FT reports organic price slump


18 December 2001



FT reports organic price slump

By Adrienne Francis

ORGANIC dairy farmers are facing falling prices due to overestimated demand, reports the Financial Times.


About half the organic milk produced is being sold as non-organic, to the cost of farmers who are losing their organic premium, it says.


Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative spokesman David Whiting said the problem was due to naivety among producers, processors and retailers.


“People expected the initial rate of growth to continue; it has slowed down as we are trying to sell to non-core organic customers,” he said.


However, the paper says government advisors and experts held up chemical-free agriculture as one solution for the industrys ills.


Carmarthenshire dairy farmer Brian Walters says politicians told farmers it would save the industry. “But it is not the saviour it was meant to be.”


The Soil Association admitted that there had been a glut, but said the long-term trends still justified farmers making the transition, the FT says.


The paper also comments on the state of the British organic meat sector, which is experiencing problems selling its produce.


The price gap between British and other European Union organic meat is due to the UKs refusal to pay subsidies to organic producers, it says.


The overall organic market grew 33% last year, with three-quarters of all produce imported, the paper adds.


The volume of organic milk production increased by 115%, from 32.5m litres to 70m litres, the paper says.

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