UK Organic Farmers Seek Reprieve

Breaking with my usual tradition of Tuesday and Friday updates, again BBC breakfast has inspired me to comment.

Organic farmers have approached the powers that be requesting that they be given some laxity of the rules while still maintaining their organic status. Specifically meat and dairy farmers want to feed their animals non-organic feed, which is half the price ... and not lose their organic status!

Apparently sales are down 13% over the last quarter.

This begs the question "Is organic farming insufficiently profitable, or no longer viable?"

I can only assume the majority of organic farmers made the decision to invest in the whole conversion process because the numbers said it would be sufficiently lucrative ... and now the reality suggests different.

But sorry, what about the consumers? Those of us who are paying a premium for a standard we should be able to trust ... and for reasons that suggest we value our health enough to pay more for what we put into our bodies.

It's enough that the majority of consumers don't understand the distinction between "organically grown" and "certified organic" ... and that huge numbers of people poo poo the whole organic thing because they don't trust that they are getting value for the premium asked. Now we want to further diminish the credibility of "organic" by compromising standards when everyone is in the same economic downturn, not just farmers.

Hats off to Lawrence Woodward of the Organic Research Centre who had the naus to point out that the bigger picture was one of building credibility. Likewise, so too did Renee Elliott, founder of the Planet Organic chain who pointed out that "... consumer trust is crucial."

The National Farmers Union is sitting on the fence seeing which way the wind blows.

And the government ...? Surprise, surprise ... we'll just see how squeeky this particular wheel will get, then put our backing where it's most expedient.

Surely there are some people left who instinctively know what is correct in this particular situation? Surely common sense will prevail?

And if it doesn't, I just hope the farmers and organic industry players who see "no compromise" as a "no brainer" will profit correctly when the dust settles.

Farming has always been risky business. We are in a global economic downturn.

Everyone has choices. Let's see if real character prevails?