Earth Equity News

Patrick Holden: Guardian of the Ethos of Organic Farming in the UK. By Michael Wale, FT, October 9, 2009. "As director of the Soil Association, Patrick Holden has led a small organisation to a position of real power: as one of the leading guardians of the ethos and rules of organic farming in Britain. The association's standards are stricter than those demanded by other arbiters of organic farming... Holden has steered the Soil Association to prominence by consistently identifying whoever is the most important person to influence at any given moment and winning him or her over to the cause... Pre-eminent among Holden's contacts is Prince Charles, who gained his Soil Association certification as an organic producer as far back as 1987. The two men met on official business years ago and have subsequently formed a close friendship... Holden believes there will be a food crunch as big as the credit crunch and that the cost of food will rise, pricing organic producers into the general market. He argues that conventionally farmed food only seems cheap -- because the damage done to our water system from the over-use of nitrogen fertilisers, along with other environmental costs, are not reflected in its price and are instead paid for out of taxes. In this vision of the future, a food crunch turns a niche, middle-class market into a mass market in which organic farming rides to the rescue."