Following the Government report released today by MAFF, Greenpeace called for action to reduce chemicals in food by providing further funding for research into sustainable organic farming methods.
"This level of chemicals in our food is the inevitable result of fifty years of industrial agriculture in the UK. The solution is not just more testing but changing agricultural policy. The public want to know they are eating healthy produce. This means going organic," said Greenpeace director, Dr Doug Parr.
This week at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival in Sheffield, Dr Liz Stockdale of the Arable Crops Research Institute said that, with more research, organic farms could be economically viable on a much larger scale and could reportedly produce enough food to "feed the world".
Demand for organic food in the UK has led the organic market to grow even faster than information technology industry yet, due to lack of investment into the sector, the UK has to import about 80 per cent of its organic produce to fulfil demand.
"The organic sector remains grossly underfunded. We urgently need more organic research, yet the Government continues to pour money into researching unpredictable and unwanted GM technology," added Parr.
Greenpeace and the Soil Association have called on the Government to set a target for organic farming in the UK, to pull the country's organic farming industry into line with the rest of Europe where 30 per cent of land will be farmed organically by 2010 if current rates of growth continue.
Notes to Editors:
In the current financial year, MAFF spent £125 million into research and development of industrial farming. In 1998, the Government spent £52 million on the research and development of agricultural biotechnology. It only spent £2.2 million on the research and development of the organic sector.
