§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent400W estimate she has made of the levels of organic food (a) production and (b) consumption in Great Britain; what targets she has for expansion of organic production in (i) 2005, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2015; and if she will make a statement. [3989]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 13 July 2001]I have made no such estimates. However estimates prepared by the Soil Association (in their Organic Food and Farming Report 2000) indicate that the farm gate value of UK organic produce was around £67 million in 1999–2000 and that the retail value of all organic produce sold in the UK in the same period was just over £605 million.
We very much welcome the expansion of organic farming and we have done much to assist it. In particular, we have made substantial cash injections into the sector in aid for conversion to organic farming for which there is an ongoing commitment under the England Rural Development Programme. We do not favour setting arbitrary targets for the conversion of land to organic farming or for the producing of organic food.