OF&G :: The Blog

Our team enjoyed a very positive and pleasant (rain aside) couple of days at this year’s Cereals 2010 event.

Our CEO, Richard Jacobs (right), on the Oxford Farming Conference Panel

This really is the key date in the calendar for cereal producers and all of the supporting services. We’ve got into the habit of teaming up with our partners at SAI Global (who work with us to provide inspection services that support our certification process) for the event.

Our Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, joined a high profile panel, including NFU President, Peter Kendall, on Wednesday morning for a show-based spin-off session from the Oxford Farming Conference entitled Science in the Arable Sector: Where are the ideas, which are relevant to cereal production?

It turned out to be a lively and very positive debate and the feedback we got tells us that Richard’s contribution opened a good few people’s eyes to the fact that the organic sector is not dominated by people with an ‘us and them’ attitude to organic/non-organic farming.

Richard (left) being interviewed by BBC Radio 4's Charlotte Smith, with Peter Kendall and (right) Prof Snape

The panel session was followed by Richard, Peter Kendall and Prof John Snape, Head of Crop Genetics at the John Innes Centre, being interviewed by BBC Radio 4 Farming Today presenter, Charlotte Smith (we’re told that should be on tomorrow’s programme).

It was also a great couple of days for our team on the OF&G/SAI Global stand who spoke to a lot of existing and potential licensees.

They felt that this year was particularly good for networking – and lots of great food was being given away. Our Development Officer, Steven Jacobs, said he thought it was a good atmosphere and felt like people were determined to be working together for the good of the industry. They particularly enjoyed the beer poured expertly by the ladies at the Savills stand!

The overall positives of the event have left the team buoyed-up for the next key arable event for us – our very own National Organic Cereals 2010, at which we can focus with the delegates, speakers and exhibitors on the benefits and challenges of our own sector.

In the wake of the gloom that accompanied the demise of the Royal Show, it’s really encouraging to see that well-focused farming events are still well-supported and can be so productive. And as I finish this, Farmers Weekly is reporting a turnout of more than 25,000 people – a very healthy show.

We’re very pleased to have been able to announce today that BBC Countryfile presenter and high-profile farmer, Adam Henson, will be attending our National Organic Cereals 2010 event.

To be held on July 8, in Andover, Hampshire, this year’s National Organic Cereals will be building on an excellent 2009 event and has the backing of key people in the organic arable, seed, feed and milling sectors.

Adam Henson will be chairing an afternoon Q&A panel for us. Adam is not an organic farmer, which suits us perfectly because with National Organic Cereals we don’t want to talk only to the existing organic community. Anyone who is inquisitive about organics and open-minded enough to find out more is someone we would love to see at the event. It’s all about highlighting the opportunities in organic cereals while also examining the challenges and realities.

You can read more about the event in our news release here and book your place here if you’d like to attend. It should be a great day and places tend to fill up fast, so please do book early.

This week we’ve seen a few news outlets grabbing eagerly onto another story knocking organic farms.

The two highlights of this story, based on research from the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (part of Leeds University), is that organic farming produces about half as much food as non-organic and that the wildlife benefits don’t compensate for this.

Once again, we’re seeing narrowly focused findings (first published in the journal Ecology Letters) being extrapolated to bash organic farming. It’s quite unbelievable that a positive, in the form of better wildlife numbers and diversity on organic farms, is being cynically turned into a negative. Linking yields and wildlife simply serves to confuse the debate about where our food is going to come from in the future.

Organic farms generally don’t produce the yields of non-organic farms. Duh! That’s never been a secret. It’s not a fault, it’s a reality of letting nature produce what it can cope with. Yes, we need to solve the issue of future food supply, but there are complex societal changes that have to take place, such as altering our diets and not chucking millions of tonnes of perfectly good food in the bin each year. No farmer wants to see that, organic or not.

With huge doubt about the future availability of key elements, particularly phosphorous, we will have little choice but to look to using natural techniques and inputs to produce food.

Some will say the answer lies in genetic engineering of crops. But there are so many pitfalls that way it’s hard to know where to start recounting them. Top of the list though: farmers won’t own their seeds, multinational companies will, and with those seeds in their ground, the farmers will be tied to those companies for good because of genetic copyrights; plus, the technology has a long way to go, with lots of failures along the way – can we afford that gamble when there are people to feed?

This rather negative reporting about organic farming also fails to take into account the whole range of reasons why organic farming makes sense. We don’t need to spell it out here. You are, we suspect, an informed readership.

Of course organic farming goes on improving. Crop yields are getting better with plant breeding and selection. Wildlife IS better served by organic land management.

And let’s not forget all of the studies that have gone before this one showing greater wildlife benefits. Are they all suddenly discounted?

More would be achieved by investing in research to improve methods of farming that are sustainable. Scientists are human; they can have agendas which are sometimes dependent upon who’s funding their work. However, in this case it would be a good bet that they’ve done their research, come up with some not-so-earthshattering findings, and someone, somewhere has done an anti-organic hatchet job.

Oh well. The people we represent have broad shoulders. They have to; organic farming can also be more labour intensive, you know… (Oops, have I just tipped-off the Daily Mail to another ‘scoop’?)

Our team once again set up our stand at this year’s Natural & Organic Products Europe show. Here’s a report from our Research and Development Officer, Steven Jacobs:

Natural and Organic Products Europe is the only large UK trade show with such a concentration of businesses with organic product lines.

The OF&G stand with Glebe Farm in the foreground

The Grand Hall Olympia in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a glorious building. The size and the fact that it was built around 1886 and was first used for agricultural shows are all interesting facts but the glass and steel constructed roof is just breathtaking.

The organisers say that around 8,000 people attended the show over the two days of Sunday and Monday the 10^th and 11^th April 2010.

The OF&G stand (number 7060) originally 16 square metres on the end of a row meant we had three open sides facing down the hall from the back. On to this space we invited seven of our licensees to join us.

Our show presence, as seen from above

It worked really well. All those present agreed that the show was busier than the previous year and we were complemented many times on the look of our stand. We shared space and offered technical support and experience of the market (and the show) so businesses who are certified with us could have a solid presence at the event without breaking the bank and everyone who came with us helped to make it a really interesting stand to visit. The buzz on stand 7060 was notable throughout the two days of the event.

Our processing team spoke with a lot of people throughout the two days with key topics being the introduction of the EU organic logo and new labelling regulations that go with it. Rebecca Rayner, of Glebe Farm, reported huge interest in her range of organic flours and wheat, wheat-free and gluten-free bread mixes and cake mixes, and left with around 50 leads.

Many visitors to the stand were also pleased to see our display of a variety of licensees’ products.

As the coordinator I would like to thank the team at Diversified and especially the people at Earls Court and Olympia, who operate the ground staff for the event, as they were very professional and quick to help us in every way they could. I’m not just creeping, without that clear help it would have been a lot more work for us.

If you have been to the show please let me know how it was for you and if you haven’t but are interested in going to future exhibitions write to me with your thoughts (steven.jacobs@organicfarmers.org.uk).

We’ve also uploaded a new Flickr set of the pictures Steve took at the show. Feel free to have a browse through.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ofg/sets/72157623785637453/show/

There seems to be some confusion over how much food we’re going to need in the future. The trouble is, instead of all the interested parties putting their heads together to solve this rather important problem (or at least come to a mutual best guess) the issue has been turned into an unseemly public row.

It all stems from the oft-quoted belief that we need to double food production by 2050 to keep everyone on the planet fed. That is, of course, a pretty tall order and becomes very contentious when you consider that some of the leading proponents of those figures are the biotech companies who claim to have the key to enabling that kind of growth (and therein lies a whole other, huge argument!).

In the past week the Soil Association (the charity, not the organic control body, Soil Association Certification Ltd – for the sake of clarity) has released its own analysis of these figures, which it believes are grossly inflated. Fair enough, you might say. Another element to the debate to consider.

We’re not sure, however, that the SA report is exactly going out of its way to foster an atmosphere of rational and considered debate. You only have to look at the title: “Telling porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production“. [Adobe PDF download]

In the introduction, the report says:

“This briefing paper reports our investigations into the sources and basis of these figures. It outlines the assumptions upon which they are based and shows that, among others, the Government’s Chief Scientist, the President of the National Farmers’ Union, Syngenta, Monsanto, Government Ministers and the Conservative Party have all got their facts wrong.”

That’s a whole long list of people who now seriously have their backs up and probably aren’t going to go out of their way to include the Soil Association (and maybe the rest of the organic sector) in the debate. Unfortunately it gives them the perfect opportunity to dismiss us all as slightly hysterical.

This all runs somewhat counter to what the SA director, Patrick Holden, said at the charity’s last conference, where he talked about the whole of the agricultural community working together, rather than antagonising each other.

There are some undeniable realities to this report. The figures do appear to require further scrutiny. And of course, as with anything, there are going to be many ways toward addressing the problems, not just intensive farming or GM.

But what we have said, time and again for almost the last 20 years, is that we are all part of UK agriculture, with a role to play. Effectively branding others who are part of the debate as liars doesn’t seem, well… productive.

There’s no denying the Soil Association should be a strong voice in this debate. It represents a committed and caring membership who believe in food production that supports and enhances the land while producing high quality food. That’s why OF&G is a member of the charity too. You stand up for what you believe in.

But have you ever heard the phrase “you’ll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar”? It was repeated to me many years ago by a colleague who had just heard it from a battle-weary police inspector. It rang true then and it rings true now.

If the figures are wrong (and there are reasons to suspect they might be) we need to know. We also need to promote the role organic farming can play in meeting our needs for the future without going entirely down an ever more intensive and chemical or biotech-reliant route.

To do that we need to be heard, not met by the rest of the interested parties effectively sticking their fingers in their ears and humming ‘la, la, la, can’t hear you” when we say what needs to be said, just because they think what we’re saying has no value.

So come on Soil Association. You have the loudest voice in the organic sector. It’s not just about getting the headlines, it’s about getting the job done. We continue to support you. We continue to work with you. But sometimes we feel the need to whisper in your ear that perhaps it would be more productive to calm down a bit.

We’ve just been sent the following news release and thought it well worth sharing. Do take a read:

FARMERS AND SMALLHOLDERS WARNED TO BE TICK AWARE

As the warmer weather begins, Lyme disease charity BADA-UK
(Borreliosis and Associated Diseases Awareness-UK) is warning farmers
and owners of smallholdings to be aware of tick-borne disease as they
tend their crops and care for their livestock and working animals.

Ticks carrying Borreliosis (also known as Lyme disease) are found in
and around the UK. "Many areas with good ground cover and diverse
wildlife (such as squirrels, hedgehogs and deer) can pose a potential
risk" says Wendy Fox, Chair of BADA-UK, and a Lyme disease sufferer.
"Tick-borne disease can result in the loss of livestock, aborted young
and it can render a person incapable of working. Simple precautions
can help prevent such effects".

Tick Prevention Week, organised by BADA-UK, runs from April 12 -
April 18th and aims to provide information to help prevent ticks from
biting people and pets. It also gives advice on what to do if ticks do
attach. This year's theme of 'DO ONE THING to raise awareness'
provides lots of ideas and schools, activity clubs and specialist
interest groups are encouraged to do their bit to raise awareness.
Leaflets, posters and much more can be found at
www.tickpreventionweek.org.  

Lyme disease is transmitted via the bite of an infected tick and can
lead to serious complications including damage to the nervous system,
joints, heart and other tissues. 

Figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show a year-on-year
increase in cases of Lyme disease, with a marked increase over the
past 6 years from 292 in 2003 to 813 in 2008 (the latest figures).
However the HPA estimate up to 3,000 cases every year. Figures
released by Health Protection Scotland have shown a dramatic rise in
infection rates from 28 confirmed cases in 2001 to 285 cases in 2008. 

More information about Lyme disease and BADA-UK can be found at
www.bada-uk.org.