Volume 12: Livestock Farming
10. Organic farming
Organic farms and BSE

10.11 Up until 1995, MAFF did not attempt to ascertain the incidence of BSE on organic farms, or whether it was significantly lower than on conventional farms. However, in the latter half of 1995 the issue of BSE on organic farms received significant national publicity, which encouraged MAFF to look further into the issue. ¹

10.12 Accordingly, lists of registered organic producers were cross-checked against the BSE database. ² It was thought that the information obtained could provide an indication of whether or not BSE had occurred in home-bred cattle which had been organically reared throughout their life. ³

10.13 By the end of November 1995, Mr John Wilesmith of the CVL was able to provide a regional breakdown of 36 organic herds with confirmed cases of BSE, and subdivide these cases into 'home-bred' and 'purchased' (see Table 10.1).

Table 10.1: BSE incidence on organic farms up to November 1995

Region	No. of farms with confirmed cases	No. of confirmed cases	No. of home-bred cases	No. of purchased cases
Eastern	1	4	1	3
Mid and West	3	4	1	3
South East	8	70	50	20
South West	19	127	91	36
Wales	4	9	6	3
Scotland	1	1	0	1
TOTAL	36	215	149	66
Source: YB95/11.27/6.2 (Central Veterinary Laboratory)

10.14 Of the 36 affected herds, 15 were dairy, 18 were beef suckler, two were mixed, while one was unknown. Furthermore, all but one herd had been fed proprietary, commercial concentrate rations. Mr Wilesmith had not conducted a full within-herd incidence analysis, but still felt that organic herds did not have a lower incidence than the national average. ⁴

10.15 On 1 April 1996, Mr John Dalby reported on a survey commissioned by the Soil Association Organic Marketing Company, with support from Organic Farmers and Growers Ltd. The survey was conducted between December 1995 and March 1996 to determine the incidence of BSE in organic cattle. The following table presents the data obtained. ⁵

Table 10.2: Survey into the incidence of BSE on organic farms

	No. of herds	No. of farms with BSE cases	No. of BSE cases
Dairy and dairy/beef herds	55	27	117
Beef suckler herds	134	19	37
Total beef and dairy	189	46	154
Source: John Dalby Report, 1 April 1996

10.16 With one exception all 154 recorded cases were animals which had been converted from conventional to organic management. The exception was a dairy cow born during the conversion of the herd six months prior to registration. ⁶

10.17 The results of Mr Dalby's survey diverged from Mr Wilesmith's figures. Mr Wilesmith recorded 215 cases of BSE on 36 organic farms, while this survey recorded 154 cases on 46 farms. Mr Dalby was unable to explain the discrepancy in the number of farms with cases, but suggested that the excess cases found by Mr Wilesmith were in conventional herds on partly organic farms. ⁷

10.18 The Soil Association explains cases in organic herds by pointing out that animals were fed conventional livestock feeds before conversion to organic methods, and organic management entailed some feeding of purchased compounds (see paragraphs 10.8-10.9 above) which, up to 1983, may have contained animal proteins. ⁸

10.19 Consequently, MBM in purchased compound feeds could have been fed to cattle on organic farms until 1983. It is therefore possible that cattle on these farms were exposed to the BSE agent at least up until then, making it difficult to categorise these cattle as 'clean' controls in the BSE epidemic.