Annual review 2007


Director's report

Climate change and impending 'peak oil' will unravel the dominant models of industrial food production and distribution systems, threatening our food security. Just when we need a resilient, highly skilled and thriving farming sector, capable of rising to these new challenges, we find agriculture confused as to its purpose, lacking leadership from Government and dependent on vast inputs of cheap oil.

The Soil Association recognises its responsibility to act, and we are well-placed to do so, boosted by the magnificent efforts of our members and supporters. Building a movement of active and engaged citizens has always been and remains at the heart of our mission. Throughout our 60-year history, we have set the agenda for radical, well-founded change in food and farming. Like the Soil Association, individuals and communities aren’t waiting for governments and corporations to take the urgent action needed. Instead, people are mobilising at the grassroots to effect change.

Our One Planet Agriculture campaign was launched as a practical vision for reducing dependency on oil and enabling the rebuilding of localised, more secure food and farming systems. The campaign marks a new chapter in the Soil Association’s history, but also a return to the roots of the organic movement – our founders advocated sustainable farming as the foundation for our food security, and the health of ourselves and our planet.

The global challenges we face can seem overwhelming, but I have found the prospect of equipping ourselves
for a post fossil fuel age inspiring – particularly in the knowledge that our vision for the future of food and
farming is shared by a growing body of people and like-minded organisations around the world.