Soil Association - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Soil Association is a charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

based in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming

Intensive farming

Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs of capital, labour, or heavy usage of technologies such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area....

, support for local purchasing

Local purchasing

Local purchasing is a preference to buy locally produced goods and services over those produced more distantly. It is very often abbreviated as a positive goal 'buy local' to parallel the phrase think globally, act locally common in green politics....

and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of organic food

Organic food

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...

. It developed
the world’s first organic certification

Organic certification

Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, [food] processors, retailers and restaurants.Requirements vary...

system in 1967 - standards which have since widened to encompass agriculture, aquaculture, ethical trade, food processing, forestry, health & beauty, horticulture and textiles. Today it certifies over 80% of produce in the UK.

History

The Soil Association was formally registered on May 3, 1946, and in the next decade, grew from a few hundred, to over four thousand members. The founding members comprised notable figures from various fields, including doctors, dentists, farmers, journalists, engineers and horticulturalists.

According to their website: "The Soil Association was founded in 1946 by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who observed a direct connection between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health."

"The catalyst was the publication of The Living Soil
The Living Soil
The Living Soil by Lady Eve Balfour is considered a seminal classic in organic agriculture and the organic movement. The book is based on Balfour's agricultural and medical research, and the initial findings of the first three years of the Haughley Experiment, the first scientific, side-by-side...

by Lady Eve Balfour

Lady Eve Balfour

Lady Evelyn Barbara "Eve" Balfour was an English farmer, educator, organic farming pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movement. She was one of the first women to study agriculture at an English university, graduating from the University of Reading.The daughter of the second Earl of...

, the sister of a Prime Minister, in 1943. The book presented the case for an alternative, sustainable approach to agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

that has since become known as organic farming."

The Soil Association was founded in part due to concerns over intensive agriculture and in particular the use of herbicides. A comparison between the two forms of farming in 1939 was called the Haughley Experiment

Haughley Experiment

The Haughley Experiment was the first scientific comparative study of organic farming and conventional chemical-based farming, started in 1939 by Lady Eve Balfour and Alice Debenham, on two adjoining farms in Haughley Green, Suffolk, England....

. The headquarters of the Soil Association used to be at the nearby Haughley Green

Haughley Green

Haughley Green is a village in Suffolk, England, four miles from Stowmarket. It was the location of the Haughley Experiment, the first scientific study comparing organic farming and modern chemical-based farming....

in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

.

One of the founders of the Soil Association, was Jorian Jenks

Jorian Jenks

Jorian Edward Forwood Jenks was an English farmer, environmentalism pioneer and fascist. He has been described as "one of the most dominant figures in the development of the organic movement".-Early life:...

, a former member of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), closely associated with Oswald Mosley. Jenks was for years the editorial secretary of the Association's journal ("Mother Earth") and indeed, the early days of the Association in the late 40s saw the involvement of the far-right and even antisemitic elements, remnants of the defunct BUF with Association's driving ideas as much political (far-right) as much as ecological. Following Jenks’ death in 1963, the Association tilted towards the left of the political spectrum, especially under the new president of the Association, Barry Commoner.

Activities

The Soil Association carries out work certifying products as organic in the following areas:

Organic farming
Organic farming
Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...
Organic food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...

processing
Organic restaurants and catering
Organic fisheries
Organic textiles and leather
Organic health and beauty

The Soil Association played a leading role in the development of the Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) and is a quarter owner of Global Standard GmbH. The GOTS standard was designed to make trading more efficient for operators and provide clarity for consumers on organic textiles.

The Soil Association Certification has been certifying organic textile businesses to the GOTS standard since 2006 . There are several other certification bodies now working to GOTS globally, with around 3000 businesses in 55 countries certified to GOTS.

Campaigns

Campaign priorities are to promote the benefits of organic food and farming, food security and lobby against GM, antibiotics and pesticide abuse. Many of its campaigns are led by scientific reports produced by its policy department. Currently, the organisation is campaigning to save the honeybee and to promote community supported agriculture

Policy Reports

The Soil Association's policy department carries out research and releases reports to further its aims. More influential reports of late include:

Climate friendly farming
Ten recent reports, including:

'An inconvenient truth about food - neither secure, nor resilient' (2008) A report on Britain's food security summarising how UK food self-sufficiency has declined over the past decade and that there is no overall, future-proofed 'Food Plan for Britain'.
'Organic works' (2006) The world's first report examining employment on organic farms and how organic farming is providing more jobs through organic farming and local food supply.

Welfare and wildlife
Eight recent reports, including:

'MRSA in farm animals and meat' (2007) This report focuses on a major new antibiotic-resistance problem in farming, which may have serious consequences for human health. In some countries MRSA has been found in a large number of farm animals and in retail meat.
'Batteries not included - organic farming and animal health' (2003) looks at the major animal welfare benefits provided by organic farms, and the opportunities to further improve welfare for organic farm animals.

Health
Ten recent reports, including:

'Georgie porgie pudding and pie' (2008) The first detailed investigation into the state of food fed to young children attending nurseries in England and Wales.
'Not what the doctor ordered' (2007) This report, sponsored by Organix uncovers a glaring contradiction between the Government's policy on healthy eating and the dominance of junk food on sale in many hospitals and leisure facilities.
'A fresh approach to hospital food' (2006) This report sets out the Cornwall Food Programme, which pioneers tasty, healthier and environmentally friendly hospital meals.
'The real meal deal' (2006) This report from the Soil Association and Organix takes a look at what's on the menu for children at 10 popular family restaurant chains and 14 major visitor attractions.

Genetic Modification
Four recent reports, including:

'Telling porkies: The big fat lie about doubling food production' (2010); This report reveals that claims that we need to double global food production by 2050, or 50% by 2030, are wrong;
'Land of the GM-free' (2008) A briefing on the launch of a major new non-GM labelling initiative in the US, the latest on US farmers rejection of new GM crops and the staggering collapse in the market for Monsanto's GM milk hormone.
'Silent invasion - the hidden use of GM crops in livestock feed' (2007) An investigation into the use of GM animal feed which finds that large quantities are being used in the UK to produce our food. This means that most of the non-organic milk, dairy products and pork sold in the UK is from GM-fed animals.

Education

The Soil Association also runs a number of schemes, designed to educate people and reconnect them with the land and where their food comes from:

'The Food for Life Partnership' www.foodforlife.org.uk is a £16.9m lottery funded programme made up of four charities - the Soil Association, Focus on Food Campaign, Health Education Trust and Garden Organic. It aims to transform school and community food culture across England by giving schools and communities access to seasonal, local and organic food and the skills they need to cook and grow fresh food for themselves;

'Organic Farm School' is a series of over 300 hands-on courses in growing your own food, rearing animals, cooking and rural crafts;

'Organic Apprenticeship Scheme' is a two year course involving a work based placement with an organic farmer or grower and eight structured seminars per year.

Quality of food

Soil Association standards are recognised to exceed statutory organic standards, such as those set by the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, and the UK government. Compassion In World Farming

Compassion In World Farming

Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa...

regards Soil Association standards to offer the best guarantee of high animal welfare standards in the UK.

In July 2009 the Food Standards Agency

Food Standards Agency

The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food throughout the United Kingdom and is led by a board appointed to act in the public interest...

published a report which concluded that there were "no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food." The Soil Association issued a statement criticising the report for not taking into account existing studies on the subject and noting reasons other than nutrition for consumers to choose organic food, such as environmental and animal welfare concerns.

Standards

Soil Association standards set strict benchmarks for organic food production, packaging, animal welfare, wildlife conservation, residues and additives in order to reassure the buying public over the quality of products labeled organic. Its standards often go beyond the ‘baseline’ legal requirements for organic farming in the EU, particularly for animal welfare and use of pesticides and fertilizers. Compassion In World Farming regards Soil Association standards to offer the best guarantee of high animal welfare standards in the UK. Standards are regularly reviewed by independent committees and go through a rigorous consultation and approval process to ensure they are kept high, but attainable. The Soil Association also works at European and international levels to help achieve consistently high organic standards across all bodies and authorities. It is a founder member of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

Standards cover:

Agriculture
Aquaculture
Ethical Trade
Food Processing
Forestry
Health & Beauty products
Horticulture
Textiles

Certification

Soil Association Certification Ltd (SACL) is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Soil Association charity, independently providing organic certification services and advisory support on all aspects of organic certification. SACL is one of ten approved organic certification bodies in the UK. SACL inspects and awards organic certification to over 4,500 farms and businesses around the world. It inspects each licensee at least once a year and carries out random, unannounced spot inspections and inspections in response to complaints or concerns.

Business support

The association provides general, legal, trading, marketing and training advice and support to existing businesses and those considering going organic. This includes tailored support for livestock, arable, horticulture, processing and forestry.

The Soil Association has been at the forefront of establishing alternative routes to market for organic produce, including the creation of producer groups to optimise trade in conventional market systems, nurturing farmers’ markets and box schemes around the country, a wide range of community supported agriculture schemes, public catering and encouraging farms visits to a network of over 100 farms.

The Soil Association provides a host of financial and economic information, including yearly [www.soilassociation.org/Businesses/Marketinformation/tabid/116/Default.aspx market reports] and monthly agricultural price data. It created Organic Marketplace, the UK’s largest searchable directory of organic livestock, feedstuff, forage and grazing, a free online service available to all.

Data and organic action plans are available for each UK region.

The Soil Association is a major supporter of the Organic Trade Board. The board is a commercially focused body, representing about 100 organic businesses and acting as an industry voice. The Soil Association complements the board by acting as the voice of the organic campaign movement.

Governing structure

Council of Trustees
A Senior Management Team
Certification Scrutiny Committee A committee of independent representatives ensuring the association’s certification processes are operating with integrity. All members are elected and meet six times a year.
Processor Technical Group A group of industry experts that represent processor licencees on technical and certification issues. All members are elected.
Eight standards committees made up of trade representatives that suggest changes to standards. They are the first step in a chain of groups that are responsible for changing standards and do not have this power alone. All members are elected.
Farmer and grower board A board made up of producer members which represents their interests within the association. All members are elected.

There is a Scottish division called Soil Association Scotland, which is based in Edinburgh.

Who’s who

Director Helen Browning
Chair of Trustees Orna Ni-Chionna
President Broadcaster Monty Don
Monty Don
Montagu Denis Wyatt Don is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.-Early life:...

became President of the Soil Association in late 2008.
Honorary Vice-Presidents Jonathan Dimbleby, George McRobie, Charlotte Mitchell, Trudie Styler
Royal Patron The Prince of Wales