Organics is the fastest growing segment of the food industry in many parts of the world (including this one), and unusually, its growth has been driven by consumers, not a big-budget campaign by the multinational food industry. The big companies have followed rather than led consumers, who increasingly care about what they eat.
Our organic range has grown to cover fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals and grains, dried fruit, canned food, baby foods, dairy and breads for the same reason – our customers have asked for it.
Growing produce organically means using management practices that sustain soil health and fertility, use natural methods to control pests, disease and weeds; maintain high standards of animal welfare, look after the environment and use no genetically engineered seeds or products.
In horticulture, organic practices make farm work labour-intensive – it takes many more people to weed a field of carrots by hand than it does to apply a herbicide, for instance. Raising animals organically involves moving animals to new pasture frequently to avoid the need for drenches. Organic eggs have to be collected four times rather than rolling in automatically. All these considerations contribute to making organically grown food more expensive than that produced by conventional farming. Also, organic farms are likely to be small and mixed, so don’t enjoy the economies of scale of agribusinesses.
Anyone can say their produce is organic, but the farmers who are seriously practising organic management pay for inspections and certification by an outside organisation. Confusingly, there are seven bodies that can certify for the Australian domestic market. The organisations most likely to be certifying in Tasmania are the National Association Sustainable Agriculture Australia, NASAA; Tasmanian Organic-Biodynamic Producers, or TOP; Biological Farmers of Australia, BFA; and the Organic Herb Growers of Australia.
Britain has one overarching certifying body, The Soil Association, founded 56 years ago by Lady Eve Balfour, who said sustainable agriculture meant adopting techniques that maintain soil fertility indefinitely. And in Peru, terraces constructed by the Incas and farmed organically are still fertile and productive, whereas land in South Asia subjected to the “green revolution†of high levels of artificial fertilisers has compacted and is growing crops lacking in vital trace elements and minerals.
Plants “forced†on with nitrogen fertiliser make rapid but sappy growth and are vulnerable to fungus attack, and so need to be protected with a range of fungicides, pesticides and herbicides. Plants that can take up just as much nitrogen as they want that has been put into the soil by leguminous plants are better placed to fend for themselves.
Evidence on the relative nutrition value of organically and conventionally grown food is difficult to come by – studies show organics are higher in vitamin C, magnesium and zinc, but lower in iron and calcium – but there is widespread affirmation of the subjective judgment that organically grown food tastes better. Organics used to be lentil burgers for hippies, now Heinz in the US produces an organic tomato sauce, and in London you can dine at The Ritz on food from certified organic paddocks prepared in a certified organic kitchen.
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