On Midsummer's Eve there was an Economist Debate - "Organic food is a con".

Speaking for the motion were Lord Dick Taverne, the Chair of the lobby group Sense about Science, and Julian Morris, the Director of the International Policy Network, who we hear got roundly booed!

Below are, more or less, the presentations of those speaking against the motion - Simon Wright, founder of the 'Organic and Fair' consultancy, and Craig Sams, Chair of the Soil Association.

There are many interesting points in both speeches - for instance, the points made about climate change in Craig's speech - but of particular interest perhaps are the points about the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in Simon's speech.

The ASA, he notes, has been extensively lobbied by anti-organic interests in order to limit what claims can be made for organic food. What is less well known is that as a result of its stringent evaluation of the evidence, the ASA recognises the validity of a series of important claims that can be made for organic food.

These include, for instance, the fact that no food has higher amounts of beneficial minerals, essential amino acids and vitamins than organic food.

Read on...

[for more on Morris:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=90

for more on Taverne:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=127 ]
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Economist Debate: "ORGANIC FOOD IS A CON"

Simon Wright

1. What organic is

Organic food production is a legally defined process by which food is grown, processed and presented to consumers. There is extensive law defining organic products in the UK, the EU, USA, Japan and in many other countries. This legislation is in addition to all other existing food law on safety, labelling, etc. Organics has been described as the most highly regulated sector of the UK food industry.

This legislation defines the organic process. In other words to describe food as organic all aspects of its production must have obeyed the organic regulations – seeds, feed, growing procedures, harvesting, processing and labelling. This holistic approach means that consumers can have confidence in the entire supply chain "from field to fork" as every stage in this process is regulated and inspected by independent organic certifying bodies.

Since the legislation defines the process and not the end product there is no single legal definition of an organic food. Here is one definition I use

"Organic food is the product of a farming system which avoids the use of man-made fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock feed additives. Instead the system relies on crop rotation, animal and plant manures, some hand weeding and biological pest control."
......

3. What can you say about organics?

I would now like to consider what has been said about organic food. However instead of going to the many supporters of the organic sector I will refer to two of our sternest critics, the Advertising Standards Authority and the FSA:

3.1 The ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority has been extensively lobbied to limit what claims can be made for organic food. In response to this lobbying it has stringently evaluated the claims made for organic food. Here are just five of those it has permitted:

1. No system of farming has higher levels of animal welfare standards than organic farms working to Soil Association standards.

2. No food has higher amounts of beneficial minerals, essential amino acids and vitamins than organic food.

3.The best method of reducing exposure to potentially harmful pesticides would be to consume organically grown food, where their use is avoided

4. Consumers who wish to minimise their dietary pesticide exposure can do so with confidence by buying organically grown foods

5. The UK Government, their statutory advisors (English Nature, the Environment Agency) and NGOs, including the RSPB, say that organic farming has environmental benefits. The government stated that organic farming is
*better for wildlife
*causes lower pollution from sprays
*produces less carbon dioxide and less dangerous wastes
*has high animal welfare standards
*increases jobs in the countryside

3.2 THE FSA

The sternest critic of organics in the UK has been the Food Standards Agency. Just how stern is reflected by the fact that when the FSA commissioned an independent review of its operations this review concluded that the FSA had shown unjustifiable bias against the organic sector. So what did the FSA director and arch organic critic Sir John Krebs say about organic food?

"Organic food is a success story. This is great. By offering extra choice organic food has enriched the food lives of consumers. Organic food contains fewer residues of pesticides used in conventional agriculture, so buying organic is one way to reduce the chances that your food contains these pesticides."

4. The popularity of organics

4.1 With consumers

In this country organic food is very popular. Consider the following statistics:

*80% of families bought something organic in the last year

*The market for organic food and drink in the UK is national and cuts across age and socio-economic classes

*The UK organic market is worth GBP1.1 billion and is growing at around 11% per year (most other food categories are static with some in decline)

*One third of all eggs sold by Ocado, the delivery company owned by Waitrose, are organic

*In some categories such as baby food organic is now the norm and dominates the market

Why is organic so popular with consumers?

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