The Soil Association has decided to withdraw from setting standards for organic salmon after an extensive review found that environmental and welfare outcomes were not meeting its “high bar”.

The charity, which has been developing and setting standards for organic salmon farming for more than two decades, has been reviewing its involvement for the last two years. 

This review has concluded that Soil Association standards have sparked positive change across the whole salmon farming industry, and that further improvement could be possible. However, the charity says there was a lack of evidence that the standards were delivering good enough animal welfare and environmental outcomes, or that this could change fast enough, the charity says. 

Soil Association chief executive Helen Browning said: “The mission behind the Soil Association and its standards is to develop and support farming systems that care for the natural world and farmed animals. 

“When we started working on salmon 20 years ago, we had an aspiration for an aquaculture system that could deliver the principles of organic production in the sea. We envisioned a multi-trophic, enriched environment which could provide the resources for a good life for salmon, with minimal negative impact on other species. However, progress along these lines has been negligible. While our standards ensure lower stocking rates and prohibit the most damaging chemical treatments, the evidence suggests that welfare and environmental outcomes are not sufficient for us to continue.

“While no farming system is perfect, the Soil Association standards set a high bar. When consumers see our logo on pack, they should be confident that organic principles are being safeguarded to the highest level possible”

“While no farming system is perfect, the Soil Association standards set a high bar. When consumers see our logo on pack, they should be confident that organic principles are being safeguarded to the highest level possible within the constraints of a commercially viable system. This means being prepared to ask difficult questions and this is a case where we must act on the evidence when we believe we can no longer provide that assurance.”

Earlier this year, a group of environmental campaigners and industry figures, including Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson and the green entrepreneur Dale Vince, wrote to the Soil Association, urging it to strip organic certification from UK salmon farms, warning the charity that continuing certification of farmed salmon was damaging its reputation.  

Dale Vince, founder the group Green Britain Foundation, which campaigns against fish farming, said yesterday: “Great news today for animal welfare and animal rights campaigners and people who care about organic standards. The Soil Association have listened and looked at the data we’ve shown them – the abuses that take place on organic farms, the unsustainability of feed and most importantly the toxic chemicals used in what has been described as organic farming. These two things just can’t coexist in the same sentence. The Soil Association have listened and today they have announced they are pulling out of certifying organic salmon farms. That is fantastic news.” 

Others have praised the Soil Association for taking an evidence-based approach to a complex issue. Renewables entrepreneur, Marrion Farrow, wrote on LinkedIn: “Whilst disappointing, I commend the Soil Association for taking an evidence-based approach and putting integrity ahead of convenience. Hopefully this decision will help drive the meaningful change that consumers and, most importantly, the fish deserve.”

Findings from the review 

The review heard from producers, aquaculture experts, scientists, policymakers, animal welfare experts, campaigners and others.

It considered a broad range of evidence relating to salmon welfare, environmental performance and the effectiveness of Soil Association standards in delivering good outcomes.

Key findings include:

• Soil Association standards led to improvements in organic and non-organic salmon farming, including pre-slaughter stunning and innovative approaches to net cleaning that avoid the use of chemical anti-foulants.

• Organic sites perform well on veterinary treatments, with the most harmful treatments banned and minimal use of the treatments which are permitted, including Deltamethrin, in the last two years.

• Analysis of publicly available data on mortality and sea lice outbreaks showed high mortality rates, which were not significantly better than non-organic sites in recent years. There were also concerns around preventing suffering as it is difficult to treat or euthanise individual fish.  

• It also found that mortality events are often outside of the control of the sector with rising water temperatures leading to parasite outbreaks and disease. There was a lack of evidence and therefore confidence that this was likely to change within a tenable timeframe. 

• There was also concern around feed sustainability, as organic standards require producers to feed salmon as natural a diet as possible. 

The Soil Association was concerned this was resulting in too much reliance on wild fish stocks and the review had an ambition to progress stricter standards to prioritise marine by-products and trimmings. But challenges around these products led to a lack of confidence this was likely to be resolved fast enough.

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