More in Sorrow Than in Anger: Resignation Fom the Soil Association
On November 18th four of us – Joanna Blythman, Lynda Brown, Andrew Whitley and myself – resigned as trustees of the Soil Association.
We expect fellow members of the Soil Association will wonder why. In a democratic organisation they certainly have a right to be told without delay.
Below is an edited version of our resignation letter and a shortened summary of the concerns which led to our collective action, following a vote by a majority of the Soil Association Council not to hold an emergency meeting to address the issues.
A longer account of our concerns is available, should Soil Association members or the wider community wish to read it.
We think that the organic approach to food and farming is ecologically coherent, humane, scientifically responsible and potent and we remain committed supporters of the organisation’s founding purposes. We hope that our action stimulates thought about how the Soil Association might campaign most effectively for the adoption of organic ideas in order to build a healthy society from the ground up.
Click here to read the resignation letter and list of concerns.
Additional statement from me: As a long-time supporter of the Soil Association, resignation was a terrible choice to contemplate and one that left me feeling as if I had let down those members who had voted me onto Council in the first place.
It was not a decison taken lightly. However, I remain resolute in my belief that the organisation has lost its way, has lost its unique voice in the food and farming landscape and has largely abandoned ‘organic’ in both the philosophical and practical sense of the word, in order to be part of an already overcrowded field of ‘healthy eating’ charities.
This abandonment comes at a moment in time when well-articulated alternatives to the industrial model of food production are so urgently needed. Will anyone thank the Soil Association for this in 20 years’ time? I doubt it.
Read coverage in:
Update:
- See this article by colleague and former trustee Lynda Brown critiquing the standards of the Soil Associations Catering Mark
- See also this article Why are organic farmers across Britain giving up?
