Soil Association

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Soil Association is a UK membership organisation with charitable status which sets standards for organic food and farming, promotes organic products to consumers and advocates and campaigns for organic food.

The Soil Association sets standards for organic production in:

organic farming
organic food processing
organic restaurants and catering
organic fisheries
organic textiles and leather

Soil Association standards are recognised to exceed statutory organic standards, such as those set by the European Union, and the UK government. Compassion In World Farming regards Soil Association standards to offer the best guarantee of high animal welfare standards in the UK.

Soil Association Certification Ltd is a subsidiary company of the Soil Association, independently providing organic certification services and advisory support on all aspects of organic certification. Soil Association Certification Ltd is one of ten approved organic certification bodies in the UK.

According to their website: "The Soil Association was founded in 1946 by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who observed a direct connection between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health.

"The catalyst was the publication of The Living Soil by Lady Eve Balfour in 1943. The book presented the case for an alternative, sustainable approach to agriculture that has since become known as organic farming."