The wholesome truth about organic food

Far from "exploding myths about the benefits of organic food", Robert Johnston peddles some old chestnuts, as well as constructing myths of his own. Many seem familiar, stemming from 'interest groups' like the Hudson Institute, a US think-tank which receives funding from some of the world's largest agrochemical and GM companies.

Organic husbandry vastly reduces farmers' reliance on the products those companies manufacture, so any increase in public support for organic food and expansion of organic acreage threatens their profits.

Johnston is ignorant of actual organic practices allowed under Soil Association standards and UK and European law, ­ though the details are freely available on our website. For instance, organic chickens cannot be kept indoors, other than for a limited period in the event of an actual outbreak of bird flu.

The article was sign-posted, 'Organic, the lies they tell', but Johnston doesn't specify who 'they' are. As the main organic food and farming body in the UK - funded by charitable donations - your readers might reasonably assume he means the Soil Association. We don't make unsubstantiated claims - ­ a significant body of evidence confirms distinct differences in and benefits from organic farming and food compared to non-organic.

Six published, peer reviewed studies have found that organic whole milk has more beneficial fat-soluble nutrients - omega-3 fatty acid, Vitamin E and beta-carotene. The most recent study by Glasgow and Liverpool Universities found UK organic whole milk has on average 68 per cent higher levels of omega-3 than non-organic milk. The Government Food Standards Agency acknowledges these nutritional differences, but doesn't yet accept these deliver demonstrable health benefits. (Although Dutch research published only last year showed that infants fed on organic dairy foods and whose mothers also ate organic dairy products, suffered a 36 per cent lower incidence of eczema.)

The environmental benefits of organic farming are well-established and accepted by respected wildlife groups such as the RSPB and WWF, as well as the Government's own conservation advisors. A review of 66 published studies concluded that on average wildlife is 50 per cent more abundant on organic farms and there are 30 per cent more species than on non-organic farms.

The Soil Association has never claimed organic food doesn't contain additives, only that it contains far fewer. Johnston claims, "at least three dozen 'E' numbers are allowed". Not quite. Soil Association standards permit 30 additives, some of which like iron, thiamine (Vitamin B1) and vitamins in baby food are required by law, 90 per cent fewer than the 300-plus additives allowed in non-organic food.

Nor do we say our organic farmers 'don't use any pesticides', just that they can only use four with special permission, compared to the 311 freely available to non-organic farmers. Polls show the majority of people don't want pesticides in their food, yet 40 per cent of fruit and vegetable items on sale in the EU are contaminated with pesticides ­ and one food item in 30 contains pesticides above legal limits. Consumers are right to be concerned, given the European Commission's acknowledgement that 'long-term exposure to pesticides can lead to serious disturbances to the immune system, sexual disorders, cancers, sterility, birth defects, damage to the nervous system and genetic damage'.

The criticism most commonly levelled against organic farming is that it 'can't feed the world'. A Danish study presented last year at a UN Food & Agriculture Organisation conference challenges this, finding there wouldn't be any serious negative effect on food security for sub-Saharan Africa if 50 per cent of agricultural land in the food exporting regions of Europe and North America converted to organic by 2020 and that a similar shift in sub-Saharan Africa could help the region's hungry by reducing reliance on imports.

The UK organic market has grown more than 25 per cent year on year over the past decade, a cause for celebration for those wanting more sustainable food and farming, but clearly worrying for those flogging pesticides and artificial fertilisers.
soilassociation.org ·