It may be officially “the silly season” for the UK’s media, but the splash in last Sunday’s Observer could have serious implications for the organic industry.

It appears to have been an unwritten rule within the national media that organic is sacred, and therefore safe from the battering handed out to conventionally grown, reared and produce foods and drinks. It is hard to imagine certain other newspapers running an exposé on the sector they appear to hold so dear.

But realistically there are rogue elements in any sector. And where there are regulations to be broken, you can be sure someone out there is breaking them. So this was surely an article waiting to written.

Sections of the fresh produce trade will undoubtedly welcome the fact that the consumer might at last be given a less whiter than white picture of the organic industry. While it would be crass to say the organic waters are murky, many producers believe that the serene ducks who choose to swim in it are staying afloat only through furious flapping below the surface.

Now, perhaps the media have decided they are there to be shot at. This comes at a time when growers in their droves are questioning the wisdom of their decisions to convert to organics in the first place. The premiums they chased are fast disappearing, costs are sky-rocketing, and the Soil Association’s promised land of vast market share for the organic sector is still nothing more than a dot on the fantasy horizon.

Perhaps we will begin to see and hear a more reasonable outlook on the future of organic fruits and vegetables. They have an important place in the industry, but they will not take over the world. And they are not perfect.