Overview
Lobbying Costs
9,999€
Financial year: Apr 2014 - Mar 2015
Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
1.5 Fte (4)
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
0
High-level Commission meetings
1
Lobbying Costs over the years
-
Info
Soil Association (SA)
EU Transparency Register
543698010969-83 First registered on 09 Apr 2013
Goals / Remit
Who we are
The Soil Association was founded in 1946 by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who observed a direct connection between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health.
Today, we are the UK's leading membership charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use. We have over 150 staff based in Bristol and Edinburgh and working as certification inspectors across the country. The Soil Association's Chief Executive is Helen Browning, who reports to the Council of Trustees.
You might expect something so vital to be organised and supported by the government. But in fact the Soil Association is a charity, reliant on donations and on the support of its members and the public to carry out its work.
What we do
We are the UK's leading membership charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use.
Our work is divided into three areas:
Facing the future
In the face of climate change and a growing world population, business as usual in our food and farming system is not an option. We want to ensure that organic systems can secure a durable and humane solution to the challenges facing us.
We help provide solutions that help people to live, eat, farm and grow with the resources that are available. We want to pioneer new solutions to tackle climate change, support biodiversity, improve animal welfare and champion fairness
Good food for all
Good food, the best food, is organically grown, minimally processed, fairly traded, fresh and seasonal. And this food should be a right, not a privilege: we want to make sure everyone has access to food that is healthy for them and the planet.
Our work in schools, through the Food for Life Partnership, shows that it is possible to transform food cultures for the better - improving the life and health chances of thousands of children. We are building on this work and helping other communities to build healthier food cultures.
Enabling change
We represent and work with pioneering farmers, growers and businesses who deliver practical change – the extraordinary people who make change happen on the ground.
We provide technical support and advice to farmers and businesses, and through our trading subsidiary, Soil Association Certification, we work to create and inspire consumer trust in order to support the organic market. We also work to improve consumer understanding of organic principles and to ensure that the vision, integrity and trust at the core of our certification process are understood by anyone purchasing a product that carries our symbol.
Charitable status
The Soil Association is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Our charity number is 206862. Soil Association Certification Ltd is a subsidiary of the charity which undertakes certification. As a subsidiary company, any surplus income is passed on to the Soil Association charity to raise awareness, and develop and safeguard the entire organic sector.Main EU files targeted
Review of Organic Regulation
Address
Head Office
South Plaza
Marlborough Street
Bristol BS1 3NX
UNITED KINGDOM -
People
Total lobbyists declared
4
Employment time Lobbyists 50% 2 25% 2 Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
1.5
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
No lobbyists with EP accreditations
Complementary Information
None declared
Person in charge of EU relations
Mr Christopher Atkinson (Head of Standards)
Person with legal responsibility
Ms Helen Browning (Chief Executive)
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Categories
Category
III - Non-governmental organisations
Subcategory
Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar
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Networking
Affiliation
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and IFOAM EU Group
Member organisations
None declared
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Financial Data
Closed financial year
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015
Lobbying costs for closed financial year
9,999€
EU grant income for closed financial year
185,533 € (Source: Various programmes including Interreg, Leonardo, Grundtvig, LEADER, FP7)
Other financial info
Our annual review and accounts are at http://www.soilassociation.org/annualreview
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EU Structures
Groups (European Commission)
None
ACC
None
Groups (European Parliament)
None
Communication activities
Owner of a private organic standard.
Other activities
Review of EU Organic legislation / CAP reform.
Meetings
Meetings
1 meetings found. Download meetings
The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.
1 July 2024: We have noted that some meetings are appearing in duplicate, ie. some meetings seem to be listed twice. This seems to be because the Commission changes some element of a meeting data after the meeting has first been listed, which causes LobbyFacts to register it as a new meeting. We are investigating further.
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Date 24 Feb 2015 Location BERL 08/304 Subject Research into consumer attitudes to method of production labelling, Research into the confusion caused by existing EU labels, The role method of production labelling can play in delivering EU objectives, The ongoing review of the EU's poultrymeat marketing standards. Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan Portfolio Agriculture & Rural Development Attending - Dermot Ryan (Cabinet member)
Other Lobbyists