The Soil Association's Organic Food & Farming Report 2003 reveals 60 per cent of consumers are more likely to buy organic if it's produced in the UK.

One in three are happy to pay more for local products.

Many consumers switch to organic food because it is perceived as being tastier and healthier than food produced by modern intensive methods.

They are also influenced by the welfare of animals and the avoidance of pesticides, food additives and genetically-modified ingredients.

However, Hans Lobstein, a regular Argus reader, wrote to me about his concerns regarding the quality of some organically-grown vegetables, which often fail to match expectation.

"I have noticed," Lobstein says, "that carrots at my local supermarket, although labelled 'organic', taste no different from other carrots sold by them. In contrast, carrots sold at my local all-organic health store have a distinct carroty flavour."

Lobstein recalls that, when working for Lady Eve Balfour, founder of the Soil Association, she demanded the soil be treated for five years before crops could be labelled organic.

Nowadays, the Soil Association is allowing only two or three years for conversion from conventional to organic farming and Lobstein wonders how these "shortcuts" are affecting the quality of the produce.

I decided to put his findings to a subjective taste test, dragooning the family into sampling a variety of carrots from different outlets.

Each person was asked to comment on taste, texture and colour of the carrots. We found the taste varied to quite a striking degree according to supermarket.

We all agreed, however, that by far the most flavoursome and colourful organic carrot was one which had been grown in Devon and was sold by the Infinity Foods Co-operative.

So, what do we make of such variations? I asked Juergen Schuhmacher, course leader in Biodynamic Agriculture at Emerson College, Forest Row, to explain.

Schuhmacher believes it takes at least five years for the structure of the soil to recover from intensive farming and chemical dosing. He also said conventional farming aims to produce as high a yield as possible and farms which have converted to "organic" often operate along similar principles.

Mass-production means the quality and taste of fruit and vegetables invariably suffers. By contrast, the philosophy behind biodynamic farms is not to produce as much as possible in the shortest space of time but to produce higher-quality produce in smaller units where a natural balance between soil, plants and livestock is encouraged.

This difference in attitude and approach is the main factor in determining the optimum development of food, affecting its taste, colour and smell (www. emerson.org.uk).

The Food Standards Agency is keen to take our views into account before commissioning new research.

Do some taste-testing yourself and send your comments by December 19, 2003 to: Andrew Stephenson, Food Labelling and Standards Division, Room 115B, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH (fax 020 7276 8193).