OF&G :: The Blog

Many in the farming community were watching with some trepidation last night as sometimes controversial TV chef, Jamie Oliver, went to work on the reputation of British bacon.

Hopefully many more non-farmers, the consumers who should be buying British, were also tuned-in to Channel 4 and taking the whole thing on board.

The good news is that the programme was all about getting firmly behind the UK pig industry, which has seen the size of the national herd halved in the last ten years. There were no nasty suprises and no-one was aggressively put on the spot. Mr Oliver and his colleagues actually did a very good job of educating (with a few slightly pointless and irritating features thrown in i.e. ‘Pig Brother’).

Some of us were following the live debate on the Farmers Weekly website as the programme was aired and the reaction from those taking part in the discussion, farmers and non-farmers alike, was positive. The farmers appreciated the huge boost of support for UK pork and the non-farmers professed to having learnt a lot and having their eyes opened.

One thing that came out of the live debate, though, was the need for the pig industry to capitalise on this quickly, while there’s some momentum caused by the programme. The track record hasn’t been great for this in the past. Can UK farming get it right this time?

These thoughts are echoed today by ‘PR Guru’, Max Clifford, who was asked for his response by the Farmers Weekly team. He’s a man who knows his stuff.

What do we think? Is the industry now marketing savvy enough to capitalise? Are there funds available to do so? Does it even need huge funds, or just some creative thinking?

Surely making the most of such opportunities are in the interest of all UK farming, not just individual sectors.

We’ve been a bit peeved with The Times newspaper around here lately. It was this particular newspaper that, at Christmas, published a dubious and un-checked story claiming that organic farmers had asked for a “holiday” from the organic standards, or to “bend the rules”.

We shouted loudly at the time that this was not the case and explained the truth of the matter. It’s fair to say the smoke was caused by fire in this case, but the signals were badly distorted.

Now (admittedly a bit belatedly and in a circuitous way via Twitter) we’ve stumbled across this blog post by Rachel Johnson, also in The Times.

Beginning reading it gives you the sense that it’s just going to be another commentator expressing their disappointment, based on not knowing all the facts. However, if you keep reading you realise that Ms Johnson is injecting a dose of the kind of realistic common sense that we sometimes think we must have the monopoly on here at OF&G towers (trust me, we know we don’t have that monopoly, but occasionally it feels like it!).

For instance, she says:

“Look at it this way: a new row over organic certification should actually help suspicious consumers better to understand the difference between those who slave year-round to produce good food without damaging the environment and the wily producers who hijack the word (as they did “green”) to try to sell us some pretty borderline or questionable tat.”

So, yes. Education of consumers. Something we’re always desperate to achieve, because when people really understand what organic means and stands for they will know why they should support it.

Also:

“The current debate is a sign of how well regulated and passionate the sector has become. Of course, everyone understands that in a recession people are going to want cheaper food: that’s why the organic lobby has acknowledged that conventional methods have their place.”

While that’s an excellent point, and we’re thrilled to see the recognition that this is a very well policed system, we’re not convinced that all of the ‘organic lobby’ has acknowledged the place of non-organic farming. We have, and we know others who have. But no, not everyone.

All-in-all a very well-balanced, thoughtful and, above all, realistic piece. Thank you, Ms Johnson.

Top chef and organic supporter, Raymond Blanc, has been speaking about the role food can play in society.

The man behind Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons, in Oxfordshire, and a TV regular, believes families would gain vastly by making the effort to prepare, sit down and eat good food together – instead of microwaving something and plonking themselves down in front of the telly!

It seems to make sense… Monsieur Blanc is also the vice president of Garden Organic (which we used to know as the HDRA).

We were delighted to contribute to this morning’s Farming Today programme, on BBC Radio 4. We always are. It’s just that, usually, they manage to get our name right!

Unfortunately, this morning we became ‘Organic Growers & Producers’ when our Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, was introduced to talk about the challenges to the organic market of the current economic conditions.

That might have confused the many people in the organic sector who have known Richard very well for a long time.

I have mentioned this to the producer who set up the interview. She’s a very nice lady and needless to say she was very embarrassed and apologetic.

The good news is that the error should be corrected when the programme broadcasts its weekly roundup show on Saturday morning.

We will, of course, be listening…

Obviously ‘feast’ in the non-capturing and eating sense!

Anyway, here’s the list of what’s been seen at Organic Farmers & Growers HQ (also known as The Old Estate Yard):

1. Blue tit
2. Great tit
3. Chaffinch
4. Robin
5. House Sparrow
6. Greater Spotted Woodpecker
7. Nuthatch
8. Crow
9. Magpie
10. Coal tit
11. House Martin
12. Swallow
13. Pied Wagtail
14. Blackbird
15. Pheasant
16. Dunnock
17. Red Legged Partridge
18. Starling
19. Long tailed tit
20. Collared Dove

A buzzard has also been seen in the vicinity, though unsurprisingly not dining from our facilities.

In a very responsible way, Certification Officer Katie Owens (who shall hence be known as ‘Twitcher-in-Chief’ – because she’s the one with the binoculars), has recorded the sightings on the British Trust for Ornithology Bird Atlas.

If any of our bird-related shenanigans today have whetted your appetite there’s a great way to get involved this weekend with the RSPBs’ annual Big Garden Birdwatch. And you can get even deeper into the action by following, and contributing to, the tweet-by-tweet account of the day from The Guardian.

Right; that’s enough about birdwatching for a while.

I’ve just seen an impressive list of all the birds identified by our producer certification team from their office window.

We have a bird table in one corner of the yard and our quiet rural location lends itself well to feathered visitors.

What I find particularly impressive is the varied range of birds they’ve managed to identify. Personally I’m okay if it has a red chest or is large and black all over. Or if it’s a pigeon. Other than that the best description you’re going to get out of me, if pushed, is “bird” (oh no, hang on, I can spot a seagull too!).

It probably shouldn’t be surprising, given the authentic farming and outdoors credentials of our producer cert. team, that they have this talent.

Apparently the whole operation is quite professional – there are binoculars ready on the desk and everything! That said, I’ve had vociferous denials today that anyone there should actually be labelled a ‘twitcher’. The point being that they don’t travel around the country looking for specific birds which, it seems, is the definition of twitching…

I’ll get hold of the list and publish it soon, if anyone’s interested.