How can we work together to improve access to organic in public places?
How can businesses, policy makers and non-profit organisations work creatively to improve access to organic in public places?
Making organic food accessible to all requires creative thinking and collaborative efforts across the sector.
In this blog (covering a panel at Soil Association Certification’s annual Organic Trade Conference in October 2024), we hear from those leading the way to help make organic food part of everyday life for more people.
Making local organic milk accessible: Mossgiel Farm's Journey
When Bryce Cunningham took over his family's dairy farm following the deaths of both his grandfather and father, and having spent nine years away from the farm, he faced the same pressures driving what he calls “the decimation of small-scale farms across the UK”.
Rather than accepting the status quo, Bryce focused on a different future for Mossgiel Farm – one centred on organic production, sustainability, and fair pricing. “I decided I was going to fight back – I came from an industry where when somebody walked through the door, I told them the price, they didn’t tell me. So, I felt that an industry where the market was setting the price was very unjust.”
“I had visions of an organic future for the farm – I’d spent a lot of time in Germany and was totally inspired, not just by the organic movement but all the recycling, reusing, their circular economy.” By 2018, Mossgiel Farm had achieved organic certification and had committed to sustainability beyond current organic packaging standards to eliminate single-use plastic and, saving 26 million pieces from landfill.
Refocusing during Covid and the cost-of-living crisis
When COVID-19 disrupted their primary market of specialty coffee shops, the farm turned to the local market, discovering unexpected demand for sustainable, high-quality milk, and winning the local East Ayrshire Council's tender to supply 100% of primary school mill in the region.
However, the arrival in 2023 of the cost-of-living crisis meant a 25% reduction in demand for the farm’s organic milk. “It almost completely finished us last year. We went into a massive cash flow deficit, but we just kept going. We knew that what we wanted to do was worth fighting for. We had a vision.”
Maintaining competitiveness through creative solutions
Maintaining Mossgiel Farm’s relationship with East Ayrshire council during the cost-of-living crisis required creative problem-solving, as both Mossgiel Farm and the local authority faced huge budgetary pressures. Bryce re-negotiated elements of the contracts, including placing vending machines in some schools to cut packaging and delivery costs, and by working together “in a relationship of constant communication”, costs were saved on both sides. Mossgiel’s organic milk prices are higher than conventional milk suppliers, but by reducing the council’s waste bill in this way, their high-quality organic milk became competitively priced, whilst fitting into the council’s wider ambitions.
(Image credit: Eating Better via Mossgielfarm.co.uk)
Bryce and Mossgiel Farm have crowdfunded to secure the future of the farm and continue to support other farms in the area. The vision remains one of growth, to “support 20-30 farms in Southwest Scotland, take the Mossgiel mission across the UK and show people that organic dairy can support an industry that has largely disappeared in my lifetime.”
Bridging the Gap – piloting initiatives to get organic into cross-sections of society
“We wanted to explore the ways that people experiencing a low income can access climate and nature friendly food” says Hannah Gill, Programme Manager at Sustain.
(Image: Sustain)
Sustain's Bridging the Gap initiative represents another innovative approach to making organic food more accessible. The program is currently piloting projects across the UK, testing various mechanisms to bring organic to all areas of society.
Trials to boost access to organic for everyone
One mechanism on trial is a voucher-type model, giving people vouchers to use in local farmer’s markets, which has been successful during trials in the US . “It has been exciting to see level of government investment in those schemes in the US, and here in the UK there is a similar level of interest and uptake in existing schemes such as the Healthy Start Scheme”, says Hannah. But current schemes aren’t geared towards sustainability, so Sustain is looking at opportunities and mechanisms to marry up these approaches.
Bridging the Gap also pilots a membership model. “What if you could bump the loyalty points for people experiencing low income who are buying sustainably?”, says Hannah, on leaning into loyalty schemes and rewarding people’s buying behaviour.
And finally, straight-forward subsidy schemes are being trialled. This scheme in particular democratises access to healthy and sustainable, organic food. Hannah explains, “what if you walked into the shop, and the organic food was priced the same as the non-organic? How does that make people feel, and what is the experience and sense of wellbeing the family gets from being able to make that choice, an actual choice, to buy organic rather than being forced into a certain space because of your income?”
How to approach public procurement to include more organic food?
In procurement, Sustain is pioneering creative approaches to public sector food to make organic more accessible in this space. Ideas such as collaborative crop planning between local authorities and farmer collectives, ensuring steady markets for producers while meeting institutional needs, and giving producers the confidence to invest in their supply chain.
Read more about Give Peas A Chance, a Sustain funded project which saw Soil Association Scotland and Aberdeen City Council collaborate on getting organic peas into school dinners. You can read more about this pilot and others on the Sustain website.
Leadership in Organic Policy - Scotland
Scotland's commitment to organic agriculture demonstrates how government policy can accelerate change. Scotland is the only devolved nation in the UK to formally develop a comprehensive organic action plan, with goals including doubling organic land by 2026. During the development of the plan, commitment to organic farming has been ongoing through conversion and maintenance payments, as well as the removal of an area cap for land in conversion eligible for support payments, both of which are important for incentivising production and maintaining supply. “We have a government in Scotland that recognises the benefits that organic has to offer…which has led to some important policy commitments”, says David McKay, Co-Director at Soil Association Scotland.Scottish government has a general principle of maintaining alignment with changes in policy and regulation within the EU, where public procurement targets on organic produce in places like Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands, are ambitious. “One thing government has control over is public procurement, and whilst we would like to see Scottish government go further, we should recognise and welcome the fact that for a number of years now the Scottish government has funded the Food For Life (FFL) programme – now working with half the councils in Scotland.”
The success of the FFL programme in Scotland has led to expansion projects in Glasgow, looking at using the same model to include the NHS and colleges, following success with FFL expansion models in government and court buildings. “I think that it’s quite important for the gov to be able to walk the walk and say “we’re going to sign up to this accreditation system and try to get more organic food into public procurement”, because we know from international experience, that can be a real catalyst and driver for the change we want to see.”
Moving Forward: Building Sustainable Supply Chains
Expanding organic accessibility requires strengthening connections between producers and the public sector, to drive an economy of scale to support organic production, and create efficient, sustainable supply chains. “A number of initiatives from Europe would work here – the key is linking the producer with the local authority” says David. “FFL does a fantastic job of being a go between and building those relationships”.