Organic certification body The Soil Association has issued an appeal for more funding from the public, stating that government research into organic production is targeting the wrong areas, and focuses largely on comparing organic and conventional systems. The Soil Association said that, although this helps demonstrate the benefits of agro-ecological approach in areas such as improving biodiversity, it does nothing to improve methods or facilitate the spread of ideas between organic and conventional practitioners.

The association, which conducts its own research into sustainable and equitable issues around farming, said that more resources and effort should be put into evolving and improving agricultural methods, rather than on comparisons, as innovation in organic systems is currently only happening “informally at a farm or business level.”

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However, the Soil Association said that, “Partly because [practitioners] are seldom involved, knowledge transfer from research to farms is generally slow and sometimes non-existent.” In a statement on Thursday, the association said, “How governments invest in agricultural research and innovation plays a pivotal part in shaping what types of food we produce and consume. Given the challenges our global food system is likely to face in the coming century, it’s crucial that we ensure organic and agro-ecological approaches are at the heart of innovative and progressive farming.”

The association believes there is a real need for farmers and research organisations to move past the mentality of ‘organic vs. conventional’ and focus on knowledge transfer and developing resilient, equitable systems ,which benefit farmers and the communities they serve, instead of remaining in thrall to transnational companies, which serve only their shareholders.

Making their call for more funding, the organisation claimed, “The potential of organic and agro-ecological systems is still to be fully realised, due in part to under-investment in appropriate research and knowledge sharing… Most funding, including public funding, has focused on delivering ‘wealth-creating products’. Organic innovation usually entails adding value through improved management techniques rather than purchasing new products, and so it provides less incentive for investment.”

The organisation also said that, as research has frequently focused on a specific aspect of farming, there has been only a limited amount of investigation into more holistic effects of farming techniques. Because of this, the full benefit of agroecological systems is only just being realised, sparking calls to take nature into account in future decisions (largely because of the ‘ecosystem services’ the natural environment provides). This approach will likely be championed by world leaders at Rio+20 in June.

The organic body said the narrower focus that research has taken up until now “Has left ecological and organic approaches, which emphasise the real-world importance of complex whole systems, relatively neglected by funders and in decision-makers.”

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