Times Of Malta:
Sales of organic products in Britain rose by 30% last year reaching £1.58 billion but domestic output is struggling to keep pace and imports look set to climb, the Soil Association said in its annual market report issued yesterday. ‘We are now in a situation of real undersupply… which is great for farmers but it does mean very difficult times for processors and retailers and consumers as well who want to buy organic food grown in the UK,’ Helen Browning, Food and Farming Director for the Soil Association, told a media briefing.
Organically managed land in Britain fell 8% last year to 631,144 hectares, mainly due to a decline in the area of organic grassland, particularly in Scotland. Organic land accounts for 3.4 per cent of the UK’s total agricultural. Land in the process of switching to organic farming increased by 68% from a year earlier to 87,020 hectares, boosted by strong market signals and reforms to European Union agricultural policy.
The EU is in the process of breaking the link between farm payments and production, allowing farmers more freedom to switch to less intensive forms of agriculture such as organic farming. ‘It’s going to take some time for that production to feed through into the marketplace. In the case of beef it could take 3 or 4 years. It’s inevitable there will be a rise in imports over the next 12 months,’ Ms Browning said.
The global market for organic food and drink totalled £16.7 billion in 2005, an increase of £1.2 billion or about 8% from the previous year, the Soil Association said.
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And in US, Organic Demand Is Going Overboard
Organic food manufacturers are finding that their demand for ingredients is outstripping their suppliers’ crops. To find the ingredients they need, they’re having to look outside the United States for foreign suppliers, a choice that doesn’t always rest easy with the organic movement, which also values sustainable local farming. One solution is for big manufacturers, like Stonyfield Farms, to encourage farmers to switch to organic by providing incentives and help. With companies like Wal-Mart jumping on the organic bandwagon, this issue is sure to explode in the future, making life difficult for organic manufacturers but also providing a great deal of opportunity for farmers who are looking to switch.
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Do you know that Brazil has the world’s second largest area of organic agriculture and that Brazilian producers of organic products have been seeking opportunities on the foreign market?
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