Organic consumers are being duped by “illicitly” marketed products that are grown from conventional seeds, MPs have warned, as they call for the Environment Secretary to launch an investigation.

       Organic growers in Scotland have been accused of illicitly marketing crops grown from 100 per cent conventional seed as organic in a “clear breach” of rules, the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture has said.

       The growers received premiums of more than ￡500 a tonne because their product was marked as organic, in what Julian Sturdy MP described as a "kick in the teeth" for conventional farmers.

       Mr Sturdy, the Tory MP for York Outer, is himself a former farmer who has argued that farming profits should not be sacrificed for environmental objectives.

       “For conventional oil seed rape growers struggling with pest-ravaged crops following the loss of neonic seed treatments, this flagrant breach not only of the law but also the spirit of organic farming principles must feel like a kick in the teeth,” Mr Sturdy said.

       ‘Urgent’ investigation needed

       Mr Sturdy was commenting on information provided by Cambridgeshire arable farmer Martin Jenkins, who said he had seen communication with the growers in Scotland which confirmed their seed was not organically grown.

       In a response to a written parliamentary question in November last year, former Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) minister Lord Gardiner confirmed that while permission could be given for regular seeds to be used when organic varieties were not available, they must “make up the minimum proportion possible”.

       Mr Sturdy said: “I have written to George Eustice calling for an urgent investigation into the practice of non-organic seed use by certified organic growers including a review of how compliance with the law is independently policed, monitored and enforced.”