1946: Living Soil written by Eve Balfour, followed by the foundation of the Soil Association
1973: The organisation Organic Farmers and Growers is founded
1980s: Other organisations (including two other control bodies) are founded
1981: Safeway is the first supermarket to sell organic products, followed by Sainsbury’s
1987: The United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS) is established with the aim of unifying organic production standards
1994: Area-based support is granted, but rates are lower than in most other EU countries and there is regional variation
2003: ACOS (Advisory Committee on organic standards) replaces UKROFS
2011: The government dissolves ACOS and its support for conversion advice
2007: The Organic Trade Board is established