OF&G :: The Blog

Organic Farmers & Growers licensee Brian Amos (left) dropped by the OF&G stand for a chat. So delighted was he to be given an OF&G mug – he took one for his wife too!

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The news has just flashed up on the EU’s ‘RAPID’ press releases site that the fast approaching deadline for entries to the competition to design a Europe-wide organic logo has been pushed back by five days.

The new deadline for entries will be July 6.

There is no explanation as to why it’s been pushed back (obviously that’s asking too much!). The instant thought is that it’s because of a dearth of entries, but apparently “over 500″ students have already taken part. So it’s bit odd. Probably something to do with the person who has to put the ‘competition closed’ sign on the website being on holiday… or something.

Anyway, if you’re a UK design student this is your last chance to have your design used on organic packaging right across the EU, not to mention putting a prize of up to 6,000 Euros in your pocket.

To submit an entry, go to the competition site, where you can also read the rules. You can read the announcement press release here.

One for the record. Reuters reports that the US and Canada have reached agreement to accept each other’s organic standards and the US Deputy Agriculture Secretary apparently sees it as “an important first step toward global harmonization of organic standards”…

The Organic Trade Board has a key objective: to “double the value of the market for organic products in the UK within the five years from 2008 to 2013″.

If that can be achieved, we’ll all be cheering. And that’s not written with any degree of cynicism. A single voice for the industry, expounding the core messages of organics, is something that we’ve been missing and which is sorely needed. We’ve been talking to the OTB recently to find out more and we back its objectives. But for an initiative like this to work it needs a critical mass of members.

At the moment there are something north of 60, many of them very influential and important to the sector, but there are more than 7.000 organically registered businesses in the UK. We believe they could all benefit from having a representative voice and would urge everyone to take a closer look at the OTB and its work. And by all means let us know your thoughts here…

WalesOnline.co.uk has a detailed feature on OF&G licensee Alun Bennett and his family, of Meifod, Powys, which gives Mr Bennett’s encouraging assessment of having gone organic.

Particularly pleasing to see were the following comments:

Milk is still produced from the Clasucha herd of around 120 pedigree Holsteins, which averaged 7,000 litres, a yield that was maintained despite the decision to convert to organic production from 1998. Full status was achieved three years later.

“We were fairly intensive before, but after the initial conversion we’ve been surprised at how well the grass grows,” said Alun.

“Being organic makes it more difficult to get it right, but if you do get it right the rewards are quite good.”

Mr Bennett is among a number of farmers who can quite rightly testify to the fact going organic doesn’t mean dropping production – and they also regularly report the increased satisfaction of farming with your head and not your sprayer!

Well worth a read.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard it said, but it’s good to get a reminder every now and again that choosing to farm organically can actually make sense for the bank balance as well as all the other benefits.

This piece from Business in Dorset about OF&G licensees, Jimi Collis, and his mother, Sarah Worrall, reinforces the point, particularly as Mr Collis used to work in business banking, specialising in farming. He must know what he’s talking about!

Their Launceston Farm, in Tarrant Launceston, is on something of a roll, because Simon in our Quality Systems team also picked up on this lively piece from The Guardian travel section.

Maybe it’s down to the the organic land, but OF&G licensees Tony and Sally Herdman got something a surprise when their mare Aeriel produced a double delivery.

The twin foals, who are both doing fine but have yet to be named, were pictured with their mum in the Shropshire Star newspaper.

Sally told the paper: “We wondered why Aeriel was looking a bit uncomfortable before she gave birth but she is looking a lot happier now.

“Usually the mare aborts one or both foals or one is born dead or they both die soon after birth. It is absolutely amazing.”

The new arrivals, a filly and a colt, are now getting used to life at the Herdman’s Clyro Hill Farm, near Newchurch, Powys.

See the original story (PDF)

Our roving Development Officer, Steven Jacobs, has sent back a couple of images from his time at Cereals 09 to share with us all.

He says that tea, biscuits and chat are the largely the order of the day on our stand:

The Organic Farmers & Growers stand at Cereals 09

Organic cereals are high on our agenda at the moment, with our National Organic Cereals 2009 event on the near horizon, so Steven took time to catch up on the trial plots that have been grown for this show.

Trial plots of organic wheat

In the picture you can see Dr Richard Stanley of Campden BRI Better Organic Bread. The crop is organic wheat populations (different varieties each complementing the other) as part of the wheat link project run by Organic Research Centre. That’s Zoë Haigh, of ORC, behind the wheat.

This piece from dairyreporter.com is worthy of recording as a more detailed look at what OMSCo is doing for the Dairy Farmers of Britain organic suppliers, how the co-operative sees the market and what its priorities are.

The Danes have been snapping up organic food at a rate of knots, it seems. According to this piece on FoodNavigator.com, last year saw a 29 per cent sales boom, compared to a reported two per cent in the UK.

This is attributed to many factors and it’s pretty hard to draw parallels with our own market, other than to say that we’ve seen this kind of growth previously, prior to some settling down last year.

Perhaps if their home supply comes under pressure, we could sell them some good British organic bacon…