Healthy living & lifestyle
a net importer to a net exporter of agricultural goods to the global market, for example. In the UK, meanwhile, the Soil Association’s head of farming policy, Gareth Morgan, is quick to point out that: “Although the organic market represents a small part of the UK food and drink industry, millions of pounds are still spent on organic food and drink every day. The organic market has seen 11 consecutive years of growth and is worth more than £3bn.” This is hardly surprising given climate change has now climbed to the top of the political agenda. But to a lesser extent, concerns about wildlife populations being in freefall are now being acknowledged, meaning it’s becoming increasingly accepted that we must farm more in harmony with nature. And with 50% more wildlife on organic farms, this is an important part of a longer-term solution. Unsurprisingly, Morgan is calling on the UK government to do more to support farmers to adopt nature-friendly farming, such as agroecology and organic, across their whole farms. “So far ministers have failed to make clear how they will give farmers confidence to invest in the radical changes needed for a resilient and sustainable farming sector,” he notes.
Getting rid of the CAP Case in point is the government’s Environmental Land Management Scheme, crafted post-Brexit to represent a definitive move away from the old agricultural policy. The key is the phasing out of subsidies for land ownership and tenure and radically improving services to farmers. Through the Agricultural Transition Plan, the aim is to expand schemes to pay farmers and land managers to provide environmental goods and services alongside food production. It will also offer one-off grants to support farm productivity, innovation, research and development, in a way that hopes to help the country achieve these goals. While the government claims these reforms “are essential to help us grow and maintain a resilient, productive agriculture sector over the long term and at the same time achieve our ambitious targets for the environment and climate,” Morgan believes it can go further.
“There are welcome elements in the Environmental Land Management Scheme – but they are doing little more than tinkering around the edges of the challenge,” he says. “Government must provide the long-term vision to help farmers do more than make small changes. They need a package of guidance and incentives that spark a shift to nature-friendly farming like organic across their entire farms.”
Referring to organic farming practices, Morgan adds “the new incentives for organic farming practices – like avoiding insecticides and using legumes for soil fertility instead of chemicals – are welcome”. “But,” he stresses, “information on the previous commitment
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
to an Organic Standard within the Sustainable Farming Incentives, or detailed clarity for ongoing support for our sustainable farming pioneers, is still missing. Support for game-changing action like planting more trees on farms is also desperately needed.” Noteworthy is that other governments are already taking action. For example, a 30% target for organic farmland in Germany, and 25% across the EU, as part of the Farm to Fork strategy. Closer to home, the Scottish government has committed to doubling organic land by 2026.
More ambition is needed Yet, as Morgan argues: “The UK government has so far not made a similar commitment, [even if] payment rates for farmers converting to organic in England, via the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, doubled in 2022. This investment is [at least] encouraging, but more ambition is needed from Westminster so that other parts of the UK can follow this lead.” In the vertical farming space, meanwhile, a significant amount of work is being undertaken. One example is the Dundee-based James Hutton Institute – a globally recognised research organisation with a remit to “deliver fundamental and applied science to drive the sustainable use of land and natural resources”. Vertical farming, such as growing crops indoors, is increasingly being seen as the way forward to producing higher volumes of better-quality crops all year round, as well as ensuring food production is closer to customers. From a sustainability standpoint, it is also a means of ensuring greater efficiency through employing the use of hydroponics, which will reduce water use significantly.
Most systems, for example, employ recirculation where plants will absorb the water they need and any run-off is subsequently channelled back to a reservoir. In a system with no leaks, water loss will typically only be due to evaporation and transpiration (the process of losing water through the plant’s leaves).
Above: The James Hutton Institute’s APGC is a fully automated and controlled-environment vertical farm.
Opposite: While sales of organic produce is increasing in the UK, it still only represents a miniscule percentage of the total market.
$2.45bn
The market size of organic products in the UK in 2019.
Soil Association 41
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