§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what progress she has made in increasing organic food production as a proportion of total UK food production; [34665]
(2) what plans she has to set a target for the proportion of farmland to be farmed organically. [34666]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 8 February 2002]: We have made a significant amount of money available to assist farmers to convert to organic production and will continue to do so. In April 1999 we introduced the Organic Farming Scheme offering greatly increased rates of aid compared to the previous scheme. Since then the area of land under organic management in England has risen from 0.6 per cent. to 1.7 per cent. of agricultural land. And we have budgeted expenditure of £140 million over the lifetime of the England Rural Development Programme, which should triple the area under organic management by 2006; however, the Government do not have any plans to set a specific target for proportion of land to be farmed organically. The development of the UK organic sector will be carried forward in the context of an organic food and farming action plan once the recommendations of the Policy Commission on the future of Farming and Food have been taken into account.