04 June 2021
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Organic Farming and Growing: Does it Stack Up?
THE Soil Association’s new report: Organic Farming and Growing: Does it Stack Up?, finds that farm net income has continued to increase for organic arable farms with an average of £690/ha compared to that of their non-organic counterparts at £288/ha.
Contributing to this higher income, organic arable farms generated five times the revenue per hectare (£99/ha compared to £19/ha) from agri-environment schemes and 50% more revenue (£419/ha compared to £279/ha) from diversification.
The report summarises data from Rural Business Research on the financial performance. By taking a deep dive into arable, horticulture, livestock and dairy, the research compares organic farms to non-organic so that individual farm businesses can make their own minds up.
Liz Bowles, Director of Farming and Land Use and the Soil Association says:
“Last year the organic market grew by 12.6%, its biggest year-on-year increase in 15 years. With such a positive market outlook, we are seeing renewed interest among farmers and growers in converting to organic to meet this growing demand. We hope this report will help producers and land managers who are interested in organic conversion to make a more informed decision. When you are ready, we are here to discuss your options.”
