10 CUMBRIAJune 2009 EnvironmentTalk
Is this the end of the o
There are many ways farmers can help stop
T
he premium price tradi-
tionally enjoyed by organ-
ic beef and sheep farmers
has all but disappeared
over the last year and many are
facing some tough decisions.
Tom Wilson started the conver-
sion of Geltsdale Farm near
Brampton to organic a decade ago.
At the time, there were plenty of
incentives to make the switch
from conventional farming; there
were generous government grants
and a premium of 50p a kilo over
conventional beef and lamb prices.
Now, the grants have dried up
and the premium has fallen to just
10p a kilo after non-organic prices
shot up last autumn because of the
weak pound.
As consumers look for ways to
save money and balance their
household budgets, organic produce
is often the first thing to be crossed
off the weekly shopping list.
The resulting fall in demand is
having an alarming knock-on
effect on producers.
Of the 32 fattened organic beef
animals Mr Wilson sold last year,
20 went into the conventional mar-
ket at a lower price because of a
lack of demand. His organic store
lambs are sold to be fattened but
here too demand has slumped.
Mr Wilson said: "I'm seriously
considering coming out of organic
in October. It's the earliest I can do
it or I'll have to pay the grants back.
"There are two main reasons.
Firstly, we now have to feed com-
pletely organic food, which is
twice the price of conventional
feed. The extra demand means
there is not enough to go around.
"Secondly, the beef finishing
price for organic is only very
slightly higher than conventional,
so it's financially not viable."
As a financially motivated
farmer, if the figures no longer
add up, he will make the switch
from organic. For other producers,
organic farming is about a belief
system and not the money.
Dianne Horn and her husband
Eric at Slack House Farm, Gils-
land, passionately believe conven-
tional farming is not sustainable.
The milk they sold to farming
co-operative Dairy Farmers of
Britain (DFB) was never sold to
consumers as organic and instead
was pumped into the conventional
milk pool.
This is partly because Slack
House is a fairly small producer
and it would have been uneconom-
ical for DFB to transport the milk
for organic processing.
But the Horns still received a
premium for their milk. They also
process some themselves and turn
it into organic cheese.
Their beef is finding its way
into the conventional market too.
Dianne said: "It costs more for
me now to get it slaughtered and
butchered than it does to produce
the animal.
"We're finishing very little and
when we do, it finds its way into
the conventional market.
"We've never had a premium on
beef or lamb, mainly because
we're very small producers.
"Economically, we'd be better
off bringing up the beef and sheep
non-organic. I believe farmers
who are in it for the money won't
stay organic for long."
Grants and premium prices
prompted thousands of farmers to
switch to organic in the last few
years. There are just less than 100
in Cumbria.
What used to be a niche market
blossomed as consumers bought
into the environmentally-friendly
credentials of organic.
After a two-year conversion
period, dairy farmer Mark Shad-
wick from Raughton Farm, near
Dalston was able to sell his milk
as organic at the start of May.
He used to get 30p a litre from
DFB, but the milk went into the
conventional pool.
Mr Shadwick switched to organ-
ic rather than become more inten-
sive. He
per litre
1.6 milli
it was o
ventiona
He sa
making
good is
"We'v
already
to grow
there ar
way; the
BY SALLY WARD
Cumbria FWAG
THERE has been a significant
move away from the practice of
hay-making in favour of silage
over the last century.
Silage-making is more cost
effective and efficient and relies
less on the weather than hay-mak-
ing.
However, these changes in
grassland management have been
a contributing factor in the
decline of ground-nesting birds.
Increased nitrogen applications
associated with silage produces a
denser sward that is less attractive
to some birds.
The crop is ready for cutting at
an earlier date and many nests are
destroyed before the eggs get a
chance to hatch.
Earlier harvesting of the crop
before seed heads are mature
results in fewer seeds being left on
the ground for birds, such as
finches, to eat.
In Cumbria, one species whose
song has so often heralded the
beginning of spring is the curlew,
but its numbers have fallen by 30
per cent over the last 30 years.
This too is partly due to the shift
to silage-making.
Many farmers miss the evoca-
tive song of the curlew and are
keen to find simple ways to help
attract this bird back to farmland.
Another familiar sight in the
spring is the lapwing � or peewit
as it is often referred to because of
its distin
ulation
per cent
Cumbri
per cent
There
measure
tect nest
ploughin
One fa
FWAG w
ting and
canes so
ed.
Anoth
lapwing
moved t
With government grants drying up, premium prices disapp
the amount of organic produce they stock, is this really th
farming? Farming and rural affairs editor Anna Burdett t
The greenest greens: Debbie and Mike Simpson with a freshly picked salad basket in the greenhouse at Eva's Organics
A once familiar sight: The
number of lapwing in
Cumbria has fallen by nearly
60 per cent since the 1970s

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