Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Key challenges for the future of organic regulation
The rather jumbled picture painted of the organic regulatory landscape in the last two sections
raises key challenges facing organic agriculture and trade. These include tensions between
private and public regulatory systems and the desperate need for international harmonisation,
the challenge of building regulatory systems that ensure consistency in the assurance provided
to global consumers while allowing for locally appropriate adaptations, and finally, with
increased regulatory burdens caused by the formalisation of organic assurance, the challenge
of ensuring continued access by smallholder producers, particularly in developing countries.
One harmonised global organic regulatory system needed
There has been a recent explosion of private and public organic standards and conformity
assessment systems. The lack of harmonisation between the private and public systems and
among governmental regulatory regimes poses significant threats to the future growth of
organic agriculture and trade.
Because certification bodies are required to obtain organic accreditations to meet market
demands and regulatory requirements for each import market (not to mention additional
accreditations for other market-based requirements), the costs of access to markets through
certification continue to rise (Guthman 1998, Harris
et
al
. 2001). In order to ensure that a
product can be labelled as organic in an import market, government regulations where they
exist must be complied with. At the same time, market requirements may dictate the use of the
private system, given solidarity and confidence in the organic movement (Harris
et
al
. 2001).
Even though Costa Rica is one of the few 'third countries' under the EU organic regulatory
regime, 'local certification bodies are not recognised in EU markets and farmers are still asked
to certify under different European certification bodies, depending on the client's preferences'
(EcheverrÃa 2004). Retailers are important in expressing certification preferences, as illus-
trated in the UK retailer Sainsbury's policy to only accept organic products from IFOAM-
accredited certification bodies for its own-label organic products (Sainsbury's Supermarkets
2005). The lack of effective cooperation between private and public stakeholders results in
additional costs and complications.
The costs of compliance and verification are compounded by the increasing comprehen-
siveness and complexity of organic standards and regulations, as they are revised and
'improved' (Harris
et
al
. 2001). While organic agriculture is a relatively simple concept, it is
now codified in standards and regulations that can take up almost 100 pages of legal and tech-
nical text. The Consolidated Text of the European Council Regulation 2092/91 is 94 pages
long, and 'Entire Standards' of the English language version of the US NOP Rule is 554 pages,
including regulatory and additional text. Translating such requirements into something mean-
ingful for smallholder farmers in Northern Uganda or East Timor is indeed a challenge. Given
high rates of illiteracy among smallholder producers in developing countries, complex market
and regulatory record-keeping requirements create significant compliance burdens (Harris
et
al
. 2001, Raynolds 2004). Stories abound that highlight the challenges faced by smallholders,
including a report from Mexico where at least ten small producer groups were decertified in
1999 as a result of their inability to manage the paperwork associated with organic certifica-
tion (Boersma 2000 in Parrott and Marsden 2002).
As the fastest growing segment in the foods sector globally, organic agriculture holds great
promise as a development option for many farmers in developing countries, particularly those
with a history of low or no use of synthetic chemicals, in countries with low labour costs,
among other factors (Soto 2003). At the same time, while there may be comparative advan-
tages for developing countries in organic agriculture exports, within the wider context of
