April 16, 2007

Organic meat demand in UK held up by feed shortfall

The uptrend demand for organic food and meat in UK is being held up by the shortage of feed, including grass, according to the Soil Association, a British certifying organisation for organic food and farming.

With organic feed supply problems affecting organic poultry, pig, and dairy farmers there is an urgent need to expand UK organic arable production, said feed manufacturer BOCM Pauls. The company says it is sourcing organic grain and pulses from France and Italy to keep up with the demand.

Other factors seen to buck this trend is the traditionally beef and sheep producing area of north-east England, which has seen a major swing to towards organic arable production in the past 18 months, according to Gillian Butler, livestock programme manager at Newcastle University's ecological farming programme.

Butler said the advantages of the organic environment scheme in England is the 60 GBP incentive per hectare offered to producers against half that for the conventional stewardship scheme.

Scotland continues to lag behind the UK's progress in the organic movement, largely as a result of the stop-start approach to the organic aid scheme operated under the Scottish Rural Development Plan. The last aid scheme came to an end towards the end of last year. It is anticipated the next scheme will re-open for applications in the second half of the current year, with payments made in 2008.