GMW: Organic food is a con - speeches by Sams and Wright

[Guest guest]

GMW: " Organic food is a con " - speeches by Sams and Wright

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:42:07 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

------

On Midsummer's Eve there was an Economist Debate - " Organic food is a

con " .

 

Speaking for the motion were Lord Dick Taverne, the Chair of the lobby

group Sense about Science, and Julian Morris, the Director of the

International Policy Network, who we hear got roundly booed!

 

Below are, more or less, the presentations of those speaking against

the motion - Simon Wright, founder of the 'Organic and Fair' consultancy,

and Craig Sams, Chair of the Soil Association.

 

There are many interesting points in both speeches - for instance, the

points made about climate change in Craig's speech - but of particular

interest perhaps are the points about the Advertising Standards

Authority (ASA) in Simon's speech.

 

The ASA, he notes, has been extensively lobbied by anti-organic

interests in order to limit what claims can be made for organic food.

What is

less well known is that as a result of its stringent evaluation of the

evidence, the ASA recognises the validity of a series of important

claims that can be made for organic food.

 

These include, for instance, the fact that no food has higher amounts

of beneficial minerals, essential amino acids and vitamins than organic

food.

 

Read on...

 

[for more on Morris:

http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=90

for more on Taverne:

http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=127 ]

------

Economist Debate: " ORGANIC FOOD IS A CON "

Simon Wright

 

1. What organic is

 

Organic food production is a legally defined process by which food is

grown, processed and presented to consumers. There is extensive law

defining organic products in the UK, the EU, USA, Japan and in many other

countries. This legislation is in addition to all other existing food

law on safety, labelling, etc. Organics has been described as the most

highly regulated sector of the UK food industry.

 

This legislation defines the organic process. In other words to

describe food as organic all aspects of its production must have

obeyed the

organic regulations – seeds, feed, growing procedures, harvesting,

processing and labelling. This holistic approach means that consumers can

have confidence in the entire supply chain " from field to fork " as every

stage in this process is regulated and inspected by independent organic

certifying bodies.

 

Since the legislation defines the process and not the end product there

is no single legal definition of an organic food. Here is one

definition I use

 

" Organic food is the product of a farming system which avoids the use

of man-made fertilisers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock

feed additives. Instead the system relies on crop rotation, animal and

plant manures, some hand weeding and biological pest control. "

 

.......

 

3. What can you say about organics?

 

I would now like to consider what has been said about organic food.

However instead of going to the many supporters of the organic sector I

will refer to two of our sternest critics, the Advertising Standards

Authority and the FSA:

 

3.1 The ASA

 

The Advertising Standards Authority has been extensively lobbied to

limit what claims can be made for organic food. In response to this

lobbying it has stringently evaluated the claims made for organic

food. Here

are just five of those it has permitted:

 

1. No system of farming has higher levels of animal welfare standards

than organic farms working to Soil Association standards.

 

2. No food has higher amounts of beneficial minerals, essential amino

acids and vitamins than organic food.

 

3.The best method of reducing exposure to potentially harmful

pesticides would be to consume organically grown food, where their use is

avoided

 

4. Consumers who wish to minimise their dietary pesticide exposure can

do so with confidence by buying organically grown foods

 

5. The UK Government, their statutory advisors (English Nature, the

Environment Agency) and NGOs, including the RSPB, say that organic

farming

has environmental benefits. The government stated that organic farming

is

 

*better for wildlife

*causes lower pollution from sprays

*produces less carbon dioxide and less dangerous wastes

*has high animal welfare standards

*increases jobs in the countryside

 

3.2 THE FSA

 

The sternest critic of organics in the UK has been the Food Standards

Agency. Just how stern is reflected by the fact that when the FSA

commissioned an independent review of its operations this review

concluded

that the FSA had shown unjustifiable bias against the organic sector. So

what did the FSA director and arch organic critic Sir John Krebs say

about organic food ?

 

" Organic food is a success story. This is great. By offering extra

choice organic food has enriched the food lives of consumers. Organic

food

contains fewer residues of pesticides used in conventional agriculture,

so buying organic is one way to reduce the chances that your food

contains these pesticides. "

 

4. The popularity of organics

 

4.1 With consumers

 

In this country organic food is very popular. Consider the following

statistics:

*80% of families bought something organic in the last year

*The market for organic food and drink in the UK is national and cuts

across age and socio-economic classes

*The UK organic market is worth GBP1.1 billion and is growing at around

11% per year (most other food categories are static with some in

decline)

*One third of all eggs sold by Ocado, the delivery company owned by

Waitrose, are organic

*In some categories such as baby food organic is now the norm and

dominates the market

 

Why is organic so popular with consumers?

 

Repeated research shows that people buy organic food because they

believe it tastes better and is better for them and they like the idea of

knowing where their food comes from. Jamie Oliver's recent Feed Me Better

school meals campaign was based on a Soil Association initiative called

Food For Life. The success of Jamie Olivers campaign reflects the

enthusiasm consumers have for food that is organic, locally produced and

minimally processed.

 

4.2 With farmers

 

It's not just consumers who like eating organic food – farmers like

producing it. The thousands of farmers who have converted to organic

farming in the UK have improved the profitability of their businesses.

Organic food takes longer to grow and requires more expensive inputs:

it is

only right that it should attract a higher price and organic farmers

benefit from this.

 

But it is not just about money. Non-organic farmers recognise that the

synthetic inputs such as organophosophorous pesticides and sheep dips

are highly toxic to their land and to their own health. These substances

are derived from nerve gases developed in World War 2. Given a choice

who would want to regularly handle such unpleasant materials and spray

it on their land

 

In our globalised food economy it is not just UK farmers who have to

deal with such materials. In many African countries farm workers have to

apply highly toxic chemicals with minimal training and, because of the

heat of the tropics often without protective clothing. It is

unsurprising that increasing numbers of farmers around the world are

saying good

bye to such dangerous practices.

 

The other attraction to farmers and to consumers as well is how organic

production allows a re-engagement between farmers and consumers. Many

consumers have become very disconnected as to where their food comes

from. Organic farmers are proud of what they do, and are happy to be

identified with their produce. Because of the total traceability

inherent in

organic production organic farmers proudly welcome visitoors to their

farms to see their processes in action.

 

The great success in the UK of farmers markets shows how consumers like

buying from producers. Even where organic products are sold via

supermarkets it has proved possible to show details of the producer

onpack and

some retailers now have traceability websites, where entering the

product code allows consumers to see pictures of the farm, and read more

about the farmer.

 

4.3 With Society

 

I have worked in the food industry for 27 years, eight years in

non-organic food and the last nineteen in organic and fairtrade food.

What I

have found most depressing over that time is the increasingly relentless

focus on driving down the cost of food to consumers. I accept that some

consumers have severely limited incomes and find it difficult to

justify the cost of organic food. However the problem with cheap food

is that

we all end up paying for it indirectly.

 

Cheap food has many consequences, all of them bad:

 

*It is dangerous – BSE was a result of cost cutting (estimated cost

GBP3billion

*It is of poor nutritional quality as cheap processed food tends to

contain large amounts of hydrogenated fat, refined flour and sugar. The

resulting oncosts to the NHS of treating nutritionally–related diseases

is incalculable.

*It exports jobs – the UK is rarely the lowest cost producer of food.

Excessive food miles is an inevitable result of cheap food.

*It increases the risk of adulteration – for example the recent Sudan

dye incident (estimated cost GBP100million) came about because producers

in India were receiving so little for their chillies

 

Organic food production offers a way out of this relentless costcutting

cycle for producers, retailers and consumers. Organic food is

increasingly becoming allied to the Slow Food movement and to local

food groups.

Organic food talks about food culture, about making food a pleasure and

not just fuel. By going organic we might spend a bit more of our

disposable income on food but is that such a bad thing? Organic food

combines

wellbeing, sustenance, sensual pleasure and social intercourse. In the

words of Pete Townshend

" I call that a bargain, the best I ever had. "

 

5. Summary

 

Organics is well defined in law – consumers buying organic food get

what they expect. It does what it says on the tin

 

Even the strongest critics of the organic sector such as the ASA and

the FSA now recognise its benefits

 

Organic continues to be popular with everyone involved in food –

farmers, producers, retailers and consumers

 

Organic food offers a way out of the destructive lowcost food cycle

 

So where is the con?

------

Economist Debate: Craig Sams

 

" Organic food is not a con because it delivers in two key areas of

current concern, namely climate change and human health. "

 

I was born on a farm in Nebraska some 60 years ago. My mother, who

grew up on that farm during what they called the `Dirty Thirties' recalls

the prolonged dust storms that blew up as the topsoil of Kansas and

Oklahoma became airborne and darkened the Nebraska skies. Fertile

prairie land that had only been farmed for 40 years had turned into

desert.

 

This environmental devastation caused worldwide shock and helped prompt

the founding of the Soil Association by Lady Eve Balfour. Her

co-founder Dr. Innes Pearce, ran the Peckham Project which showed

that, when

you educate the most deprived Londoners in the basic elements of healthy

eating and domestic hygiene, social indicators such as domestic income,

educational achievement, marital stability all improved.

 

There was no con here, just a genuine belief that good farming and good

nutrition went together and that the same systems thinking that

informed one also informed the other. When Beveridge mapped out the

National

Health Service, his budgetary projections anticipated a drop in medical

costs by the mid 1950s as the health of nation improved as a result of

healthier diet.

 

The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, has

stated " Climate Change is the most severe problem we face today " . Lord

Taverne has written that `moderate warming would be generally good for

agriculture' and that `technology will be more advanced to cope with the

problems we face.' However, for those of us who are less confident in as

yet unimagined and undeveloped future technologies it's encouraging

that the government is doing something now.

 

The Sustainable Development Unit at Defra describes the CAP reforms

this year as a major step towards reducing Britain's greenhouse gas

emissions. This is because the EU have abandoned the price-fixing

subsidies

which encourage obscene surpluses and devastate landscapes. The new

system encourages environmental responsibility and the optimisation of

production that was typical of farming before the post-war

introduction of

subsidies effectively nationalised agriculture. This is already

stimulating a substantial increase in applications from farmers to

convert to

organic status.

 

However, as long as global commodity prices are fixed in Washington DC

there will be distortions. Subsidies establish artificially low prices

for key animal feeds such as corn and soybeans, thereby ensuring cheap

burgers and chicken nuggets. The inevitable surpluses are, with

further expensive subsidies, turned into sugar, alcohol and

bio-diesel, or

dumped on developing countries. Even the Soviet Union abandoned this

crazy system two decades ago.

 

Consider also: Since the introduction of genetically engineered crops

in the US the level of farm subsidies has quintupled. Is this the

system we want farmers worldwide to adopt?

 

Organic farming will thrive on the return of entrepreneurial market

economics to food production. If it were rewarded for carbon

sequestration at the same rates as are proposed for tree planting

under the Kyoto

protocols, that would be the icing on the cake.

 

Organic farming offers solutions for Climate Change

3 main greenhouse gases are Carbon Dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide.

Organic farming reduces Carbon dioxide for 2 reasons

1. Reduced output of CO2 – in calorie terms it takes 12 calories of

fossil fuel to produce one calorie of food in industrial agriculture and

only 6 calories of fossil fuel in organic agriculture.

2. Increased carbon sequestration. Organic farming sequesters 1 tonne

of carbon per hectare per annum, double no-till and streets ahead of

conventional. Only conservation reserve programmes or set aside

generates more.

The increased levels of organic matter in organically farmed soils also

lead to increased moisture retention and less dependency on irrigation.

 

Reduces Methane

Organic cattle must have 80% forage, grass and hay, in their diets.

This means they digest more efficiently and fart less. It also means

they 99% less prone to E.Coli 0157:H7, a pathogen that kills 200

Americans

a year and is the second largest cause of kidney failure among

burger-eating American teenage boys.

 

Reduces Nitrous Oxide – nitrate fertilisers don't just pollute the

water supply, they also produce nitrous oxide gas, which has 21 times the

greenhouse gas effect of carbon dioxide

 

If the whole world went organic, it could contribute between 1/4 and

1/3 of the Kyoto targets for greenhouse gas reduction.

 

The price of oil has doubled recently.

 

Fossil fuels represent 2/3 of the cost of manufacturing nitrate

fertilisers.

Herbicides and other pesticides are entirely derived from petrochemical

feedstocks.

 

This evening's debate could soon be pre-empted by purely economic

factors.

Gas guzzling SUV agriculture has had its macho day.

 

The smart money is already moving into organic food and farming and

jumping off the expensive and wasteful agrichemical and drug treadmill.

 

Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China has increased its organic food

growing area to 1.5 million hectares (4,000,000 acres). They project

that organic food production will raise per capita income of farmers in

the province by 75%.

 

Now let's take a look at human health and organic food:

 

Herbicides don't just leave residues in food, they accumulate in water

supplies. They have hormone-mimicking effects.

Pesticides – 20,000 farmers a year die in pesticide accidents and many

more are crippled for life. The impact on consumers and the

environment is also damaging.

Organic food excludes most of the 300 or so permitted food additives

and all those which are neurotoxins, carcinogens and mutagens.

Organic drinks never contain phosphoric acid, the acid that gives the

`bite' to Cola drinks and causes osteoporosis in teenagers.

Hydrogenated fat has always been prohibited in organic food. The US

NIH said `there is no safe minimum level.' Professor Walter Willett of

Harvard University calls it the `biggest disaster in the history of food

processing.' It comprises 10% of the average Briton's diet.

Artificial food colourings and flavourings are never used in organic

food.

Organic food is as GM-free as possible in an increasingly contaminated

world.

Milk and beef from organically reared cattle have higher levels of

healthy omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids and lower levels of saturated fat.

Because organic plants don't receive protection from pesticides, they

produce higher levels of antioxidants and other health protecting

flavonoids

Organic farming has never allowed the use of sex hormones in meat

animals. For organic farmers it was always a no brainer. If hormones

make

an animal fat, eating that animal's meat will make you fat. Duh!

 

In the words of the old fairground slogan 'You pay your money and you

take your chance.' With organic food you know what you are getting.

" Organic food helps prevent climate change and prioritises human

health.

Where's the con? "

 

 

 

 

----------------------