March 2003 - Going organic – the Welsh experience

Wales has long been a centre of growth for organic farming in the UK. An Organic Industry Working Group was established by the then Welsh Office Agricultural Department in 1998. In 1999 the group published an Organic Action Plan setting a target of 10% of Welsh agricultural products to be organic by 2005. Various initiatives were established to meet this target, and resulted in phenomenal growth in the amount of in-conversion and organic land in Wales (Figure 1). More recently the pace of growth has slowed due to both the impact of foot and mouth disease, and to marketing problems created by the sudden influx of organic products.
Despite these problems, the demand for organic produce continues to grow. In the UK the market was worth over £800 million in 2000/01, an increase of a third over the previous year. However, while the UK remains the fastest growing organic market in Europe, it still imports over 70% of its organic food, and substituting some of these imports with home produced is vital to the development of the sector.

Supporting organic farmers
Many organisations are working to deliver a comprehensive range of services, technical, financial and business, to support further development of the organic food and farming industry in Wales. Organic Centre Wales was established in June 2000 to be a focal point for information on organic food and farming in Wales. It is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund, and its main activities are research and development, identification of training needs, management of the Farming Connect Organic Development Programme, and coordination of advice to organic farmers in Wales.

Technical support
Converting to organic systems is a big step. There are often significant technical changes to be made, for instance implementing fertility building phases in rotations, cutting out the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, radical changes to animal health management, modification of animal housing to meet organic standards and so on. Just as importantly, conversion involves a whole change of attitude towards the process of producing and marketing.
The Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS) provides farmers with help and information on technical questions related to conversion and other issues. First established in Wales in 1996, the service is now managed by ADAS and by Organic Centre Wales. Since its inception, OCIS has received 2900 enquiries (about 10% of all holdings in Wales) and delivered about 2600 farm visits. Following help and advice, 388 farmers went on to convert.
Farming Connect aims to deliver a wide range of services to the whole farming community in Wales, providing farm businesses the opportunity, information and expertise to make informed decisions about their future. There are three main development programmes: dairy, beef and sheep, and organic. The organic programme is managed by Organic Centre Wales.

Financial support
The Organic Farming Scheme.
The agri-environmental Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) opened in 1999 as a successor to the previous Organic Aid Scheme, with the aim of increasing the area under organic management in Wales. The Scheme provides financial support to converting farmers for a five-year period. Payments vary between £50/ha to £450/ha (over the five years) depending on the category of land.

Organic stewardship payments.
In February 2003 the Welsh Assembly Government announced new organic stewardship payments as one of the ‘agri-environment’ payments to farmers. Farmers who are already organic will be paid 35/ha/ year for Arable and Enclosed land and £10/ ha for unenclosed land and mountain grazing. Farmers already in the OFS will have their payments in the fourth and fifth years increased to bring them into line.

Other agri-environment schemes
Tir Gofal (Welsh for ‘Land Care’) is a whole farm agri-environment scheme that has been available throughout Wales since April 1999 and is managed by the Countryside Council For Wales (CCW) on behalf of the Welsh Assembly government. The Scheme aims to encourage agricultural practices that will protect and enhance the landscapes, their cultural features and associated wildlife. Tir Gofal is also intended to improve public access to the working countryside and provide new opportunities for on-farm environmental education and training.

Farming Connect capital grants
Capital grants are available through Farming Connect to develop the existing on farm facilities (Farm Improvement Grants), or to diversify in to new enterprises (Farm Enterprise Grants), Farm Tourism Grants are available from the Wales Tourist Board to support farm holdings with innovative ideas for tourism. Processing and Marketing Grants are capital and revenue grants aimed at securing benefits to primary producers through added-value processing.

Future directions
The action plan identified three key strands for the development of the organic sector as a whole: information, marketing and policy. To date, substantial progress has been made on the information front. The challenge now is to encourage markets for the increasing supplies of organic produce, underpinned by long-term policy support.

Marketing
The marketing problems in the different sectors are fundamentally due to a boom and bust cycle in supply, combined with current exchange rates favouring imports over home-produced products. A major focus of future work should be to stabilise developing markets for organic products. Support for producer groups, and processing and marketing grants is already available through Farming Connect, but care is needed to avoid fragmentation in the supply chain. Support for new producer groups and initiatives needs to be consistent with a strategic approach to market development, and encourage co-operation between producers, certifiers and within supply chains.
Although demand growth rates are slowing down, as would be expected as the sector expands, the market is still growing and various reports put growth at 35% in 2000 and 25-30% in 2001. Even if the market does not grow substantially in the short to medium term, there is significant scope for import substitution. The benefits of import substitution could be significantly enhanced through increased availability of appropriate processing facilities to deal with Welsh organic produce.

Policy
The EU’s agri-environmental programmes have provided the main basis for delivering publicly funded support for organic farming. An appropriate balance needs to be struck between reliance on consumer willingness to pay and taxpayer support and the recent introduction of stewardship payments in both England and Wales is major step forward towards shifting the burden of payment for public goods from individual consumers to the taxpayer.
There is also potential for public procurement initiatives focusing on local and organic foods. A pilot scheme established involving Powys County Council, the Soil Association and Cardiff University could provide a model for more widespread application with support from government and local authorities.
The recent initiative by the European Commission to develop an European Union action plan for organic farming, to provide a basis for specific policies for organic farming in the next phase of Common Agriculture Policy reform following Agenda 2000, will have implications for policy developments in Wales beyond 2006.

Public education
While structures have been established to support farmers through conversion and increase organic production, little has been done to develop consumer understanding of organic farming, without which the current rapid growth of the market is unlikely to be sustained. There is scope therefore for a programme of public information and education to raise public awareness and to develop a high profile and strong sales for organic food in Wales.
Many organic farms in Wales are already open to the public and accept school visits. These could be developed further to form a network of farms backed up with educational materials and promotional support, leading to activities in schools, such as vegetable gardens and healthy tuck shops. Running alongside this there is a need for market development activities such as local food events, point of sale materials, press releases and media events.

Future prospects
The role of organic farming in promoting and developing more sustainable and environmentally friendly farming systems is gaining increasing recognition with policy makers, not only in Wales but in the rest of the UK. This is reflected in the recent development of Organic Action Plans for England launched in July 2002(1), and for Scotland(2), launched earlier this year. The Curry report, published in January 2002, recommended a shift in policy away from the production of cheap plentiful food towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly production systems, and there is a clear and significant role for organic farming in this vision of the future.
The UK market for organic produce continues to expand, and the Welsh Assembly Government remains committed to the development of the organic sector in Wales. Therefore the future of organics is potentially a bright one. However, there are a number of issues that must be addressed, not least that of import substitution. Seventy percent all organic produce is imported, and we must work to get British, and specifically Welsh, products on to British shelves. This requires working with supermarkets to source local produce, and developing direct and local marketing initiatives to sell the idea of ‘local food for local people’.

Pesticide problems – a Welsh perspective

Livestock enterprises, in particular dairy and beef and sheep, dominate Welsh Agriculture. Eighty three percent of agricultural land area is down to permanent pasture or rough grazing, and in 2000, Wales was home to 268,600 dairy cows, 223,300 beef cattle and 11,148,000 sheep. It is not surprising, then, that the predominant use agricultural pesticides in Wales are for dips, in particular sheep dips.
    Both organophosphates (diazinon) and synthetic pyrethroids (flumethrin and cypermethrin) are currently used in sheep dips. The Welsh Sheep Dip Monitoring Programme, carried out the Environment Agency Wales(3) shows that the presence of sheep dip chemicals in streams and rivers in Wales is widespread: Eighty-six percent of the 50 sites monitored had positive results for one or more sheep dip pesticides in 2000. In all areas except for Upper Severn area, the majority of these positive results were due to diazinon, at 68% of sites in all. The synthetic pyrethroid cypermethrin was found at 38% of sites, and flumethrin at 10%. Limited biological surveys were carried out in 2000, mostly to investigate poor biological scores picked up by routine monitoring, and to follow up water quality failures in 1999 and 2000. The surveys showed that sheep dip continues to have a detrimental effect on the fauna of some watercourses.
    The risks OP pesticides pose to human health are well documented, and OPs are banned under the organic standards. Pyrethroid based dips, however, are permitted. The problem with pyrethroids is that they pose a much greater risk to aquatic habitats, which are particularly important in Wales.
In order to limit environmental contamination, the emphasis, therefore, on minimising the frequency with which livestock are dipped, and on safe disposal of residues when dipping becomes necessary. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved. Since the greatest risk comes from the increased numbers of sheep transported from one area to another, keeping closed flocks, which is encouraged by the organic standards, helps prevent the parasites from getting into the flocks in the first place. Double fencing between organic and neighbouring land also helps to prevent cross infestation.
     Where these measures are not sufficient to prevent parasites getting into the flock, the use of injectable moxidectin is permitted, but only after special derogation has to be obtained from the certifying body. A meat withdrawal period of at least twice that stated on the label is then imposed and treated stock should be kept out of previously grazed pastures for at least 3 weeks.
    Where dipping with pyrethroids is justified, safe disposal of the spent dip is of paramount importance. Existing standards require that as a minimum, the spent dip be mixed with agricultural slaked lime at the rate of 50kg to 1000 litres of spent dip, agitating every two to three days for a period of 14 days, and then spreading onto level grassland away from watercourses. A withdrawal period of one month must elapse before stock may be grazed on this grassland.

Going organic – the Welsh experience

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