Market concerns for booming Welsh organic sector

[S.Annadana]

May 1 2008 By Andrew Forgrave, Rural Affairs Editor

BOOM could turn to bust for Wales’ organic producers, the sector has been warned.

The amount of organic land in Wales soared 15% last year and now amounts to 6.3% of the country’s agricultural area.

Some 90,000ha on 800 holdings are now under organic management, according to the first comprehensive survey of Welsh organic producers by Organic Centre Wales (OCW).

OCW director Dr Nic Lampkin, one of the report's authors, said the trend was set to continue - but he issued a health warning.

“With more than 300 farmers applying to join the new Organic Farming Scheme this year, organic farming could grow to 8-10% of Welsh agriculture by the end of 2009,” he said.

“An increase of 30-40% in the size of the Welsh organic sector in the next couple of years will create some exciting opportunities.”

It could make it difficult for new producers to find a premium market for their products, he admitted.

Producers should be aware of the risks and be able to survive periods when there may be little difference between organic and non-organic prices, he said.

He added: “Before we panic, it will be 2010 before most of the producers who are starting to convert now will achieve organic status, and demand is continuing to grow.

“This gives us time to plan, so that we can make best use of policy support and develop strategies to exploit new market opportunities.”

The report shows organic farming accounted for about 4-5% of all Welsh production in 2007, ranging from 2% for pigs to more than 10% of Welsh horticulture, including potatoes.

An estimated 7,000 finished cattle, 110,000 finished lambs, 70m litres of milk, 830,000 dozen eggs and 4,000 ha of arable crops were produced organically.

More than 90% of this output was sold as organic.

However the organic sheep sector struggled to find organic outlets for light and store lambs, reflecting concerns the lamb market is becoming saturated.