Your support makes a difference
Campaigning
We campaign hard on issues that affect the future of our food and planet. For example, we launched our GM NO! appeal in response to the Food Standards Agency’s debate on GM. We felt the debate was rigged towards encouraging the public to support the GM industry. We’re proud to report that, following pressure from the Soil Association and others, the FSA has now cancelled plans to spend half a million pounds on the debate – a hugely positive result.
“Organic farming offers many solutions to the challenges posed by climate change and resource depletion, but we must strive continually to improve our standards to ensure that we are producing food in way that is both sustainable and resilient.” (Soil Association report, ‘Feeding the animals that feed us’)
Our policy team produces high-profile, hard-hitting research and reports that provide the basis for our campaigning work. For instance, in October we launched our report ‘Feeding the animals that feed us’, which aims to kick-start a discussion about the necessary improvements needed in the way we feed our livestock in the UK.
Connecting
“It’s good for your mental health, it gets you fit, it broadens your social horizons and it puts the best food on your table.” (Matt Rhodes, member, Loxley Valley Community Farm)
With the help of the Soil Association, over 50 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives have started trading over the last two years, providing food to nearly 2,500 people and working with 135 producers. Projects range from bread schemes to lamb sharing initiatives to community farming projects. CSA members benefit from access to fresh, local food, produced with respect for the environment and for animal welfare. Meanwhile, the farmers involved receive a more secure income and obtain a higher return for their products by selling direct to the public. Many more CSAs are in development.
Our work supporting organic buying groups is also going from strength to strength. This is yet another way for people to buy fresh organic produce straight from a farmer. People get together in groups – in their neighbourhoods, workplace, with friends or even within schools – and put in a bulk order. The farmer deals with a single order, drop-off and payment, which mean they can provide food to members at an affordable price.
Educating
“Food is key to developing a happy and successful child – without good food how can they learn?” (Jenny Cooper, teacher, Four Dwellings High School, Birmingham)
We are very proud of to be the lead partners in the Food for Life Partnership, which is revolutionising school food culture. Food for Life schools all over England are improving their school dinners and helping to set healthy eating patterns for life by getting children involved in cooking and growing food. 3,000 schools have now joined the Partnership. That amounts to over 200,000 children now eating healthy Food for Life accredited meals every day across England!
Schools such as St John’s Primary in Midsomer Norton, recipient of a Gold Award, have shown just how much it is possible to achieve. All children now do cooking and growing, and the school also hosts farmers’ markets and cooking and gardening clubs to which parents are invited, too. The school dinners are 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and seasonal and 30% organic.
“I loved all the animals. My favourite part of the trip was when we fed the goats and sheep…I had the best day of my life!” (Callum, aged 8, on visiting Ashlyns Organic Farm in West Essex)
Callum is one of 400 children from 14 Hackney primary schools who visited the 1,450 acre farm in 2009, thanks to support from the Soil Association and the Cadbury Foundation. As well as giving children from disadvantaged, inner-city communities a chance to experience the countryside, a farm visit helps them develop an appreciation for nature and an understanding of where their food comes from.
The Soil Association has an organic farm network of more than 100 farms across the UK who run special visits, open days and other public activities for all ages. Over 29% of adults in the UK have never set foot on a farm. Yet visiting a farm – even once – can be a life-changing experience. It highlights, vividly, the intimate links between food, health, farming and the environment.