Organic Farming - Is it just playing games?

Deep down I believe that a key solution for a better planet is the transition from intensive farming to organic agriculture, which includes permaculture, forest gardens and the like. Through not using pesticides and herbicides there will be a greater abundance and diversity of insects and wildlife, which will mean pests are picked off by the greater abundance of birds, or companion planting with species which repulse pests.  Diseases such as avian influenza and swine flu which are created through the unnatural conditions found in factory farming will be eradicated.  Overall a more complex, resilient and beautiful system of farming could emerge. Such a system requires more man power, but this would have associated health and well being benefits.

The above are largely hypotheses, whilst I believe them to be true, public perception is that organic food is a luxury and typically organic farmers are simply 'playing' and when I consider it my experience supports this.  However, given the wide variety of organic products in shops it must be profitable?  

Here I hope to investigate this question to better understand whether organic farming can be adopted by the mainstream?  

In non-organic farming around 31,000 tonnes of chemicals are sprayed in the UK each year to kill weeds, insects and other pests that attack crops, and tax payers fork out over £120m annually to remove chemicals from drinking water mainly as a result of pesticides. Contrastingly, organic farmers rely on natural methods to manage the land. They encourage natural predators and develop nutrient-rich soil and healthy crops which have natural resistance to pests and diseases, in addition to maintaining natural habitats such as hedgerows which encourage wildlife. 

A whopping 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food and farming, so choosing organic, local and seasonal food is a fundamental step in reducing our carbon footprint. Given that the government has agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 it will be necessary to derive fertility from sunshine and organic matter – as organic farmers do – rather than from fossil fuel-based chemical fertilisers.

The Soil Association's 2009 Market Report shows that organic food sales have been hit across all sectors, as consumers tighten their belts in the face of the economic downturn. Although overall UK sales of organic products increased by 1.7% in 2008 to over £2.1 billion, this statistic must be seen in the context of overall food price rises rather than sales volume increases.

Additionally, rising fossil fuel costs now and in the long term mean the price differential between organic and non-organic products is diminishing (and is in some cases is non-existent, where consumers buy directly from producers), offering further strong potential for future growth in the organic market.

www.soilassociation.org

The UK is heavily reliant on imported organic fruit, vegetables, grains and protein crops(1).  This is not sustainable as it requires more energy to transport the food and does not foster the benefits of buying local seasonal produce where possible. 

1. Soil association Organic Market Report 2009.

There are 628 thousand hectares of organically managed land in the UK(2), equivalent to 3.9% of the UK's agricultural land area (1).

2. http://statistics.defra.gov.uk

The Soil Associations 2009 report covers organic farm incomes, and here I felt I would find my answer.  The chapter begins positively, "the farm business income for all farms was good... and, organic farms of all types continued to achieve a higher  net income in comparison to non-organic farms".  Whilst financial data is presented for livestock, the farming of vegetables has no data associated with it.  Given that the report comments that 2007 and 2008 were two of the worst growing seasons on record and that farmers are having to reevaluate which crops to grow it seems incredible high profits could have been recorded. 

Tuesday Monday

It's a tuesday monday kind of night what with the bank holiday monday it feels like today's a monday when in fact, it's a tuesday. That's a funny thing isn't it, how a day can actually feel like a specific day of the week, and you know it's not just something in your head, it's there in the air, it could be a frenetic Monday, or a firey Friday, a dazed weekend. Which set me thinking that we perhaps do have energies and vibes which affect a collective energy.... Of course it's affected by weather, but also our own moods, I mean if everyone is feeling gloomy, perhaps having been bashed around the head with stories about a credit crunch we all get a bit gloomy and it spreads. But here in Blighty, when the spring sun starts shining, how can we help but spread a collective energy around.

Neil said our office feels a bit depressed. It's the environment in their. Stale air, it's too hot, all those computers, people not communicating enough with each other. I'm not sure it's a place which I can survive in.

I think that will do for this post. .

Spring is in the air

At last the door is open wide, there's the sound of people doing things in the back garden, it's warm. Bob Dylon's harmonica and the clink of a spade in the soil. I'm coming off the end of a week long bender, or has it been longer? This winter's been an emotional one. Torn apart by love, I didn't give in, it feels so strange now the storm has passed, I am empty, the girl that stopped me to sleep for weeks is now nothing, am I bad? If my love waxes and wanes like the moon is that wrong? I'm approaching a new time in life, I hope I'm becoming more self aware, recognising the steps I need to take; I hope I will keep using this blog, although I am a fan of paper and pen!

Report on EC decisions over Deep Sea Stocks

The world’s fish stocks are in a sorry state. Global fish catches have declined steadily since the late 1980’s, in 2003 29% of open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse as a result of poor management practices and increased fishing pressure.

In European waters pelagic and demersal stocks of common species such as Cod, Sole and Hake have been exploited to the point of becoming uneconomical. Consequently, in the mid 1990’s fishermen turned their attention to deep water fishing, below 200 meters, which became economically viable through technological advances and market forces.

The biology of these species makes them more susceptible to over fishing; they are typically long lived, up to150 years, have a low reproductive capacity, late sexual maturity, and aggregate over sea mounts to spawn. They have been exploited as a result of ignorance and bad management. Fishing for Orange Roughy, a species that lives on underwater sea mountains off Scotland began in 1991. Initially 5,000 tonnes were caught per season, within 2 years this had fallen to 1,800 tonnes. The average catch between 1994 and 2000 was between 100 and 300 tonnes. Depletion of stocks is not the only concern when trawling on sea mounts. The unique coral ecosystems, even in the cold waters of the NE Atlantic, are completely obliterated by heavy fishing.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, the official scientific body which advises the EU on fish stocks, asked for fishing for deep sea species to be banned in some areas.

In a 2 day debate in Brussels the EU recently came together to discuss deep sea quotas for 2007/08 and to make decisions over fishing techniques, equipment and methods of monitoring fisheries Europe wide.

Deep Sea Quotas

The discussions on deep sea stocks split the 25 attending nations into 2 factions; Northern nations including Britain, Germany and Denmark argued hard to save Europe’s deep sea fish from extinction and wanted to follow scientific advice to ban catches of tusk, blue ling, orange roughy, and black scabbardfish in certain areas. They faced strong opposition from France, Portugal and Spain the countries with the most developed deep-sea fishing industries.

The EC diluted some of the ‘harsh quota cuts’ and quotas were allocated for orange roughy and blue ling despite calls from scientists that the fisheries should be closed.

Final Decisions:

• Quotas for 4 of 9 species under discussion – black scabbardfish, alfonsinos, red seabream and forkbeards - will remain at 2005 levels.
• Deep sea sharks and Orange Roughy, where the Commission had proposed 33 % quota cuts, were reduced to 25% over 4 years – effectively phasing the fishery out.
• Roundnose grenadier and blue ling have had quotas fixed this year for continued fishing. Up to 10,000 tonnes of the former and 3,841 tonnes of the latter can now be caught.

Commenting on the meeting, EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg stated:

“The agreement reached on deep sea socks will lead to effective protection for vulnerable deep sea species while giving the fleet’s concerned time to adapt to the necessary constraints on their activities’

The WWF criticised the EU for adopting double standards; they supported the ban on deep water fishing in International waters but are not applying the precautionary principle to their own waters.

Other measures

• After 3 years of deadlock ministers agreed to increase net mesh sizes in Mediterranean fisheries, thereby strengthening the selectivity of trawled nets and reducing bycatch and catch of juvenile fish. However, a loophole could allow the reintroduction of 6km long driftnets banned since 2002, which France is already exempt from. The use of such nets illegally has decimated stocks of Mediterranean bluefin tuna.

• The use of satellite technology to track illegal fishing vessels and the substitution of traditional logbooks for electronic versions were voted for unanimously. These measures will make it easier to detect illegal fishing and quota violations contributing to sustainable fisheries management.

There is always a balance to be struck between conservation and livelihoods. Sustainable fisheries management guarantees long term returns from a fishery, compared to the short term pillage that has been observed over recent years. Southern states, whose economy is more dependent upon fisheries, are less accepting of a precautionary approach to fisheries management, it was upon this concept that much debate was focused. It is a result of the strong stance taken by Northern states that the quota levels remained at, or reduced from their present levels.

In Europe consumers are also being given a chance to contribute to sustainable fisheries management. The Marine Stewardship Council, based in the UK, certify fisheries as being sustainable and consequently produce from accredited fisheries carry a clearly identifiable eco label that assures customers the product is from a well managed fishery.