The term organic is defined by law and any food labelled organic must meet a set of standards. The standards define what can and cant be done by organic farmers and food producers. They have a strong emphasis on protectin the enviroment and animal welfare

The history of the organic movement is a long one starting with Sir Albert Howard carrying out this work on composts back in the 1920's in India. There are some organic farms that date back to the 1930's which is when chemical alternatives started to be introduced to improve farming yields.

After the Second World War, intensive and chemical farming methods and the national desire to produce enough food to feed the population all but swept away the organic movement .

It wasn't until the publication of Lady Eve Balfour's book 'The Living Soil' in 1946 and the creation of the Soil Association soon after that the organic movement realy gained a coherence and vision. Since then the Soil Association and others have created and maintained organic standards and regulations, as well as a public face and political lobbying to promote the orgaic movement.

In the early 90's people became more aware of health issues and agriculture when disasters such as BSE, Foot & Mouth, Salmonella and the whole GM issue came under the media spotlight. Whilst not all of the crises can be blamed on modern farming practices - indeed many issues and disseases have been improved by them - the BSE and human related CJD diseases made people consider where their food came from and how it was produced. The organic food market has been growing steadily ever since and now we are able to choose not just an extensive range of foods, but also how they produced.

We feeln there are 3 main reasons for choosing oragaic food:

Food Safely:
• Organic farmers do not routinely use chemical sprays whose residues can find their way into the food chain.
• Organic Standards ban the use of GM technology.
• Food additives linked to health problems are banned under organic standards.

The Enviroment:
• Orgainc farming is about sustainaility and works in harmony with nature thereby creating a more diverse wildlife.
• Principle of sustainabilty: what is taken out of the soil is put back in naturally using techniques such as crop rotation rather that artificial fertilisers.

Animal Welfare:
Orgainc farming requires animals to be kept in more natural, free range conditions.
Animal are fed more natural foods.
The routine use of drugs, antibiotics and wormers common in intensive farming are not permitted.

Lastly, we also think organic tastes better, but that is somthing you must decide for yourself.