Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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mentally in the right direction (Jawson and Bull 2002), and USDA Economic
Research Service researchers are conducting some studies on organic pro-
duction. Still, the U.S. government should ensure that valid, consistent in-
formation on organic methods is available to farmers, and technical advice
should be provided by the USDA, extension agents, and university researchers
who focus solely on organic techniques.
Further, pending legislation that would require country-of-origin labels
would help American farmers in general and organic farmers specifically.
In fact, a “state-of-origin” label would be even more useful for consumers
interested in trying to buy locally or regionally grown food. Unfortunately,
agribusiness corporations find global markets lucrative, and they strongly
oppose such labeling, as it informs consumers about how far their food
is being shipped. But at the grocery store, we should have clear signs that
indicate where our food is grown. Consumers who are informed about
the issues can make informed decisions and try to buy foods produced
regionally or nationally. Just as we hear “Buy American” in regard to indus-
trial products, we should teach people about American farmers and how
to support American agriculture. We must convince our politicians that an
origin label benefits both farmers and consumers.
Caution should be exercised in regard to organic certification standards,
now that the USDA has provided the culminating regulation. Using the Dan-
ish example - they are about fifteen years ahead of us - we can see what may
be of concern in our near future. There was a notable change in Denmark,
from farmers in control of organic standards to the national government's
oversight. Farmers were gradually excluded from the process (Michelsen
2001a). So there have been major increases in organic food production and
consumption in Denmark, and farmers are following good organic growing
techniques, but they feel that the standards no longer represent their ideals
and their social values. The United States is at the starting line on this issue.
Already, many organic growers with smaller acreages are questioning the
USDA's control of the term
organic
, since they could be fined up to $10,000
for using the word without being certified. There is a “small farm clause”
that exempts farmers from this law if they have under $5,000 in annual sales,
but this is a very low cutoff rate, applicable only to very small, part-time
farms.
Thus farmers must decide if it is worth the price, the paperwork, and
the time to be certified each year. Organic advocates should rally to increase
this cutoff margin to at least $20,000 or $25,000 per year to allow small-
scale local producers, who don't really “need” the certification label in order
to sell their crops to local markets, to continue to call themselves organic
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