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Foreword
I am pleased to publish this Third Organic Annual Report on progress towards delivering the Scottish Executive Action Plan for Organic Farming. The Executive, its agencies and a wide range of stakeholder bodies have worked hard over the last year to build on the achievements already made and I would like to thank these bodies for their help in ensuring that our support is well targeted.
The Organic Action Plan set out the Executive's vision of a prosperous organic farming and food sector which ensures that, as far as possible, demand for organic produce is met by Scottish producers; and which makes a strong contribution to the sustainable environmental management of Scotland's agricultural land and water resources. To help achieve this vision, Ministers set two challenges for the organic sector: to create the conditions so that the organic sector could secure a market share at least equal to that attained by Scottish non-organic producers, while succeeding in the broader UK and international markets; and to help the sector develop so that the area of good quality land in organic conversion or production could double, from 15% to 30% of Scotland's organic area, by 2007.
To help meet these challenges, the Executive made a number of specific commitments: to increase and expand the support available to farmers converting to organic farming or maintaining their organic status; to prioritise organics under the Executive's Processing and Marketing Grant schemes; to provide more advisory support for organic converters; to carry out research needed to support the development of the industry; and to identify Scottish priorities for the development of UK arrangements for the application of organic standards. We were also determined to work with stakeholders in taking forward our commitments and monitoring progress towards the Action Plan vision.
I am delighted to say that we have delivered on all our commitments. We have met one of the two challenges we set and are very close to meeting the other. We have worked closely with stakeholders to develop the infrastructure and support mechanisms to increase Scotland's share of the organic food market. Scottish farmers now produce sufficient to meet the 70% target of the market for indigenous organic produce and they are succeeding in turning this potential into increased sales in Scotland. This has been done while Scottish organic producers are also succeeding in the broader UK and international markets.
Also, last year, good quality land supported under the Organic Aid Scheme rose from 15% to 28%. We are therefore well on the way to hit 30% and should achieve this with the next round of applications for organic support. This, in conjunction with the fact that we
have supported the conversion of some 180,000 hectares of land to organic management since 2000, will deliver significant environmental and other benefits across Scotland. However, this has coincided with a fall in total land under organic management. While the increase in good quality land is good news, therefore, this outcome is not as positive as we would have hoped and we will be working with stakeholders to make sure that our actions are aimed at supporting the continued growth of the organic sector.
The market for Scotland's raw produce is buoyant and facing an optimistic future, with high demand for produce from most sectors. However, there is still work to be done to continue to develop the Scottish organic sector, and I recognise that the industry has developed and changed significantly since the publication of the Action Plan. There have been significant developments in the size and structure of the organic market, including substantial growth, increasing interest in organics from the supermarkets and the successful development of organic marketing groups. The focus of our work needs to change to reflect these developments, and the industry might no longer be best served by continuing to concentrate on the specific targets in our current Action Plan.
In addition to this we are entering a time of significant change in the Executive's agricultural support mechanisms. The key support mechanism for organic farming, the Organic Aid Scheme, is now closed to new applications and, from 2007, support will be delivered through Land Management Contracts. With all these changes, the time is right for the Executive and industry stakeholders to revisit the Organic Action Plan, to make sure that it remains relevant and, where necessary, to refocus it to meet the changing needs of the sector.
Sarah Boyack
Deputy Minister for the Environment and Rural Development
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