in Bantry, West Cork, Ireland, on Monday 23 May. This unprecedented day of international speakers, films and practical demonstrations was also attended by over 50 members of the WWOOF community and press, celebrating the publication of the e-learning guide online which can be seen here.

The day began with a welcome in Irish by WWOOF Ireland Director Mike Randles, followed with a talk by Sue Coppard who founded WWOOF 45 years ago and has seen this extraordinary volunteer network spread to over 120 countries worldwide.

The Learning Guide was introduced by Daniel Rideg from WWOOF Hungary, who explained how short video tutorials complement more formal text based learning about organic farming techniques within the LLOOF online courses. This led to a practical demonstration by local WWOOF Host Nick Addey showing WWOOFers Raphael from France and Laura from Italy how to ‘pot on’ young plants, a film of which was uploaded to the LLOOF You Tube channel and shown in the afternoon.

After a delicious organic lunch provided by the award winning café at Organico, a short film made by Lord Puttnam in support of LLOOF was shown.

Faustine Defossez from the European Environmental Bureau in Brussels then delivered the keynote speech Space for Sustainable Farming in EU Policy, providing a unique opportunity for the very interested audience to hear first-hand how EU policy is shaping the future of organic agriculture and bio-diversity, and to participate in an in-depth and animated question and discussion session afterwards.

A final lighter note was provided with a charming talk by Yasmine Phillips and Laurence Horan (click here for their article in the Guardian) on how the LLOOF learning guide will help them and other new entrants when starting out on careers as organic farmers. They focused on lessons from different WWOOF Hosts they have visited concerning the perennial question of how to deal with slugs!

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