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There is a direct connection between farming practices, the health of animals and plants and what ends up on our plates.
After all its quite logical - look after our soil that our plants grow in and our animals graze on - they absorb or eat the nutrients from the healthy soil, look after our animals that graze on that soil as healthy less stressed animals results in better tasting meat and all that has a direct effect on what ends up on our plates. Soil rarely springs to mind when we think about food but its where it all begins - one teaspoon of healthy soil contains one billion organisms, amazing! In organic farming clover, grass and manure all add fertility naturally to the soil, hedges and trees help stabilise the soil as well as providing habitats for wild life. Yet non organic farming relies on chemical fertilizers and these chemicals can kill the life in the soil and find their way into our water systems, damaging the ecosystem.
Who governs organic standards? How do I know I am buying organic?
The main governing body in the UK is the Soil Association. The Soil Association is an independent not for profit membership organization founded in 1946. The Soil Association developed the worlds first organic standards and inspects around 4,000 org businesses each year. To find out more about the Soil Association and its work see their website www.soilassociation.org or to find out about offers, recipes, competitions and to join the organic food club look on the website www.whyorganic.org.
Organic products can only legally be labelled as such if the farmers and food manufacturers have been thoroughly inspected annually and licensed by an independent organic certification company. The Soil Association certifies over 70% of all organic products sold in the UK and they have well recognised symbol which is on their certified products. There are other certifying bodies including Organic farmers and growers.
Here are the answers to some questions we are frequently asked. Do look on the soil association website www.soilassociation.org for lots more information on how organic standards differ from conventional farming for animal welfare and other issues.
