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Organic farming

• Converting to organic
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Organic farming news

General news items

• 28 September 2006 - Statistics on Organic Production in the UK and England in 2005 have been published
• 13 July 2006 - The ACOS Research and Development Committee Report on Strategic Priorities for Organic Research and their Supplementary Report have now been published
• 11 May 2006 - Commission Regulation (EC) No 699/2006 of 5 May 2006 has been published amending Annex I with regard to poultry housing during veterinary restrictions.
• 3 May 2006 - An Organic Information Note 3 on the storage of packed and labelled goods has been issued further to earlier notes on storage and warehousing.
• 7 April 2006 - A supplementary information notice to the notice of 23 February (see next item) has been issued.
• 23 February 2006 - An information notice: Organic poultry: status of organic birds confined indoors to comply with veterinary requirements introduced in response to a threat of avian influenza

Information notices

• 11 May 2006 - Commission Regulation (EC) No 699/2006 of 5 May 2006 has been published amending Annex I with regard to poultry housing during veterinary restrictions.
• 3 May 2006 - An Organic Information Note 3 on the storage of packed and labelled goods has been issued further to earlier notes on storage and warehousing.
• 7 April 2006 - A supplementary information notice to the notice of 23 February (see next item) has been issued.
• 23 February 2006 - An information notice: Organic poultry: status of organic birds confined indoors to comply with veterinary requirements introduced in response to a threat of avian influenza
• 23 February 2006 - An information notice: The use of combination ingredient cleaning agents in livestock building

Report: The Impact of organic farming on the rural economy in England

Exeter University has published the report of a Defra-funded study into this subject.

• The impact of organic farming on the rural economy in England (619 KB) - 2005

Control manual

The new version of the Organic certification body and inspector approval control manual can be found in the Legislation and Standards area.

Derogations to use non-organic feed for organic livestock - Industry Guidance from Defra

New percentage requirements in relation to the use of non-organic feed by organic livestock producers come into effect from 25 August 2005.

• For more details please see Industry Guidance on use of non-organic feed.

Farmers Voice Survey

In 2004 Defra commissioned ADAS Consulting Ltd to carry out a survey of farmers in England. This is the fourth Farmers Voice Survey since 1999 and the main findings include:

• Organic farmers are more content to stay in farming than their non-organic counterparts.
• Proportionately, twice as many organic as non organic farmers cited the need to diversify from their main farm activity in order to maintain farm income levels.
• Organic farmers are more likely to work together and with customers than non-organic farmers.
• A higher proportion of organic farms generate low profits than do conventional farms.

For more details see organic farming schemes.

Pullet requirements

From 31 December 2005 there will be a new requirement that any non-organically reared pullets for egg production brought on to an organic holding will have to comply with the feed and veterinary medicine requirements of the organic regulations before they are brought on to that holding. For a guidance note on this see the Legislation and Standards pages.

Latest news on organic imports

For latest news on organic imports see organic import news.

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Page last modified: 30 August 2007
Page published: 26 November 2003

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