Mr McGregor's organic garden

8:32am Monday 4th September 2006

Sales of organic food are now worth more than £1.6bn to UK retailers. As Organic Fortnight gets under way, Lindsay Jennings looks at how the industry has grown.

THERE was one defining moment which contributed to Geoff Perry's decision to go organic- the BSE crisis. "When something like that comes to light it makes you think about the whole way food is processed and you consider what it is exactly that you're eating," says Geoff, 52, who lives in Darlington.

"Another strong argument for us eating organic has also been concerns about the number of pesticides and fertilisers that are used."

It is ten years since Geoff, his wife Julie, 46, and their son Ned, six, went organic. Today, they get their food through a vegetable box scheme, delivered by a local farm to their home every week, as well as growing their own fruit in their garden.

The Perrys are one of thousands of families across the country who are keen to know, not only what their fruit and veg comprises, but also where it has come from. It is a lifestyle trend which, according to the organic industry's governing body, The Soil Association, saw sales of organic food increase by 30 per cent over the last year with £1.6bn of organic food now sold in the UK every year.

Supermarkets source two thirds of organic crops from Britain and sales from independent shops, farmers' markets and box schemes have also increased by 32 per cent. The global market for organic food is worth £15bn and almost half of all baby food is organic.

So, why has the industry grown at such a rapid rate? Certainly, worries over diseases such as BSE, or mad cow disease, have helped the organic cause, with there being no cases of BSE in any fully organic herd, according to The Soil Association.

And celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, has certainly given the organic food industry a boost with his one-man vendetta against Turkey Twizzlers - after revealing they contained only 34 per cent turkey - and other processed foods. Ever since his television programme, Jamie's School Dinners, many schools have revamped their menus and ditched the processed junk in favour of additive free, back-to- basics meals of meat and vegetables. The Turkey Twizzler is almost as extinct as Victoria Beckham's pop career.

Sourcing organic food has also become much easier with the boom in specialist organic food shops and farmer's markets and the expansion of supermarkets' own organic range.

Sainsbury's SO Organic brand manager, Ruth Bailey, says: "More and more people are eating organically and these days it's a choice made by everyone from young families to foodies. Our range is constantly growing to suit all tastes."

Low Leases Farm at Leeming Bar, in North Yorkshire, has certainly benefited from the organic revolution. It was started by Rob and Elaine McGregor in 1999 after the couple left busy jobs in insurance behind them in London.

"It started very small delivering boxes from the back of an estate car and business was slow to begin with, possibly because organic box schemes were not really common in the North of England at the time," says Elaine, 42. "But as the publicity surrounding organic food has increased it has really accelerated. A lot of what we do now has come from word of mouth recommendations.

"It's also a culture thing, people are getting more educated and learning about things like hydrogenated fats, which are in cakes and biscuits and which are going to be the next obesity issue.

"We really just want to be part of the local economy. It helps generate income, not just for us, but for all the feeder businesses as well."

At Low Leases, there are 20 acres and the family leases additional land. Among their own stock are broad beans, courgettes, potatoes, cabbage, and tomatoes and they have reciprocal arrangements with other farmers. The farm now has several hundred customers signed up to its box scheme and employs eight people, including growers, drivers and office staff.

"The thing with a box scheme is that you can get different things, whereas it's very rare that you'll find things like black radish and white radish in the supermarket," says Elaine, whose two children Eleanor, six, and Alec, four, have been brought up on organic food from birth.

"People have this picture that convenience food is a lot cheaper but if you go out and buy fresh vegetables and a piece of meat, it's not that expensive."

But what's the difference between filling your supermarket trolley with organic fruit and veg and non-organic - aside from, of course, the difference in price?

Organic fruit and vegetables are said to have higher amounts of essential amino acids and vitamins than non-organic food. A recent survey revealed that 72 per cent of people felt organic fruit and veg tasted better and 71 per cent preferred the taste of organic meat.

In addition, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are banned. Controversial additives such as aspartame, tartrazine and hydrogenated fats are also banned and organic food produces less carbon dioxide and less dangerous wastes, whereas around 350 pesticides are permitted in conventional farming.

Some people are also happier with the animal welfare side. To comply with organic status, chickens, for example, spend more of their time outside, in smaller flocks, and have more space in their houses and The Soil Association campaigns against the use of antibiotics for growth promotion.

Green and animal manures are used to enrich the soil.

But organic food can go off more quickly than non-organic because it does not have artificial preservatives. Some conventional farmers argue that their hi-tech pest control and animal medication is better than the low-tech methods used in organic farming. Organic food is also more expensive as a result of slower, more labour intensive production methods and generally lower yields.

In addition, the UK Food Standards Agency announced in 2003 that, in its view, and after some scientific research, organic food was no safer or more nutritious than food produced by conventional means.

There are also pitfalls to avoid when it comes to buying organic food which has come from abroad, where the rules and regulations to qualify the food as organic may be different to Britain's. Around 70 per cent of organic food sold in UK supermarkets is imported.

"For meat to be classed as organic here, it has to be born on an organic farm from organic stock, but the rules can be completely different abroad," says Elaine McGregor.

Ultimately, the decision is up to the consumer, and families such as the Perrys, who believe buying organic food is worth every penny.

"Of course, people would like it to be cheaper but there's no doubt that it tastes better," says Geoff, who teaches art and design at Longfield School in Darlington. "Ideally, I would like my own allotment so I can grow more of my own."

Elaine agrees there is nothing she would rather feed her children than organic food.

"At the end of the day it is food as it should be," she says. "I'm not going to stand in judgement of anybody who doesn't eat organic food, but given a choice, I don't want my family eating a lot of processed chemicals."

* For more information about organic food, log onto The Soil Association at www.soilassociation.org.

* Low Leases Farm can be contacted on (01609) 748177 www.theorganicfarm.co.uk.