The Soil Association has tagged UK as “the lazy man of Europe” after seeing it failing in providing the required support to organic farming and has left for it a stern advice of following the example of other nations. Sales of organic produce in some greengrocers which had rose as high as up to tenfold in the last 10 years, dwindled and suffered a steep fall after the UK govt failed to support organic farming in the nation. The damning news of the failure of successive British governments in promoting the organic farming and food sector of the country has isolated UK from the other European nations as with their exemplary achievement in the sector.

Where do the flaws lie?

So, if you are asking why the UK govt failed to support organic farming, research has by now collected several reasons to highlight them for you. One of the strong reasons that suggest the failure in the promotion of organic farming is definitely the giving of low importance to the sector and in this regard all fingers point to the policy makers, who have been concluded as “diffident.” As a result of such policy making, the sales of organic farming products slumped during the recession in UK, while the other major European nations successfully steered clear of the storm and upheld a strong and flourishing organic market. Reports suggest that Denmark has the largest organic market in the continent and the governments of Netherlands, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy and Austria explicitly support organic farming. To make the market a commercial success, the governments of these countries have also provided better support to the organic farmers through payments and have taken all the initiatives necessary to launch a major market that would boost up sales.

The prevailing picture

As the UK govt failed to support organic farming, it is continuing to sink down deeper at the bottom of the European league table where investment in organic farming is concerned. In contrary, the countries which have invested more in the promising sector have also witnessed the consumption of organic food per capita to be much higher in value and in some cases, the value is around 4 times than it is in UK. It has also been observed that while the demand for organic farming products maintained a stable scene in Germany, it grew in Italy and France during the 2009 recession while the organic farming market in UK suffered a 13.6 percent drop against the previous year.  

Picture Source: i.treehugger.com