Government fails to commit to action plan for organics

The Organic Targets Bill campaign is deeply disappointed by today's response from Government to the Agriculture Committee's organic inquiry. The Committee backed an action plan for the organic farming sector but in its response the Government has failed to commit to an organic action plan which is vital if the sector is to grow sustainably. The Government's approach to funding the organic sector was criticised by the inquiry and the result of their stop-star" funding is clear as imports of organic foods continue to rise. UK producers only supply 25 per cent of the UK organic market, which gives other countries the opportunity to enter the UK market and to accrue the environmental, economic and social benefits that organic farming brings.

Catherine Fookes, Sustain's Organic Targets Bill Co-ordinator said: "The Government has missed an opportunity to give farming in the UK a new direction by not committing to an action plan for the organic sector. Ministers have been positive about a national action plan in the past but this response is full of woolly words and lacking in vision. A strategic action plan would help to smooth out some of the bottlenecks that exist in the sector, provide direction to other government departments and encourage more businesses in the food chain to convert to organics."

Simon Thomas MP (Plaid Cymru, Ceredigion) has introduced the Organic Targets Bill as a Private Member's Bill, and the second reading debate was on 11 May 2001. The bill calls for a strategy or action plan for organic farming and for 30 per cent of agricultural land in England and Wales to be organic by 2010.