Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 9
Organic standards and certification
Sasha Courville*, ISEAL Alliance, UK
*Dr Sasha Courville, ISEAL Alliance, 43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 0 1865 516695,
Fax: +44 0 1865 516695, Email: sasha@isealalliance.org
Introduction
Paradoxically, the regulatory systems that were developed to protect the integrity of organic
agriculture including standards setting and conformity assessment systems are now reshaping
the organic landscape in ways that threaten many of the values held by the movement that
created it. Organic standards and certification systems have had key roles in clarifying, har-
monising and ensuring the integrity of organic agriculture as it moves from movement-driven
agricultural niches to mainstream markets worldwide. However, with the growth of organic
markets reaching US$25 billion (Rundgren 2004), governments have become increasingly
involved in organic regulation, resulting in a loss of ownership of the meaning of organic agri-
culture by the movement itself. Increased international trade of organic products has resulted
in complex organic regulatory systems fraught with duplication and overlaps among the
various government regimes and the private regulatory system. Such bureaucratisation of
organic agriculture is creating barriers to trade, particularly for small-scale producers in devel-
oping countries (Harris et al . 2001, Parrott and Marsden 2002, Raynolds 2004).
This chapter outlines the history of the development of organic regulatory structures,
provides a snapshot of the current situation with respect to organic standards setting and con-
formity assessment activities, and discusses three key regulatory challenges facing organic
agriculture. These include the tensions between the private systems dominated by the Interna-
tional Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and public systems managed
by various national and regional governments, difficulties in balancing producer realities on
the ground and consumer requirements for a clear understanding of what organic agriculture
means worldwide, and the increasing over-regulation of organic agricultural production and
trade that may inadvertently squeeze out key stakeholders at the heart of the organic movement:
smallholder farmers. In outlining tentative steps towards addressing these challenges, the
chapter brief ly sketches possible pathways for harmonisation among organic regulatory
systems, suggests possibilities for balancing local and global needs through incorporating f flex-
ibility into standards-setting processes based on examples from IFOAM processes, and outlines
two promising developments for organic smallholder producers:
1 the development and increasing acceptance of internal control systems as a tool for inspec-
tion and certification; and
2 a new stage in the evolution of organic assurance, the development of participatory guaran-
tee systems for local markets.
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