An idea to ease the pressure on struggling organic producers has been floated in a consultation document prepared by Organic Farmers and Growers, the Soil Association and other organic certification bodies.
Eggs have been hit particularly badly by a fall in organic sales this year.
One newspaper reported that organic egg sales were down by as much as 18 per cent compared with a year ago. Noble reported a 13 per cent fall in year-on-year figures. It took some of its own organic units out of production and reduced prices to other organic producers in response to the fall. Now, organic certification bodies are consulting on a possible scheme to allow farmers an organic ’holiday’. It would enable producers to use non-organic feed without losing the organic status of their land. The move could provide vital relief for organic egg producers during the current recession, which is expected to be severe and which many economic commentators expect to continue into 2010.
"It seems a common sense approach to me. It is a good idea because if the market for organic eggs is shrinking and we do no want to put people out of it completely then this is a good compromise. It is commercial realism," said organic egg producer Jeff Vergerson, who farms in Norfolk. He said that as things stood at the moment, if an organic producer switched to free range feed it would take him at least 12 months to go through the conversion process to return to organic. "If the market picks up quickly those people will be stuck for 12 months."
He said the difference between the price of organic and non-organic feed was substantial - between £350 and £375 per tonne for organic compared with £190 for non-organic.
Another organic egg producer - Michael Thompson, who farms in North Devon - agreed that the move could be a good one for producers if the recession was prolonged. "It would be a very good idea if the recession was to last until 2010. If it it does go on a long time and organic sales slump even more it could keep people going," said Michael.
BFREPA chairman Tom Vesey has given his backing to such a scheme. "I think it would be an excellent idea," he said. "At the moment if you do drop organic status it takes so long to get it back again. I would be in favour of producers being able to switch from organic to free range for a limited period. What we do have to be clear about is that we are not bending the rules on organic produce.
We have to make sure that when the consumer is buying something that says organic it is in fact organic. That is only right and fair."
The way the idea has been reported in some of the national press has been misleading. The Times led with the headline "Let us bend the rules say organic farmers.’ Organic Farmers and Growers said the Times article was completely inaccurate. "If consumers buy produce marked organic it will still be organic," said Richard Jacobs, Chief Executive of Organic Farmers and Growers. "What we are looking at is a way to ensure that land which has been converted to organic at great effort and cost is not lost."
OFG said no approach had yet been made to Defra about the possibility of introducing the scheme. The Government and EU would have to determine whether such a scheme would be possible under current EU rules if the industry decided that the idea would be beneficial.
"The certifying bodies and other key stakeholders have been in discussion among themselves regarding what measures might be possible and appropriate, given the financial difficulties facing the sector in the current severe economic downturn," said OFG in a prepared statement.
"We would stress that key to any discussions will be the need to maintain the integrity of the organic standards and the trust of the consumer.
"Once agreed on possible ways forward, it is likely that the industry will approach Defra to begin dialogue on what steps are possible and acceptable, while ensuring that when shoppers buy products with the word organic on the label they can continue to trust that information.
"As no proposals have yet been put forward, any discussion of specific measures would be extremely premature.
"It is, however, fair to say that the broad aims would be to allow farmland to remain organic, even if the animals on it were to be fed on non-organic rations for a limited time, thereby enforcing the removal of the animals from the organic system.
"It should be noted that the stringent requirements of organic conversion mean that if farmers are forced to leave the system, they cannot quickly re-enter and would need to go once again through lengthy conversion of their land. The industry’s aim is to protect the organic system for the welfare and environmental benefits it brings and ensure that progress made in expanding this sustainable method of farming is not lost," said the statement.
If producers were allowed to take an organic ’holiday’ on feed, it would be for a specified period of time, they would be unable to sell their eggs as organic during the duration of that ’holiday’ and they would have to abide by other organic rules to ensure the land retained its organic status - rules covering stocking densities, minimum use of antibiotic treatments and no use of fertilisers. "A producer would have to comply with veterinary and welfare regulations and everything else. This idea is specifically about feed - and there would still be constraints on the type of feed you could use. You couldn’t use GM, for example," said Helen Browning, food and farming director of the Soil Association.
She said the introduction of such a scheme was not even a proposal yet.
It was an idea that was being considered as part of a consultation process. She said there were some mixed signals on organic sales at the moment. Some areas were holding up. The egg market, however, had been particularly difficult and they were looking for ideas for what could be done until market conditions improved. "Keeping the land organic is key," she said.
Martin Humphrey of Humphrey Feeds said one major "fly in the ointment" for organic producers would be the issue of GM feed. "Over the last 10 years there have been plentiful supplies of non-GM feed, but that is no longer the case," he said. "The certification bodies will not allow the use of GM feed but supplies of non-GM feed are running out. The amount of non-GM soya has dwindled - we are just left with pockets in Brazil. It is a problem that the certification bodies and the EU are going to have to address because it will affect both new entrants to organic and producers wanting to return to organic. For the sector to survive there will have to be a pragmatic solution."
A spokesman for Defra said the department had received no approach about introducing an organic "holiday" scheme but it was willing to consider any approach as long as the proposal complied with EU rules.
