Understanding British organic farming

Only 1% of crops around the world are involved in organic agriculture, despite the growth in popularity. With so much land available, would it be beneficial to take the necessary steps to become an organic farmer? Farm insurance providers Lycetts finds out:

Understanding organic farming

Organic farming has many benefits, as it helps communities who are part of the agro-ecosystem to experience more productivity when it comes to crop and livestock production. More livestock, people, plants and soil organisms are all covered within this holistic system, with the primary aim to develop enterprises that are both sustainable and harmonious with the environment.

What are the main differences between organic and traditional farming?

Any genetically modified crop or ingredient is banned.
The routine use of antibiotics, drugs and wormers is banned.
Artificial chemical fertilisers are prohibited. Instead, organic farmers are encouraged to develop soil which is healthy and fertile by growing and rotating a variety of crops, making use of clover to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and adding organic matter — compost, for instance.
There are severe restrictions on pesticides, with organic farmers instead looking to wildlife to provide a helping hand for controlling disease and pests.

What you need to know about organic farming

There are many benefits and opportunities that farmers could encounter when organic farming, according to The Soil Association.

In recent years, there has been a huge increase of 50% in wildlife animals living on organic farms and this is joined with 30% more species found on an organic farm in comparison to farms that have not made the move to organic production. These figures make for particularly good reading when you consider that the percentage of British wildlife has dropped by 50 per cent since 1970.

The Soil Association said that the use of pesticide would drop by a huge 98% in England and Wales if more farms were to pledge to become organic. More than 17,800 tonnes of pesticides were used throughout British farms during 2015 and 43 per cent of British food was found to contain pesticide residues by government testing during the same year.

But what does the organic farming scene look like in Britain currently? According to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs’ Organic Farming Statistics 2016 report, the nation had a total area of 508,000 hectares of land which was farmed organically in 2016. In the same year, the total number of organic producers and processors stood at 6,363 — up 5.1 per cent from 2015.

The most common type of crops grown in the UK with organic methods are cereals, vegetables (including potatoes) and more arable crops. When it comes to cereals, barley had the largest total organic area at 12,900 hectares, followed by oats (11,600 hectares) and then wheat (10,900 hectares). When breaking down other arable crops, fodder, forage and silage had the highest total organic area at 5,400 hectares. The next most popular was maize, oilseeds and protein crops at 1,700 hectares, followed by sugar beet with a total organic area of 100 hectares.

When it comes to livestock, poultry is the most common when organically farmed and in the United Kingdom, there has been a 10% increase in 2016. This number is significantly more than the 840,800 sheep, 296,400 cattle and 31,500 pigs which make up the next three most popular types of livestock currently farmed organically across the nation.

A report from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs’ showed not-so-positive information. While making up a substantial space, the total area of land which is farmed organically across the UK dropped between 2015 and 2016 and has also declined by 32 per cent since its peak in 2008. All three of the main crop types grown organically have seen declines since the latter years of the 2000s too, while the number of producers is down by 35 per cent since 2007.

With the world becoming more populated, is organic farming the way forward?

After looking at the negative figures, Professor John Reganold from Washington State University and student Jonathan Wachter said that the practice is an untapped resource with a lot of opportunity. The pair reached this conclusion in a study titled Organic Agriculture in the 21st Century, which was published in Nature Plants and involved the review of 40 years of science and hundreds of scientific studies.

Unlike regular farming, it was found that organic farming systems could in fact produce yields which could lead agriculture businesses to be more environmentally friendly and gain more profits. Organic farming was also linked with delivering more nutritious foods containing less or even no pesticide residues than those produced by conventional means.

“Overall, organic farms tend to have better soil quality and reduce soil erosion compared to their conventional counterparts. Organic agriculture generally creates less soil and water pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions, and is more energy efficient. Organic agriculture is also associated with greater biodiversity of plants, animals, insects and microbes, as well as genetic diversity. Despite lower yields, organic agriculture is more profitable (by 22–35 per cent) for farmers because consumers are willing to pay more. These higher prices essentially compensate farmers for preserving the quality of their land,” Professor Reganold pointed out to The Guardian.

Making the move to organic farming

Are you working in agriculture and want to make the move to an all-organic farm? Before you begin producing, preparing, storing, importing or selling organic products, the first step you will need to take is to register with an organic control body.

To become an organic farmer, you need to fill out an application, which will be followed by an inspection of your farm. The entire procedure can take two years to complete — at the end of which you’ll receive a certificate from an organic control body (CB) to prove you’re registered and passed an inspection. You will be breaking the law if you claim that a food product is organic if it hasn’t been inspected and certified by a CB.

Becoming a certified organic farmer will only last for one year. To renew, you will need to request the control body to visit your farm and carry out another inspection to make sure everything is still up to standard.

For more information on how you could make your farm organic and even receive funding for you transition, try clicking here for further advice.