The Soil Association on air freight

Following an extensive first round consultation on the issue of air freight – lasting 4 months, receiving nearly 400 responses from the public, NGOs, industry, government and international agencies plus meetings with 100 organisations – the Soil Association’s Standards Board recommended that the organisation’s standards should be changed so that organic produce could only be air-freighted if it also meets the Soil Association’s own Ethical Trade or the Fairtrade Foundation’s standard.

A second round of consultation launched recently, in accordance with best practice, gave people the opportunity to comment on the implementation of this recommendation and provided an opportunity to ensure it is practical and fit for purpose.

Anna Bradley, chair of the Soil Association’s Standards Board, stated that this had proved to be a powerful and positive process – ensuring the best outcome for people and planet. This second stage of consultation gave the opportunity for people, especially affected licensees, to comment on their proposal, ensuring the final published standard was workable and effective. She continued that organic production was all about sustainability and the balance this implied between social, environmental and economic objectives.  By addressing concerns over air freight in their standards, the association aimed  to make it easier for consumers to make informed and sustainable choices, allowing poor farmers in developing countries to achieve the social and environmental benefits of organic production along with the economic benefits achieved by selling in developed country markets.

The Soil Association’s proposal has been routinely misreported as, ‘Soil Association bans air freight’. The Standards Board concluded that a ban on air freight would be the wrong response to people’s rightful concerns over greenhouse gas emissions, but also their equally strong concern that producers in developing countries should not be disadvantaged.  The Soil Association believes the proposal constructively balances both concerns – ensuring organic produce will only be air freighted if it also delivers real benefits for farmers in developing countries.

The actual extent of organic food currently imported using airfreight has also been inaccurately reported. The initial consultation and research carried out before and during the process has provided a clearer understanding of how much organic food is air freighted – the association calculates less than 1% of all imported organic food. Airfreight is predominantly used to guarantee a year round supply of fresh fruit and vegetables – 96% of organic airfreight is fresh fruit and vegetables imported out of season. A small minority of products is air freighted to top up normal supply.

There was also widespread misreporting of the amount of organic food consumed in the UK that is imported overall i.e. whether by road, ship, train as well as air. In fact, around 30% of all organic produce sold in the UK is imported – the majority being exotic produce, citrus fruit, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, tea, coffee, chocolate etc. that can’t be grown here.

www.soilassociation.org