Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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without the cost of USDA certification. If local consumers trust the farmer,
they don't need the certification label, and small producers cannot afford
to pay for certification. Yet if these small-scale producers are using true
organic methods, they clearly deserve to use the word
organic
(but not
certified organic
).
Overall, we must safeguard the integrity of organic certification, which
has already been coming under attack. According to the
New York Times
(March 5, 2003), “If it weren't so dangerous, the chicken fight going on in
Congress would be laughable.” Incredibly, the very basis of organic stan-
dards, in place only a few months, was threatened by secretive Republican
Deal making (pun intended). Representative Nathan Deal from Georgia
received strong financial support from Fieldale Farms, a huge poultry op-
eration headquartered in his state. Already in the spring of 2001, Deal and
Fieldale were pressuring Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to grant
an exemption to the requirement that organic chickens be fed organically
grown feeds (National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture 2002). Claim-
ing that organically grown grains were unavailable at prices that were ac-
ceptable to Fieldale, the Georgia delegation hammered away at Veneman.
Luckily, she realized the importance of maintaining the integrity of organic
certification (e.g., if a chicken eats pesticides, it's certainly not organic!),
and she refused to grant this exemption. So Deal waited a few months and
then simply slipped a paragraph into a $397 billion spending bill that indeed
would allow farmers to give livestock nonorganic feed but still label their
meat, eggs, and milk as organic (
New York Times
,March5, 2003). Such a
shortcut not only undermines organic livestock and their products but also
hurts organic grain farmers who depend upon these sales. Quickly, organic
proponents cried foul (and fowl) as consumers and food corporations both
saw the hazards of this loophole. Members of both political parties jumped
into action, as Senators Leahy and Snowe introduced legislation that would
kill Deal's deal. And there was even talk of creating an Organic Caucus
within Congress to protect the federal standards from other such assaults.
We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, we must all be cautious and aware of
legislation that pertains to organic farming. Staying informed is a key step
in protecting certified organic farms. So keep your congressional telephone
numbers handy and get on the phone to keep family organic agricultural
issues on the legislative agenda.
Another consideration is what organic certification should mean. In
the United States, it focuses exclusively on in-field production methods,
with careful attention to the exclusion of prohibited substances. Certainly,
this purely production-based standard of certification overlooks the deeper
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