Organic Farming

What is Organic Farming?

"Organic farming" is the name given to a variety of agricultural production systems that aim to work "with nature" rather than by conquering it. "Organic" is most commonly associated with food production, both crop and livestock. However, "organic" methods are also employed in the production of many other goods, leading to products as diverse as timber and clothing being labelled as organic.

The principal differences between organic farming and conventional farming are the former's extensive restriction of the use of artificial pesticides, fertilisers and other agro-chemicals; its hostility to the agricultural application of biotechnology; its rejection of the routine use of pharmaceuticals on livestock; its attention to animal welfare; and its focus on crop rotation, soil quality and maintaining biological diversity as alternatives to chemicals. In this way, organic farming is in many respects, a return to "traditional" farming methods.

The "Organic Movement" is a well-established and fairly successful strand of the wider environmental movement. Organic food is felt by a growing number of consumers to be safer, more nutritious, taste better and be less harmful to the environment and animal welfare than conventionally produced food, and the market for it has grown in recent years accordingly.

In the UK, products that are produced in line with organic standards are labelled as such. There are a number of different organic certification schemes in the UK, by far the largest of which is that operated by the Soil Association, which certifies some 70 per cent of UK organic produce. These schemes are required to comply with standards set by the UK Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS), which ensures compliance with European and international organic standards. By law, products labelled as organic must display a certification number or symbol.

Some organic standards include commitments to human rights and fair trade, as well as those elements relating solely to production methods.

Background

The organic movement arose as part of a wave of environmentalism that sprang up in opposition to the industrialisation of British agriculture that occurred in the immediate post-war years. The term "organic farming" was coined by Lord Northbourne, in his 1940 book, "Look to the Land".

In the immediate aftermath of the war, concerns about food shortages ran high, and self-sufficiency in food production was deemed an important national goal. At the same time, successive governments were keen to keep food prices low so as to assist domestic economic recovery. Low food prices were also necessary to retain export markets, with the emergence of the USA and USSR as the world's agricultural powerhouses.

With cost imperatives driving farmers off the land and causing widespread consolidation of the industry, factory farming developed as the most efficient means of production. The intensification and upscaling of agriculture during the 1960s was supported by Government and EEC grants, and the widespread use of chemicals and pharmaceuticals was encouraged by the Common Agricultural Policy's sole focus on production.

The Soil Association, which has long been at the head of the British organic movement, was founded in 1946, by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who posited direct connections between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health.

The movement had its intellectual roots in continental theories of "biodynamic agriculture" developed by Rudolph Steiner, the work of Sir Albert Howard in the 1920s, and examples in practice from 1930s Switzerland. Its immediate catalyst was the 1943 book, "The Living Soil", by Lady Eva Balfour, which detailed the "Haughey Experiment", the UK's first scientific side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional farming. Similar movements developed across Europe in the 1950s.

1962 saw the publication of "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson, which detailed the damaging impact of DDT and other chemicals on the environment, and played a key part in popularising environmentalism.

The social unrest of the late 1960s, leading up to the oil crisis of 1973, were central to the development of the "back to nature" philosophy of the modern environmental movement. Organic farming in particular condemned the environmental degradation inflicted by the CAP.

The demand for Governmental and EU regulation of organic standards grew in the 1980s, following the formation of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) as an international advocate for organic farming. In 1991, the EU passed Council Regulation EEC 2092/91, which sets the standards which all EU organic producers are required to meet. In the UK, the majority of the Regulation's stipulations are implemented under the Organic Products Regulation 2001.

Moreover, in 2002, the Government produced an Organic Action Plan as part of its Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food, drawn up in response to the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic.

Environmental concerns and a series of food safety scares, such as BSE, have stimulated demand for organic produce in recent years, leading to a substantial annual rate of growth for the sector. While organic food remains a "niche" product, it is increasingly widely available.

Controversial

The organic movement is based on the supposition that conventional agriculture is unsustainable, insofar as it damages the environment, harms animal welfare, and compromises food safety through the use of chemicals.

Conventional agriculture rejects these accusations, and in turn has frequently alleged that organic farming is itself damaging. It is claimed that organic farming permits the use of environmentally harmful "natural" pesticides. Those currently permitted under the Soil Association's scheme are sulphur, soft soap and rotenone. Prior to 2002, a number of copper compounds were also permitted. It is also alleged that organic farming increases the risk of food poisoning, through its reliance on manure fertilisers and its rejection of routine pharmaceutical and antibiotic use on livestock. Furthermore, it is claimed that organic food is no healthier than conventionally-produced food.

Both sides have presented extensive scientific evidence in defence of their positions, but even the Soil Association accepts that there are significant gaps in the body of knowledge about the relative merits of the different methods.

At the same time, it is argued by opponents that organic can never be more than a niche market on account of its high production costs and its low levels of productivity. The former, it is claimed, makes organic food an exclusive luxury, insofar as it is more expensive to buy than other food, and is frequently less readily available in poorer areas. The latter implies that organic farming can never be a substitute for conventional farming, particularly in the developing world.

Supporters of organic farming acknowledge that production methods are currently more expensive, but point to the subsidies paid to conventional agriculture and funding provided for research in contrast to organic farming as making the comparison unfair. They also argue that studies show that, when the comparison is fair, productivity rates in at least some forms of organic production are comparable. Under the previous government's Organic Action Plan, efforts were made to support conversion to organic production and research in organic methods.

There are also controversies about the public's understanding of the term "organic". Loopholes in food labelling regulations in general affect organic produce - often making it difficult for customers to understand what they are buying. Furthermore, with a number of certification schemes, and international variations in the definition of "organic", there is no single unambiguous meaning for the term.

Statistics

Land areas:
At a UK level the total organic land area has shown very little change over the last year, with just a 1% decrease between 2008 and 2009. The cereals area has seen a modest increase of 5% to 60,000 ha., while the vegetables area (including potatoes) has shown a small decrease of 4% over the year to 18,900 ha.
Temporary and permanent pasture land make up the majority of organic land and have shown little change between 2008 and 2009, with temporary pasture showing a slight decrease of 3% to 126,200 ha and permanent pasture remaining static at 495,800 ha.

Livestock numbers:

Generally, organic livestock numbers have shown a downturn between 2008 and 2009 with only cattle showing an increase. The pig sector showed a sharp decrease of 32% to 48 thousand following unprecedented growth in 2008. Organic poultry numbers showed a decrease of 9% to 4 million as consumer demand fell.
Cattle numbers for the UK have increased by 4% to 331 thousand. Sheep numbers for 2009 are 885 thousand.

Producer / processor numbers:

The number of organic producer / processors has shown a slight decrease (4%) to almost 7,600 at the end of 2009. All UK regions have shown decreases with the North West showing the largest percentage drop of 9%.

Source: Defra - July 2010

Quotes

"Organic is great for your well-being and the environment, is kind to animals and wildlife and allows us to make a big difference - simply through the way we shop.

Five reasons to choose organic:

1. Knowing what's in your food - Hydrogenated fats and controversial additives including aspartame, tartrazine, MSG are banned under organic standards.
2. The environment - Organic farming releases less greenhouse gases than non-organic farming; choosing organic, local and seasonal food can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
3. Animal welfare - Organic standards insist that animals are given plenty of space and fresh air to thrive and grow, guaranteeing a truly free-range life .
4. Protecting wildlife - Organic farms are havens for wildlife and provide homes for bees, birds and butterflies. In fact, the UK Government's own advisors found that plant, insect and bird life is up to 50% greater on organic farms.
5. GM-free - Genetically modified crops and ingredients are banned under organic standards. You may be surprised to know that over a million tonnes of GM crops are imported each year to feed non-organic livestock which produce pork, bacon, milk, cheese and other dairy products."

Soil Association - 2011