If you aren’t at the Soil Association conference in Birmingham, you can get a taste of what’s been going on by checking out the stream of relevant messages on Twitter.
And it’s well worth a look right now. There’s been a cracking debate going on involving the notorious Oliver Walston and SA director, Patrick Holden.
Click on this link to catch up now.
The Guardian today carries a very interesting take on the sale of Cadbury to American firm, Kraft, by Green & Black’s president and founder, Craig Sams.
Having been sold to Cadbury, Green & Black’s is now, of course, going to be part of the Kraft porfolio and that raises questions about what it will do with the organic and ethical brand.
To say there have been ‘reservations’ regarding the EU competition to design a new Europe-wide, compulsory organic logo might be an understatement.
We’ve expressed our own disappointment with the candidates we’re being asked to vote on*, but now there’s even some criticism from one of the judges who were asked to pick the final contenders; none other than the widely respected Craig Sams, founder of Green & Black’s (among many other successful organic brands), in fact.
Natural Products magazine reports on a letter Mr Sams has written to a German magazine outlining his concerns over the process, which he describes as “aspirational in the extreme” for its approach of only opening the competition to design students.
Craig Sams know a thing or three about branding and spoke on the subject at our Selling Organics: What’s the Story? conference in London, in October. It really is a shame that this process has to be mired in controversy when the sector has enough challenges to face without yet more bureaucratic mishandling to contend with.
And on the subject of voting for a logo, we have some other misgivings about how it’s being done. But more on that soon…
* Reference to our ‘disappointment’ is made with due respect to the so far anonymous designers whose entries made it to the shortlist of three. They’ve done very well to make it this far and have demonstrated great creativity, but it’s not their fault that what was really needed was a researched, tested and professional identifier that has to sit alongside some very expensive and carefully considered branding.
Sometimes you’re just left scratching your head.
Here’s a simple scenario: BBC One’s Countryfile does a piece looking at the state of the market for organic food. Fair enough.
In it they talk to people involved in organic food and get a rather perceptive take from a marketer on how the sector could be pushing itself (putting aside, for a moment, the fierce and constant opposition from the ASA and FSA to even the most innocuous claim made by organics).
You wouldn’t think there was anything more controversial than normal in any of that. But no. Wait a moment. Who’s this galloping over the horizon waving a red biro and a flag saying “I’m a licence payer too!”? Aha, tis the Crop Protection Association, which, according to Farmers Guardian, has complained to the BBC Trust because the programme didn’t include any representatives of non-organic food and farming…………………………………….
Can you hear that? It’s the sound of a gentle wind blowing tumble weed down the street as everyone stands still and tries to figure out what on earth the CPA people can have been thinking.
It seems the best they can come up with is that Countryfile was ‘favourable’ to organic farming while portraying non-organic farming ‘neutrally’. Yes, well, that would be neutral as in not part of the report in the first place.
Honestly, that fact that word had gone around the organic community that a piece was going to be on Countryfile should be an indicator that it’s still rare enough to be noteworthy, so why the CPA’s Dominic Dyer is so rattled about non-organic farming not being part of the report is baffling.
At OF&G we have every respect for all UK farmers, which is probably why we WON’T be writing to the chairman of the BBC Trust demanding that organic farming is mentioned every time there is a report on non-organic farming on the BBC. Can’t say fairer than that.
Champion pumpkin by Katie Owens
Judges comments:
An instant winner when the photo landed in the judges’ inbox, the top pumpkin drew admiring oohs and ahhs from other FW journalists who were hanging around Caroline’s desk trying to pilfer her box of walnut whips.
Traditional in design but expertly executed, the winning pumpkin would definitely frighten the judges on a dark night (admittedly, this isn’t a great claim seeing as Caroline is scared of wool and Isabel is scared of cows).
Honourable mention….
The bats. Nice design, lovely placing of the bats and excellent carving.
So, congratulations to Katie and well done to the rest who put up a very strong fight. And with that, I think we’ve had quite enough about pumpkins. Back to normal service…
It’s with great pleasure that we can reveal the OF&G Pumpkin Caper has been elevated to new levels with the involvement of expert independent judges.
Well, I say ‘expert’, by which I mean Caroline Stocks, deputy news editor of Farmers Weekly, and Isabel Davies, Farmers Weekly community editor. Caroline is, according to Isabel, a “demon” pumpkin carver in her own right, while Isabel obviously knows a thing or two because she is the main pumpkin supplier to the FW team, via her mum. So that must make them experts, right?
Whatever, they are no doubt discerning judges of a good vegetable-based carving and we are privileged that they have agreed to help us out in this crucially important matter.
The standards are high though. Isabel insists they will be looking for “innovation as well as artistic flair”. So no pressure then.
The entries are trickling in so far, but given that the deadline is the end of play tomorrow, we expect a veritable rush of another five or so by then. At which point they will be photographed with suitable t-light illumination and sent off to our esteemed judges for a decision. Don’t hold your breath though. It’s vital the judges are not hurried in their deliberations, so we’ll just have to wait on tenterhooks until they decide to put the entrants out of their misery.
Ooh, gripping.
A fascinating day was had by all at our Selling Organics: What’s the Story? conference, held at London’s South Bank University, on Thursday.
Pretty well all of the top names in UK organics were there to hear from industry leaders, marketing experts and academics with real insight on how the organic sector can look to take itself forward.
The main point was to address the failings we’ve all come to recognise in how organics tells its story to a wider audience and a lot of views and experience were shared in a packed schedule. There was also plenty of chance for networking and it was a really good day for meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces.
You can read our full report in the news section of our website and below is the Flickr set from the day. Please forgive the quality of the photography – I am not a professional snapper 
…. not altogether a surprise. Let’s face it, if you’ve been following our sunflower shenanigans you’ll be well aware that there’s been a clear leader for a while now.
However, today we have the full results and can put to bed a very colourful episode at The Old Estate Yard.
There has been controversy, competitiveness, secret recipes and devastating rabbit damage. The competition has been reported in a leading trade publication and posts on the topic have had a disturbing tendency to top the “most read” list on this blog.
So without further ado, let the ceremony commence:
[ENTER STAGE RIGHT]
Ladies and Gentlemen – and Certification Officers,
The OF&G sunflower growing competition was the product of an inspired suggestion made at a staff meeting while the company “gardening club” was being discussed.
Obviously there was a great deal of work to be done to ensure the success of such a mighty undertaking, but after 12 committee meetings and legal approval of the proposed rules and regulations (a document only slightly more involved in its preparation than the Magna Carta), our intrepid entrants were free to unleash their horticultural skills.
Meticulous planning was demonstrated by some of the more committed entrants, while some simply opted to drop in a seed and draw faces on their plant pots.
As growing began in earnest, there were some testing times along the way, as well as challenging hurdles to be negotiated.
Not all entrants made it serenely to the eventually necessary re-potting stage, though special mention has to be made of the specimen that was, to all intents and purposes, completely devoured by a rabbit, only to come storming back to an eventually mid-field placing. A sunflower we can salute for its true Dunkirk spirit!
It is likely that this ceremony will not be the final chapter in the story for those who were there. The debate on the selection of suitable finishing pots will rumble on in years to come. But today is our chance to recognise commitment, achievement and skill. And with that we open the envelope of dreams…
In reverse order:
Processing CO, Ruth Lamb – 107cm (died due to lack of water. Tch)
Processing CO, Joanna Gleeson – 116cm (Commended for most attractively decorated seedling pot)
Producer CO, Katie Owens – 123cm (worthy, but disappointing)
Quality Systems Admin, Lorraine Pickering – 132cm (alleged ’secret feed’ proved, well, pointless)
Producer CO, Nicola Mason – 146cm (the famous rabbit-mauling comeback)
Office Manager, Angela Norman – 170cm (arguably our most green-fingered person. Was she mugged?)
And the clear winner, with a delightful specimen that could probably make two dozen bottles of oil all on its own…
Producer CO, Alex Patchett – 205cm (cor blimey, wot a whopper!)
Congratulations to Alex. Please step up and take your bow:
Our worthy winner. Alex Patchett with his impressive entry.
And with that, we’d like to thank everyone who has supported this endeavour, including: our worldwide Twitter followers; the Chief Executive, for not shutting it down when it all got a bit silly; Stephen Clarkson, the judge and jury; our mums; the sun; the great British summer; and especially the bees. But not the rabbit.
Organic Farmers & Growers is a leading UK organic control body i.e. we inspect and license organic food and farming - and were the first independent body in the UK approved by Government to do this!
Our blog is where we share interesting info and muse about the world. For a more formal view of OF&G, visit our website here.
