What is organic farming?
Organic farming first arose in the 1940s, as a reaction against the industrialisation of agriculture. These days, it’s got a strict legal definition, and to call your produce “organic” you must be certified. In the UK, most organic goods are certified by the Soil Association or OF&G – just look for their stamps on the label.
Above all, organic farming is about nature: protecting it, enhancing it, and working in harmony with rather than fighting against it. The whole farm system works together with natural systems and cycles, for the good of the soil, plants, animals, humans, and wider environment.
Organic farmers:
- Don’t use artificial pesticides, fertilisers, or weedkillers
- Protect the health of the soil by using crop rotations to build its fertility naturally
- Guarantee the highest animal welfare standards of any farming system
- Encourage biodiversity and protect sensitive habitats
- Minimise waste, feeding as much as possible back into the farm
- Never grow genetically modified (GM) crops
You may need to ask questions about the things that matter to you – how often do they spray with artificial pesticides? What are their standards of animal welfare?
Organic accounts for just three per cent of the UK’s farmland. A broader, more accessible movement may well be needed – and regenerative is open to any farmer who wishes to work more sustainably, to whatever extent they can. But as a customer, it’s harder to know exactly what you’re buying.
What is regenerative farming?
Regenerative has been gathering speed as a grassroots movement among farmers over the past decade. It’s not yet a standardised system, like organic – instead, it’s more of a mindset. The phrase can be used to describe a broad range of farming activities which aim to restore healthy soils, clean water, and biodiversity.
Groundswell, the UK’s annual gathering of regenerative farmers, describes five key principles:
- Don’t disturb the soil by tilling, which damages its complex structure and biology.
- Keep the soil surface covered with plant-life, to protect it from erosion.
- Keep living roots in the soil, to feed the bacteria and fungi that keep it fertile.
- Grow a diverse range of crops, rather than growing one crop intensively and repeatedly.
- Bring grazing animals back to the land, as part of a fertility-boosting rotation of crops and animals.
First, how best to protect healthy soils? Organic farmers are permitted to till their fields, to kill weeds and fertilise without artificial chemicals. Regenerative farmers, on the other hand, may feel that it’s less damaging to sometimes spray their fields with agrichemicals such as glyphosphate (a practice adopted by many larger corporations who claim to be ‘regenerative’) rather than to disturb the soil with a plough.
Arguably, there isn’t a right or wrong here; both are damaging in different ways. That’s why many organic farmers also use low- or no-till methods, and many regenerative farmers also minimise their use of agrichemicals.
The key thing is not to fall for the greenwash. As reported by Food Unfolded, ‘the 2023 report by FAIRR looked at 79 global food and retail giants worth over $3 trillion and representing a third of the sector. They found that 50 of the 79 mega corporations mention regenerative agriculture initiatives in their disclosures. But relatively few of them could back up their claims meaningfully.
