Organic for All – a new vision for organic in the UK
The organic sector has a lot to be proud of.
It’s a globally scalable approach to sustainable food and farming, backed with compelling scientific evidence of the benefits it brings to people and planet.
It’s safeguarded in most places by legislation that prevents against greenwashing, and which is ahead of its time at the forefront of addressing and mitigating the climate and biodiversity crises.
Yet, in the UK at least, we have a problem.
Organic food isn’t affordable, available and accessible to everyone in society. It’s not fulfilling its full potential, and that needs to change.
Something different is possible
The UK has always been somewhat of an outlier. We only need to look across the channel to the Continent, where we see the EU has a 25% organic land target, with EU member states developing ambitious policies and incentives to drive organic production and consumption, bolster research and development in organic and ensure all citizens have access to organic food.
We see this showing up in the growth trajectory of major markets around the world. The UK was the only market to fall back in the 2007/8 recession, largely driven by a drop in retail confidence and delistings, but 15 years on there are other factors at play that mean many other countries are five times the size they were at the turn of the millennium.
In other parts of the world, organic is rightly seen as a one-stop-shop for achieving net zero targets, protecting biodiversity, boosting public health and providing secure and sustainable livelihoods.
And it’s not just Europe, there’s various countries, and regions in Asia that are taking a progressive approach to supporting organic with Japan mirroring a similar approach to the EU, and various Asian local governments centering organic in their agricultural and environmental policies.
Canada, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya are amongst the countries working on Organic Action Plans. In recent weeks, the Dutch government added 50 million euros to support organic market development alone.
Yet in the UK, we’ve broadly left it to the market to provide the key mechanism for supporting organic. This seemed like a good approach and an expedient way to scale organic. But in reality we’ve seen a number of unintended consequences.
Organic often ends up premiumised and used as a margin opportunity, with very little of the premium making its way back to our farmers, all the while reinforcing organic’s reputation as elitist and niche.
Political support for organic has historically been poor in the UK, and whilst it’s great to see the Scottish government’s recent commitment, the English and Welsh governments are missing a huge opportunity to capitalise on the multiple benefits of organic by failing to develop ambitious and progressive policies and plans for supporting organic.
Things need to change
We seek to address the reality that organic is often sidelined or ignored by policymakers, used as a margin opportunity by retailers, and primarily only accessible to a minority of consumers who can afford it on a regular basis or who understand its relevance to them and their lives.
We recognise that the challenges (as well as the solutions) for scaling organic exist at every level – how it’s produced, consumed, sold and supported.
The reasons for the current situation in relation to organic are complex, multifaceted and interlinked. So are the solutions.
A pathway for achieving organic for all
We’ve mapped a pathway for achieving organic for all which attempts to take all this complexity into account. But it will only be possible to achieve with the collaboration and input of the whole organic sector. We've already begun taking meaningful steps to this aim. The Soil Association Charity, fellow certifier Organic Farmers and Growers (OF&G) and Soil Association Certification have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines how the Parties will work together to jointly promote the interests of Organic and agroecological farming and food to deliver positive outcomes for climate, nature and health, in the UK and internationally that otherwise would not be achievable as independent actors. Read the full memorandum below.
In sharing our vision for organic for all, we’re also inviting all those with an interest in the organic movement to get involved.
We’ve divided out thinking about how to make organic affordable, available and accessible to everyone in society into three main areas of focus:
1. Organic must be valued
Making the value of organic clear for different audiences is an important starting point. Being valued starts with being understood. The contribution that organic production and consumption makes to climate, nature and health must be well-evidenced and shared in a way that’s fitting for the context and starts where people are.
For example, policymakers may value organic for the public goods it delivers, retailers for its role in achieving environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) targets, and consumers for how it helps put tackling climate change into their own hands.
We also need to acknowledge that the current market economy has failed to significantly value and reward food and farming systems that are good for climate, nature and health, and the polluter doesn’t pay for damage caused to the natural world.
We need a rethink of our economy to make it fit for the future – this is no easy feat, but is fundamental in the long term, because markets are not working for sustainable products. Many voices are now calling for a rethink of our economic model, and the organic sector can play a key role in shaping what it could and should look like.
2. Organic must be supported
Organic must be financially and practically supported in order to scale. Favourable national policies, backed up by appropriate financial support and incentives have been a cornerstone of organic sector development in other countries. They are the engine of organic market growth as they provide a business case for farmers to convert and stay organic, and support innovation in routes to market. Policies that incentivise and subsidise climate and biodiversity action, and discourage damaging practices can help to level the market.
Organic agriculture is knowledge intensive; farmers need access to information, training and support whether they’re new entrants or seasoned practitioners. Diverse, often marginalised voices need to be brought to fore.
The organic sector must also be supported by robust legislation and standards that encourage innovation and growth of the sector.
These aspects must be addressed by operationalised Organic Action Plans - such plans should be supported in the UK nations that have committed to developing them – namely Scotland, and they must be urgently developed in the nations where they’re currently absent – such as England.
3. Organic must be available
There must be easy access to organic food, both at home and in public settings such as schools and hospitals. To achieve this, we’ll need to work closely with retailers so that they expand organic product assortments, position organic better in stores, ensure fair mark-ups and communicate the ‘why’ of organic much more clearly.
We must also support the development and growth of alternative routes to market that bring people closer to the source of their food - such as box schemes.
Community-led initiatives are also vital for addressing the current unequal access to healthy organic food so that it’s not just the wealthiest in society who can eat organically.
We’ll also need to address some of the key sticking points in supply chains where lack of investment in infrastructure threatens to undermine availability.
Get involved
As an organisation we’re committed to playing our part in making this vision of organic being accessible, available and affordable for all, come to life.
But we can’t do it alone. And we’re lucky that there are lots of great organisations and individuals already working on issues that are integral to achieving ‘organic for all’.
Over the next few months we want to talk to the organic sector, to develop our plans together and uplift and link great work already happening, and plan new activities that drive the shared outcomes we want to see.
Organic for All will be a core theme of the Soil Association’s work in the coming years. We look forward to working with you all to realise the vision.
Organic For All – Give us your feedback
As an organisation we’re committed to playing our part in making the vision of organic being accessible, available and affordable for all, come to life.
But we can’t do it alone.
Over the next few months we want to talk to the organic sector, to develop our plans together and uplift and link great work already happening, and plan new activities that drive the shared outcomes we want to see.
Please give us your feedback on the plan and let us know which areas you would be interested in being involved in the evolution of.
Give your feedback here
The Soil Association Charity, OF&G and Soil Association Certification - Memorandum of Understanding
“The Soil Association Charity, OF&G and Soil Association Certification have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines how the Parties will work together to jointly promote the interests of Organic and agroecological farming and food to deliver positive outcomes for climate, nature and health, in the UK and internationally that otherwise would not be achievable as independent actors.
The practice-based outcomes of the Organic system, and the consequent saving on synthetic input use – pesticides and fertilisers – with the associated reduction in GHG emissions and increase in biodiversity, improved water quality and other natural capital benefits associated with Organic production systems would make a 25% uptake of Organic at farm level transformational.
The Parties therefore wish to work better together, in a spirit of co-operation, to promote Organic within this new, dynamic and evolving landscape, whilst also encouraging materially improved practices and outcomes from non-Organic farming
The collaboration between the Parties on ELMS and other policy issues has already provided the right focus for sector-wide promotion of Organic with DEFRA and others (including the environmental NGOs). In addition, all Parties believe that signposting an ‘Organic’ pathway on the Agroecological/Regenerative journey is important.
Building from these two foundations, the Parties agree on the following further key areas of alignment and cooperation
- To jointly communicate the ambition and need for transformational not incremental change in our food system, through the widespread adoption of Organic farming;
- To work toward Organic becoming increasingly available, acceptable and affordable “for all”;
- To work toward a joint line on countering ‘anti-Organic’ narratives"
