OF&G :: The blog

Funny how things come full circle. The use of wind power for ships could be making a comeback if the maiden voyage of a new cargo vessel goes well.

The Beluga Skysails is setting off across the Atlantic with a giant high-tech kite attached. The theory, which seems eminently sound, is that the kite can be deployed to harness the stable winds high up and pull the ship along - saving on the amount of power needed by the engines and therefore cutting emissions.

The kite is computer controlled and can run on rails around the ship to ensure optimum use of the wind.

You can’t help but feel that this has a lot in common with organic farming; using what we’ve got in nature for everyone’s benefit while cutting back on the artificial and harmful. Fingers crossed for a successful voyage and wide deployment of the Skysail…

Find out more at the Skysails site
or
Read the story from The Times

So widespread is the use of genetically modified soya and corn in the US, it’s becoming nigh-on impossible to avoid the stuff unless you buy organic (and it’s getting harder for the organic food producers to find non-GM supplies).

Given this wholesale adoption of GM over the pond, it’s somewhat surprising to learn that a couple of US Senators have managed to put the brakes on the latest emerging abhorrence ‘Frankenmeat’ - or the use of cloned animals for food.

The situation seems to be summed up nicely in this report from thedailygreen.com:

Senate Says No to Frankenmeat (and Frankenmilk)

It may only be a delay for now, but if nothing else it should open up the debate, rather than have GM meat sneaking in through the back door.

I feel another heated debate (and costly lobbying on all sides) coming on…

…our very own CEO, Richard Jacobs.

Check out his profile on the Ethical Heroes blog, where Richard is among some very esteemed company as regards sustainability credentials.

Mainly a post “for the record” this. OF&G is delighted to be one of the newest members of The Composting Association. And just to prove it, here’s a pic of certification officer, Katie Owens, proudly displaying the certificate.

Composting is important to us in a number of ways, and not only because there are plenty of enthusiastic home composters among our ranks (we’ve been avidly discussing aerators today)!

More importantly, OF&G is now one of two organisations offering certification to the nationally recognised composting standards PAS 100 and the Quality Compost Protocol. We do this on behalf of The Composting Association.

You can find out more about the standards at TCA’s website but, in brief, the standards allow compost produced and certified to the guidelines to be classified as a product, rather than a waste. This definition is crucial because it controls how it can then be used and described. Certified compost is a beneficial product, so the creation and application of these standards are good for everyone and we’re delighted to be playing our part.

Even though our pedigree is in organic certification, our operation of composting certification is open to all composters and this is an important branching out of OF&G’s role which fits our environmental credentials nicely.

An interesting piece in the New York Times on which organic products are the best to choose for their apparent benefits.

In reality the article is there to promote a new book, but what’s more interesting is the looooong debate that goes on at the end of it in the comments section - 320 of them at the time of posting…

UPDATE: And boy does this debate rage. Just checked this again, out of interest, and the posts keep coming. 425 at the time of this update (8 Nov). Organics really does get people stirred up!

The first UK composting facility to achieve Quality Compost Protocol certification is an OF&G licensee.

Derbyshire-based Vital Earth has met the criteria of the protocol for the 15,000 tonnes of compost it produces each year, meaning that the compost can be treated as a product, rather than a waste material.

OF&G is one of two bodies providing certification for the PAS 100 quality standard and the Quality Compost Protocol, which we operate on behalf of The Composting Association.

Read more about Vital Earth here…

There has been much recent debate about the Soil Association having a ‘consultation’ on how it feels about organic produce traveling by air. The SA has been pushing forward ideas for tackling this which could include slapping ‘air freighted’ stickers on produce, or even an outright ban on flying organic products around the globe.

Of course there is no simple answer to this. There are pros and cons in everything and it is likely that any measure would end up penalising exporters, such as the Kenyan farmers, in a very painful way that would, to many people at least, be hard to justify. This is especially true if we consider that a tomato grown in a heated UK greenhouse could be more environmentally harmful than flying in a foreign one.

Now, just to add some more confusion to the issue, we see a report that suggests container ships may be doing more ecological damage than aircraft… That should set the cat among the pigeons!

This is not, apparently, because they are more polluting mile for mile, but because of the sheer amount of ships racing regularly across the oceans burning low grade “bunker fuel”.

It’s getting trickier and trickier to unravel this one.

[The title of this post is best enjoyed hummed to the tune of the Band Aid single]

One of the regular accusations leveled at organic food production by its detractors (yes, there still are some) is that it can’t feed the world. Well, fine. It’s not like we’re trying to right now anyway. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a realistic likelihood that organic scales up very well and could achieve the aforementioned!

Now new research reported in the New Scientist has actually suggested that, not only could organic farming feed the world, but it could actually result in higher yields than we currently get from non-organic methods.

Of course we know that there are lies, damn lies and statistics, but these figures have come from the compilation of 293 previous comparisons - which makes them pretty sound, one would imagine.

So next time you are faced with someone bandying around that well-worn argument against organics you are equipped. Hooray for the boffins!

They say an army marches on its stomach (that sounds like a description of crawling to me, but still, we’ll go with it…) so it’s good to hear that the British Army is planning to start filling its stomachs with organic muesli bars.

Organic & Natural Business magazine reports that nearly two million of these bars have been ordered by the MoD for the troops from the Otter Valley Organic Food Company.

They are thought to be the first organic product to go to war!

Worrying results from a survey carried out by Graig Producers and Caledonian Organics suggest that up to half of their members could be thinking of reducing stock numbers or even pulling out of organic production.

The chief reason for this finding is cited as rising feed costs, something we’ve been raising the flag over for some time now at OF&G. We simply don’t have anywhere near enough organic arable farmers in the UK, despite the fact that there’s a good premium available for their product.

If the results of the Graig Producers survey bears any reality to the picture across the country it could be bad news indeed as demand for organic produce only continues to grow. The two groups have around 500 members (including OF&G licensees), although apparently the findings are extrapolated from just 83 responses - which probably gives a fairly wide margin for error, but is still telling:

Results from the survey of Group members, across Wales, the Borders and South West England, showed that 36% will reduce stock numbers, and a further 9% will leave organic farming, if feed prices remained at 2006 levels or above, and there was no increase in organic lamb and beef prices. In Scotland the figures were slightly lower at 23% saying they would reduce numbers, and 8% preparing to stop farming organically.

This is just one of the signal flares going up at the moment about the organic arable shortage, with a major UK processor about to start making justifiable noise on the topic too (I don’t think they’ve said their piece publicly yet though, so I won’t jump the gun and name them!).

The feeling here is that there’s an inbuilt nervousness about making the switch to organic from a spray-dependent system that many are comfortable with. And with general grain and protein prices high, the incentive to take any risk is hugely diminished. What more can the industry do apart from educate and inform farmers about the rewards of going organic? OF&G is taking more steps to do just that, but ultimately the decision is in the hands of the individual farmers…

Our friends at Garden Organic, the UK’s leading organic growing charity, are flushed with joy at the moment with the expansion of their successful reed bed system which has been filtering their sewage for the past 15 years.

[Notes: I think that will be enough of the toilet humour and I have to hold my hands up to stealing Garden Organic's own headline - it was just too good not to use!]

Garden Organic has expanded the existing set up to cope with growing staff and visitor numbers at its headquarters in Ryton, Warwickshire:

The environmentally sensitive, wetland technology area disposes of all effluent generated on site with the help of gravity, a series of pools with graded aggregate filters and the purifying powers of the Common, or Norfolk Reed (Phragmites australis) to cleanse waste water without the use of chemicals.

But the best bit of all is that the entire reed-bed system has been allowed to develop into a broadleaf woodland conservation area covering more than two acres and turns what was nasty, noxious waste into a wildlife garden bursting with biodiversity.

Reed beds are a great concept - taking what is otherwise a potential pollutant and which has to be extensively cleaned or discharged into the landscape or ocean - and turning it into pure water and a wildlife habitat to boot!

You have to think (note lack of science or research behind that statement) that organic producers who have land available for such a system would be in the perfect position to create more reed beds in this country, taking their organic credentials to another level of commitment. Garden Organic are a great example and teacher.

Take a look at their site for more info…

On the day that we breathe a collective sigh of relief that the results of two more suspect
FMD cases have proved negative in initial tests, it is reported that there is growing concern among scientists that the deadly bluetongue virus is not far from UK shores.

The disease is a killer to livestock and is spread by midges, which makes it very hard to control, according to news from Organic Inform. Click here for the Organic Inform coverage…

It’s been a couple of weeks where you find yourself considering what’s really appropriate to write in a fairly lighthearted forum such as this blog. Most people in and around farming probably haven’t felt very lighthearted (better note that I’m referring to the Surrey FMD outbreak so that it makes sense if anyone looks at this in the distant future!).

So on that note I’ll stick to a bit of tale telling that might amuse a few:

Guesses welcome on which well-known agricultural college was responsible for a herd of stampeding heifers through a quiet village on Wednesday (yes, movement ban still in place). It seems they’d been moved to the adjacent yard from the field for a visit from the vet but the apparent lack of a qualified farm gate security technician (you can see what I’ve done there..) led to chaos.

It was with some surprise that householders gazed out of their windows to see about a dozen of the beasts chewing on their hedges while the rest took off hell-for-leather down the lane - in the direction of a busy B road.

Local info has it that the end result was a call to the police to stop the traffic while the round-up took place.

What can you say, apart from “whoops” and perhaps “I want my hedge back!”.

Having been assailed by the travails of our glorious leader to actually get onto the Royal Welsh site, we can now present a not-so-exclusive image of some of our team at the show.

I can confirm that model releases have been signed and any copyright issues settled to bring you the following photo of (left to right): Mari Jones, OF&G Inspector, Jenny Bibb, Certification Officer, and Research and Development Officer, Steven Jacobs.

It did cross some mischievous minds to open this up as a caption competition, but Jenny is already mortified at our choice of photo anyway!

Next time you see us at a show, don’t forget to drop by for your stylish new OF&G pen…

Another show, another battle through the quagmire. These pictures (taken by Chief Exec, Richard) illustrate the trials of getting into the ground for the Royal Welsh Show.

After queuing for two-and-a-half hours to get the assistance of one of the two tractors assigned to “drag ‘em in” duty he was finally hauled across the mire to leave his car in the bog and get on with the day’s business.

The good news is that the show itself has been viewed by the OF&G team as the great spectacle they have become used to. Compare this to dire reports from the Royal, at Stoneleigh (for now), and you have to think that there are lessons to be learned from events such as the Royal Welsh!

Richard reports that despite the all pervasive mud the atmosphere was great and the weather made for a “Dunkirk spirit” in the showground.

And there’s praise to be heaped on Organic Centre Wales, and particularly its Carolyn Wacher, for putting on a great organic marquee, of which OF&G was proud to be a part.

Are you taking notes RASE?