Organic fruit and vegetable farmers have been given an €18 million EU boost to develop improved methods and technology.

The money will be used in a new project, entitled ‘QualityLowInputFood’, which will see 31 partners from across Europe working together to improve the quality and safety of organic foods.

Carlo Leifert, project co-ordinator and professor of ecological agriculture at Newcastle University, said: “We will look at everything from fork to farm for a range of produce, including tomatoes, lettuce, onion, potato, carrot, cabbage and apples.

“We know consumers want better quality, safe, affordable and nutritious food which does not harm the environment. The best way to do that is through ‘low input’ farming, avoiding synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and the best known low input system is organic.”

He said the five year project is aimed at making a significant impact on the production of organic foods, looking at how differences in production systems affect the nutritional value, taste and safety of food.

The money has been provided by the European Unions Sixth Framework Programme which is designed to improve food quality and safety.

The project will begin by investigating what consumers expect from ‘low input’ foods to allow producers to identify what they need to do to meet demands. It will also compare produce with conventional products and look into developing new technologies to improve organic production.

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