OF&G :: The blog

There are MANY well-worn debates that rage around organics, flaring up again from time to time. For instance, can we feed the world???

Every time we get some long-awaited piece of scientific evidence about the positives in organics, someone seems to find a way to try and knock it down or spoil the party. Take cows. Organics brings many benefits for their welfare, allows milk to be produced without the use of routine antibiotics and other chemical inputs - and then we get panned over methane. Someone comes along and says: “Ah yes, but organic cows produce more methane.” Unless we have hard data, how can we argue. What we don’t, as a sector, seem to be too good at so far is pulling all this info together.

However, there’s a great piece that’s been done by The Ecologist that does attempt to grab all of these threads and answer some of the arguments. It’s very upbeat and very encouraging. It should also be read (and perhaps kept for future reference) by anyone who finds themselves extolling/defending organics on a regular basis.

Just as would be done by big business (read ag chem companies) we need everyone ‘on message’, and this piece would be a good start…

10 reasons why organic can feed the world - The Ecologist

…get your facts straight!

Opponents of organic love to trot out ‘facts’ that attempt to detract from the plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face realities or organic systems.

So when Robert Johnston decided to ‘explode’ the ‘five myths’ about organic food on The First Post website there was something of a stir created.

Fortunately a comprehensive rebuttal has now appeared on that same website courtesy of the Soil Association’s Robin Maynard. We’re posting this here because it’s a neat and fairly painless way to re-cap both sides of the argument ready for the next time you’re challenged in the pub!

Famous (or infamous?) words, but very relevant to modern farming. Like a mantra almost, people have been chanting for ages about how we have to get the public reconnected with the land and the production of their food. It hasn’t necessarily had the impact we might hope, although some groups have been working hard to achieve this all along, and doing an admirable job.

However, it feels like it’s only now that some real impetus is getting behind this movement and we’re all for it. More and more interest is being shown in food provenance, led largely by the growth in organic. As an industry we should now be capitalising on this.

OF&Gs’ Development Officer, Steven Jacobs, has been making sure we keep pace with a number of educational initiatives, because organic farmers can have a huge role to play in teaching children (and the public generally) about sustainable farming.

We’d very much like to see more of the public being shown how organic farmers use smart solutions alongside centuries-old methods to produce their food. But it’s great when kids, their parents and their teachers come into contact with ANY farm.

That’s why the work of one OF&G licensee, David Thompson, has to be recognised here. David, who farms near Alnwick in Northumberland, has been made Assistant Director of farm education charity The Country Trust and is no stranger to having groups of kids from inner-city schools on his farm. He’s been featured by Farmers Guardian (an article well worth a read) and we hope to catch up with him soon to see how OF&G can help.

We are aware that quite a number of our licensees are involved in educational visits. If you’re one of them, why not drop us a line and tell us what you’re up to…