Examination of witnesses (Questions 153
- 159)
WEDNESDAY 12 JULY 2000
MR TIM
BENNETT, MR
OLIVER DOWDING,
MR IAN
GARDINER and MS
ANGELA BRETT
Chairman
153. Would you like, Mr Bennett, to identify
yourself and your fellow suspects for the record.
(Mr Bennett) Thank you very much, Chairman. Can I
thank you for inviting the NFU to give evidence to what we consider
a very important inquiry into organic farming. Also right from
the start I give my apologies for my President, Ben Gill, who
has a long-standing engagement which he could not break, otherwise
he would have attended this morning. I am Tim Bennett, Ben Gill's
Deputy President. On my far right is Ian Gardiner, who is Deputy
Director General. Oliver Dowding, on my near right, chairs our
Organic Farming Working Group and is also an organic farmer in
Somerset. Angie Brett is our resident expert on organics who works
for the NFU.
154. Do you think organic farming is morally
superior to conventional farming?
(Mr Bennett) I certainly think in terms of the organic
farming brand the perception of the consumer is that it is something
they desire and that is why the market is expanding.
155. I did not ask you that. I asked whether
you thought it was morally superior to conventional farming. I
am asking you. I want you to answer.
(Mr Bennett) As a conventional farmer myself I admire
the way that the organic farmer is expanding his brand and has
sold it very well. Personally I think I do a very good job of
farming myself in terms of reassuring the consumer.
156. Can I paraphrase what I think you are saying
but are too diplomatic to say; the answer is no.
(Mr Bennett) If that is your perception.
157. I really do not see why this is a difficult
question. Do you think that farmers who farm organically have
got a claim to greater moral virtue than those who do not?
(Mr Bennett) Most conventional farmers would not subscribe
to that theory and that includes myself.
158. I think we are getting somewhere on that.
The second question is if conventional farming improves economically—and
at the Royal Show the feeling one had was there are a few faint
glimmerings of the end of the tunnel—would you expect the
present rate of conversion to carry on? In other words, do you
think that the state of conventional farming is largely responsible
for the acceleration in conversion and the interest in moving
to organic production?
(Mr Bennett) I think there is no doubt at all that
the speeding up of conversion to organic production is because
of the premium involved and because conventional farming has been
in a severe recession with low prices and obviously farmers, quite
rightly, have looked for other markets and that includes organic
farming. Most of the demand for conversion is based on assuming
that there will be a premium in the future. I think if the gap
between conventional and the premium is slowed, my judgment is
that the applications for conversion would probably slow, particularly
with some of the concerns we have got about conversion and the
amounts of money for some sectors anyway, but Oliver might want
to expand on that.
(Mr Dowding) The difference in price between conventional
produce and organic produce at the farm gate has widened because
the conventional price has fallen, as you probably realise, and
that is the major reason. The organic prices have not, by and
large, risen. People are looking for any way out of a hole and
the chances are, as retail enthusiasm increases and demand is
strong, when people are looking for something with a degree of
assurance for the future, that conversion will expand.
159. We will come back in more detail to this
question later on. Perhaps Mr Gardiner would have the best idea
on that. Have you made any calculations as to what is the necessary
premium and how to define it in order to sustain the buoyancy
of the organic sector?
(Mr Gardiner) If you mean the premium at the retail
level—because obviously we have to come back to the farm
gate.
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