Soil Association

{{Infobox organization

| name = Soil Association

| logo = Screenshot20.pn.png

| image =

| type = Charity, lobby association

| founded_date = 1946

| founder = {{ubl|Lady Eve Balfour|Jorian Jenks|Friend Sykes}}

| location = Spear House, 51 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6AD

| origins =

| key_people = {{ubl|Martin Nye, chair of trustees|Helen Browning, chief executive}}

| area_served = United Kingdom

| product =

| focus = Organic movement

| method = Campaigning and certification

| revenue =

| endowment =

| status = {{ubl|{{nobreak|Registered charity 206862 (England and Wales){{r|cc}}}}|Charity SC039168 (Scotland){{r|sc}}}}

| owner =

| homepage = {{url|soilassociation.org}}

| dissolved =

| footnotes =

}}

The Soil Association is a British registered charity focused on the effect of agriculture on the environment.[https://www.soilassociation.org ‘’Official website’’] It was established in 1946.{{r|cc2}} Their activities include campaigning for local purchasing, public education on nutrition and certification of organic foods, and against intensive farming.{{cite web|title=Our history|url=http://www.soilassociation.org/aboutus/ourhistory|publisher=Soil Association|access-date=11 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327163627/http://www.soilassociation.org/aboutus/ourhistory|archive-date=27 March 2012|df=dmy-all}}

History

=The Haughley experiment=

Lady Eve Balfour (niece of former British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour) was one of the first women to study agriculture in a British university. She and her sister Mary bought New Bells Farm at Haughley Green in Suffolk and started the Haughley Experiment, trialling different types of farming techniques to compare chemical and organic farming.[https://green-history.uk/people/pioneers/who-was-eve-balfour ‘’Green History website’’]

The Haughley experiment was the first formal, side-by-side farm trial to compare organic and chemical-based farming.{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Kim Kennedy|last2=Duram|first2=Leslie A|title=America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-friendly Culture in the United States|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=California|isbn=978-1-59884-657-7|page=176}}{{cite web|title=LADY EVE BALFOUR|url=http://www.ifoam.org/en/lady-eve-balfour|website=IFOAM|accessdate=21 August 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Balfour|first1=Lady Eve|title=Towards a Sustainable Agriculture—The Living Soil|url=http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010116Balfourspeech.html|website=Canberra Organic Growers Society Soil And Health Library|publisher=IFOAM|accessdate=21 August 2014|archive-date=24 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224214556/http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010116Balfourspeech.html|url-status=dead}} It was based on an idea that farmers were over-reliant on fertilizers, that livestock, crops and the soil should be treated as a whole system and that "natural" farming produced food which was in some way more wholesome than food produced with more intensive methods.{{Cite journal|title=The Haughley Experiment|date=1957|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=179|issue=4558|pages=514|doi=10.1038/179514d0|s2cid=4197385 |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free|bibcode=1957Natur.179T.514. }} Lady Balfour believed that humanity's future and human health were dependent on how the soil was treated, and ran the experiment to generate scientific data that would support these beliefs.{{Cite book|last=Gordon|first=Ian R.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58547418|title=Reproductive technologies in farm animals|date=2004|publisher=CABI Pub|isbn=0-85199-049-5|location=Wallingford, Oxfordshire|oclc=58547418}}

Lady Balfour then published results in 1943 in her book The Living Soil. Reprinted numerous times, it became a founding text of the emerging organic food and farming movement and of the Soil Association."Lady Eve Balfour". Theberton and Eastbridge Parish Council (onesuffolk). Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.

=Founders' meeting=

Lady Eve Balfour, Friend Sykes and George Scott Williamson organized a founders' meeting for the Soil Association on 12 June 1945 and about a hundred people attended.Conford, Philip. (2001). The Origins of the Organic Movement. Floris Books. p. 252. {{ISBN|978-0863153365}}Lockeretz, William. (2018). Organic Farming: An International History. CABI. p. 189. {{ISBN|978-0-85199-833-6}} The association was formally registered on 3 May 1946,{{cite journal | last1 = Paull | first1 = John | year = 2009 | title = The Living Soil Association: Pioneering Organic Farming and Innovating Social Inclusion | url = http://orgprints.org/16429/1/16429.pdf | journal = Journal of Organic Systems | volume = 4 | issue = 1| pages = 15–33 }} and in the next decade grew to over 4,000 members.{{citation |year=2007 |author1=Conford, Philip |author2=Holden, Patrick |name-list-style=amp |chapter=The Soil Association |editor-first=William |editor-last=Lockeretz |title=Organic Farming: An International History |publisher=Oxfordshire, UK & Cambridge, Massachusetts: CAB International (CABI) |isbn=978-0-85199-833-6 |pages=187–200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=25QnL3-njZQC&q=%22Organic+farming%22 |access-date=10 August 2010}} ebook {{ISBN|978-1-84593-289-3}}

It was also founded in part due to concerns over intensive agriculture and in particular the use of herbicides. British Union of Fascists member Jorian Jenks, who was closely associated with Oswald Mosley, was one of the founders. Following Jenks' death in 1963, the association tilted towards the left of the political spectrum, especially under the new president, Barry Commoner.{{Cite book |publisher= I.B.Tauris |isbn= 978-1-84511-284-4 |last= Macklin |first= Graham |title= Very deeply dyed in black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the resurrection of British fascism after 1945 |year= 2007}}

The association was one of the five bodies which in Versailles in 1972 formed the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements to act as the umbrella organisation to advocate for organic farming.{{cite journal| last1 = Paull| first1 = John| year = 2010| title = From France to the World: The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)| journal = Journal of Social Research & Policy| volume = 1| issue = 2| pages = 93–102| url = http://orgprints.org/18808/1/Paull2010IfoamJSRP.pdf}}

Campaigns

Former campaigns by the association include the following areas:

intensive pesticide use
neonicotinoid pesticides
deregulation of gene editing
megafarming
agroecology
welfare of farm animals
ultra-processed foods
healthy school meals
labelling of beauty products

The association takes part in industry and trade events, as well as offering training days.

Twenty-first century

Campaigner Alastair Sawday was vice-chairman of the association between 2005 and 2007.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thesimplethings.com/blog/2013/10/25/alastair-sawday|title=Alastair Sawday: the green travel pioneer|website=The Simple Things|date=25 October 2013 |language=en-GB|access-date=2019-01-07}}

As of 2023, Wiltshire farmer Helen Browning is the chief executive; broadcaster Monty Don was president from 2008 to 2016.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/dec/11/monty-don-tim-adams-dogs-gardening |title=Monty Don: 'I like dogs because they are not humans' |work=The Guardian |date=11 December 2016}} Honorary vice-presidents include Jonathan Dimbleby, George McRobie, and Charlotte Mitchell. King Charles III is a royal patron.{{cite web |title=Our people |url=https://www.soilassociation.org/who-we-are/our-people/ |access-date=13 July 2023 |publisher=Soil Association}}

Certification

The association certifies organic products in farming, food processing, restaurants and catering, fisheries, textiles and leather, and health and beauty products.[https://soilassociation.org/certification ‘’Official website’’] Its subsidiary Soil Association Certification Ltd is approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/organic-certification-list-of-uk-approved-organic-control-bodies|title = [Withdrawn] Organic certification: List of UK approved organic control bodies| date=29 January 2021 }} It sets standards for packaging, animal welfare, wildlife conservation, residues and additives.[https://soilassociation.org/certification/certification-updates/ Official website] Since 2008 its standards have excluded nanomaterials.Paull, John (2011) [http://orgprints.org/19528/1/Paull2011NanoISOFAR.pdf "Nanomaterials in food and agriculture: The big issue of small matter for organic food and farming"], Proceedings of the Third Scientific Conference of ISOFAR (International Society of Organic Agriculture Research), 28 September - 1 October, Namyangju, Korea., 2:96-99.

References

{{Reflist|45em|refs=

[https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/206862 The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862]. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.

[https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/206862/governing-document The Soil Association Limited, Charity number: 206862; Governing document]. The Charity Commission of England and Wales. Accessed December 2021.

[https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=SC039168 Charity Details: Soil Association Ltd, SC039168]. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Accessed December 2021.

}}

External links

{{Official website}}
[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSoilAssociation Soil Association YouTube channel]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laisvjpYdBc Patrick Holden, ex-Director of Soil Association, presents Week In, Week Out for BBC Wales examining the implications of a carbon constrained world on agriculture]

Category:Organic farming organizations

Category:Organic farming in the United Kingdom

Category:Organizations established in 1946

Category:Organisations based in Bristol

Category:1946 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Agricultural organisations based in the United Kingdom