Should we get our government to support organic???

[Becs48]

Just been to an event and learned that in the EU (in fact most of the world) organic food is growing, except for good old UK, where we're buying less and less. Seems that other governments (e.g French, Danish, German) think food that is more planet freindly, nicer to animals and not full of hideous chemicals is a good idea worth supporting.

So ..should they support it, or just leave it to the market and poor old us the consumer (who are apparently about confused about organic) to buy more and pay a bit more for it?

Organic was growing strongly until the Credit Crunch 4 years ago. Post 2008 consumers made different choices depending on the amount of disposable income they had available and organic was one of the biggest sectors to suffer. A hard core of committed organic consumers remain... presumably they still have plenty of cash. I don't believe anyone is 'confused' about what organic means

I am not aware that French, Danish or German governments specifically support organic products. My company sells imported organic food to those markets and we don't get any special treatment. I think, if there's any government involvement in the UK, it should be to continue to improve the standard of conventionally grown foods, best practice, and promote healthy choices like fresh produce to counteract the billions spent annually promoting 'food-like substances' (as Michael Pollan might put it).

No, in a time when the NHS and Police are under threat of privatisation due to a lack of public money it would be madness to fund organic food. There is no evidence that organic food is any better for us then food farmed using traditional methods.
The public aren't confused about organic they just recognise it for the rip off it is.

I think it's the supermarkets and food service that get the majority of gov support in these other countries (why don't they think it's madness?). I'm told that it was mainly supermarkets reducing the number organic that caused most of the market decline, rather than loss of conusmer interest. It's also a shame that people took the FSA report as valid, not only is much of the FSA's research been exposed as shoddy, but similar (better funded and more broad reaching) studies in countries such as France drew very different opinions. I can understand why it wouldn't be seen as a priority, but I'm fascinated that people still think it's a rip-off to pay a little more for food produced to higher standards, although agree,some organic food is just too expensive!

At the event I went to , one journalistwho has looked at UK pesticide residues in food claimed she'd found evidence of grapes being sprayed with 25+ chemicals. Call me bonkers, but I may well continue to spend 20p more on feeding my kid organic grapes, which I also learn, being organic, are grown on farms that use less energy to produce the sme quanity of food and suck in a lot more CO2. If Countryfile on Sunday was to be believed then the animal welfare is a hell of a lot higher too! Regarding confused public, I rarely meet anyone who can articulate what organic is really about, perhaps that's the problem?

Organic food is not necessarily produced to higher standards because it is supplied by the very same companies that are supplying conventional food. It comes through the same distribution chains. Neither is it necessarily more energy-saving. The organic grapes you are buying today will be coming from places like South Africa or Chile. They have been shipped thousands of miles and have produced far more CO2 in the process than a conventionally outdoor-grown Kent apple.

Other products have less obvious wastes of energy. Organic grass-reared beef produced in the UK is energy-efficient. However, it has to be finished on organic grain which often comes from as far away as Russia. More CO2 generating transportation. Yields (kgs per hectare) of organic products are far lower than conventional ones.... so farmers need to plant up more hectares in order to get the same tonnage back. The more the soil is disturbed, the more machinery is used, the bigger the CO2 emissions.

Animal welfare is something we are excellent at in the UK, often putting our farmers at a disadvantage. At the start of the year the EU ban on battery cages for poultry came into effect. In typical fashion, UK farmers have risen to the challenge and invested in the right equipment. Elsewhere in the EU farmers are dragging their feet. Nothing to do with organic and everything to do with good welfare practices....

Keep spending your 20p extra on grapes. They'll be very nice grapes. But don't kid yourself that you're saving the planet. It's not that simple.

If you're buying organic on the basis of environmental impact, it would be better to buy local produce.

'Just been to an event and learned that in the EU (in fact most of the world) organic food is growing,'

Really? Not in the supermarkets in Belgium it isn't. The 'Bio' products are relegated to a very small corner of the fruit and veg area in every supermarket I've been in here (and I've been in several), and 'Bio' dairy isn't big either. As in the UK it costs a lot more too, and as food prices are bloody extortionate here compared to UK, I don't see that many people buying it.

Define 'organic'. Is it better to buy organic, buy local, or buy fair trade? Is it better to support big businesses who can tick the right boxes to use the organic label, or is it better to support small growers who try to farm ethically, but can't meet the standards required to use an organic label? Is it better to have access to a local green grocer's that sells affordable fruit and veg or a supermarket with a big organic section?

Nothing wrong with organic food, and atleast 'organic' usually has a bit more meaning than 'green'. However given that many people don't have easy access to affordable, good quality food of any kind, I think the UK government should have other priorities.

I agree with what some of the others have said. Getting the government to 'support organic' is a bit like trying to sell water to a drowning man.

Right now prices are rising, wages are stagnant and taxes are rising.

I do like organic food. It always seems to taste fresher but at the moment I simply can't justify the extra in price. And we've got quite a good family income.

For those who are REALLY struggling that 20p more on grapes, 10p on apples, 50p on lettuce etc. etc. soon mounts up and simply isn't justifiable when you can barely cover rent.

tbh I think there are far bigger issues to worry about both on a political scale and on an individual/family level. I am far more concerned about the NHS, rising unemployment, falling wages, etc than I am about organic food.

I think there has been a lot of publicity about organic food and a lot of people do understand what it is. I think people may be confused about what is the best food environmentally to buy because of issues such as flying in organic food from abroad versus locally grown non organic food.

But I think if sales of organic food are declining thsi is not because of a lack of awareness, but because so many people are struggling financially at the moment and buying non organic food is an easy way to reduce costs.