Organic meat is here
Organic meat is here
ORGANIC foods vegetarian image is over, with large increases in meat sales reported by Helen Browning, Eastbrook Farm, Swindon, Wilts.
She told producers at an Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative open day in Oxon, that beef sales were up by 45% in 1996/97, at 3300 carcasses, lamb sales increased 18% to 24,000, pig sales at 4000 carcasses were 25% up, and poultry sales were 35% higher at 25,000 birds.
"The main reason for success is the specialist co-op to market meat. The Organic Livestock Marketing Co-op means reliable access to meat 52 weeks a year." At the same time abattoirs registered for organic meat had increased in recent years.
The OLMC was also attempting to divorce the organic price from the conventional market.
Pigs and poultry were paid for on a long-term, fixed price based on production costs, which were high due to organic grain prices. The pig price was 210p/kg deadweight and poultry 340p/kg. The current deadweight price for organic beef is 235p/kg.
• Organic milk producers will continue to receive above 29p/litre in 1997/98, and negotiations for 1998/99 have begun at the same level, Sally Bagenal, director of the Organic Milk Suppliers Co-op told visitors to its open day at Step Farm, Faringdon, Oxon.
Jessica Buss
"The OMSC started with a small premium on vesting day and that premium has increased as the conventional milk price declined." It had a market for every litre produced and buyers were keen to expand, she said.