Milking the profits of going natural

THEY say that farming is in trouble but one sector seems to be bucking the trend. Organic farming, which stresses that crops and livestock should be reared as naturally as possible, is on the up and up.

In April 1997, the number of British farmers who had either switched to organic methods or were in the process of switching stood at a modest 800. But by April 2004, that figure had soared to 3,995 and has probably now passed the 4,000 mark.

British consumers are also switching to organically grown food in larger numbers - in the 12 months up to last April, shoppers bought £1.1bn worth of organic meat and groceries.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who was recently in County Durham promoting better quality school meals, is one of organic farming's biggest supporters. On the website of the main organic farming organisation, The Soil Association, Jamie's grinning face can be seen above his quote: "I want to cook with the best ingredients. The Soil Association are working to ensure that food is the way it should be, healthy, tasty and grown with nature."

The upward trend seems likely to be stimulated by announcements made at the Soil Association's annual conference, which is taking place in Newcastle this week in conjunction with Newcastle University's Quality Low Impact Food (QLIF) congress.

One of the most significant announcements - that organic milk has been proven to have higher levels of Vitamin E, antioxidants and omega 3 essential fatty acids than conventionally-produced milk - was made at the event.

All of these factors are important in maintaining good health and helping us to fight off disease. A recent study involving giving omega 3 food supplements to scores of County Durham primary school children suggests that behaviour and concentration can be improved.

Organically fed cows, which eat high levels of fresh grass, clover pasture and grass clover silage, produce milk which is on average 50 per cent higher in vitamin E (alpha tocopherol), according to the new research. Their milk was also found to be 75 per cent higher in beta carotene (which our bodies convert to vitamin A) and two to three times higher in the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthine than non-organic milk. The data supports the higher antioxidant levels reported by an Italian study.

In addition, the research team found higher levels of omega 3 essential fatty acids, confirming earlier research into raised omega 3 levels by the University of Aberdeen and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research. The results of these studies were revealed by Jacob Holm, a senior biochemist at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.

The findings come as no surprise to Carlo Leifert, Professor of Ecological Farming at Newcastle University, who is leading a £12m European Union backed project to investigate why the taste and nutritional value of food is decreasing and whether organic farming can be a solution.

He leads a team of scientists who are growing test crops of cabbages, carrots, potatoes and wheat at the university's agricultural research centre at Nafferton Farm in Northumberland. Linking research institutions, companies and universities in 15 countries, the centre also has dairy herds of organically fed and conventionally fed cows.

This week, Prof Leifert also released details of new disease-resistant varieties of organic potatoes which can be grown without chemicals.

This important development means that supermarket shelves are likely to have more varieties of organic potatoes appearing for the first time.

In the past, the difficulty of developing types of potato which would resist disease have kept most organic potatoes off the shelves.

Prof Leifert says the new research confirms his belief that it is worth paying a little extra for organic milk. "It seems that in anything you can measure, organic milk is either slightly better or substantially better than conventionally produced milk. With this sort of information, we can now go out and say you really have to believe us now," says Prof Leifert.

The German scientist, who made the UK his home after marrying a Yorkshire girl he met on an Israeli kibbutz, is in the middle of a much larger study comparing organic with conventional milk. "Hopefully, by comparing groups of farms which are organic and conventional but which mainly differ in one factor, we will be able to explain where these differences come from," he says.

Ultimately, Prof Leifert hopes to be able to prove that organically produced food can deliver more health-giving nutrients per portion than conventionally produced food. "If we can prove that, then that is a very important new nutritional message. It is so difficult to get people to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day - if it turns out that organic food can give you 20 or 50 per cent more of the good things your body needs, it could have a big impact on the health of the nation."

"The biggest nutritional problem at the moment is the explosion in obesity, which is linked to heart disease and negative health. If we can take in the goodies we need in a more concentrated way, it could be an important step forward."

One of Prof Leifert's large team of experts is organic dairy farmer Gordon Tweddle from Archdeacon Newton, near Darlington.

Since switching to organic dairy farming in the late 1990s, Mr Tweddle's family business - Acorn Dairy - has gone from strength to strength.

This week the County Durham dairy was in the national spotlight because of the important breakthrough for the organic food industry.

It followed the decision by the first major UK hospital - Darlington Memorial Hospital - to switch to organic milk provided by the Acorn Dairy.

Hospital officials say they believe that the nutritional benefits of drinking organic milk could boost patients' health and aid their recovery. Ron McKenzie, catering manager at the hospital, says: "We were shown the results of the work done at Aberdeen University setting out the benefits and decided to try it out on our patients. The feedback from patients suggests they are very happy with organic milk."

The fact that the dairy is only a few miles away from the hospital is another 'green' factor which helped tip the balance. "It was great that it was coming from a local supplier," says Mr McKenzie. Gordon Tweddle's son, Graham, who manages the diary, is encouraged by the latest research on organic milk and believes it can help boost the market. "Apart from the hospital, we are supplying several local schools, including Barnard Castle School, Ravensworth Primary and Aycliffe," says Graham. For a pound a week, parents can provide a carton of organic milk for their children every school day, he adds. "The schools have opted out of the system of claiming subsidies, torn up the red tape and decided to take our milk."

Educational psychologist Dr Madelaine Portwood, who ran the omega 3 food supplement trial in County Durham, believes that anything that enhances the nutritional content of food can help.

"We know that the milk that most children have today is not the same as it used to be. Children have more allergies and hyperactivity these days and we believe food is a factor," she says.

Why the Soil Association says we should chose organic

ORGANIC milk has been shown to have higher levels of essential fatty acids and vitamins. New research from Aberdeen and Denmark shows that organically produced cows fed on fresh grass produce milk which is on average 75 per cent higher in beta carotene (a powerful antioxidant which may reduce the risk of cancer) and on average 50 per cent higher in Vitamin E (which protects against damage cau sed by free radicals which cause ageing).

A predominantly organic diet:

* Reduces the amount of toxic chemicals taken in

* Avoids genetically modified organisms

* Reduces the amount of food additives and colourings

* Increases the amount of beneficial vitamins, minerals, EFAs (essential fatty acids) and antioxidants consumed

* Appears to have the potential to lower the incidence of cancer, coronary heart disease, allergies and hyperactivity in children.