Food & Drink
‘Hidden scandal’ of food system
Factory farming exposed as ‘world’s biggest cause of food waste’ on World Food Day.
16 October 2025
This article first appeared in our COP30 special issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Main image credit: The Community Farm
Earlier this year, Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments – which remunerated farmers in England for adopting more nature-friendly farming methods – abruptly ended and farmers wishing to convert to organic were left, for the first time in decades, without financial support.
The Soil Association and its partners have been able to work with the governments in Wales and Scotland to make sure conversion support is available, yet there is still great uncertainty for farmers in England.
In May there was a limited reopening for farmers who were midway through their SFI application – but confusion over what the scheme will look like in 2026 has made this a frustrating time.
‘It has taken us 40 years to get our farm on the right track for biodiversity’, said John Kerr, organic beef farmer and Soil Association ambassador. ‘At times we have been able to call on grants but what we and new entrants to organic and sustainable farming really need is clarity and support for the long term, so we can make the changes necessary for nature.’
John added that the limited re-opening for previous SFI applicants feels ‘like a bit of a sticking plaster over a major mistake to save face’, adding that details are lacking and there are restrictions on what support is available.
We know that organic farming is a tried and tested method for supporting nature, with an average of 30% more species biodiversity on organic farms compared with non-organic.
Organic farming also helps to support healthier soils, as techniques like herbal leys (used instead of artificial fertilisers), compost, manure and long and diverse farm rotations help to create deep, healthy soil that holds more water.
Soils on organic farms also hold twice as much carbon as non-organic, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.
In addition to the many benefits of organic farming, artificial inputs like nitrate fertiliser do not come cheap – and are rising in cost.
For farmers, looking at more resilient and lower input systems like organic makes sense for long-term economic and environmental reasons, yet for many the cost of conversion is currently a barrier.
When there is decisive government action to support nature-friendly farming, the results speak for themselves.
Government support for an Organic Action Plan in Scotland has seen the amount of land being farmed organically increase by almost 12% in 2024 (the most recent data available).
An English Organic Action Plan would be a welcome move by Defra; it has been requested not just from the Soil Association but also from environmental NGOs including RSPB, National Trust, River Action, Wildlife and Countryside Link and various Wildlife Trusts.
At the end of 2024 these organisations signed an open letter, coordinated by the Soil Association, to the then Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner, calling for a target of 10% of UK land to be farmed organically by 2030.
That target is not without precedent – it is the EU average for land farmed organically. In some countries the figure is as high as 20%, yet the latest available data show the UK has remained static at 3%.
Consumer demand for organic food is strong – and rising.
The latest Nielsen data show that supermarket sales of organic food and drink saw continued growth in the first half of 2025, rising 8.8% in value and 4.4% in units (volume) year on year.
The growing retail availability of organic products is helping to fuel this growth, accompanied by rising consumer demand for healthy, minimally processed and sustainably produced food.
Shoppers are increasingly looking for food that has been produced in a way that minimises pesticide use and safeguards higher levels of animal welfare.
The Soil Association is actively pushing for decisive government action to support organic production and all its public benefits.
This would also make the UK market less dependant on imports – a reliance that generates emissions while failing to support British farmers.
Public support for the domestic agriculture industry is high, with over seven in 10 (72%) of surveyed Brits saying they prefer to buy British-grown fruit and vegetables.
The Soil Association is also pushing for more targets for organic food in public procurement as another way to support organic farming in the UK.
Again, there have been great things happening across the border in Scotland.
The ‘Give Peas a Chance’ pilot, funded by Sustain’s Bridging the Gap programme in partnership with Soil Association Scotland, brought locally grown peas to the plates of thousands of schoolchildren in Aberdeen.
The initiative not only opened up a new route to market for a local organic grower, but also ensured children were getting a healthy protein source in their diets.
Jenny Cowie, Cook in Charge at Bridge Don Academy, one of the schools involved in the pilot, said: ‘I was really shocked – and I’ve been a cook for years – about putting [peas] into muffins and cookies[…] A lot of people probably think you can make soup with them and that’s it. But you can do so much with peas. And the more I was reading into them, the nutritional value is really high.’
Ideas like this mean everyone is a winner – isn’t it time the UK government took note and helped similar initiatives happen on a larger scale?
Factory farming exposed as ‘world’s biggest cause of food waste’ on World Food Day.
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New report from The Food Foundation warns food industry will suffer consequences if biodiversity and nature crisis is ignored.
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