The pros and cons of organic farming

Organics is not a fad or a trend - it has just been temporarily eclipsed by chemicals, says an expert.

According to Joe Smillie from Quality Assurance International Organic Certification based in North America, who spoke last week at the third Middle East Natural and Organic Products expo 2005 in Dubai, organic is not a health or a food safety claim, it is just the way things are grown on land.

"The value added with organic is on the farm, not in the packaging like with conventional foods. Organics is a philosophy, it is real agriculture - using chemicals on farms is the fad and hopefully one day it will stop," he said.

He said organic fertilisers were not toxic and were species specific to avoid affecting huge areas. Smillie said one problem with organic food is the way it is marketed. "Writing healthy or no-residue on the box is not the way to promote organics. It is a farming methodology, nothing more. Yes, some items may be healthier for you, but because they are organically grown does not make them automatically the healthiest thing out there," he said.

"You can find organic alcohol, organic cigarettes, and organic refined sugar. Are any of these things good for you? No, they have just been grown with no toxic pesticides or fertilisers," he said.

Testing laboratories are still capable of picking up extremely minute traces of some chemicals on organic produce, said Smillie. He emphasised that sometimes having no-residue or chemical free stamped on packaging can be misleading and dangerous for companies.
"To say that produce has no residues is a very strong claim because chemicals travel around the planet. We live and farm on the same planet. Winds carry everything. I call this chemical or pollution trespassing but if farming is carried out in ecological circumstances then it can be called organic," he said.

Organic = 26 million hectares worldwide

According to statistics from the Organic Trade Association (OTA) the United States actually has the smallest amount of land dedicated to organic farming and currently imports eight times the amount it exports. Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of OTA, said there was a huge variety of products available but these are shipped in from all over the place.

"Customers have a choice and they enjoy that choice. Some people will only buy organic food and others will buy a few items once or twice a year. We?ve found that organic shoppers are mainly concerned with product origin and the environment. Price and convenience feature quite low on their list of priorities."

Figures from the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) show that more than 26 million hectares of farmland are under organic management worldwide, a 10 per cent increase over 2004.

Australia has the most organic land with 11.3 million hectares, followed by Argentina with 2.8 million and Italy with more than one million. When comparing organic land to the total agricultural area, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries lead the way. In Switzerland, for example, more than 10 per cent of the agricultural land is managed organically.

In 2003, the market value of organic products worldwide reached $25 billion (Dh91.75 billion), the largest share of organic products being marketed in Europe and North America.

Certification differences are frequent between what countries will label organic. Smillie from QAI said a new certificate is needed to bind all organic rules to facilitate imports and exports. He said prices of organic food in North America are roughly 30 per cent than those for conventional food, and rightly so.

"It's not too expensive, conventional food is too cheap and why should we buy the cheapest stuff. We need to take care of farmers and pay what it costs to produce organic," said Smillie.

The organic UAE

Steps to convert conventional farming methods in the UAE to organic began in March 2004. The first date palm farm meeting the UAE's standard was launched within the last month and contains 69,000 trees.

Dr Riad Obaidi from the organic farming unit at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) in Dubai said the UAE was in very early stages. The aims of the MAF are to organically manage 500,000 date palms which is 12.5 per cent, by 2015.

Other goals include making organic products available in all supermarkets by 2007, providing an economic return to organic farmers that is no less than conventional farmers, having 5 per cent of fruit and vegetables organically produced and, finally, expanding organic trade from the current $10 million (Dh36.7 million) to $150 million (Dh550.5 million).

"The environment in the UAE is not very agriculture friendly because of the heat and the sand soil. We have faced some difficulties with this but it means that to produce organically we need to use a greater volume of compost," said Obaidi.

He said that production would be reduced to zero during the summer months when nothing can be cultivated during the June, July and August heat. "But this is normal anywhere, the winter months are generally the growing months," said Obaidi.

He said aside from date palms, local organic produce will include herbs, squash and cucumber. The MAF originally received five applications from farmers to convert to organic and they decided to proceed with two as a pilot scheme.

Obaidi said salinity of the water in the UAE is also a problem because mixed with fertiliser, plants receive too high a dose of salt. "The water is very salty and this makes things worse for plants," he said.

The MAF is currently developing a certificate for organic produce on the local market and it is looking for an international certifier to work with the UAE for exports, said Obaidi.

Organic food in the United States costs around 30 per cent more than conventional food and in Denmark where organic farming is well developed, the cost ranges between 25 and 50 per cent more than conventional products, said Obaidi.

In the UAE, the price of organic food is much higher than in any other country, said Obaidi. "The volumes consumed are very low and some products perish and are thrown away. We need more public awareness campaigns."

Experts v studies

Belinda Rennie, a nutritionist at the Osteopathic Health Centre in Jumeirah, is strongly involved in educating the public on organic food and leads a guided tour around the organic supermarket in Satwa.

In her family some organic products are a must for their flavour and taste, she said. "Organic food is healthier as it's been shown in research time and time again. It is lower in antioxidants and higher in vitamin C by up to 50 per cent. Soil is nourished naturally on organic farms and fruit and vegetables are denser because they have lower water content," said Rennie on the sidelines of the exhibition.

Rennie attended an Integrative Medicine Conference this year in Australia where Shane Heaton, nutritionist and organic food researcher, made a presentation.

Heaton said despite various studies showing there is no nutritional benefit to organic food compared to non-organic, he believes the studies are of poor quality and often flawed.

"It's true there have been more than 100 studies comparing the nutrient content of organic and non-organic foods and the results are inconclusive," he said.

After studying the research Heaton said the results were either dramatic, inconclusive, non-significant or inconsistent and concealed the clear trend that organic crops, on average, contain higher levels of trace minerals, vitamin C and antioxidants.

Heaton believes organic is better for the human body and can reduce toxins and increase vitamins.

He said: "Mineral and antioxidant intake can have a significant impact on health, especially when trying to improve or restore health.
'Can people afford it? I'm certain of it. Official household spending statistics reveal that the average Australian family spends five times more on junk food, take away, alcohol and tobacco than fruit and vegetables, and five times more on recreation than on fruit and vegetables."