§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many organic farms there were in(a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in each of the last three years. [151204]
§ Mr. BradshawAs of March 2003, there were 44 organic farms in Lancashire, of which two were located in Chorley. It is not possible to comment on the number of organic farms in each of these areas prior to this date since the Department has only just started to collate this information.
The following table does however show the number of organic farms who were benefiting from aid under the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) in each of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003:
Organic farming scheme
Lancashire Chorley 2001 29 2 2002 29 2 2003 28 2 The OFS is an entirely voluntary agri-environment scheme which provides financial help during the conversion period to help farmers make the move from conventional to organic farming methods. From 30 May 2003, the OFS was re-launched with an optional option i.e. a maintenance option, which offers payments to all existing organic farmers to encourage the continued management of the land in an environmentally beneficial way.