CropGen

CropGen Responds To Organic Foods "Health Scare"

It would be easy for CropGen to wallow in this week's banner headlines warning of E coli poisoning risks in organic produce and the recall this weekend of organic mushrooms by a supermarket.

The news will certainly embarrass Prince Charles who will this week make his strongest call yet for Britain to embrace organic farming and reject biotechnology.*

However Professor Howard Slater, a member of the CropGen panel, says he hopes that organic farming will not be transformed from media darling into public pariah. "A couple of bad stories probably won't make much difference but if this turns out to be the beginning of a media witch hunt against organic farming I for one will not be gloating," he said.

"Biotechnology has suffered just that fate and it has set back our ability to tackle the world's agricultural and environmental problems. If organic farming goes the same way it certainly won't help matters. I am sure organic farming can be part of a broadly based solution and I am equally convinced that biotechnology can be too.

"Biotechnology and organic farming share a common agenda - sustainability. They are actually allies in the war against chemical pesticides and fertilisers" said Professor Slater. "Biotechnology can help organic farmers to increase their yields with fewer inputs, like fertilisers, and reduced wastage.

"If these scare stories represent the end of the honeymoon for organic farming, then perhaps they will also prompt the beginning of a more sensible and rational discussion about how a range of regimes, including GM crops, can be developed in parallel to meet the disparate challenges of world agriculture.

"Prince Charles is uniquely placed to bring about just such a sea change. I hope he will think long and hard about his next pronouncements on the matter."

Note
Prince Charles will set out his thoughts on sustainable development during a roundtable discussion between the five Reith lecturers; to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Wednesday 17th May 2000.