Organic is one of the buzzwords of this decade and the number of organic products on offer has soared over the past few years. But what does organic mean? And how do you know that you’re getting what you pay for?

If you’ve not been sure about what you’re getting when you choose organic, you’ll be pleased to know that organic is a word defined by law, and that any food labelled organic must meet strict standards set by the Soil Association (or other organic certification organisations in other parts of the world). So as long as you’re choosing food labelled with the Soil Association logo on the product or packaging, you’re getting something that’s guaranteed to be organic.

Here’s the definition of organic, courtesy of the Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org):

Organic systems recognise that our health is directly connected to the food we eat and, ultimately, the health of the soil.

Organic farmers aim to produce good food from a balanced living soil. Strict regulations, known as standards, define what they can and can’t do. They place strong emphasis on protecting the environment.

Organic farmers use crop rotations to make the soil more fertile. For example, a farmer might graze sheep on a field one year, making the soil more fertile, then plant wheat the next and so on.

They can’t grow genetically modified crops and can only use - as a last resort - seven of the hundreds of pesticides available to farmers (the Soil Association, however, only allow four of these).

Parasite problems in farm animals are controlled through regularly moving the animals to fresh pasture and other preventative methods, rather than routinely dosing the animals with drugs.

Here are some of organic farming’s main features:

• Organic farming severely restricts the use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides
• Instead, organic farmers rely on developing a healthy, fertile soil and growing a mixture of crops
• Animals are reared without the routine use of drugs, antibiotics and wormers common in intensive livestock farming