The Prince of Wales has dismissed as “nonsense” the mantra that ‘organic won’t feed the world’.
The Prince’s comment came in a speech he made at Elm Farm Organic Research Centre (ORC) last month. In his speech, part of ORC’s 30th birthday celebrations, he insisted “organic is the only truly sustainable form of agriculture and the one approach that has a real chance of mitigating the worst effects of climate change”.
The Prince criticised the “wasteful” approach of intensive farming and the fragmented systems that props it up. He added: “Organic, on the other hand, recognises that Nature is finite and has to be respected.”
In a warm tribute to Organic Research Centre and its founder, Lawrence Woodward, Prince Charles said: “Had it not been for the help and advice of Elm Farm Organic Research Centre (and the uniquely special Lawrence Woodward), we would not have been able to convert the farm at Highgrove to the organic system some twenty-five years ago.”
“In 1984, when I first visited Elm Farm, the world seemed seized by a desire to do all it could to replace Nature with man-made alternatives, and there were only a few souls prepared to stand in the way of this so-called “progress”. The fact that the sustainable agricultural practices now have the support they do is evidence of how far we have travelled and much of the credit for this must lie with Elm Farm.”
