The Soil Association is proposing standards for growing organic crops in greenhouses and polytunnels, following feedback from an open public consultation.
Changes put forward include a recommendation to progress toward renewable sources of energy, a requirement to record energy used in heating and standards addressing issues of fertility, crop rotation, soil, and water use.
Stakeholders have until 6 April to comment on the proposed standards before they are finalised. Proposals include a measure to progress toward using renewable energy or combined heat and power if fossil fuel using more than 100kWh per square metre is used for heating. There is also a proposal to introduce a fertility management plan to demonstrate efforts towards sustainability, and a plan for growers to dhow they have robust crop rotation plan to deliver soil and crop health.
Kathleen Hewlett, Soil Association standards coordinator, said: “Growing crops in a glasshouse or polytunnel helps to increase productivity and extend the UK growing season but if these protected-cropping systems are to make a contribution to the resilience of our food supply it is important to ensure that they are managed as sustainably as possible.”
Existing organic standards applied in the UK have been designed primarily for growing in open fields and are not always suitable for growing under protected structures.
At the end of this round of consultation, the Soil Association Horticulture Standards Committee will consider the responses and make a recommendation for final standards on protected cropping. The Standards Board will consider and refine the standards where necessary for the Soil Association’s Board of Trustees to approve for publication.
The publication date of the Soil Association’s new protected cropping standards will depend on the progress made in the EU Organic Regulation, to ensure that the two are sufficiently compatible. The European Commission has been planning to draft implementing rules for protected cropping for the last few years and it has been suggested that this will happen in 2011. The Soil Association is giving input into this process through the IFOAM EU Group.
