Rex Humphrey, a man we have a lot of time for at OF&G, is quoted in an interesting piece from the Belfast Telegraph about the positives still to be found for farmers in organics, even in these cost-sensitive times. Well worth a read.
Our CEO, Richard Jacobs, sits on the Organic Action Plan Group for Northern Ireland, of which Mr Humphrey is Chairman.
We don’t tend to think of ourselves as a particularly reactionary bunch at OF&G. In fact, you’ll hear the phrase ‘business-focussed’ and the word ‘practical’ uttered more than once in the course of many conversations with some of our people!
But one thing that does get us exercised is genetic modification because we can’t see a single positive side to it, other than profits for the biotech companies which have invested heavily in the science. Given the business model and the best available research to-date, it really is impossible to see any other realistic winners from the spread of this technology (and from the organic side of farming we can see an awful LOT of losers!).
That’s why Prince Charles’s no doubt carefully considered but controversial outburst (Guardian analysis, BBC video) on the matter earlier this week should be applauded. He has to know that it will bring condemnation from many quarters, not just business and political but also constitutional, yet he felt strongly enough to say his piece anyway. All credit to anyone in a position of influence or with a loud public voice who can keep this debate alive before it’s too late.
A geographically convenient abattoir is a critical thing in so many ways. It keeps costs down for farmers and processors, it reduces stress on animals, it can support communities - I could go on.
South Shropshire lost such a key site when Bishops Castle Abattoir was forced to shut some time ago. Fortunately it has been maintained in a state of good repair and now a collaborative scheme is under way to get the doors re-opened.
Here are the details courtesy of the Shropshire Rural Hub newsletter:
BISHOPS CASTLE ABATTOIR PROJECT (BCAP)
Overwhelming public demand for high quality locally produced and traceable meat was revealed in a survey at Bishops Castle Agricultural Show carried out by the Bishops Castle Abattoir Purchase Project (BCAP).
“There’s no doubt that local food initiatives are supported by the majority of people living in rural areas,” said BCAP spokesman Matt Mellor, “but if we don’t have an abattoir there’s simply no way of delivering anything meaningful for meat and meat products.”
“South Shropshire and the Welsh Marches are amongst the best stock producing areas of the country, so the opportunities for farmers to benefit from local food branding are excellent, but again it cannot be done without a local abattoir.”
“The facility at Bishops Castle has been closed but maintained in a state of operational readiness for a year now. It is an optimum sized abattoir capable of handling cattle, sheep and pigs, and therefore ideal for a business with a local food emphasis.”
“Realistically, if this project to purchase and re-open the abattoir is not successful within a few short months, we are unlikely ever to see a facility in this area again – once it’s gone, it’s probably gone forever.”
BCAP is raising funds from local investors and is currently around half way to its initial target of £400,000. Investors would receive shares in a new limited company, and the opportunity is open to anyone. For further details contact the BCAP project through localmeat@abccomms.co.uk, or by calling Matt Mellor on 01694 731915.
The best of luck to them!
We seem to be plagued in the organic sector with a growing number of studies (often government funded) which claim to be measuring the benefits, or otherwise, of organic farming.
While genuine scientific study is a good thing, and we’re all in favour of having good data, quite what some of the recent studies are out to prove is yet to be determined. But what many have in common is that they seem to be missing the point of organic farming. In comparing organic with non-organic farms they are, in many ways, comparing oranges and apples when they come up with their figures for nutrition, or carbon impacts, or methane from cows…
This situation appears to have got under the skin of OF&Gs’ normally thoroughly calm (!) Development Officer, Steven Jacobs, causing him to put fingers to keyboard and produce the following. Definitely worth a read for anyone who has forgotten the ‘basics’…
One connection between the many reports from reputable sources across the planet over the years on the critical denuding of the worlds soil supply is an apparent lack of preparation by us for the eventuality that agricultural yields have and will continue to drop significantly.
Recently, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire a gathering of over 150 farmers, merchants, advisors and scientists from right across the UK looked positively at many of the credible reasons for converting to organic food production.
These included the economics of soil maintenance and the market opportunities for organic food. Ideas that have been around only a few decades together with those that are almost as old as the Shropshire hills.
Why then do some say they did not see the current production and economic crises coming?
My assumption is, although rather cynical, based on many years experience working in the farming and food industries that short-term gain is seen as more of a priority than sustained growth.
On the farm non-renewable input cost rises are helping those that have the luxury to do so to choose not to grow food on their farms. Others are facing bankruptcy whilst elsewhere whole communities face starvation.
Inputs often rely as do plants on the soils ability to soak up liquid. The soil holds liquid by virtue of both its fibrous content and worm activity. The fibre holds the water. The worms, amongst many other duties, aerate the soil. There was written a rather long and detailed study of phylum annelida (worms) stating their importance in no uncertain terms. It describes at great length the different and complex inter-activities between worms and their neighbours who include plant, animal as well as bacterial life forms.
This inter-relationship was apparent, measurable and key to each component not just surviving but their ability to thrive. The work is well read and yet it seems that others have mislaid their copies. The author, Charles Darwin, was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 1809.
Good work by the OGA to report. It seems their plea to the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency and the Pesticides Safety Directorate for a ban on the use of the hormone herbicide aminopyralid has been a success.
The PSD has put a hold on the sale and use of products containing it and the approval will now be reviewed. Click here for more details from the PSD…
The Organic Growers Alliance has kicked off a battle to keep a hormone herbicide, that apparently distorts vegetable growth, out of the countryside.
As I couldn’t find a link to this online, I’ll reproduce the text of the OGA press release here. It’s worth a read:
Growers angered by toxic manure threat
The Organic Growers Alliance has this week written to the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency and the Pesticides Safety Directorate calling for an immediate ban on the use of the hormone herbicide aminopyralid on UK farms.
Aminopyralid has been named as the culprit in the recent media reports of distorted growth in vegetable crops in many back gardens and allotments all over the UK, but it is becoming apparent that commercial growers, both organic and conventional are at risk of being affected.
Aminopyralid is a hormone herbicide cleared for use on UK farms to control broadleaf weeds on grassland. It has become evident however that the herbicide is very persistent and when the sprayed grass is consumed, either directly or as hay or silage, the product travels through the animals gut, persists in an active form in the manure and if the manure is then used to grow a vegetable crop causes distortion or failure of growth in susceptible species such as potatoes, tomatoes and the pea and bean families.
As aminopyralid is not cleared for use on crops intended for human consumption it is unclear as to whether contaminated crops are safe to eat. The latest comment on the PSD website posted on 11th July states that produce SHOULD be safe to eat. Does this mean if there was a case of contamination in commercial crops that they are safe to sell? The Organic Growers Alliance has asked each of the agencies for a public comment on the safety of contaminated crops and how land that manure has been spread on should be treated.
Alan Schofield, Chair of the Alliance said “ At the moment reports are coming in from amateur gardeners but aminopyralid has the potential to enter the human food chain through commercial vegetables grown using contaminated manures. Many vegetable crops are grown using manures and have been for millennia. The decision to allow this product to be used on UK farms has had the effect of turning an extremely valuable, recyclable resource into toxic waste. We call for its immediate withdrawal until the full extent of the contamination is known.”
Dow AgroSciences were warning farmers in November last year to be careful when ‘disposing’ of manures as there were instances of damage to potato crops in 2007 crops resulting from failure to observe the label warnings regarding following crops on grassland herbicides.
Alan Schofield added “American gardeners have been suffering for years and it is ludicrous that the Pesticide Safety Directorate has licensed this product for use in the UK, without fully warning all growers of the potential dangers.”
It probably comes as no surprise that potloads of cash have been washed down the drain by the Rural Payments Agency as it tries to deal with the Single Payment Scheme.
Figures are being bandied around now because of the scrutiny of the powerful House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. This process has highlighted the fact that farmers are still suffering from the failure of the payments to be properly administered.
Some of the figures are downright depressing: nearly 20,000 entitlements assessed wrongly for the 2005 and 2006 schemes; around £37million in overpayments in those two years, with many farmers still unaware if they were overpaid (and many of those who are aware apparently don’t yet know by how much they were overpaid and when they’ll have to give it back).
On top of this there is likely to be a substantial fine from the EU for the failures. I’m sure I read something yesterday that said the cost of making single payments amounted, in many cases, to about the same as the value of the actual payment. If I can find that piece again, I’ll post the link.
It beggars belief.
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…
The Estonian government has apparently become the first to tax its farmers for the methane and CO2 emitted by their cows. Now, we know governments will stop at nothing to get their hands on tax income but this 
seems to be a tricky one to get the head around.
Estonian farmers could cut down their herds, or even give up beef and dairy - but then a lot of Estonians would probably starve…
We’re all conscious of the need to control ‘emissions’, though you can’t help but think we should be targeting some of the less natural sources first. One can only hope the Estonian government is putting every single Kroon (for that, apparently, is their currency) back into environmental projects, not into building more roads!!!
While we attend plenty of shows each year, it’s been some time since OF&G was at Natural and Organic Products Europe. So, with a renewed vigour we addressed that this year and set up a not insubstantial stand along with three of our licensees.
Our visit to this year’s show, at Olympia, London, was a roaring success. It was great to get face-to-face with existing licensees as well as to meet many, many potential new ones. The whole show team, Steven, Ruth, Joanna and (for one day only) Mark, found the whole experience very positive. The same could be said of the licensees who set up their displays with us and managed to give the whole thing the feel of a small OF&G marketplace!
They were: Miller, farmer and bread and cake mix maker, Rebecca Rayner, who heads her successful Glebe Farm brand; Brenda and Lucy Clarke with their team from Trevarno Organic Skin Care who showed of a great range of high quality products; Al Sharif, of Harrisons and Crosfield, purveyors of carefully selected, and beautifully packaged, teas.
Here are some pictures to sum up the show (click on them for bigger versions):
And the really good news? We’ll be back next year!
It’s very heartening to see the Welsh Assembly taking a strong stand on GM as it moves towards adopting a ‘polluter pays’ principle.
At OF&G we’ve been calling for this all along. It makes perfect sense that if you introduce GM to the countryside and end up contaminating crops of your neighbours (or even further afield) you should bear the costs.
For some reason Westminster seems dead against this and determined to make it as easy as possible for GM companies to pollute our countryside.
If an organic farmer gets GM contamination in their fields, their crop can no longer be called organic, meaning the loss of any premium and no return on the extra costs and efforts they have incurred. How can it be right that the person or company causing this should not be held responsible?
If the Welsh Assembly Government puts the onus on the ‘polluter’ it is effectively banning GM from being grown within its borders - that’s a brave and principled move which we support wholeheartedly.
The Food Standards Agency has announced emergency measures to deal with the threat of GM rice, known as ‘Bt63′, from China creeping into the UK.
A long list of rice and rice products coming into the country will have to be certified free of Bt63 GM contamination because it is an unauthorised GMO in the EU.
The FSA has notified local authorities who will be responsible for liaising with businesses in their respective areas that might be importing or selling contaminated products.
It’s good to see positive and decisive(ish) steps being taken, but from OF&Gs’ point of view, we fear this is just the tip of a pretty worrying iceberg. As more GM products are shipped around the world (and there are many of them now) it gets harder to avoid contamination of organic and non-GM products, no matter whether it’s accidental (or adventitious) contamination.
If this happens supplies of organic and non-GM products are going to be even thinner on the ground than they are now - putting even greater pressure on prices for animal feeds and milling grade cereals. Perhaps the Bt63 scenario will re-open the public’s eyes to the Frankenstein Foods debate…
We’re very excited at OF&G towers (eh?) about the launch of our snazzy new compostable carriers.
These are bags made from corn starch (corn grown on otherwise unproductive land!) which will start breaking down in a matter of weeks when composted. They’ll also disintegrate within a matter of months if released into the environment - unlike traditional plastic that takes hundreds of years.
After a lot of investigation into pros and cons by our unstoppable research officer, Stephen Jacobs, the bags we can now offer are a much better alternative to the traditional plastic carrier - and a type of bag that’s even an improvement on our previous degradable bags (which were a small step in the right direction).
We do accept that these are still not a perfect solution - is there one? Like anything, they will struggle to break down in landfill, but if they serve to encourage more homeowners to fill them with peelings and apple cores and drop them in the compost bin, we’ll be achieving a lot.
Don’t just take our word for it though. The news of the launch is being embraced by a number of publishers. Take a look, for example, at Natural Products or NewConsumer.com or read our own news release here.
The bags are available to anyone, not just licensees, so if you want to get your hands on some, follow this link…
Defra appears to have the perfect payment method - the debt that need never be repaid! According the Guardian the department managed to spend £230 million more than its actual pocket money from the Treasury. Apparently it was the only Government department to achieve this feat for the period 06/07.
A department spokesman is reported to have said: “The budget for 2008-09 has not been reduced by any clawback of over-allocations in previous years.”
Now that’s the kind of loan we’d all love to have!
…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!
