Routes to market
Whether you intend to sell your organic produce direct to the public, the wholesaler, or through a national organic marketing group, the Soil Association can provide you with advice and support - and those all important marketing contacts.
Producer groups - working with the supermarkets
With over 74% of all organic retail purchases made at the supermarkets, the Soil Association is working behind the scenes to optimise trading relationships between producers, processors and the supermarket buyers to create more balanced trading relationships.
Local, direct alternatives
The Soil Association has pioneered work to develop more sustainable markets for producers - and to improve public access to organic food, and was instrumental in the growth and development of the farmers' market concept and box schemes across the UK:
Public catering
Over 50% of the UK's food is served through public catering outlets - schools, hospitals, pubs and restaurants. Concern over the nutritional quality of school meals has raised public and political interest in this area. The Soil Association is working to open up these markets to organic farmers and growers:
Community Supported Agriculture and buying groups
The Soil Association is running an exciting new project to develop the Community Supported Agriculture concept and organic buying groups across the UK. Both models have proved successful in other countries across the world, but remain largely untried and tested in the UK:
Building mutual relationships with the public
The future viability of UK farming relies on an informed, engaged and committed public. Strong public support leads to market demand, fairer prices and favourable government policy. Soil Association is raising public awareness about the benefits of organic - from educational campaigns to our Open Farms Network:
Supply chain development programme
In Scotland, we are working with food producers and a wide range of caterers including schools, universities and sporting organisations to develop sustainable menus, and enable food suppliers to access new markets.