The Soil Association has been applauded for pulling together key players this week to debate a potential ban on airfreighted organic imports into the UK - but the industry is still none the wiser as to what the future holds.
Anthony Pile of Ghanaian fresh-cut fruit firm Blue Skies, who spoke at the event, told FPJ: “Hats off to the Soil Association for being sensible and finally getting people together on this. There are so many strands to this issue.”
Anna Bradley, right, chair of the Soil Association standards board, said: “People were clearly and explicitly very pleased to have the chance to talk about this issue with us and with each other. We heard from a combination of interest groups and industry players, and used this as an exercise in seeing if clear perspectives emerged on either side of the debate.
“But it would be fair to say that the only clear thing we could draw from both sides was that nobody wanted to be in the Soil Association’s position of making this complex decision.”
But Bradley was swift to point out that this was a “very constructive debate”, saying: “There were no warring factions at all,” she said. “We were able to provide lots of colour and texture, fill in the gaps and create new trains of thought.”
More than 100 delegates attended the summit on Tuesday, which formed part of the Soil Association standards board’s ongoing consultation into whether airfreighted organic produce should be banned completely from the UK, banned with exemptions, labelled on the shelf, carbon offset or allowed to continue entering the UK unchecked.
Along with Blue Skies, which relies heavily on airfreight to trade, presentations were made by Organic Farm Foods, which focuses on seafreight and local sourcing, the International Trade Centre and Greenpeace.
Plenty of conflicting views arose from the event. Keith Abel, of organic home-delivery service Abel & Cole, said: “I am not in favour of any immediate ban, as we have to give firms a chance to alter their businesses; but I do think a ban phased in over a period of time is the way forward. Consumers buy organic produce because of its low environmental impact - airfreight should not come into play.
“On top of this, many of the businesses that will be affected by a ban are owned by western companies. To say we must sustain the livelihoods of these employees is like saying we should sustain the livelihood of EasyJet pilots by taking regular, cheap flights to Barcelona.”
Emily Armisted, senior campaigner for Greenpeace, agreed: “Any sensible and sustainable approach to food production and distribution would see airfreight phased out,” she said.
But Pile, below left, is optimistic this will not be the case. “I don’t believe the Soil Association standards board will go away thinking a total ban is the way forward, and hopefully they will come to the same conclusion about airfreight labelling. There was no call for it at the meeting. The general consensus, to my mind, was that we must take a deep breath and consider the footprint of each and every element in the chain. I felt that it was very much a case of ‘let’s ban the ban’. The last thing we want is a kneejerk, emotive reaction. We want leadership and a balanced analysis that takes into account emissions across the whole supply chain.”
The Soil Association will add the presentations to its website to inform further suggestions. The consultation process will close on September 21, and the standards board’s recommendation is set to appear in October, with a final decision expected by the turn of the year.
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