Organic holiday proposals rejected

Proposals suggesting organic livestock farmers should be allowed to relax feed standards during the economic downturn have been rejected by Soil Association members.

A three-week long consultation by the association suggested that livestock could be fed cheaper, non-organic feed while the market for organic food was depressed.

If the proposals had been accepted, during the so-called “organic holiday”, farms would have retained their Soil Association status but would not have been allowed to market produce as organic.

However, almost three-quarters of respondents opposed the idea, fearing it could undermine public confidence.

Anna Bradley, chairman of the Soil Association standards board, said: “The board agreed that making ad hoc changes of this sort would damage the integrity of the standards and could rock consumer confidence.

“Consumers expect ‘Soil Association Organic’ to stand for the highest quality in organic food and that is a reputation the standards board wants to retain,” Ms Bradley said.

The 180 responses to the consultation were mainly from organic farmers who also pointed out that relaxing livestock standards could damage the feed market and the arable farm businesses which supplied it.