Talking Point: Richard Thompson 11/03/05
THERE’S NO getting away from organic food and farming these days. It’s here. It’s a growing market and it’s going to continue that way for some time to come. From my point of view, as an organic farmer and the chairman of certification body Organic Farmers & Growers, that’s obviously good news.
It’s disappointing that there is so much rivalry between organic and non-organic when we are all part of the same industry. But we shouldn”t be surprised by this if some of us set ourselves up as the only solution.
To many there seems to be a clear dividing line between the two approaches to farming. Organic good, non-organic bad – or the other way around, depending on where you sit. As with any debate, the extremes of each camp will have no truck with the rationalisations and arguments of the other.
hard working
The good news is that we all start from one common point. We are all farmers, working harder than we should to make a living in a market that squeezes us from all sides.
Being organic is not always an ethical decision; it can be as much (or more) a business one. Non-organic food is still good for you and, certainly in the vast majority of cases, produced by farmers who care for their animals and their environment. Surely it’s better that UK consumers are encouraged to buy carefully controlled British food than imports that travel sometimes thousands of miles and can be of dubious provenance?
We are all looking to add value, improve margins, cut out at least some of the middlemen and maybe even diversify.
The growing market for organic food offers many farmers an avenue for doing this. The decision to convert your farm, or part of it, can often be made only because you can see space in the market for what you produce.
Similarly, if you can open up a local market that does not rely on large retailers and wholesalers, you can sell your produce at a more reasonable price than the mark-up we see on the shelves of the multiples – and you can’t get away from the fact that organic is seen as premium product.
New avenues are opening up as the public sector looks closely at more procurement of organic food. This is not because of a flimsy fad, this is because the government has accepted the sustainability benefits of the organic system.
I won’t back away from the belief that fewer agrochemical inputs and more thoughtful use of the land aids sustainability.
And on a level closer to our day-to-day lives, many organic farmers talk of feeling like they are farming in the way it should be – using their brains, not the latest offering from the agrochemical companies.
We don’t claim that we can feed the world (or even the nation) with organic food, the way things stand, but we can offer a choice to the consumer and a market to farmers.
Consumers of organic food are not just sandal wearing, “save the whale” campaigners. Just ask box scheme operators about the growing numbers of people they are delivering to each week and they will tell you about normal people leading busy lives who appreciate having the organic option and access to local produce.
I don’t recoil from the idea of my family drinking non-organic milk, but I do prefer them to have the choice of one without chemical inputs that has been produced using methods that put more back into the environment than they took out.
decoupling
With the decoupling of support into a payment that rewards good environmental practice, we’re all moving in a similar direction. It’s just that some of us prefer to take that process further than others. I can see no reason for criticism of either side, where they are working responsibly.
In fact, with an extra £30/ha (£12.15/acre) payment from the Organic Entry Level Scheme, part of the single farm payment scheme, the organic route may appeal to more farmers.
The message is simple; British food is great. Let’s not confuse our customers by mixing our messages and attacking each other. Rather, let’s educate people so they can make a rational decision. Putting fear in their hearts will benefit no one.