Organic milk must not be a loss leader, declares group

The organic dairy industry - producers, processors and retailers - must ensure that it avoids the route taken by the conventional industry if it is to survive, delegates were told at a Soil Association conference this week.

Patrick Holden from the UK organic foods group, the Soil Association​, stressed that in order to succeed, organic milk must be seen and marketed as a premium product.

"We do not have to mimic what has happened in the conventional milk market. Selling conventional milk as a loss leader in supermarkets has resulted in many farmers selling below the price of production - a risk now facing organic producers. Organic milk is a high quality product - that should be reflected in the price paid and relayed through information available to consumers at the point of sale."​

According to the Association, the value of organic milk increased between 2000 and 2001 with the wholesale value rising from £18m (€28.9m) to £30m . But, the group added, cheap imports accounted for a third of sales.

In order to develop the UK market for organic milk, the Soil Association maintains that several key action points must occur. These include: greater co-operation between producers, and at all stages of the production and retail chain; a general awareness campaign to include provision of information in retail stores, promoting organic milk and dairy products as quality items; and organic milk to be made available in schools and hospitals.

Delegates at the conference agreed that organic dairy products should be positively promoted on their proven benefits: no case of BSE has ever been recorded in a herd that has been bred and raised organically; the routine use of antibiotics is prohibited; GM feed is not allowed under organic standards and cattle graze on land that is not treated with artificial insecticides, herbicides or fungicides.

Whether this will be enough to encourage the consumer to invest in organic milk only time will tell. But is this just the responsibility of the organic groups? It is a fact that organic milk is more expensive to produce than 'conventional' milk. The consumer must have the option to buy organic milk if he/she so desires and if this is at an elevated price, then so be it. Pre-conceived notions by retailers that the consumer is not prepared to pay for this product, and so they must drive the price down at source, may have no foundation.