Think tank challenges ‘pro-organic bias’ at the BBC

Scientists at a sustainable farming think tank have submitted a complaint to the BBC about alleged pro-organic farming bias.

Science for Sustainable Agriculture (SSA) has written to BBC director general Tim Davies to challenge “misleading and factually inaccurate assertions” in relation to farming in the BBC’s online Bitesize revision guides aimed at GCSE students in England and National 5 students in Scotland.

Throughout the guides, it is repeatedly stated that organic farming has a less harmful effect on the environment, is less polluting, and uses more “natural” methods than non-organic farming.

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These include statements such as “organic milk and beef are produced without using antibiotics”, “organic farmers…do not apply pesticides to their crops”, and “many farmers are turning to organic farming as consumers opt to buy chemical-free [sic] food”.

The SSA says the revision guides are equally misleading in their largely negative portrayal of “intensive farming”, including simplistic, unreferenced statements such as “many people object to intensive farming because it reduces biodiversity and increases pollution”.

The SSA letter to Mr Davie notes that each of these statements by the BBC is either factually incorrect or disputed in scientific literature.

Antibiotics use

For example, organic livestock farmers do use antibiotics (including those produced using genetically modified organisms), and they do use pesticides, some of which have been shown to have a more toxic and environmentally damaging profile than their synthetic counterparts.      

Similarly, the simplistic assertion that intensive farming reduces biodiversity and increases pollution is not supported by the scientific evidence, the SSA states, citing the findings of a 10-year report published in the Nature journal in 2018 by Professor Andrew Balmford, a conservation scientist at Cambridge University.

The SSA letter to Mr Davies calls on the BBC to remove or correct these misleading statements, and instead focus on inspiring young people with the potential to use scientific and technological innovation to make our future farming systems more sustainable.

Farmers Weekly has contacted the BBC to request a comment.