How organic is organic? More bad news for British farmers
24th September 2007 by Alex Briggs2 Comments
This Times article has raised a difficult topic for organic farmers.
The article reveals that Helen Browning, the director of food and farming at the Soil Association, sends pig shoulders from Wiltshire, England to Germany for processing into sausages and imports pork loins from Sweden to make bacon.
The Soil Association, to their credit, have addressed the issue directly and proactively, commenting:
An article in The Times reveals that Soil Association licensee Eastbrook Farm Organic Meats, owned by Helen Browning, Soil Association food and farming director, sends pig shoulders from Wiltshire to Germany for processing into sausages and imports pork loins from Sweden to make bacon. Tim Finney, commercial director of Eastbrook Farm Organic Meats, said that the business was forced to seek pig farms outside Britain last July because of a shortfall in the supply of British organic pigs adding that three more British organic pig producers will begin supplying Eastbrook from May 2008. He states that Helen is not guilty of hypocrisy, “I have never met anybody who has less inclination towards double standards. She has spent 20 years of her life trying to persuade British people to rear organic produce and set up a business to try and sell it. If she could sell just British products, she would.”
The British farming industry is truly experiencing a time of bad fortune and crisis, with Foot and Mouth cases being reported daily, the never before seen in England “bluetongue disease” being found on a farm near Ipswich, the Vegetarian Society launching an anti-livestock campaign, as well as devastating floods and a milk price fixing scandal all finding the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.
15th November 2007 at 12:04 pm
I am an organic farmer in Srilanka growing a family farm of 8 acres close to the sea in the southern province. The web page opend last week can be sean at http//www.sammysorganic.org sammy is my fathers name.
I want to get in toutch with some organic farmers . Please send me some addresses whome are willing to contact me.
hoping to hear from you
Kind regards
ananda
15th November 2007 at 12:09 pm
Hello Ananda,
Please get in touch with the Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org) directly.