Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Monday, 16 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 January 2006. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 February 2006 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Organic Farming

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of farms are managed to Soil Association organic standards in (a) England, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.

Answer: Soil Association Certification Ltd are one of the 10 private bodies currently approved by DEFRA for the inspection and certification of organic farmers in the UK in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91.Of the 192,824 agricultural holdings in England, 2,562 currently hold organic certification and of these 1,613 are certified by the Soil Association. The corresponding figures for the Tees Valley are 842, three and zero and for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland 229, one and zero.

Secondary information