Blog Forman and Field

There have been some interesting stories relating to organic food of late.

On the 20th of April The Telegraph broke the story that the supermarket yoghurt brand ‘Rachel’s Organic’ was dropping the ‘O’ word from its name. Apparently sales of organic produce have been dropping off since the second half of 2008.

The Telegraph 20th April 2009

Then The Times followed up the same story with more of a general hunch that the 4 x 4 brigade were abandoning organic flagships like Daylesford and joining the bargain hunter queues at their local Aldi instead.

The Times May 10th 2009

We’ve never been particularly big on organic, although we’re rather partial to Neal’s Yard’s organic creme fraiche and we’d never say no to one of Popina’s glorious organic tarts. The movement was originally about eating high quality, natural food with minimal additives. Our problem with it is that it has become a rulebook the supermarkets could bend to charge more for food that was no better. What’s more, the small producers who make the best, most natural food often can’t afford the investment in systems and production techniques necessary to meet the criteria.

Organic Creme Fraiche

I’ll give you two examples. At the Denham Estate they rear rare breed White Park cattle in an ancient apple orchard, surely the most idyllic farming environment imaginable. They were unable to gain organic status for the herd because in order to keep the cattle in the orchard they need to use some harmless herbicide to stop the thistles taking over and rendering it useless for livestock. It’s the same sort of ridiculous logic that means the only organic fish are farmed and not wild. I ask you, which of the two is more in keeping with what consumers want when they spend extra on the organic label?

Shoppers who want to put better food on their plates may well be turning away from organic but our experience is not that those people are heading down market but that they are instead buying food from small producers who embody everything the organic movement was originally meant to be, whether or not it says so on the label.