Unsurprisingly, farm and environment secretary David Miliband’s reiteration of research findings that organic food is no better for you than conventional counterparts has angered the organic sector.

Just entering the debate would upset one lobby or the other. If you disagree with Miliband it is tantamount to saying the vast majority of what we produce is second rate simply because it is not organic. Had Miliband come down on the side of the organic brigade, then a whole hornet’s nest would have been stirred up among producers of the remaining 96 per cent of our farm produce.

Unlike Holden, I do not believe Miliband is “profoundly ignorant of the benefits that are motivating people to buy organic food”. I would suggest, however, that those benefits are merely perceived, rather than proven, and that their motivation is often extremely ill-formed - organic shoppers have frequently told me they buy organic because it is totally pesticide-free.

The real debate in the near future will be over distance produce has travelled. At last - a point on which vast swathes of NFU and Soil Association membership coincide.

But unless the trade moves to start informing that debate, decisions will be taken on an equally ill-informed and confused basis. Witness the height of feeling over polytunnels. What is needed are some good hard facts and a bit of consumer education and awareness.