Organic Food

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs. Humble, and to reply to this debate on behalf of Lord Rooker, who is the Minister with direct responsibility for the matter before us. In my view he is one of the best Ministers that any Government has been fortunate enough to have serving them. He is an incredibly successful and hard-working Minister. I am in danger of agreeing with the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice). I suppose that I might be accused of pinching his policies if I say that I agree with his summing-up on the point about choice and the accusations and counter-accusations. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East (Dr. Iddon) is to be congratulated. This is the first debate in the House on this subject for two years. I wish that the media would report the debates in this House, and in this Chamber in particular, with greater coverage. I think that we have had a most stimulating and well-informed debate today. My hon. Friend is a scientist, and it is characteristic of science not only that it must use deduction in order to make a point, but that it makes testable propositions. If a proposition is not testable, it is probably meaningless. The question that faces us, therefore, is: what methods do we use to test the claims? My Department tests its policies on science. We are one of only two Departments with our own chief science officer and a network of access to science that, in my experience, is unparalleled in environment Departments in countries of a comparable size—the United States is probably the only one that could claim greater reach. Despite increases in recent years, organic farming remains a very small part of food and farming in our country. Some 3.5 per cent. of total agricultural area is under organic management. The market for produce is between 1 and 2 per cent. of the total. Nevertheless, as I say, it has received phenomenal growth in recent years and is now, I believe, established as a permanent feature of the food and farming landscape. On the geographical coverage, in 1997—I pick the year because it is 10 years ago, and not in order to make a partisan point—the area under organic management in the United Kingdom was a little less than 51,000 hectares. By the beginning of this year, that figure was 620,000, of which just more than 120,000 are under conversion. In other words, we have seen a twelve-fold increase. In 1997, there were fewer than 1,000 farmers of organic produce in the United Kingdom, but by the beginning of this year that number had increased to 4,600—we heard an example of one this morning. As has been said, the retail sales of organic products in the UK are approaching £2 billion. The forecast is that that figure will grow steadily. The share of the organic market for produce that we grow here, supplied by home producers, also continues to increase. The changes have been brought about by consumer demand, clearly, but also by Government action. So what about the points that have been made—what does organic farming deliver in the Government’s view? There is evidence that organic production is beneficial, on the whole, to biodiversity. The mixed farming practised under organic systems also contributes to the quality of the landscape and the beauty of rural areas. The more general environmental picture, for example on the production of greenhouses gases, is less clear-cut, with claims and counter-claims. However, there is evidence that organic farming systems generally incur less energy use than conventional systems. I shall explain that point. As has been said, it is important to consider the production of fertilisers when calculating carbon footprints. One has to consider lifestyle. The question that has to be asked—the debate has brought it up—is: what is the balance between the environmental benefits of producing organic food and the benefit of the farming methods used, many of which could also be used in conventional, inorganic farming? That relates to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, South-East’s central point. Organic farming has its proponents, of whom the Government are one because of the environmental benefits that we see from the evidence that is produced. I refer to the scientific studies that have been carried out, on which our policy is partly based: the DEFRA-commissioned study by Shepherd and others in 2002 and the English Nature-Royal Society for the Protection of Birds study of 2003 by Hole and others. Organic farming contributes to the economic sustainability of rural areas. Research shows that organic farmers are open to developing new enterprises and marketing initiatives. Again, whether that is because of market conditions and the balances of consumer demand, rather than simply because they undertake organic production, depends on the farm and farmer involved. Generally, organic farms are better connected with those whom they supply and therefore with local consumers, food processors and wholesalers. So in rural economies, organic production generally provides more employment opportunities.