Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell today dismissed the claim by deputy Environment Minister that the Executive had done enough to support organic farmers as 'make believe'. The Green MSP points out that:
- The 70% figure is only for a small number of foodstuffs and does not include dairy products or arable produce.
- The target for organic land classified as arable has not been met (less than 20% of the total, against a target of 30%)
- The main means of increasing organic land area is the Organic Aid Scheme (OAS) – land area under the scheme has FALLEN DRAMATICALLY from a total of 342,142 ha in 2003 to 126,746 in 2006.
- Expenditure on organic support is stagnant with a third of applicants in 2006 turned down. The funding for organics is likely to total £5.5m in 2007, the same as 2003. Two thirds of the applicants for maintenance funding were turned down last year.
Mark Ruskell MSP, Green speaker on the environment, said: "There was a rush of support for organic farming in the Labour and Lib Dem manifestos during the last election but their record over the last four years in government has been dismal with collapsing land area and falling support budgets. Sales of organic food have continued to rocket while Scotland's ability to cash in on the steady growth has been patchy at best. Farmers are missing out on opportunities to benefit from a growing market because of penny pinching and lack of Ministerial leadership.
"The organic action plan is failing because the Executive has not bothered funding it. It's another example of rhetoric versus reality and Ms Boyack's upbeat claims are more make believe than action-oriented. Robin Harper's bill in the first session of this parliament would have put targets into law and so the budgets would have had to have followed. This is where sustained action is coming unstuck. Greens want to give the action plan new leadership in the next session of parliament.
Eleanor Scott, Green speaker on rural development said: "The Executive also trumpets the increase in organic aid scheme and maintenance payment rates over the last four years but the overall budget has remained static since 2003. The result is that last year a third of applicants to the Organic Aid Scheme for conversion payments and two-thirds of the applicants for maintenance payments were turned down. The Executive is acting as a brake on further growth, rationing out payments from a tiny budget, keeping organic farming in a niche box rather than encouraging new entrants and paying existing organic farmers for public goods delivered."
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