Soil Association Certification’s annual organic fresh produce forum

In their annual industry event, Soil Association Certification brought together key players from across the organic fresh produce industry including packers and processors, box scheme providers, wholesalers and representatives from major retailers.

The agenda included updates on organic market performance and consumer insight, technical challenges facing the industry, and explored the topic of organic and regenerative farming. Representatives from across the sector included speakers from Abel & Cole, CH&CO, RB Organic Farms, Riverford and the Soil Association.

    

Organic market and consumer insights and hospitality supply opportunities  

Soil Association Certification shared the latest organic market insights, with organic food and drink sales seeing a return to growth in both value and volume terms, outperforming growth in non organic. Organic fresh produce sales are key to driving this growth, alongside sales volume increases across meat, fish and poultry, organic dairy and ambient products. With consumer confidence on the rise and inflation slowing, the long-term prospects for organic are positive.  

Abel & Cole’s Ed Ayton highlighted their continued commitment to sustainable sourcing and practice, and their focus on packaging, emissions and food waste.  Abel & Cole’s customers are highly motivated by freshness and taste, followed closely by healthiness of food. Health and nutrition continue to be key opportunities for the organic industry and are main drivers for purchase across the organic category.  There are opportunities for the industry to lean into this image especially after the success of the January organic health campaign ‘A Happier Meal’, which highlighted how food production methods can impact the nutrition of the food we eat.  

Clare Clarke of CH&CO Catering also outlined their company commitment to organic sourcing as part of their strategy to meet commitments around nature and biodiversity. With one of their premium workplace brands achieving 16% procurement of organic raw ingredients there is scope to increase organic supply in the hospitality sector.

 

Organic and regenerative farming - panel discussion 

A panel of experts including representatives from Riverford, Soil Association and RB Organic farmers  explored the opportunities and challenges for organic against the rising interest in regenerative farming.

They outlined the following:  

1. Organic is Regenerative: Because organic farms are managed without artificial fertilisers, they incorporate many beneficial regenerative practices to build and improve natural soil health such as cover cropping, long diverse rotations, incorporating livestock and growing nitrogen fixing legumes. What’s more, organic is proven to deliver a range of restorative outcomes such as 30% more wildlife on organic farms, improved soil carbon storage and soil microorganisms. “The best organic farmers are regenerative, and the best regenerative farmers are organic,” says Harriet Bell, regenerative farming lead at organic veg box company Riverford.

2. Organic is about much more than soil health: Organic farm standards insist on a whole farm system approach to sustainable farming, focusing on much more than soil health and insist on restorative practices such as prohibiting artificial pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilisers and delivering the UK’s highest standards for animal welfare. 

3. Organic is legally defined and independently inspected and verified and therefore protects against greenwashing. Organic is underpinned by a set of robust standards that are independently audited and verified. There is currently no legal definition for regenerative farming in the UK. 

4. Organic and regenerative farmers have lots to learn from each other to drive innovation at pace. Organic farmers have been practicing many regenerative practices for decades and therefore there is ample opportunity for knowledge exchange between organic and the wider agricultural sector.  At the same time, the rise in regenerative farming could help fast track exciting opportunities for innovation, tech and R&D for the organic sector.   The organic standards provide a floor, not a ceiling, and there are opportunities for organic farmers to improve their practices in the spirit of a continuous improvement mindset that underpins the regenerative movement.   

For more information, please view the Soil Association’s Position Statement on Regenerative Agriculture and Soil Association Certification’s explainers on the differences and commonalities between regenerative and organic farming.

 

Technical Update: Requirements to changes in COI’s and the GB regulation

The Soil Association’s Head of Technical, Sarah Hathway, outlined the changing requirements for certificates of inspection for imported goods. A webinar is being organised on the 17th September to further discuss trade impacts and possible solutions. Please sign up for the webinar here.  

The event was wrapped up with a farm and pack house tour, led by Riverford Organic Farmers of their Sacrewell site, demonstrating organic fresh produce farming in action. With organic farms having 30% more biodiversity, it was great to hear more about how Riverford support nature through the farming practices and their approach to building soil fertility.