Posted on 08/24/2003 9:40:40 AM PDT by UnklGene
Farmers turn their backs on organic crops By Fiona Govan (Filed: 24/08/2003)
Dozens of organic farmers are returning to conventional methods, claiming that it is impossible to make a living producing organic food.
The farmers, who were each given tens of thousands of pounds in taxpayers' money by the Government to take up organic methods for at least five years, say that the experience has been "a nightmare" and that they could not wait for the agreements to come to an end.
Simon Weatherall is reverting to conventional farming methods One last week described the deal as having been like a "five-year prison sentence", while the National Farmers' Union admitted: "The organic bubble has burst."
Under the Government's £49 million Organic Farming Scheme, started in 1999 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), farmers have been paid between £50 and £450 per hectare to convert to organic production for a minimum of five years.
The scheme, which offered bigger state incentives than were previously available, was introduced to help meet an expected boom in consumer demand for organic produce.
While the market value of organic produce in Britain has grown from £100 million in 1993 to almost £1,000 million last year - with homegrown produce providing roughly 25 per cent of the supply - organic food makes up just 1.5 per cent of Britain's £60 billion retail food industry and farmers have suffered as supplies far outstripped demand.
Simon Weatherall, 36, who began the conversion of his 300-acre farm in Crewkerne, Somerset, in 1997 is one of the first to revert back to conventional farming. He was paid a total of £11,500 by the Government but quit as soon as he completed his five-year term.
"I believed in the concept and I also believed that it would be financially viable at a time when conventional farming was proving difficult," he said last week.
"But after five years of trying I realised I either had to go back to conventional farming methods or sell the farm altogether. When I started there was a very good market for organic produce. In 1999, I could sell organic milk for 29p a litre but now it only fetches 2p more per litre than normal milk - yet it costs 5p more to produce. In the first year of growing organic vegetables, I won a contract to sell potatoes at £270 a ton collected straight from the field. The following year, the potatoes went for £135 a ton and I had to pay for storage.
"Despite the drop in the purchasing price, there was no noticeable change in the retail price at the supermarkets. British farmers have to compete with imports and we simply can't compete with the farms in eastern Europe. The reality is that going organic is a huge capital investment and unless you can do it on a massive scale the returns just aren't worth it."
Andrew Gough, 41, believes that he was given a "five-year prison sentence" when he converted his 300-acre dairy farm in Shifnal, Shropshire, with a £40,000 grant in 1999. He plans to revert as soon as possible. "The targets set by the Government for organic milk production have proved to be completely wrong," he said.
A survey to be published next month by the Federation of Milk Groups will underline the problems faced by organic farmers. It will reveal that 20 per cent of dairy farmers involved in the government scheme want to revert to conventional methods.
Geoff Vickers, the chairman of the federation's organic committee, said: "Unless the situation improves and they are given more support, farmers will leave organic production in droves. All the effort made to encourage farmers to go organic will be a complete waste of taxpayers' money."
The NFU claimed last night that the Government had not gone far enough in supporting the organic industry despite a growing demand and a target to double organic production in Britain by 2010.
Oliver Dowding, the chairman of the NFU's organic committee, blamed the Government for not helping organic farmers enough. He said: "The organic bubble has burst."
Patrick Holden, the director of the Soil Association, the leading organisation for organic food and farming, urged farmers not to revert back at the earliest opportunity. He said: "My advice to farmers is hang in there and hold your nerve, the organic market will pick up again."
A spokesman for Defra said that it was not worried about farmers abandoning the scheme. He said: "In December 2001 there were 3,981 registered farmers and by the end of March 2003, there were 4,104. So while there may have been dropouts, on the face of it, they have been balanced by new entrants."
No... but sometimes it's just plain misanthropic and ignorantly Luddite!!!
Oh goody! You're describing the EnvironMental CommyooooNutty, right? (snort... snicker... grin)
I'd be interested in reading the published, peer reviewed papers that will back up your comment.
Please cite your source.
Now see!!! To me, that qualifies as NEWS!!!
But will you see it in the Sacramento BEE? NOT!!!
But will you see it on any Sacramento TeeVee? NOT!!!
Yes, I understand that nothing qualifies as "news," unless it's sensational, bad for conservatives, or supports liberal gloom and doom over percieved perpetual social injustices, etc., etc., etc.!!! (gag)
I've only seen a report of one real study and that was over 10 years ago.
Other then that, it's just been biased, unsubstantiated gibberish from both camps.
The non-organic vegetables and fruit are "healthier", ie more robust. It makes sense that a more robust version of a cucumber would have more of the good stuff in it than its punier organic cousin.
Speaking as a professional horticulturist, your statement doesn't convince me at all.
Show me the controls. Show me the soil tests. Show me the data from the field trials. Show me results of the mass spectrometry, gas chromatography or whatever was used to assay the vitamin, mineral, bioflaviniod, etc. content of each species of vegetable tested.
Until I have trustworthy science on which to base an informed opinion, this debate has all the significance of a trial lawyer stating that gore won in 2000.
If someone could secure funding from an impartial 3rd party and conduct a multi year study, this issue could be settled. Or at least, a solid foundation for further research could be laid. And they could earn a Ph.D. in the process.
Until then, caveat emptor.
Shoot I don't care about it that much ;-)
I pick the veggies that look good and if both an organic veg and a modern tech veg look the same, then I buy the cheaper one. Works for me.
No substance, just chatter.
That's what I suspected.
That's what I suspected.
Well, I didn't suspect you were a butthole when I commented to you but I'll keep that in mind from now on.
Have a nice day.
There's "organic", and then there's "farm".
We raise chickens. Our chickens taste an order of magnitude better than "factory" chickens. So much better that there is no comparison. Literally. It's fun watching the looks on guests' faces when they take their first taste, and then start raving about how amazing it is.
The difference?
I don't really know. We don't "do organic". We feed 'em sacks of feed, let 'em peck and scratch at the bugs, grass, and weeds, give 'em antibiotics when they're starting off (the horror, the horror!), and I'm sure we're nowhere near "efficient", but the fact remains that these birds are nothing like the dry, bland, tasteless "chicken" sold in stores.
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