Consumers still eat it up — but more and more farmers are deserting organic, complaining that it costs a fortune and rowing with the Soil Association.
At the end of last year, four trustees resigned from the Soil Association, the campaigning charity and biggest certification body, and launched a public attack on the organisation’s direction, accusing it of failing to champion the producers and growers it is meant to represent. Last month a report by the European Environment Agency highlighted huge disparities between countries and the fact that British organic farming has stalled: while 3.3% of land is farmed organically in the UK, the same figure as in 2000, countries such as Austria and Spain have seen sharp rises (to 18.5% and 7.5%), while the number of UK farmers and certified processors making organic food products stands at 6,072, down from 7,567 in 2009.
So why, when UK organic sales rose by 4% in 2014, the second consecutive year of growth, are producers giving up? And could more generous European subsidies, to be paid from next year, tempt them back?
