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:

• Natural Products & here
• Farmer’s Weekly
• Guardian

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?

New Interview with the Permapeople

It’s always nice to run into an old friend.

At the recent launch of the new campaigning initiative Beyond GM at the London Seed Festival I was interviewed by a colleague from my Ecologist days, Phil Moore for his new project Permaculture People

You can listen to the short interview which covers, GMOs, seed sovereignty, activism, people power and the power of hope at this link.

The Letter from America

When it comes to GMOs, 57 million Americans can’t be wrong.

I was so proud to see the launch of the new Beyond GM initiative The Letter from America.

The fully referenced letter, signed by groups and individuals representing some 57 million Americans was is a powerfully written plea for us in the UK and the rest of Europe to learn from America’s mistakes and not to go down the route of planting GMO crops.

It was signed by celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Daryl Hannah, Frances Fisher, by activists like Robert Kennedy Jr, by the renown environmentalist Wendell Berry, by big environmental NGOs like the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth, by consumer groups like the Organic Consumers Association, by progressive groups like MoveOn, Care2 and Corporate Responsibility International, by health groups like the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Healthcare Without Harm, by organic businesses like NYR Organic (Neal’s Yard Remedies’ US arm) and Nutiva, and many, many more.

It was taken to Number 10 Downing St and then launched to the wider world as a full page ad in the Times newspaper and as an amazing digital billboard – seen by hundreds of thousands of commuters at London Waterloo – Europe’s busiest railway station.

It was featured in, amongst others, the Daily Mail, the Guardian, the Express and the Metro. The BBC World Service broadcast it to millions. Our partners in the US sent it out to their millions of members and followers too.

Thanks go to Pamm Larry of Label GMOS and Diana Reeves of GMO Free USA who helped drive the letter in the US. It was great to have them here for the launch.

Now that the letter is open to all US citizens to sign more than 10,000 have done so. In the UK citizens are sending it to their MPs starting a conversation that has been had in this country for many years. All in all it was a good week.

It’s Time to Move Beyond GM

There’s a new campaign in town…

And we launched with a bang at London’s Garden Museum where  we welcomed over 130 people through the doors of The Garden Museum on the evening of Friday October 10 to eat, drink, watch and ask questions about GMOs, seed sovereignty and the future of food.

The evening marked the official launch of the Beyond GM campaign as well as the beginning of The Great Seed Festival and was so well attended, that many people ended up standing in order to view the documentary.

The American film, which scooped the best documentary feature film at the recent 24th Annual Environmental Media Association Awards in California, follows a father of three, Jeremy Siefert, as he travels across the US trying to find answers to his questions about genetically modified food.

Siefert’s honest and very human approach to this complex subject is what makes the film so appealing and by the end of the evening it was clear it had resonated with many people in the audience who also have concerns.

The film sparked a variety of interesting questions and comments from the audience, which stayed behind to take part in the panel discussion, chaired by myself, joined by fellow campaign director, Lawrence Woodward; farmer and founder of the CSA Chagfood in Chagford, Devon, Ed Hamer; and organic entrepreneur and founder of Jo Wood Organics, Jo Wood.

Although the evening focused on a serious subject, there was still time for a few drinks, a delicious organic buffet courtesy of chef Sylvain Jamois and good deal of banter. While everyone expected to learn something, many commented that they hadn’t expected to have such an enjoyable time doing so.

The sense of community and open, engaged inquiry ran right through the whole of the London Seeds Festival, which attracted a varied and lively number of visitors over the weekend and following week.

Beyond GM will be hosting more events like this so watch this space!