The government has set an ambition to increase the share of English land farmed organically to 10% by 2036, but concerns remain over how the transition will be funded.<\/p>\n
Currently, just 3.4% of England\u2019s agricultural land is farmed organically, one of the smallest shares in Europe. France, for example, farms 10.4% of its land organically, and aims to increase this to 18% by 2027.<\/p>\n
Rob Haward, the chief executive of organic veg box company Riverford<\/a>, said it was a reflection of organic farming having political backing in the EU. Whereas in England, the last organic farming plan<\/a> was published more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s new plan<\/a>, which has been more than three years in the making, sets out a vision for growth in the organic sector, with public procurement \u2013 in schools and hospitals, for example \u2013 cited as a significant opportunity. The government already has a long-term ambition for 10% of public sector food spend to meet higher environmental production standards. The plan states that the organic sector can play a vital role in achieving this.<\/p>\n The environment secretary, Angela Eagle<\/a>, said the plan was about \u201copening up opportunities across the sector, from backing farmers already producing organic food to helping others decide whether it could work for their businesses\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cOrganic farming should not be treated as a niche. More people are looking closely at where their food comes from, how it is produced and whether it meets standards they value.\u201d<\/p>\n Haward said public procurement was \u201cimpenetrable\u201d for small organic farms, but hoped the plan would be a \u201ccatalyst for growth\u201d. However, he said the sector now needed proper backing from the government, including grant funding.<\/p>\n In September, thousands of farmers<\/a> were left empty-handed after the government\u2019s sustainable farming incentive 2026 (SFI) funding was spent in just six hours. This meant that some farmers who might have been planning to use the funding to transition to organic farming may have missed out.<\/p>\n \u201cSFI needs to be reliable, successful and secure to enable this transition,\u201d said Haward. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for any farm to invest in their business if things change, we need some consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n Gareth Morgan, the head of farming policy at the Soil Association, said there had been a lot of discussions with Defra about funding, but in the end \u201cthere has been a compromise\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is now an urgent need to reopen SFI to enable farms to move to organic farming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Morgan added that increasing the share of land farmed organically could bring down the price of organic food for consumers. \u201cCurrently the price of food is subsidised and we don\u2019t pay for the environmental impact. If organic food becomes more mainstream, the price difference will become less,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n