[JayG]

The founders of the organic movement were responding to the increasing use of artificial (inorganic) fertilisers and pesticides in the early part of the last century, so presumably thought that the word "organic" represented their aims perfectly.

I bet the Soil Association (along with many others) increasingly wish they'd thought up an entirely new word now - it's probably one of the most vaguely defined words there is these days when it comes to food production, and therefore often misleading to people who assume that any product somehow managing to involve the magic word is automatically "a good thing."  )

(As an example, metaldehyde slug pellets are chemically organic, whereas the active ingredient of the "organically approved" ferric phosphate version is inorganic!  )

[mumofstig]

Indeed! the Oxford dictionary definition makes interesting reading 

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/organic






typo edit 

[JayG]

Indeed X 2 (so few letters, so much responsibility!    )