Agriculture: Organic Farming

My Lords, it would be, but of course our publicly funded research into agriculture receives much more than that. However, with reference to the latter points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, I saw those adverts and I said to someone, ““Where did the money come from?””. I saw a full page of adverts a couple of weeks ago, and I discussed the matter with Sir Don Curry, who assists Defra these days. It is far more money than we have to fund the Year of Food and Farming, which will start later this year. I cannot criticise the National Lottery and the way in which this was done. I do not know the reasons and the background and why such a large sum of money was given to one organisation for one narrow aspect of agriculture. I do not criticise that, but I do not know the background or the reasons. Since 1997—the year the world started, of course—there has been a 13-fold increase in land being farmed organically in the UK. The figure stood at just over 51,000 hectares in 1997 and it is 620,000 hectares in January this year. That is a substantial increase and it represents around 4 per cent of the total agricultural area of the UK. A lot of that is in Scotland. There is a disproportionate amount there—that is not a criticism, it is just the way in which the land has been used. But that does not mean that the ordinary, intensively produced food, whether it is grown or whether it is livestock, is second best. Nobody is saying that. In fact, we could not feed ourselves if we went organic. I know that people will dispute this, but if we went all organic we would be importing huge amounts of food, whatever people might claim, because the yields would be so much less. I appreciate that one has to look at the totality of the energy that is used. There would be fewer pesticides and other things that are used to produce the crops if we went organic, but we want to encourage choice. I agree 100 per cent with what the noble Baroness said about LEAF. I wish every farm was operating LEAF rules and practising integrated farming. We started a similar process in Northern Ireland when I was there; I said, ““This sounds like LEAF in England””. I went to one of the farms in Gloucestershire where farmers go to learn about the LEAF techniques. It is absolutely vital. It is good for the environment and it needs supporting. It is good that supermarkets and other retailers are recognising this in their marketing. It is not marketed as being safer, but it is marketed as being more environmentally friendly and as encouraging greater biodiversity. There is no question about that at all. The fact is that since we increased the level of support for organic farming, the amount of land given over to it has gone up 13-fold. It helps our sustainability objectives and provides environmental benefits—I know there can be arguments about this—by encouraging biodiversity, and it gives farmers a choice. A lot of young farmers are involved in the organic movement. They are often much more entrepreneurial than the older generations. I have met some of them, as has the Secretary of State. These farmers are willing to use different systems and techniques and to enter into new marketing arrangements for their products. If there is any criticism to be made, and one can always find lots to criticise, it is on the dairy side. All these new probiotic yoghurt drinks are imported, save for one being produced by a co-operative in Scotland for Marks & Spencer. However, all organic yoghurt is made here at home in the UK. But in terms of added value, of getting more out of the produce for the premium, others are showing the way on that side of the dairy industry. But Yeo Valley, for example—the only yoghurt I will touch—and others because I must not advertise too much, produce all their yoghurt in the UK. That is a lesson to the rest of the dairy industry. The probiotic drinks producers went for a certain kind of marketing in a niche area, and have been very successful, but we have let that opportunity pass us by. Consumers want organic food for a variety of reasons, whether for animal welfare, the environment or other reasons. The choice is theirs, and that is the point. The noble Baroness is quite right: sometimes people buy organic produce because they think it may be better for them. There is nothing wrong in that so long as the claims made are accurate. Indeed, more flexibility on this is on the way with the introduction of European labelling, which I shall come to shortly. At present, certain organic foods cannot use an organic label if the whole product is not organic. Some of the ingredients may have been produced organically, but it is difficult to get an organic label for them. The European Union is producing more flexible rules to assist in that, which is good for organics, consumer choice and improvements in labelling. The proposed regulation before the EU Agriculture Council would require origin labelling for some organic produce where the EU organic logo is used. On the organic conversion scheme, we are working on a new one which is to be launched later this year. The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, asked about long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. That got me going because it is not in my brief. I am reliably informed by the Box that organic milk contains short-chain omega-3 fatty acids which are not the same as the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish, which are what protect us against cardiovascular disease. What we need are long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, so organic milk cannot make that claim because it contains short-chain omega-3 fatty acids. If these claims are being made, one has to look closely at the science. On the TB evaluation, we are in touch with the sector on a realistic valuation for organic reactor animal slaughter. This is an issue and I appreciate it very much in terms of the distress caused to farmers in any event. We are looking at the cases mentioned by my noble friend with Natural England. I shall come back to him on that because it is a somewhat specialist issue. I turn to legal safety standards, and here I cannot impress on the House enough the fact that organic produce and conventional produce have to meet exactly the same legal food safety standards, as would any GM foods. So far as I know, there has never been a food safety issue related to GM foods. Notwithstanding some of the arguments that have been made, that is the case. In fact, we know more about some GM foods than we do about traditional foods because of the science involved in the gene and DNA work being carried out. Nutrient levels are similar whether food is produced by organic or conventional agriculture. That is the evidence. Support for organic farming by the Government does not mean to say that we see it as the only way forward. We support a range of farming activities. As I say, the amount of money here is small, but it is necessary to encourage farmers who wish to take the organic route. They are not forced or encouraged to do so but schemes are available if they wish to do that. The Government are saying to farmers, ““We do not want to subsidise production. We want you to be nearer to the market””. That is important for freshness, as the noble Baroness said. We want farmers to be nearer to the market, to market their products better and to get more control over their aspect of the food chain, which is also important. We are saying to farmers that if they want to go that route there is an opportunity to do so if they wish to take it. Farmers are not forced to go that route and must accept the risk of doing so. Organic farming makes an important and profitable contribution to the farming industry; we make no bones about that. Certainly, it contributes to biodiversity and has environmental advantages. However, biodiversity and environmental advantages can also result from aspects of LEAF farming and integrated farming. So it is not the case that one kind of farming is all good and another is all bad. A realistic assessment is needed. All forms of farming and different aspects of production can meet customers’ needs. It is important that we should produce as much of our own food as we can and slightly lengthen the seasons, if we can. However, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, that the Government do not propose to pull the plug on their support for organic farming.