Winners announced: Soil Association Organic Awards recognising innovation, business leadership and commitment to the organic industry

Winners of the Soil Association Organic Awards 2008 were announced 13 April by ethical living and environmental journalist Lucy Siegle at the Natural & Organic Products Annual Industry Awards in London. This year saw a record number of entrants for the awards across every category, particularly for the Organic Beauty and Bodycare Products.

Lucy Siegle commented on the awards, saying:
‘We’ve had a fantastically dynamic mix of organic winners this year. They include a couple of extremely well known brands, Abel & Cole and Neal's Yard Remedies, some relatively new kids on the block and some stalwarts such as Infinity Foods. This range demonstrates how established and secure the organic movement is. From pubs to body scrubs and on-trend summer dresses, there are credible alternatives to the horribly homogenised high street consumerist experience - alternatives that also leave a lighter footprint. This is brilliant news for a growing movement of organic consumers who like to shop ethically.’

Helen Taylor, marketing and corporate relations director at the Soil Association, said:
‘Over the past 12 years the Soil Association Organic Awards have set the standard for innovation, quality and commitment within the organic industry. The record number of entries we have received this year shows that the winners achieve both kudos and industry respect.’

Eight Soil Association Organic Awards were presented to businesses that have created top quality organic products or services and demonstrated innovation, business leadership and a tremendous commitment to the organic industry. The award winners were as follows:

Winner of the Best Organic Restaurant award is the Duke of Cambridge

The already award winning restaurant at the Duke of Cambridge is the only gastropub in the UK to have been awarded Soil Association accreditation. The pub’s seasonal, fresh menu changes twice daily, according to what produce is available and what is at its seasonal peak. The staff at the Duke of Cambridge regularly visit the organic farmers and growers who supply them and buy direct wherever possible. About 80% of the pub’s fresh produce is sourced from the Home Counties, in order to keep food miles at a minimum, and its fish buying policy was the first in the country to be approved by the Marine Conservation Society.

Winner of the Best Organic Textile Product is Beaumont Organic

The Beaumont Organic Collection is made with 100% organically grown cotton, free from pesticides and insecticides. Beaumont Organic is a family run business led by the designer Hannah Nicole who designs styles that are simple and elegant. The manufacturing of the range is in Maia, Portugal where a small family run factory produces the range to the highest standard and with impeccable attention to detail.

Winner of the Best Organic Babycare Product is Eselle Organics Baby Bottom Balm

Eselle Organics Baby Bottom Balm is a gentle and kind balm with calendula oil to sooth, heal and protect babies’ soft skin. It blends 100% organic ingredients including chamomile, shea nut butter and sea buckthorn oil. Eselle are actively involved in community development projects in the Himalayas where some of their ingredients are grown.

Winner of the Best Organic Facial Skincare Product is Neal’s Yard Remedies White Tea Enriching Facial Mask

Neal’s Yard Remedies White Tea Enriching Facial Mask is a nourishing beauty treatment with White Tea extract to reduce fine lines. It contains precious organic seed oils to replenish vital skin moisture. Neal’s Yard is the first national high street retailer to be accredited by the Carbon Neutral Company.

Winner of the Best Organic Bodycare product is Origins Body Pampering Massage Oil

Origins Body Pampering Massage Oil is great for both moisturising and massaging the whole body. Pure organic Jojoba, known to mimic the oils in skin, is blended with organic fennel, organic chamomile and mellow, herbaceous organic clary sage to produce an oil which soothes and rejuvenates skin.

Winner of the Soil Association Best Small Shop is Growing With Grace

Growing With Grace provides fresh, organic, locally produced and fairly traded food to the local community selling produce though the shop, at weekly markets and through a box scheme which delivers to 200 households. A unique aspect of Growing With Grace is their community composting scheme which processes the community’s green waste and ‘completes the circle’ by using it to produce food for that same community. They also share information about their work through events, open days and educational work.

Winner of the Soil Association Best Large Shop is Infinity Foods Shop & Bakery

Infinity Foods Shop & Bakery has been supplying ethically and sensitively sourced natural and organic produce for 37 years. They have actively supported and encouraged the start up of local organic farm initiatives, many of whom supply them with produce. They prioritise locally grown produce where possible but have also been involved in setting up fair trade initiatives abroad. Infinity Foods Shop & Bakery prides itself on its ‘grassroots’ approach to running the business. Employees are able to become members of the company which allows them a say in all decisions.

Winner of the Soil Association Best Internet/Delivery Service is Abel & Cole

Abel & Cole offers consumers an online ethical and organic alternative to supermarkets. Information on food provenance and farmers is supplied on their website and customers are able to order using a straightforward process that even lets them exclude produce they don’t like. Abel & Cole pride themselves on excellent customer service and have won the National Customer Service Awards two years in a row.

Report confirms that organic farming can contribute to world food security and tackling climate change

Organic agriculture can contribute to delivering global food security, help tackle climate change, protect soils and conserve wildlife. So recognises a four-year study involving 400 scientists from around the world as well as 30 governments and the same number of NGOs.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report criticises industrial agriculture for being ‘too narrowly focused’ and calls instead for a more holistic systems-orientated approach to food production and farming.

Soil Association campaigns director, Robin Maynard, said:
‘This is exactly what organic farming at its best achieves - producing the same amount of food for 26% less energy than chemical based farming; delivering a greater variety and number of wildlife species; and because it doesn’t depend on vast quantities of expensive agrichemicals is more accessible and adaptable to smaller scale, poorer farms in developing countries.’

The report’s authors raised doubts as to the GM industry’s current claims to be the solution for poverty, world hunger or climate change.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development Synthesis Report was released 15 April.

For more information and to read the report, visit www.agassessment-watch.org