OF&G :: The Blog

As the fallout from the strange FSA report on nutrition in organic and non-organic food continues to rumble round the media’s opinion pages, it’s good to see a rational argument now and then.

That’s exactly what we get from Exeter farmer, David Garaway, [via thisisexeter.co.uk] who has done a good job of explaining why getting excited over nutrition is only a very small part of the reason for being (and buying) organic.

Okay, must clarify the headline. No-one from here has actually been to the top of Everest. Maybe one or two have conquered The Wrekin or the Long Mynd and our Certification Manager, Steve, spends many a weekend tramping around very tall parts of the country – but I digress.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes conquers Everest with support from Science In Sport products, certified organic by OF&G

What is exciting is, as far as we know, for the first time an OF&G certified product has been to this highest of high places and in the hands of none other than adventurer extraordinaire, Sir Ranulph Feinnes!

Sir Ran sought advice and essential supplies from Science In Sport, which is a leader in sports nutrition, and has chosen OF&G as its certifier for a range of organic products. Among the SIS products Sir Ran took on his successful ascent, in May, were the organic ones (which he’s pictured holding).

This very British hero even went as far as to tell SIS that its energy formulations had “definitely powered me to the top” and he wished he’d had them with him on his previous attempts!

SIS really knows its stuff when it comes to sports nutrition and works with leading names in sport both nationally and internationally, including the heavily Olympic gold-medalled GB sailing and cycling teams, 2009 Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, last year’s Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre, plus their very successful team mates, as well as leading athletes and teams in a whole cross-section of other sports.

OF&G is very pleased to provide certification services to SIS, who joined us on stand at the Natural and Organic Products Europe show, at Olympia, this year.

We’d like to pass our own congratulations on to Sir Ran for his achievement, which you can read about in more detail here.

Given that we’re getting more feedback about our sunflower competition and the knitting of a jumper than anything else posted on this blog, I thought you’d better have an update on the current state of affairs in the former.

This is the very latest photograph, taken in just the last half hour. I’m no horticultural expert, but I guess the state of play won’t have altered much in that time…

The clear leader is still CO, Alex Patchett. You can see his entry over towards the right of the pic. I’ve avoided using the term ‘new boy’ about Alex again there (well, sort of) because he’s actually now a fully-fledged, qualified and let loose on the organic world certification officer. That alone deserves our congratulations, but I suspect, given how things have been going on the feedback front, that he’ll be earning more kudos for his growing prowess than his ability to assess an inspection report!

Apparently Lorraine, one of our quality systems admins, is done and dusted as far as our competition is concerned. Her somewhat stunted effort has apparently reached its terminal height and is good now only for harvesting and certainly not for contesting the most hotly fought sunflower growing competition this side of the River Severn.

Of course, at the end of the slightly tortuous process there has to be a victor. I hope the excitement among the contestants isn’t flaring too fiercely because I’m told the 2009 champion shouldn’t be expecting to walk away with a new car and a lifetime supply of booze as their reward!

Any regular readers will recall that we had some fun when our Certification Manager, Steve Clarkson, was the lucky winner of a Farmers Weekly knitting pattern. Oh did we laugh.

We promised then that the jumper would be made and he would be forced to model it. Well, I’m afraid that hasn’t happened. The reason being that Mr C managed to stymie us by failing to obtain the wool – a task we foolishly left in his hands. So, we’ve taken it out of his hands.

Our CEO, Richard Jacobs, is a man who appreciates the value of a good woolly pully, so he’s authorised a mission to locate the necessary yarn, have the jumper knitted and ensure (on pain of the removal of hot drink privileges, if necessary) that the man of the moment is photographed in it from as many angles as possible.

The excitement at this prospect is tangible in the office.

Oh and to all those who have contacted us trying to track down a copy of the pattern, we have that in hand. It’s being scanned (with the permission of the good folk at FW) and will be emailed soon. We hope you get as much pleasure out of it as we are!

The Independent today covers a very disappointing angle to the controversy surrounding the FSA organic report story.

I suppose we shouldn’t be overly surprised, but it seems that the report’s author, Dr Alan Dangour, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has been inundated with abusive emails and messages.

While we’ve been among the first to criticise the way this study has been focused, the conclusions it came to and the way it has been badly reported, it’s extremely sad to see that people have to make it personal and hurl vitriol at Dr Dangour.

Whether you question his approach or, as some people have, his motivations, he is entitled to publish whatever he finds to be the results of his work. If we disagree, the answer is to have our own say and perhaps some debate. But there should always be respect for everyone’s position.

Fortunately, it seems from the report that Dr Dangour is fairly sanguine about the whole affair and not letting it rattle him too much.

[Click here for the Independent piece]

If you’ve read further back in this blog you’ll have seen us being very pleased about the success of our Organic Cereals 2009 event this month.

The key to that success was delivering a focused agenda that dealt with the honest practicalities of venturing into organic arable. People came to find out facts and informed opinion and we were determined that’s what they would leave with. And they did.

OF&G CEO, Richard Jacobs, with Annette Bertram (left) and Alison Lidbetter of Organic Conferences Ltd.

So now we’re shifting that focused approach across to the act of selling, and communicating about, organic food. We’ve announced our involvement in a new one-day conference titled ‘Selling Organics: What’s the Story?’.

OF&G has teamed-up with Organic Conferences Ltd to pull together key people in the organic sector who will share their knowledge and insight of what it takes to create and promote an organic brand. But it’s not just about individual brand marketing. Our speakers will be taking a close look at what the organic sector needs to do to explain itself to its consumers.

The message has come across loud and clear in recent months that promoting the clear benefits of organic food is not something the sector has done well. Even Sainsburys boss, Justin King, has felt moved to comment on this. Initiatives are beginning to emerge to try and address the problem, but it’s going to take a change in thinking and approach from everyone to help shoppers realise why they should buy organic food. It seems that, at the moment, many are confused about why they would buy organic, or do so for perhaps one headline reason that may be personal to them.

Some will buy free-range eggs because they think that’s better for chickens than organic, without knowing that free-ranging is a core and essential part of the organic regulation. It is this kind of misconception we need to address.

So, on October 8, at London’s Southbank University, we will be joined by no less than: Craig Sams, founder of Green & Blacks;  Steve Clarke, marketing director at Rachel’s; Dom Lane, associate director of Bray Leino PR, which is working on a number of promotional projects around organics; Lawrence Woodward, director of Organic Research Centre – Elm Farm; plus fascinating academic research into branding and consumer perception presented by Professor Andrew Fearne and Dr Matt Reed.

It’s going to be an excellent day and the places are strictly limited to around 200, with bookings already being taken. If you’d like to come along please visit the Organic Conferences website to find out more and secure your place. There are also comments from our CEO here. It’s going to be a fascinating day.

In approximately half an hour OF&Gs’ Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, will be delivering a speech to an audience at the

OF&G Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs

Royal Show which will include EU Commissioners.

Richard was invited to do this by Defra, in order to present a view from a certifier. His presentation will be entitled ‘Organic food and farming: setting the tone for a sustainable future‘.

It will address the capability of organic farming to meet the needs of the world food supply (as supported by more than one recent research study) and what organic practices have to offer to all farming in a future where circumstances are likely to dictate reduced reliance on agricultural chemicals and lower GHG emissions.

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.