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."
There is a reason why farming didn't develop in the direction of "organics": inefficient productivity (i.e., high cost, low return).
Farming would be more profitable and consumers better served if the government just stayed out of it.
Nutty environmentalism is the creationism of the left.
Isn't that the point of most liberal programs?
From the alternative Farming Systems Information (for what it is worth)
"Organic farming is one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture during the 1990s. USDA estimates that the value of retail sales of organic foods in 1999 was approximately $6 billion. The number of organic farmers is increasing by about 12 percent per year and now stands at about 12,200 nationwide, most of them small-scale producers. According to a recent USDA study, certified organic cropland more than doubled from 1992 to 1997. Two organic livestock sectors, eggs and dairy, grew even faster." (USDA News Release, no. 0425.00, Dec. 20, 2000)
The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), enacted under Title 21 of the 1990 Farm Bill, served to establish uniform national standards for the production and handling of foods labeled as "organic." The Act authorized a new USDA National Organic Program (NOP) to set national standards for the production, handling, and processing of organically grown agricultural products. In addition, the Program oversees mandatory certification of organic production. The Act also established the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) which advised the Secretary of Agriculture in setting the standards upon which the NOP is based. Producers who meet standards set by the NOP may label their products as "USDA Certified Organic."
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