Thoughts about organic farming

Just back from IFOAM-EU’s 10th birthday party. A magnificent event – well done guys (and mostly girls). Big congratulations. This is not a comment(ary) on the event – but a thought that arose during the conference. Suzanne Padel (a former colleague from Aberystwyth University) drew our attention to the fact that organic producers are unusual /unique in that they draw their income from both consumers (willing to pay a premium) and the state (paying for public goods, such as biodiversity or clean water). In different countries the balance is different.

But I pursued this line of thought a bit further (during the ‘visioning organics in 2030’ session). The paradox runs deeper. In almost every survey of consumers’ reasons for buying organic ‘health’ is top of the list (the more so after a food scandal). No government subsidises organics because it is healthier. To do so would to place the conventional food system into question. In addition there are so many - environmental and behavioural - factors to take into account that proving the health issue is nigh on impossible. While logic suggests that avoiding pesticides and antibiotics is probably a good idea in health terms, it’s very difficult to judge the significance of doing so. By contrast state support for organic farming (where it exists) is almost entirely justified in terms of public ecosystem services. So this creates a kind of dichotomy or tension in the logic behind organic farming, even if it is only superficial. I’m wondering what the implications of this are.