Being part of the organic sector could help build much-needed resilience into food and farming businesses struggling in difficult market conditions, a leading organic certifier has claimed.
Farmers stepping into food manufacturing to supplement their incomes should use the opportunity to showcase the qualities of the rural sector, such as better food security and freshness, the National Farmers Union (NFU) president has said.
Domestic producers must stop abandoning organic food or lose out to importers, as the category shows the first signs of UK growth in five years, the Soil Association has warned.
Falling demand for organic products means that the government should pay less attention to lobby groups from the organic sector, claims the Crop Protection Association (CPA).
DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has ruled out financial support for the organic industry, despite producers saying they stand alone and a Soil Association (SA) report damning Whitehall’s “diffident, if not lazy” approach.
Waxing lyrical about “how organic food will save the planet” will not give the sector the sales boost it needs, according to the agency producing a new organic marketing campaign that will launch in January.
The pricing hierarchy in organic foods is confusing shoppers and holding the category back, with some products costing more than twice as much as conventional counterparts and others achieving price parity, according to the UK’s biggest grocer.
