"New farm to help kids grow organically":

Scottish Executive sinks to new depths of spin

Editorial

Filed 15 Sep 04
©www.land-care.org.uk

A press release by the Scottish Executive on 6th September is headed "New farm to help kids to grow organically" (1). What this would suggest is that a new farm was set up at Elmwood College with £6,000 grant from the Scottish Executive - which would be an incredible feat to achieve, even with cutting farming costs to the bone.

Of course it transpired it was nothing of the sort.

What new farm?

Elmwood College is a College of further education in Cupar, Fife, covering a wide range of subjects from golf to beauty and hairdressing, gamekeeping to horticulture, equine studies to conservation and wildlife management, and agriculture, etc. Indeed it won much praise from its recent encounter with Her Majesty's Inspectorate (2).

It has Lord Lindsay as chairman of its board. Among Lord Lindsay's current or recent commitments are chairman of the RSPB Scotland, chairman of Genesis Quality Assurance Ltd (the whole farm assurance scheme), chairman of the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS), chairman of Scottish Quality Salmon, etc.

Checking with Elmwood College as to what actually was going on, Land-Care was informed that its long-established farm went organic some 4 years ago under the government's organic aid scheme - just in the same way as any other Scottish farm could do (and many did, attracted by governemnt grants but only to leave again when the funding was reduced).

There was no question about a new farm being set up for £6,000. And no, it didn't get extra finance from the Soil Association, Land-Care was told.

According to the College, the purpose of the Scottish Executive grant was to facilitate the College's organic week, whereby its long-established farm was open to the public to provide information about organic farming. Nevertheless the Soil Association was in on the act:

"I am delighted that the Scottish Executive has provided funding to allow us to add Elmwood farm to our network and make our educational materials accessible to Scottish teachers"
Anna Ashmole, Head of Soil Association Scotland

But do the Soil Association's education materials provide a balanced view of farming - or are they there to indoctrinate the young - and their teachers - in beliefs that are unsubstantiated?

If the training CD prepared by the SAC and the Soil Association for students on the subject of organic farming is anything to go by, there is cause for worry.

What is this about helping kids to "grow organically"

This raises memories of the truly awful Soil Association/SAC conference held in Paisley in May of last year (3).

At that conference there was no attempt made to assess in an objective way whether or not food produced 'organically' had any increased nutritional value over food produced by conventional farming methods. No such advantage has ever been established. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) stands by its statement that there is no scientifically based data to support such a claim (4). Nor is it established that "organic" farming is necessarily "environmentally friendly" (5).

The Scottish Executive has declared that it has a target to increase the proportion of organic food bought in this country which is home grown as opposed to being imported. But the Scottish Executive should give precedence to the much more important target of improving the nutrition of the Scottish people, including that of its kids. Achieving that target will not be helped by trying to promote a form of food production ("organic") of unproven benefit but which is more expensive for the people to buy or for government to provide.

Why is the emblem of the Soil Association placed next to this press release on the Scottish Executive's website?

The Soil Association is a lobby group for those who hold certain beliefs. Why should they be given preferential promotion by the office of our elected government over others whose beliefs are more securely founded?

Conclusion

The Scottish Executive should have a sense of responsibility with regard to the statements it makes in its press releases for public consumption. They should be credible and be supported where possible by facts and science - not irrational ideology.

In this instance the statement about a new farm was fiction - not fact. An existing farm was being added to a promotional network of farms and the Soil Association in effect got £6,000 of taxpayers money to boost their doubtful image - an image that is not supported by established science. The marketing of the Soil Association is superb - it got a college and the Scottish Executive to do it for them.

By their actions the Scottish Executive was inferring that, in relation to the growth of children, "organically" grown farm products were in someway superior to farm products produced by conventional methods. Such a claim is blatant nonsense as there is no sound evidence to justify it. If the Soil Association had used an advert for the purpose, they would surely have fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Committee.

On the same page of the Scottish Executive website that announced this particular press release, there was another example of unacceptable spin: namely, "Public support for green farming" (6). The Scottish Executive contrived to interpret a report they themselves had commissioned so as to claim it justified their policies. In several important areas the report did no such thing.

Surely we should expect a higher standard of ethical behaviour from the Scottish Executive in its attempts to back-up its misguided policies.

References

1. Scottish Executive (2004). "New farm to help kids grow organically". Press release.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/09/06102332

2. Elmwood College, Cupar, Fife
www.elmwood.ac.uk

3. Irvine, James (2003). Agriculture: the primary health service? Soil Association and SAC conference, Paisley, 28 May 2003. High in hype but poor in credibility.
See FOOD Homepage, filed 29 May 04, www.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View

4. Editorial (2002). Food Standards Agency does not provide support for organic farming.
See ENVIRONMENT Homepage, filed 2002, www.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View

5. Irvine, James (2004). "What is environmentally friendly food production? The scientists' view". Public meeting LEAF Scotland, St Andrews 24th March 2004
See ENVIRONMENT Homepage, filed 25 Mar 04, www.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View

6. Irvine, James (2003). "Public support for green farming". More spin from the Scottish Executive
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 10 Sep 04, www.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View

Finis

MENU