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Soil Association

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Soil Association
Founded1946
Founder
TypeCharity
Legal status
FocusOrganic movement
Location
  • Soil Association, Spear House, 51 Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6AD
Area served
United Kingdom
MethodCampaigning and certification
Key people
Websitesoilassociation.org

The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods.[3] It was established in 1946.[4]

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History

Lady Eve Balfour, Friend Sykes and George Scott Williamson organized a founders' meeting for the Soil Association on 12 June 1945; about a hundred people attended.[5][6] The association was formally registered on 3 May 1946,[7] and in the next decade grew from a few hundred to over four thousand members.[8]

The organization was formed following the publication of Balfour’s book 'The Living Soil'. Reprinted numerous times, it became a founding text of the emerging organic food and farming movement and of the Soil Association.[9] The book is based on the initial findings of the first three years of the Haughley Experiment, the first formal, side-by-side farm trial to compare organic and chemical-based farming.[10][11][12]

The Haughley experiment was based on an idea that farmers were over-reliant on fertilizers, that livestock, crops and the soil should be treated as a whole system and that "natural" farming produced food which was in some way more wholesome than food produced with more intensive methods.[13] Lady Balfour believed that mankind's future and human health were dependent on how the soil was treated, and ran the experiment to generate scientific data that would support these beliefs.[14]

It was also founded in part due to concerns over intensive agriculture and in particular the use of herbicides. British Union of Fascists member Jorian Jenks, who was closely associated with Oswald Mosley, was one of the founders. Following Jenks' death in 1963, the association tilted towards the left of the political spectrum, especially under the new president, Barry Commoner.[15] Campaigner Alastair Sawday was vice-chairman of the association between 2005 and 2007.[16]

The association was one of the five bodies which in Versailles in 1972 formed the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements to act as the umbrella organisation to advocate for organic farming.[17]

Helen Browning is the chief executive;[18] broadcaster Monty Don was president from 2008 to 2016.[19] Honorary vice-presidents include Jonathan Dimbleby, George McRobie, and Charlotte Mitchell; and The Prince of Wales is a royal patron.[20]

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Lady Eve Balfour

Lady Eve Balfour

Lady Evelyn Barbara Balfour, was a British farmer, educator, organic farming pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movement. She was one of the first women to study agriculture at an English university, graduating from the institution now known as the University of Reading.

Friend Sykes

Friend Sykes

Friend Sykes (1888–1965) was an English organic farmer and writer.

The Living Soil

The Living Soil

The Living Soil (1943) by Lady Eve Balfour is considered a seminal classic in organic agriculture and the organic movement. The book is based on the initial findings of the first three years of the Haughley Experiment, the first formal, side-by-side farm trial to compare organic and chemical-based farming, started in 1939 by Balfour, on two adjoining farms in Haughley Green, Suffolk, England.

Haughley Experiment

Haughley Experiment

The Haughley Experiment was the first comparison of organic farming and conventional farming, started in 1939 by Lady Eve Balfour and Alice Debenham, on two adjoining farms in Haughley Green, Suffolk, England. It was based on an idea that farmers were over-reliant on fertilizers, that livestock, crops and the soil should be treated as a whole system, and that "natural" farming produced food which was in some way more wholesome than food produced with more intensive methods. Lady Balfour believed that mankind's future and human health were dependent on how the soil was treated, and ran the experiment to generate scientific data that would support these beliefs.

British Union of Fascists

British Union of Fascists

The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, following the start of the Second World War, the party was proscribed by the British government and in 1940 it was disbanded.

Jorian Jenks

Jorian Jenks

Jorian Edward Forwood Jenks was an English farmer, environmentalism pioneer and fascist. He has been described as "one of the most dominant figures in the development of the organic movement".

Oswald Mosley

Oswald Mosley

Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member of parliament and later founded and led the British Union of Fascists (BUF).

Barry Commoner

Barry Commoner

Barry Commoner was an American cellular biologist, college professor, and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement. He was the director of the Center for Biology of Natural Systems and its Critical Genetics Project. He ran as the Citizens Party candidate in the 1980 U.S. presidential election. His work studying the radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

Organic farming

Organic farming

Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organizations today. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur and Ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety.

Helen Browning

Helen Browning

Helen Browning OBE, DL is an organic livestock and arable farmer in Wiltshire, England, and Chief Executive of the Soil Association.

Monty Don

Monty Don

Montagu Denis Wyatt Don is a British horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series Gardeners' World.

Jonathan Dimbleby

Jonathan Dimbleby

Jonathan Dimbleby is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.

Certification

The association certifies organic products in farming, food processing, restaurants and catering, fisheries, textiles and leather, and health and beauty products. Its subsidiary Soil Association Certification Ltd is approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[21] It sets standards for packaging, animal welfare, wildlife conservation, residues and additives. Since 2008 its standards have excluded nanomaterials.[22]

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Fishery

Fishery

Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place. Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both in freshwater waterbodies and the oceans. About 500 million people worldwide are economically dependent on fisheries. 171 million tonnes of fish were produced in 2016, but overfishing is an increasing problem — causing declines in some populations.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom. Concordats set out agreed frameworks for co operation, between it and the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, which have devolved responsibilities for these matters in their respective nations.

Wildlife conservation

Wildlife conservation

Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution and climate change. The IUCN estimates that 42,100 species of the ones assessed are at risk for extinction. Expanding to all existing species, a 2019 UN report on biodiversity put this estimate even higher at a million species. It is also being acknowledged that an increasing number of ecosystems on Earth containing endangered species are disappearing. To address these issues, there have been both national and international governmental efforts to preserve Earth's wildlife. Prominent conservation agreements include the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There are also numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) dedicated to conservation such as the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Wild Animal Health Fund and Conservation International.

Food additive

Food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (salting), smoke (smoking), sugar (crystallization), etc. This allows for longer-lasting foods such as bacon, sweets or wines. With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage or transport.

Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized between 1 and 100 nm.

Source: "Soil Association", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 26th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_Association.

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References
  1. ^ The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.
  2. ^ Charity Details: Soil Association Ltd, SC039168. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Accessed December 2021.
  3. ^ "Our history". Soil Association. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  4. ^ The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862; Governing document. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.
  5. ^ Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. p. 252. ISBN 978-0863153365
  6. ^ Lockeretz, William. (2018). Organic Farming: An International History. CABI. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-85199-833-6
  7. ^ Paull, John (2009). "The Living Soil Association: Pioneering Organic Farming and Innovating Social Inclusion" (PDF). Journal of Organic Systems. 4 (1): 15–33.
  8. ^ Conford, Philip & Holden, Patrick (2007), "The Soil Association", in Lockeretz, William (ed.), Organic Farming: An International History, Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI), pp. 187–200, ISBN 978-0-85199-833-6, retrieved 10 August 2010 ebook ISBN 978-1-84593-289-3
  9. ^ "Lady Eve Balfour". Theberton and Eastbridge Parish Council (onesuffolk). Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  10. ^ White, Kim Kennedy; Duram, Leslie A (2013). America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-friendly Culture in the United States. California: ABC-CLIO. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-59884-657-7.
  11. ^ "LADY EVE BALFOUR". IFOAM. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  12. ^ Balfour, Lady Eve. "Towards a Sustainable Agriculture—The Living Soil". Canberra Organic Growers Society Soil And Health Library. IFOAM. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  13. ^ "The Haughley Experiment". Nature. 179 (4558): 514. 1957. doi:10.1038/179514d0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4197385.
  14. ^ Gordon, Ian R. (2004). Reproductive technologies in farm animals. Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI Pub. ISBN 0-85199-049-5. OCLC 58547418.
  15. ^ Macklin, Graham (2007). Very deeply dyed in black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the resurrection of British fascism after 1945. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-284-4.
  16. ^ "Alastair Sawday: the green travel pioneer". The Simple Things. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  17. ^ Paull, John (2010). "From France to the World: The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)" (PDF). Journal of Social Research & Policy. 1 (2): 93–102.
  18. ^ Soil Association website Archived 21 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 8 October 2015
  19. ^ "Monty Don: 'I like dogs because they are not humans'". The Guardian. 11 December 2016.
  20. ^ "Who We Are". Soil Association. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  21. ^ "[Withdrawn] Organic certification: List of UK approved organic control bodies".
  22. ^ Paull, John (2011) "Nanomaterials in food and agriculture: The big issue of small matter for organic food and farming", Proceedings of the Third Scientific Conference of ISOFAR (International Society of Organic Agriculture Research), 28 September – 1 October, Namyangju, Korea., 2:96–99.
Further reading
  • Conford, Philip (2001), The Origins of the Organic Movement, Floris Books, ISBN 0-86315-336-4
Sayre, Laura (4 March 2004), Review: The Origins of the Organic Movement, Rodale Institute, retrieved 14 August 2010 (provides useful overview and commentary on the book's contents).
External links

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