How is organic food and farming viewed? State, media and other views

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When writing my PhD, which was about consumers of organic food at farmers� markets, I included a section on how organic food is represented.

The state, -Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food - had a difficult job. They had to describe organic as a specific thing, and yet not downgrade conventional food:

�Organic farming is a system of farming which avoids the use of soluble fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, feed additives and other chemicals� (Teagasc)

�Organic farming is an alternative method of food production, which is environmentally friendly.� (Bord Bia)

�Organic farming represents a different view of farming systems, which puts a strong emphasis on environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practices, with particular concern for animal welfare. Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic fertilisers, chemicals and/or additives.� (DAFF)

Non-state players were sometimes more specific. The IFA pointed out that they had no quibble with organic food, but that conventional food was produced by �sustainable farming complying with strict environmental and animal welfare standards�. In a position paper, they argued for

�The removal of scientifically unjustified requirements imposed by organic farming guidelines on agronomically effective and economically valid inorganic fertilizers. Since guidelines for organic farming practices are not necessarily science-based, it should be clearly specified that the justification for not allowing some inorganic fertilizer sources is for marketing purposes only and not for food or environmental safety reasons� (IFA 2003).

The media in general were mixed. Celebrity chefs were usually positive, though sometimes talked about preferring local over organic. Individual products or producers tended to get the soft-focus, rose-tinted treatment. Never a bad word was said about the biggest or the smallest, from Glenisk to local small-scale organic stallholders at farmers� markets.

However, over the course of the five years I spent doing the PhD, a marked trend started to emerge: it was no longer newsworthy, or eye catching, to say positive things about organics. Organic had already won the battle of language, so to draw people in, you now had to say something bad about it.

And it was often those who wrote the headlines as opposed to those who wrote the articles who did this: Usually, those who write articles don�t get to choose the headlines that accompany the articles - myself included.

In particular, this happened when the organic certification system worked and caught the odd chancer who was bending the rules.

When this happened, this occurrence often became carte blanche for an organic attack. So the UK�s Observer screamed in 2005 on its front pages � �the great organic food scam exposed�, mainly because one shop was convicted of fraudulent selling of organic food.

But the further into the article you got, the better, and better regulated, organic sounded.

It continues to this day, and shows no sign of abating. A couple of weeks ago there were a sequence of talks on organics, and it seems that Dr. Con O�Rourke (formerly of Teagasc) was invited to every one of them. Despite the fact that there were other speakers in attendance, O� Rourke�s statements made the headlines.

And the headline-writers had a field day. This paper, the Irish Independent and the Irish Times all shrieked from their front pages and on the headlines of the articles about how organic wasn�t that good after all.

But again, the further you got into the articles, the better organic sounded. Take the Times:

�Most organic food doesn't actually taste better than food produced with the use of pesticides, cookery writer Darina Allen told the meeting� began the article.

What was actually a caveat by Allen, based on the odd example such as old, out-of-date organic food being left for weeks on a supermarket shelf, became an exemplar of her overall position on organics - which it isn�t. This and other good news organic information slowly seeped out later in the article.

It�s as if the attendant journalists and headline writers back in HQ were waiting for one Mcnugget to present a misleading and unbalanced argument.

But this is how it is now for organics. Organics may have won the battle of language with consumers, but, and partly because of this, it now has to fight sloppy sensationalism.

Are animals and nature one exploited underclass? And if so, where does organic food fit in?

�Youse are looking down at us�. That was the moment the audience on the Late Late Show finally stopped sitting on the fence and burst into a round of applause for Alo. Alo is an intensive chicken farmer, and he was sharing a platform with Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall.

Hugh is the driving force behind an unusual sort of farming reality TV show called the Chicken Run, which features side-by-side comparisons of conventional and free range chicken meat production.

Free range meat sales are up, but consumer sentiment, when sentimental, can be foppish and fickle in the extreme. There is an argument that the life blood of organic and other ethical food sales is in fact food scares.

The basic point Alo was making was that wealthy people can afford �that sort of food�, whereas less wealthy people can�t. This all reflects badly on the wealthier people and their attitude to others. Is this true, and what does it mean if it is?

First off, there is some truth in the idea. Take the example of organic food. It stands to reason that those on higher incomes can afford to spend more. But is it always so stark? Research suggests that class is important in defining what people eat, but class is defined by more than just wealth. Income, but also education and occupation come into it.

In other words, the better educated the person is, the more likely they are to make ethical food choices. Wealth, while important, levels off at a certain point. Interestingly, a large scale study done in Australia a few years back found that those with a 3^rd level science education were the most likely to eat organic food.

People also behave differently with organic food � far less organic food goes to waste in people�s cupboards. They also reprioritise their spending, lowering other consumer good to increase the organic ones.

However, the media and marketers love pitching to the middle class organic food consumer, as it is in both their interests: you cannot make as much money from vegetables or meat as you can from the organic cereal bars stuck to the front of the latest lifestyle magazine.

But there are other ways of looking at the same dynamics: Are middle class people self-taxing? Are they charging themselves a fee for protecting the environment? Are working class people so disempowered by Celtic Tiger Ireland that they cannot consider animal ethics? What does this say about the Celtic Tiger?

Here�s another way of looking at the situation, inspired by Carolyn Merchant�s 1980 book, called, cheerily enough, The Death of Nature.

In order to feed the working classes, the awful terms and conditions of urban, industrialised capitalist life in the era from about the 1850s to the 1950s was transferred over to nature, including animals.

So we gradually industrialised, capitalised and urbanised nature. We changed our conceptualisation of nature: Mother Nature went from being a thing we respected and were a part of, to a thing we controlled.

People who first started mining in the 16^th Century washed their forearms before going underground to be clean for Mother Earth. They thought the stuff they took would grow back in her womb.

With science and technology�s development, we started to dominate nature, and urban, industrialised life (70 hour working weeks, children in coalmines) emerged.

War played its part in a war on nature: Spam came from the Napoleonic Russian offensive, tractors came from tanks, fertilizers from (left over) explosives, pesticides from the insect lotions of soldiers in the trenches.

Intensive chicken meat production emerged to feed the troops in the second world war. People�s living standards started to rise, just as animals went into factory farms. Along with the welfare states and the growth in the functionality of oil, farming went industrial to feed people meat almost every day, despite the environmental and animal welfare consequences.

So now, to some extent, we all fight a class war on animals and nature. Animals and nature can be seen as one massive oppressed underclass. We are all looking down, but nature and animals are the victims. What does this say about organic food?

scale, trade, organics and north Clare: BioFach and burrenLIFE

February can be a quiet month. However, there are two noteworthy events on this February, and they suit organic farmers and food producers at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The first is called BioFach. This is the largest traveling organic trade fair in the world. It is held in various locations all over the world each year: Europe gets its turn in Nuremburg on 21-24^th February. If the previous year�s attendees, and the rate at which the event is growing are anything to go by, then this event will be well worth attending for the bigger players in the organic sector.

Last year BioFach attracted over 45,000 trade visitors and over 2,500 exhibitors. This was an increase in trade visitors of 22%. The satisfaction rates were also extraordinarily high, with over 90% finding that they met their key target clients, experienced follow up business and made new business connections.

Natural health, cosmetic, kitchen and varying types of animal products complement the organic food-related products, the latter of which dominates proceedings.

The categories of attendees is also revealing: it tells as much about the differences in organic markets on mainland Europe as in the UK and Ireland. However, in terms of opening up EU markets, this information is also useful for those in the organic sector here. The four biggest categories of visitor received by exhibitors were from the specialised retail trade (excluding supermarkets), food manufacture, agriculture and the wholesale trade i.e. import and export. Natural products, supermarkets, wine and other categores were below this. Interestingly, farm shops ranked as high as supermarkets, which says a lot about how developed the farm shop system is in mainland Europe.

As regards visitors� express interests, they ranked as follows: fruit and vegetables, organic agriculture and marketing, meat, dairy and eggs, other food and then natural products (i.e.non food products). That actual straightforward food - fruit and veg, meat, milk and eggs, organic agriculture and other food - all ranked so highly suggests that there is a stubborn preference for underprocessed, natural foods, even amongst this elite set of organic sector trade and industry specialists.

Irish representation has been incredibly poor at BioFach. Delegates from 112 countries attended last year. For some reason, those part of or affiliated in some way to the organic fish sector have been quick of the mark, with almost no other players present as exhibitors.

The scale of some of these players is revealing as to the scale of the exhibitors at BioFach. With the exception of Geaoid Debruen�s Aran Gourmet, all other trade attendees were on a large, global and industrial scale. Bord Isciagh Mhara and the Irish Seaweed Industry Organisation were complemented by Atlantic Fair, BioAtlantis, Irish Seaspray, Celtic Sea Minerals and the like.

Celtic Sea Minerals supply the products globally to the animal feed industry, animal hygiene and environmental treatments markets. They are certified by the Organic Trust. They supply a the dairy feed market with a marine algae, high in calcium, magnesium and other minerals which acts as a rumen buffer, along with supplements for the pork and equine markets.

Irish Seaspray supply Irish seafood around the world, including France, Italy, the US and Germany. They had a turnover of �10 in 2005, employ 55 staff, and have a capacity of 700 tonnes a year. Amongst their products is an Organic Smoked Salmon, certified by IOFGA.

There seems to be very little interest in attending apart from this, from food producers, processors, promoters or others with an interest or stake in organics. They certainly have been conspicuous by their absence until now.

The other event on this February is at an altogether different end and scale of the food system. This event is a 3 day international conference organised by the BurrenLIFE project. The event will be in the Ennistymon, in the Falls Hotel from the 24th to 27th February, and will be themed around farming for conservation.

I�ll leave you with this one to ponder: which event most represents the true meaning of the word �organic� � the low impact, environmentally aware, managed farming of the BurrenLIFE project, or the globalised, industrialised but certified organic world of bioFach?

For more see: bioFach and

burrenlife

Training opportunities in the organic centre, rossinver

Here's an article on that eco-institution of the north west of ireland, the organic centre in Rossinver .It was established in the mid 1990s, and has put many thousands of people through their own unique take on the learning experience. A link to their site is at the botttom of the article, which focuses on their training 2008 programme.

Interested in training in an aspect of organic farming or growing? Or are you interested in learning more about how to make your life more sustainable and self-sufficient? Then have a look at the Organic Centre�s 2008 course and training programme.

While the centre is based in Leitrim, their courses are also delivered in Clare and Wicklow. The person behind the programme is Hans Wieland.

According to Hans, there is plenty for people interested in becoming a full time commercial grower: �we have a one year FETAC level five course for those interested in professional organic growing.�

This course involves 8 FETAC level five modules, five of which are horticultural: organic food crops, organic crop protection, organic soil management, principles of organic plant growth, and finally the farm environment. These are complemented by work experience, communications and business/IT skills modules.

�We�re also working with the new NATS organisation, the National Organic Training Skillsnet, formerly the Western Organic Network, and together we offer courses for commercial growers. These are for people who may be already in production, who want to diversify, upgrade their skills and son on. These include a seven day commercial horticultural course starting on Monday 18^th February, protected cropping on 26^th February, Orchards on 11^th of March, medical herb production in April and organic salad production with Jim Cronin in Clare in June�

As part of their training, Jim also runs a one year full time commercial training course in organic market gardening in county Clare.

Their programme also lists a course that can be done on individual days, or in one, five or 10 day blocks, called The Complete Organic Garden. This starts next Saturday, February 2^nd.

According to Hans, �We also offer one-to-one sessions, mentoring for growers in the centre. Sometimes people want one-to-one in polytunnels, or other commercial options�

It is also the case that many of the one day and weekend courses may be suitable for growers; trees and woodlands, advanced gardening, grafting, gourmet mushroom growing, seasonal fruit growing courses and more.

As well as these courses, there are courses on cooking - one that caught my eye was �cooking by your blood group� with Dr. Prannie Rhatigan, a public health doctor; others include cheese making, gourmet mushroom growing, bread making and the like. While some of these could lead onto commercial enterprises, the Centre retains a focus on what could be termed a self-sufficient well fed lifestyle.

Then there are the small scale renewables courses, the arts and crafts courses and more again that are difficult to categorise. Sustainability includes energy conservation, sustainable house design and construction, reed bed systems; the arts and crafts includes silk painting, willow sculpture and micro hydro power generation. The novel, quirky one that most stood out for me was, without doubt a course on The Planning Process - a Layperson�s Guide to Supporting or Objecting to Planning Developments.

A classic catch all course on offer is called How to Live the Good Life, which does exactly what it says on the tin: it offers life skills over five days in growing vegetables organically, growing and using herbs, growing fruit for the home, making yoghurt and soft cheeses, baking and cooking with wholemeal and storing and preserving, introductions to yoga and relaxation techniques, sustainable building, a seaweed walk on a local beach and a visit to a local organic farm.

According to Hans, the Good Life course is moving from being a hobby course into a slightly more business-focused, skills course. �People have started to learn how to be more efficient and conscious, so its now more a survival skills course. People have starting using this course to also make a better living on their enterprise, over the five years its been running.�

With all of this going on, I asked Hans if �Organic Centre� was a bit of a misnomer as a name: there are so many courses in what could be called the non-commercial growing area on offer. �I suppose it is. We have changed our subtitle, which used to say training and education in organic growing and farming. Now we�ve added sustainable living.�

Indeed they have.

For more phone 071 9854338 , or c hear