Support our campaigns

The Soil Association is a charity campaigning for planet-friendly food and farming. We believe in the importance of the connection between soil, food, the health of people and the health of the planet. We work at all levels of government and community to develop and promote our campaigns and policy work.

Our campaigning priorities are:

Explaining the benefits of organic food and farming

Organic food and farming is better for the environment, for wildlife and has the highest standards of animal welfare in the UK. Organic farming uses crop rotations to improve the fertility of the soil. Promoting the multiple benefits of organic production is core to the Soil Association’s mission.

Feeding the world

We are also campaigning on the issue of food security and how we can feed the world in 2050. We set out our strategy for change in our report ‘Food Futures: Strategies for resilient food and farming’. In our report ‘Telling Porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production’ we show what is wrong with what scientists, politicians and agribusiness have been saying about feeding the world in 2050.

Climate friendly food and farming

The Government's Climate Change act has committed the UK to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To come anywhere near meeting these targets we must make fundamental changes to the way we farm, process, distribute, prepare and eat our food over the next 20 years. Organic farming offers the best, currently available, practical model for addressing climate-friendly food production. We examine the important role that soil carbon sequestration can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our ‘Soil Carbon and Organic Farming’ report.

Food for Life Partnership

Led by the Soil Association, the Food for Life Partnership includes the Focus on Food Campaign, Garden Organic and the Health Education Trust. Together we are working to revolutionise school meals by giving children the chance to grow and cook food, and visit organic farms.

GM, Nanotechnology and cloning

The Soil Association campaigns against the use of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in human and animal food and on the commercial planting of GM crops in the UK. The use of nanotechnology is banned under our standards. We also campaign against the use of cloning in animal production.

• Take action on GM
  Make your voice heard - write to your MP to ask for accurate labelling of meat and dairy products that come from animals fed on GM feed, or donate today to our GM appeal as we urgently need funds to support our 'GM NO!' campaign.
  Take action

Health

Organic farming recognises the direct connection between our health and the food we eat. The Soil Association works to highlight the possible dangers of pesticides to human health and the uncertainties about the effectiveness of their official safety regulation. We continue to campaign for better food in schools, hospitals, nurseries restaurant etc. See the Soil Association’s Food for Life Catering Mark for further details.

• Save our school dinners!
  Sign our petition or write to your MP to protect the school lunch service from budget cuts - we want recognition of the benefits of a good school meal service and the introduction of a minimum spend on ingredients for every child’s meal.
  Sign our petition or write to your MP

• Better nursery food now
  Sign our petition and support our call to put in place clear standards for the quality of food served in nurseries - make sure every child gets the start in life they deserve.
  Sign our petition

Animal welfare

No system of farming has higher levels of animal welfare standards than organic farms working to Soil Association standards. When you buy Soil Association certified meat and dairy products, the animals have been fed a healthy diet, there is no factory farming, they have had access to the outdoors, and have been cared for in ways that reduce stress and disease. The Soil Association is concerned about the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. We are one of the project leaders on the collaborative AssureWel project.

• Not in my banger
  Join our campaign to ensure pigs have basic freedoms and massive pig factories do not enter the UK.
  Sign up to not in my banger

• Take action on cloning
  It has recently emerged that meat and milk from cloned animals have entered the UK food chain. Support our call to ban the use of cloning - write to your MP and make your voice heard on this important issue.
  Write to your MP

Wildlife

Over the last 50 years the UK has witnessed a steep decline in wildlife. One way to help reverse this is by supporting organic farming. Organic farming depends on encouraging a diverse ecosystem to maintain soil fertility and to keep pests under control naturally.  Our ‘Save the honeybee’ campaign is calling for the Government to protect our honeybees and ban neonicotinoid pesticides.

• Write to your MP about bees
  We want the Government to ban neonicotinoids to help ensure the health and future of our honeybees. If you would like to take further action to assist our campaign, we would like to invite you to write to your local MP.
  Write to your MP

Our reports

Read more about our extensive campaign work since 2000 by viewing a full list of our policy reports.

• Our reports

Support the Soil Association

As a charity, we urgently need your support to fund our campaigning work and help build a sustainable future for the British countryside. Please, if you can, make a donation online or call us on 0117 914 2447 and pledge your support today.

•  Donate to the Soil Association online