Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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The wholesome truth about organic food
Robin Maynard of the Soil Association responds to Robert Johnston’s report on 
the ‘myths’ of organic foods
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/22212,opinion,the-wholesome-truth-about-organic-food

Far from "exploding myths about the benefits of organic food", Robert 
Johnston peddles some old chestnuts, as well as constructing myths of his 
own. Many seem familiar, stemming from 'interest groups' like the Hudson 
Institute, a US think-tank which receives funding from some of the world's 
largest agrochemical and GM companies.

Organic husbandry vastly reduces farmers' reliance on the products those 
companies manufacture, so any increase in public support for organic food and 
expansion of organic acreage threatens their profits.

Johnston is ignorant of actual organic practices allowed under Soil 
Association standards and UK and European law, ­ though the details are 
freely available on our website. For instance, organic chickens cannot be 
kept indoors, other than for a limited period in the event of an actual  
outbreak of bird flu.

The article was sign-posted, 'Organic, the lies they tell', but Johnston 
doesn't specify who 'they' are. As the main organic food and farming body in 
the UK - funded by charitable donations - your readers might reasonably 
assume he means the Soil Association. We don't make unsubstantiated claims - 
­ a significant body of evidence confirms distinct differences in and 
benefits from organic farming and food compared to non-organic.

Six published, peer reviewed studies have found that organic whole milk has 
more beneficial fat-soluble nutrients - omega-3 fatty acid, Vitamin E and 
beta-carotene. The most recent study by Glasgow and Liverpool Universities 
found UK organic whole milk has on average 68 per cent higher levels of 
omega-3 than non-organic milk. The Government Food Standards Agency 
acknowledges these nutritional differences, but doesn't yet accept these 
deliver demonstrable health benefits. (Although Dutch research published only 
last year showed that infants fed on organic dairy foods and whose mothers 
also ate organic dairy products, suffered a 36 per cent lower incidence of 
eczema.)

The environmental benefits of organic farming are well-established and 
accepted by respected wildlife groups such as the RSPB and WWF, as well as 
the Government's own conservation advisors. A review of 66 published studies 
concluded that on average wildlife is 50 per cent more abundant on organic 
farms and there are 30 per cent more species than on non-organic farms.

The Soil Association has never claimed organic food doesn't contain 
additives, only that it contains far fewer. Johnston claims, "at least three 
dozen 'E' numbers are allowed". Not quite. Soil Association standards permit 
30 additives, some of which like iron, thiamine (Vitamin B1) and vitamins in 
baby food are required by law, 90 per cent fewer than the 300-plus additives 
allowed in non-organic food.

Nor do we say our organic farmers 'don't use any pesticides', just that they 
can only use four with special permission, compared to the 311 freely 
available to non-organic farmers. Polls show the majority of people don't 
want pesticides in their food, yet 40 per cent of fruit and vegetable items 
on sale in the EU are contaminated with pesticides  and one food item in 30 
contains pesticides above legal limits. Consumers are right to be concerned, 
given the European Commission's acknowledgement that 'long-term exposure to 
pesticides can lead to serious disturbances to the immune system, sexual 
disorders, cancers, sterility, birth defects, damage to the nervous system 
and genetic damage'.

The criticism most commonly levelled against organic farming is that it 
'can't feed the world'. A Danish study presented last year at a UN Food & 
Agriculture Organisation conference challenges this, finding there wouldn't 
be any serious negative effect on food security for sub-Saharan Africa if 50 
per cent of agricultural land in the food exporting regions of Europe and 
North America converted to organic by 2020 and that a similar shift in 
sub-Saharan Africa could help the region's hungry by reducing reliance on 
imports.

The UK organic market has grown more than 25 per cent year on year over the 
past decade, a cause for celebration for those wanting more sustainable food 
and farming, but clearly worrying for those flogging pesticides and 
artificial fertilisers.
soilassociation.org