Struggling farmers forced to abandon organic food drive

Organic farming was officially encouraged by the Scottish Executive, but now farmers, chefs and nutritionists are accusing the government of failing the movement.

Since 2001, more than 21.8 million has gone to farmers to convert to organic production, while 7 million in grants has been awarded to organic producers to support infrastructure investments of around 34 million.

But since the funding stopped, farmers have struggled with low returns, high supermarket prices, increasing bureaucracy and a lack of government backing.

Rhona Brankin, the deputy environment and rural minister, has now confirmed that more than 300 organic farmers have been forced to abandon organic farming in order to stay afloat.

Nick Nairn, celebrity chef and advocate of organic food, said: "At the turn of the millennium everyone was talking about organics and supporting farmers. Suddenly it was sexy and the government pledged money to do their bit.

"But you can't just put funding in place for a finite period and then withdraw it and expect to drive change forward. The only way to effect that change is for the subsidies for farmers to be biased towards extensive farming, not intensive farming. That is a fundamental stance that the Executive has to make.

"The problem with organic food in the supermarkets is that it occupies a miniscule space and is very expensive. And what is doubly annoying is that I know for a fact that the super premium is not being passed back to the farmer and the extra profit is being taken back by the retailer."

Chef John Quigley, patron of the Red Onion in Glasgow, called for subsidies to be reinstated. He said: "Organics has a definite future, but we have to make sure the subsidies are in place so farmers can grow them and make a successful business out of it. The Executive must ensure that it sticks with organic."

The Executive encouraged farmers to convert their traditional farms to organic during the 1990s by offering cash incentives through the organic aid scheme.

The Soil Association for Scotland, which campaigns on behalf of the organic sector, believes the revival of organic and natural products has had a major setback.

Carey Coombs, policy manager for the Soil Association in Scotland, admitted there has been a "high drop-out rate", particularly among hill farmers. "When the Executive was trying to encourage as many farmers to convert to organic as possible, a lot of hill farmers thought it would be an easy way to get a few quid, and quite rightly too," he said. "But it was a badly constructed scheme and we've learnt by that and we have to look forward and make sure we learn from the mistakes."

The Executive set a target of doubling the area of quality land in organic production to 30 per cent in 2007 and has so far achieved a figure of 21 per cent - but there has been a downward trend in total land supported under the organic aid scheme since 2003.

Ms Brankin said: "The reduction in land supported by the scheme is due to some 300 participants completing conversion and leaving the aid scheme, and the fact the full impact of improvements and extensions, introduced last year, have yet to be realised."

A National Farmers Union spokesman said farmers are businesspeople and would have to weigh up whether the organic premiums made economic sense.