by Felix Cohen
David Miliband's recent comments about organic farming have caused uproar in the organic farming community, as organic farmers feel that their livelihood is under attack. Perhaps, however, it is time we realised that organic farming is not the panacea for the farming community it has been suggested to be. As someone who grew up on a sustainable, but not organic farm, I feel that this is an important discussion; In the late 90's and early '00s, British farming was in serious decline, with both the BSE and Foot & Mouth epidemics (and the associated governmental responses) causing many small and medium sized farming businesses to disappear. This has been met, particularly over the past 5 years, with a resurgence in local and organic farming. It is very difficult to see any possible problem with local and seasonal produce making it's way back onto our nations' tables, but can we say the same about organic food?
Organic farming sounds like it should produce food of a significantly higher quality, without damaging the land or consumer. Like "fairtrade", it is vaunted as a way to live well and salve one's conscience. What is rarely noted, and has been picked up on by David Miliband, however, is the lack of evidence for it being significantly healthier (mainly due to the time frame precluding the possibility of any controlled longitudinal studies), although what evidence there is does suggest that it is healthier than intensively farmed food.
Disregarding the issue of the consumer, does organic farming really hold benefits for the farmers, livestock, and environment?
Farmers who wish to become organic are forced to undergo an up to 3 year conversion period by the Soil Association, during which time they are unable to earn the premium that organic certification offers, although the productivity of their land is now lower, and their costs have increased. During this period, they must conform to all the standards of the Soil Association, but are strictly barred from selling their produce as being any different (although it is likely that they will start to distribute through local channels, as major suppliers will no longer consider them due to the lack of standardised produce that organic practices -rightly- produce).
Not only this, but conditions for livestock to be organic are very tight, and most notable is the (arguably) inhumane practice of recommending not vaccinating livestock for many common diseases. This means that any stock who are vaccinated prior to becoming organic may be barred from certification (of particular danger to dairy farmers, who could be forced to replace entire herds), and animals become ill and suffer unnecessarily because they cannot be vaccinated. The farming environment suffers needlessly as well. On a sustainable farm, the farmer is able to make the most sensible decisions regarding looking after his stock and land, such as using a sensible minimum of fertilizer, inoculating livestock and using antibiotics in a sensible and medically endorsed way to avoid creating resistance in disease (although the Soil Association does allow medicine in situations where the animal may be in distress, these animals must often then be removed from the farm system for some time. In fact, the Soil Association recommends that farmers try homeopathic methods for curing their animals!
Hence, on an organic farm, the farmers must be wasteful in the way that they use the land, not fulfilling its potential. They cannot use some natural fertilizers with a high nitrate/phosphate content, and instead must use notionally 'natural', but actually untested methods, such as the widespread use of oestrogen-heavy Red Clover (a leguminous plant) for reviving rotated land (there are unsubstantiated claims that excessive clover increases the oestrogen level in meat, and it certainly harms the natural breeding cycle of the animals on the farm.
This is a brief tour of some of the potential problems with organic certification. It is a standard that has come about through consumers who are, quite rightly, terrified of the dangers of factory farming, but are being mislead by the Soil Association into endorsing an inefficient, inhumane and unscientific approach to farming that will potentially damage the environment and farmers livelihoods for years to come.
Next time you visit your farmers' market, perhaps it would be wise to discuss some of these issues with the farmers, rather than assuming that organic must be better. Farmers who are aware of their environment and livestock, and behave sustainably, are likely to provide a much healthier, more environmentally friendly meal for your table.
