THE RISE OF ORGANIC FOODS
The South West has more land dedicated to organic farming than any other region – and is reaping the rewards, reports Athwenna Irons
ORGANIC farming leaders have welcomed the release of new figures which show an increase in the amount of land being farmed organically, as customer demand for organic products continues on an upward spiral.
According to the statistics published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the UK had a total area of 485,000 hectares of land farmed organically in 2019 – an increase of 2.4% compared to 2018.
In the South West, the total organic area is 142,200 hectares, significantly more than any other region in the country, with the South East (including London) the next highest at 45,100 hectares, followed by the West Midlands at 32,200 hectares.
Defra said this national increase has been driven by the rise in fully organic land, which has gone up by 3.6% compared to 2018, more than off-setting the decrease in the area of in-conversion land.
Clare McDermott, business development director for Soil Association Certification, said: “We are really pleased to see an increase in certiShe fied organic land in the UK in 2019, as well as a 14% increase in farmers with land in conversion to organic with Soil Association Certification last year.
“More and more people are looking for organic products when they shop, leading to the eighth consecutive year of sales growth in the UK’s organic market in 2019 – now worth a record £2.45 billion. It’s also great to see a significant increase of 7.2% in the land being used to grow organic cereals, as demand for these on farms for animal feed is growing faster than UK producers can supply.
“Recent research has also shown that nature-friendly farming practices like organic can feed the population a healthy diet while radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pesticides. To make this happen we need to be sustainably growing more of our own fresh produce, so we are encouraged to see a 15% increase in the amount of land being used to grow organic fruit and nuts in the UK.”
The Defra figures also show that the UK had a total of 6,129 organic producers and processors in 2019, with 1,504 of whom are based in the South West. Over the course of four years, from 2016 to 2019, the number of producers and processors in the region has dropped slightly year-onyear, from 1,627 in 2016 to 1,623 in 2017, 1,522 in 2018 and 1,504 in 2019.
Ms McDermott added that farmers can still apply to join a domestic Countryside Stewardship scheme until 2023, for schemes starting in 2024, which includes non-competitive options for organic farmers for conversion and ongoing support.
Government has given reassurance that it will also be possible to move plans into the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, part of the Agriculture Bill which is currently going through Parliament, from Countryside Stewardship in the future. continued: “Converting to organic can be a big business decision that takes time to implement, but with high demand for UK organic in both the shops and on farm, there is confidence in the market. What we need now is for UK government to provide confidence that farming policy will also support them to grow more healthy, sustainable food.
“The Agriculture Bill and Environmental Land Management scheme must support farmers to deliver environmental public goods across the whole farm by transitioning to agroecological farming practices, like organic, that look after air, water and soil quality.”