Organic Farms (Hansard, 23 May 1991)

§ Mr. Ron Davies
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many organic farms are registered in the United Kingdom currently and in each of the last five years; and if any farms have surrendered their organic status.

§ Mr. Maclean
There is currently no statutory requirement for organic farms to be registered in the United Kingdom. However, under a voluntary scheme administered by the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards 135 farms are registered and 554 are in the process of registering.
Further information on the structure of organic farming may be found on pages 73 to 76 of the 1991 edition of "Farm Incomes in the UK"—available in the Library.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many organic farms are currently registered in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) each of the other European Community nations.

§ Mr. Maclean
There is currently no statutory requirement for organic farms to be registered in the United Kingdom. However under a voluntary scheme administered by the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards 135 farms are registered and 554 are in the process of registering.
Further information on the structure of organic farming in Great Britain may be found on pages 73 to 76 of the 1991 edition of "Farm Incomes in the UK"—available in the Library.
The information requested for other European Community nations is not available.
554W

§ Mr. Soames
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to encourage organic farming.

§ Mr. Maclean
The organic sector is eligible for the support given to all farmers under a number of general schemes. These include the farm and conservation grant scheme, the nitrate sensitive areas scheme, the set-aside scheme and the pilot extensification schemes for beef and sheep. Advice from the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service is also available. The processing and marketing of organic produce is being given priority for discretionary European Community grants under our national plans for implementing Community regulation 866/90. We are in addition making a very significant commitment to organic farming research and development. In 1991–92 we are spending over £500,000 on specific organic farming projects and over the next three years this is set to rise to £1 million. We have also commissioned an economic study of organic farming in Great Britain and the full report will be published later this year. We also provide grant aid to the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards that is responsible for establishing standards and for their enforcement. Further support in the form of a specific organic conversion scheme is under consideration.