Soil Association

The Soil Association is a British registered charity. Its activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods.[3] It was established in 1946.[4]

Soil Association
Founded1946
Founder
TypeCharity
Legal status
FocusOrganic movement
Location
  • Soil Association, Spear House, 51 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6AD
Area served
United Kingdom
MethodCampaigning and certification
Key people
Websitesoilassociation.org

History

Lady Eve Balfour, Friend Sykes and George Scott Williamson organized a founders' meeting for the Soil Association on 12 June 1945; about a hundred people attended.[5][6] The association was formally registered on 3 May 1946,[7] and in the next decade grew from a few hundred to over four thousand members.[8]

It was founded in part due to concerns over intensive agriculture and in particular the use of herbicides. British Union of Fascists member, Jorian Jenks, who was closely associated with Oswald Mosley was one of the founders. He was for years the editorial secretary of Mother Earth, the journal of the association. During the late 1940s the association involved far-right and even anti-Semitic elements, remnants of the defunct BUF, and was driven by far-right political ideas as much as ecological concerns. Following Jenks' death in 1963, the association tilted towards the left of the political spectrum, especially under the new president, Barry Commoner.[9] The campaigner Alastair Sawday was vice-chairman of the association between 2005 and 2007.[10]

The association was one of the five bodies which in Versailles in 1972 formed the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements to act as the umbrella organisation to advocate for organic farming.[11]

Activities

The association carries out work certifying products as organic in the following areas: farming, food processing, restaurants and catering, fisheries, textiles and leather, health and beauty, and fulfilment.

Campaigns

The association campaigns to promote organic food and farming, promote food security, and against genetic modification, many pesticides and the routine use of antibiotics.[12]

Education

The association runs a number of schemes designed to educate people and reconnect them with the land and where their food comes from. The Food for Life Partnership[13] is a £16.9m lottery-funded programme involving four charities – the Soil Association, Focus on Food Campaign, Health Education Trust and Garden Organic.

Quality of food

In July 2009 the Food Standards Agency published a report[14] which concluded that there were "no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food". The Soil Association issued a statement[15] criticising the report for not taking into account existing studies on the subject and noting reasons other than nutrition for consumers to choose organic food, such as environmental and animal welfare concerns.

BOOM Awards

The Soil Association awards annual BOOM Awards (Best of Organic Market) for businesses, producers and brands. In 2017 there were awards in 21 categories such as "Bakery", "Best Organic Box Scheme" and "Best Organic Blogger", and "The Nation's Favourite", won that year by Island Bakery of Mull for their "Lemon melts" (lemon biscuits dipped in white chocolate), out of 3,000 public nominations.[16][17]

Farmers and growers

Standards

Soil Association standards set strict benchmarks for organic food production, packaging, animal welfare, wildlife conservation, residues and additives to reassure the buying public over the quality of products labelled organic. It was an early adopter of organic production standards to exclude nanomaterials.[18] The standards cover agriculture,[19] aquaculture,[20] ethical trade,[21] food processing,[22] forestry,[23] health and beauty products,[24] horticulture,[25] and textiles[26]

Certification

Soil Association Certification Ltd is a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Soil Association charity, independently providing organic certification services and advisory support on all aspects of organic certification. It is approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[27]

People

Helen Browning is the chief executive;[28] broadcaster Monty Don was president from 2008 to 2016.[29] Honorary vice-presidents include Jonathan Dimbleby, George McRobie, and Charlotte Mitchell; and The Prince of Wales is a royal patron.[30]

See also

References
  1. The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.
  2. Charity Details: Soil Association Ltd, SC039168. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Accessed December 2021.
  3. "Our history". Soil Association. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  4. The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862; Governing document. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.
  5. Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. p. 252. ISBN 978-0863153365
  6. Lockeretz, William. (2018). Organic Farming: An International History. CABI. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-85199-833-6
  7. Paull, John (2009). "The Living Soil Association: Pioneering Organic Farming and Innovating Social Inclusion" (PDF). Journal of Organic Systems. 4 (1): 15–33.
  8. Conford, Philip & Holden, Patrick (2007), "The Soil Association", in William Lockeretz (ed.), Organic Farming: An International History, Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI), pp. 187–200, ISBN 978-0-85199-833-6, retrieved 10 August 2010 ebook ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3
  9. Macklin, Graham (2007). Very deeply dyed in black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the resurrection of British fascism after 1945. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-284-4.
  10. "Alastair Sawday: the green travel pioneer". The Simple Things. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  11. Paull, John (2010). "From France to the World: The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)" (PDF). Journal of Social Research & Policy. 1 (2): 93–102.
  12. http://www.soilassociation.org/whatisorganic/organicfarming
  13. Food For Life website
  14. Organic review. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  15. Soil Association response to the Food Standards Agency's Organic Review. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  16. "The BOOM Award Winners 2017". Soil Association. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  17. "The 2017 Nation's Favourite Shortlist". Soil Association. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  18. Paull, John (2011) "Nanomaterials in food and agriculture: The big issue of small matter for organic food and farming", Proceedings of the Third Scientific Conference of ISOFAR (International Society of Organic Agriculture Research), 28 September – 1 October, Namyangju, Korea., 2:96–99.
  19. "Agriculture standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  20. "Aquaculture standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  21. "Ethical trade standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  22. "Food processing standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  23. "Forestry standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  24. "Health products standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  25. "Horticulture standards committee". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  26. "Textiles standards & trade group". Soil Association. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  27. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/organic-certification-list-of-uk-approved-organic-control-bodies
  28. Soil Association website Archived 21 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 October 2015
  29. Monty Don: ‘I like dogs because they are not humans’, The Guardian, 11 December 2016
  30. "Who We Are". Soil Association. Retrieved 26 September 2016.

Further reading
  • Conford, Philip (2001), The Origins of the Organic Movement, Floris Books, ISBN 0-86315-336-4
Sayre, Laura (4 March 2004), Review: The Origins of the Organic Movement, Rodale Institute, retrieved 14 August 2010 (provides useful overview and commentary on the book's contents).

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