Figures released this week by the Soil Association show that sales of organic products in the UK fell by 12.9% in 2009 to £1.84 billion.

The Organic Market Report showed that shoppers spent less on organic food during the recession. The three biggest categories of organic food – dairy, fruit and vegetables, and fresh meat – saw supermarket sales fall by 6.5%, 14.8% and 22.7% respectively. In contrast, organic milk bucked the trend, with dairy sales growing by 1% resulting in 2009 being the best year for organic milk sales on record.

Against this market backdrop, organically managed land area in the UK increased to 743,516 ha in January 2009 – up 9% on the previous year – and now represents 4.3% of UK farmland. Luckily for organic producers, the Soil Association remain confident that organic demand will recover, anticipating growth of up to 5 per cent in organic sales this year.

Defra has recognised the value of trees in controlling climate change in it’s recently published Climate Change Plan 2010.

The report, which sets out how Defra will continue to deal with the challenges and opportunities of climate change, gives a UK target of 23,000 ha of new tree planting per year over the next forty years.

In particular, the document highlights the benefit of urban green spaces in managing surface water, filtering pollution and cooling city air, suggesting that areas of woodland could reduce urban temperatures by up to 2°C. So it seems that in the future trees really will be seen as cool!

The European Commission has announced a new logo that will become obligatory on all pre-packaged organic products produced within the EU from July 1, 2010. The ‘euro-leaf’ logo (pictured) was chosen following an online competition that saw some 130,000 people voting, and is intended to become an easy way for consumers to quickly identify organic products.

As pressure to reduce carbon emissions from the food chain increases, a recent report adds weight to the theory that this can only be achieved through more intensive agricultural and horticultural production. The ‘How low can we go?’ report, commissioned by WWF and the Food Climate Research Network, suggests that we can only meet carbon emission targets by making the industry more efficient, using more technology, reducing waste and minimising the carbon involved in food production, manufacturing and transport.