The Soil Association has announced the launch of a new roadmap outlining its priorities for the coming decade. In ‘The Road to 2020 - towards healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use’ the organic group pledges to focus on promoting healthy eating and protecting the natural environment and farm animals. image expired

The organisation hopes its roadmap, the first iteration of which was released on Tuesday (27th September), will influence farming and food research agendas and policy decisions over the coming decade, with a particular focus on facing up to climate change and agriculture’s impact. The soil association said it is seeking to increase research into organic and agro-ecological farming and land-use.  

Soil Association director Helen Browning explained that the strategy was partly to counter the perception of organic as either elitist or primitivist, “Across the organisation there will be a new emphasis on innovation. There is also a strong focus on reaching out to people as citizens, consumers, growers and businesspeople, to show the relevance of our work, even for those who are not eating or producing organically.”

Though some within the organisation have seen Browning’s policy of embracing supermarkets and politicians as ‘selling-out’ organic principles, she reiterated that the new policy’s integral aim was to challenge an industry where “over-consumption and unqualified growth” were seen as desirable ends. She went on to say, “We will continue to bring all perspectives around our table, to find the best way of meeting our aspirations for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and production systems.”

This month has been dubbed ‘Organic September’ by the organisation; organic enthusiasts have used the past weeks to promote organic principles and spread ideas about organic methods, promoting the use of organic products in institutions including hospitals and schools as part of the Good Food for All programme.   

The Soil Association said it will unveil the policy in greater detail later in the year, though the NFU has already welcomed the roadmap. NFU food chain advisor Ruth Mason praised the overtures made by the Soil Association towards sharing knowledge between the organic and conventional sectors.