Organic Milk pays a premium.

The growth in biological farming practice has been truly amazing over the last decade – think back to ‘99 and the idea of biological farming was hardly mentioned in the rural press; today it is amazing just how many products claim bio benefits.

The number of farming operations that now use certified organic inputs while not gaining the worldwide market true values for the products produced is alarming in a time of economic uncertainty.

With the dairy sector paying (Fonterra) 45 cents a kg m/s from the day a farm starts conversion (to certified organic) and $1.05kg m/s for international grade organic milk it has to be worth a look!

 With other dairy processors such as Green Valley, Ridge and the NZ Organic Dairy Farmers Coop all looking for supply; this must send a very clear message to the whole industry that the world wants organic dairy products — and is willing to pay for them.

The lamb market is paying over $6kg for organic lamb — it has to be worth a look. Again it is a case of a range of processors / marketers not having product to supply orders. Are we going to let other producer nations take these markets from us?

Many farmers could add $100,000 to their turnover with very minimal change in on farm practice — because they are already doing it!

There are many farms using homeopathy, seaweed or fish based fertilisers, RPR or composted phosphate products. While some commentators still refer to these inputs as ‘snake oil’, farmers, organic and conventional, keep using and reusing them, one would suppose because they are getting a return on investment.

This removes the argument about loss of production when adopting organic/biological practices, as so many are already there as far as on farm practice is concerned.

At a free  Organic Expo to be held at Matamata on the 19th of March everything from soil amendments, animal health, weed management, cultivation and processing to marketing will be covered by those doing it.

Most of these people and companies have built this sector and lead the change to bio farming in NZ — come and share their knowledge and enthusiasm for producing top quality, high value food and fibre.