Status of organic agriculture in the UK

According to an article by John Vidal in the Guardian organic agriculture in the UK is still growing but could be badly affected in the next few years by higher prices and difficulties finding enough produce. According to the Soil Association's Annual Market Report the UK public wants more locally grown food but consumers are still largely located in the more affluent parts of the UK. Helen Browning, director of Food and Farming at the Soil Association said that the biggest surprise of 2006,

'was the growing popularity of box schemes where households are delivered a
selection of fruit, vegetables and sometimes organic meat. Sales of boxes
increased 53% last year, with more being sold direct by supermarkets. But the
old idea of boxes of gnarled-looking vegetables delivered from small farms
complete with soil and beetles is changing. Some "boxes" now cost £250, and the
biggest schemes may collect from 60 or more farms and serve 10,000 or more
customers.'

A recent poll carried out by the Soil Association has found that 38% of people wanted local sourcing of food but the Guardian article highlights that nearly 50% of people who bought organic produce in 2006 thought that it was too expensive.

The NI Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 document reports uptake of DARD's Organic Farming Scheme has been much lower than expected when the scheme was launched in 2001. In 2004, agricultural land under organic production in NI was only 0.62% compared to a corresponding figure of 4.25% in England.

The Organic Action Plan Group for Northern Ireland, established in 2005 to lead the strategic development of the organic sector, produced its action plan in 2006.