OF&G :: The Blog

We finally have the official, ready-to-use version of the new EU organic logo!

The EU organic logo

We’ve been waiting a while and many of our licensees have been on tenterhooks for this, because for new products it needs to be in use by July and that doesn’t leave a lot of lead time.

This morning the EU website has been updated with downloadable versions of the logo and a style guide for its use and you can grab everything you need from here: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/eu-policy/logo_en

We were promised we’d have this by the end of this month so, by a hair’s breadth, they have delivered!

It’s still going to mean something of a rush for some operators to get labels designed, approved, printed, distributed, etc. But at least now they can move forward.

Our processing team are currently digesting the detail of the usage guidelines so that they can help with any queries that arise. There are bound to be some.

We also learn today that our identifier code (originally ‘Organic Certification UK2′, then ‘GB Organic Certification 2′) has now been changed again to ‘GB-ORG-02′. Just like that. No more, no less. New logos will be produced shortly for licensee use to update their own materials.

It’s been a long road, but we’re getting there!

It was a good few weeks ago that we heard the winning entrant in the competition to choose an EU organic food logo had been chosen (the beginning of February, in actual fact).

This logo is, by regulation, due to begin appearing on new organic products from July. That’s right, July this year.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have an official copy of the logo or finalised details of how it must be used on packaging.

This may not sound like a huge problem in March – unless you produce organic food products. If you do, you’ll probably be one of thousands of people who are pulling their hair out because their product managers, printers, logistics people, customers, you name it, are screaming at them for finished labels and product lead times and countless other crucial bits of information needed to actually put the product on the shelves by July.

The logo is needed now. Probably six weeks ago in fact. Our harassed Processor Certification Officers have been badgering those in power on an almost daily basis to squeeze the crucial details out of them, because our licensees need to get on with business.

We’ve been told we should have the information by the end of March, latest. So, by our reckoning, that’s a maximum of six days to wait now. We’re on countdown. And, boy, will there be some screaming in this office if by 5pm on March 31 we’re none-the-wiser……..

It’s with great pleasure we can unveil details of National Organic Cereals 2010.

This will be the third of our one-day events which take a warts-and-all look at the challenges and rewards of organic cereal production – an area where there’s great potential for growth.

National Organic Cereals, which we run in association with Abacus Organic Associates, has grown tremendously in the three years and this time around we’re looking at staging our biggest and best event yet, with the backing of key members of the industry.

The line-up of delegates and exhibitors really has become a who’s who of the organic arable, feed, seed and milling sector and as well as being chock-full of useful advice and presentations, it’s the biggest opportunity in the organic cereals calendar for a get-together and a great (organic) lunch!

This year we’re once again delighted to have Triodos Bank as our headline sponsor, along with critical sponsorship support from Organic Arable, Robin Appel Ltd, HGCA, Warminster Maltings, B&W Feeds and Norton Organic Grain.

We like to move the event around the country to make it accessible to as many people as possible, so for 2010 we’re in Andover, Hampshire, following Suffolk last year and Shrewsbury the year before.

A key part of the day is the chance to view and discuss the trial crops we’ve had planted, which this year include 21 varieties of wheat, eight of triticale, five of oats and five of rye/spelt. In addition there will be a variety of organic malting barley. This makes the farm walks a very popular part of the day.

If you haven’t been before we recommend taking a closer look. If you have been we very much hope you recognise the value of coming again.

Around 190 people attended last year and we’re gearing up for the same, or more, this year, but numbers will be limited by facilities and we can only feed those who book in advance, so please do grab your booking form and get in early. At £15, including lunch, we believe National Organic Cereals has a value way beyond the ticket price!

Click here for the official blurb and links to download delegate and exhibitor booking forms…

Below is the Flickr set of photos from last year, to give you an idea of what to expect (or maybe spot yourself in the pictures…):

The long running saga that is the Farmers Weekly jumper hoo-har draws to a close today – at least for us…

We’ve picked a winner from those kind people who made a donation to the RABI via our JustGiving page. We raised £57 in the end.

We thought it would be fair to let everyone see the draw take place, so here’s our short film in which you will discover the name of the winner, to whom we send our warm congratulations! Bad luck to everyone else who were keen enough to get their hands on it that they were willing to part with their cash!!!

This is very exciting! Having sent out many, many copies of the Farmers Weekly tractor knitting pattern to the enthusiastic knitters who have requested it, we’ve finally had an example of the finished product sent back in!!!

Tracy Williams was good enough to let us see this marvellous creation, which is her mum’s handiwork:

The Farmers Weekly tractor jumper. Sent in by Tracy Williams. Knitted by her mum!

Connoisseurs of this particular pattern will note the addition of the hood. A very nifty touch that has impressed us and, given the current weather trend, will be most welcome to Tracy’s son when he’s sporting this very special garment.

Our thanks to Tracy for sharing. We can think of at least a couple of friends at FW Towers who are also going to be thrilled to see this…

PS – you still have just a handful of days to try and win our own tractor jumper. Just go here and read the entry rules. Go on, you know you want to….

PPS – thanks to all of you who have already donated!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner in the EU organic logo competition!

And we can breathe something of a sigh of relief (at least we are here at OF&G) that the champ is the designer we considered to be the only real contender.

Here it is:

The winning design for the EU organic logo

The winning design was by German student, Dusan Milenkovic, so congratulations to him. From July 2010 this design will be seen on the packaging of organic products across the EU (there are caveats and grace periods to this, before anyone starts panicking they don’t have theirs sorted yet. Talk to your CO for details).

You can read the announcement press release for yourself here (PDF) and check out how the vote was split between the three designs here, and it demonstrates a scarily large amount of support for the strange hieroglyphic-like entry!

Now all that remains is to ensure everyone knows how and when to put this design to work on their packaging. Our licensees have had details on this on a number of occasions in recent months and we’ll be highlighting the issue again in our next newsletter.