Friends of the Earth: Press Release: SUPERMARKETS BACK NEW ORGANIC FARMING LAW

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SUPERMARKETS BACK NEW ORGANIC FARMING LAW

25 Oct 2000

Supermarket giant's Sainsbury's and Iceland today told a committee of MPs that more Government support is needed for organic farming. They said that they would like to offer more British organic products but can't because of the lack of supply. As a result seventy per cent of organic food in UK shops is imported from abroad. The supermarkets were giving evidence to the Commons Agriculture Committee.

Iceland and Sainsbury are both supporting the Organic Food and Farming Targets Bill (as are Asda, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose) which aims for a significant increase in organic farmland in England and Wales. Campaigners today called on Tony Blair to give the Bill his personal backing.

In his green speech yesterday Tony Blair said that “we should harness consumer demand,not stifle it”. However, market forces don't always work. Although there is massive demand for organic food and hundreds of farmers want to convert, UK farmers are only producing a fraction of the organic food that is required. Unfortunately Government support has been woefully inadequate: organic conversion money has not been available to farmers this year,and the money ear-marked next year (£140 million over seven years) is not enough. Organic farming needs a far bigger share of the agricultural budget. It also needs a strategy for growth to ensure that the infrastructure for processing and marketing is in place, and to ensure that maximum benefits [1] to the economy and the environment are realised.

Sandra Bell, Real Food Campaigner of Friends of the Earth said:
“It is environmental and economic madness that our farmers are missing out on the organic boom. With the right support from Government organic farming in the UK could bring huge benefits to rural areas, bring back birds and butterflies to our farmland, and make organic food available to more people. The supermarkets realise this, consumers realise this - its time for Ministers to wake up to the potential of organic farming and give it the backing it deserves”.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] It has been estimated for example that if 30% of farmland is organic, as required by the Bill, over 16,000 new jobs could be created, and the increase in bird life could be as much as 10%. Full briefing available from FOE.

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