Organic vs Free Range

jon81uk

MrsStepford said:

Yeo Valley used to be an independent family farm in Somerset. Arla, a huge Swedish dairy processor, bought the Yeo Valley brand license, so it may well change to non-organic or stay organic but drop the Somerset. 

I hadn't heard about this before so looked into it out if interest. Arla ony bought the milk, cheese and dairy business, the yoghurt and ice cream business is still family owned.
https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/overview/news--press/2018/pressrelease/farmer-owned-arla-foods-and-yeo-valley-announce-partnership-on-liquid-milk-butter-and-cheese-2409020/

I would think this is because although Arla sells a lot of milk they didn't really get into the organic milk area and this is an easy entry point for them. It also leaves the Mead family to concentrate on the yoghurts they are more well known for I would have thought. Yeo Valley have started making non-organic yoghurt under the Ubbley brand, but I expect the main brand to stay as organic products, especially for those made by Arla.

Also on a side point Daylesford farm is the "family" farm of the Bamford and was converted to organic under the direction of Lady Carole Bamford. She is on the board of JCB, but its the family that own Daylesford and the family own the majority of JCB as well JCB.
 JCB the company does not own Daylesford.

Mojisola

"Organic" in this sense is a legally defined term that describes a way of farming and food production.

The Soil Association is one of the organisations in the UK that can certify farms and products as organic -

www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/what-is-organic/

Organic Farmers and Growers is another -

https://organicfarmers.uk.com/about-organics/an-introduction-to-organic-farming.html

SarahLu

Thank you for taking the time to write that post MrsStepford, I will be saving that for future reference.  What do you think of Field & Flower?  I spoke to their chat service who basically said they are virtually the same as organic but have not been certified as they don't feel the cost is worth it.  I went ahead and ordered last night so will see what they are like, but there must be something amiss as surely they would just get certified and increase the cost if they met the organic requirements?

Mojisola

SarahLu said:

I spoke to their chat service who basically said they are virtually the same as organic but have not been certified as they don't feel the cost is worth it.  I went ahead and ordered last night so will see what they are like, but there must be something amiss as surely they would just get certified and increase the cost if they met the organic requirements?

If they have a good market for their produce under their present regime, they may not see a need for organic certification.

It's not only an extra cost, it involves a lot of record keeping and annual inspections - some people don't want the bother.

SarahLu

Mojisola said:

SarahLu said:

I spoke to their chat service who basically said they are virtually the same as organic but have not been certified as they don't feel the cost is worth it.  I went ahead and ordered last night so will see what they are like, but there must be something amiss as surely they would just get certified and increase the cost if they met the organic requirements?

If they have a good market for their produce under their present regime, they may not see a need for organic certification.

It's not only an extra cost, it involves a lot of record keeping and annual inspections - some people don't want the bother.

Yes, true.   

MrsStepford

Thanks for clarifying @jon81uk, the piece I read on The Grocer didn't go into that much detail, appreciate your research. 
@Mojisola has a good point, that  some farms and companies may feel that it's not worth their while, to get certified organic, because it can be costly.

I've heard the name Field & Flower but not bought anything from them and don't know anything about them. The one organic operation I wouldn't recommend, is Pikt. Expensive and lousy quality. 

I look for certified organic. To me, it's fine, buying from a local farm, where you can ask questions and choose to buy or not. I'm often buying from several sources eg Abel & Cole, ASDA, Morrisons, Riverford, Sainsbury's, Watts Farm and from online delis.I can ask questions of Watts Farm, but with the others it's Customer Services and we know how bad they can be. Certification gives traceability. Anyone can stick 'organic' or 'unsprayed' on 
packaging or a market stall, but that doesn't make it true. Certification means standards and inspections.

My reasons for preferring organic are fewer pesticide residues in my food, way fewer additives, fewer antibiotics given to livestock, no growth hormones, no genetically modified feed (non-organic farmers are allowed to feed animals and poultry with GM feed), no glyphosate and better animal welfare standards. 

It's a small study in USA, but switching to organic food, reduced levels of glyphosate (Roundup) by up to 70% in adults and children. There was another study done in Sweden a few years ago which featured in a documentary with similar effects. https://www.ewg.org/release/study-switching-organic-diet-dramatically-lowers-glyphosate-levels-adults-children I have Type 2 Diabetes so I have to do everything I can to try to stay healthy.