Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Big O Ag is to protect family organic farmers; otherwise, organic farms will
replicate the current industrial agricultural system, in which multinational
corporations control inputs, marketing, processing, and sales. The main les-
son here is to support family organic farming by buying organic products
- the more local the better. The better you know the farmer who produced
your food, the more you know that you are supporting organic farming. In
addition, stay on top of organic regulations and voice your concerns to the
USDA National Organic Program, your senators, and your representatives.
Don't let Big O Ag jump in and erode organic standards for its benefit.
In
ternational Trade
[84],
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An article in the on-line journal
Salon
notes the irony of using massive
amounts of nonrenewable energy to ship organically grown food halfway
around the world (Baker 2002). The example provided is of an American
working for a German organic certification agency who flew to Japan to
inspect a food processor who uses Chinese soybeans to create tofu for a
European market. While this provides an interesting geography lesson and
in fact sounds far-fetched, it does prove that organic products are increas-
ingly global. The United States exports organic products mostly to northern
Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China (Lohr 1998). This globalization
raises numerous questions about the sustainability of such global marketing
and the fundamental goals of organic - traditionally, those of local produc-
tion and sustainability. Keep in mind that in the United States, the national
certification standards are run by the National Organic Program, which is
part of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, so clearly the economic
goals of national and global marketing are influential.
There are complex policy and economic factors involved with importa-
tion of organic foods (Barrett et al. 2002). For example, with demand for
organic products high in the UK and several other European Union na-
tions, imports are necessary to fill consumer needs. Even as British organic
production is increasing rapidly, the UK imported 70 percent of all organic
food sold there.While the United States is amajor source of organic imports
to the European Union, it is interesting to note that nearly sixty develop-
ing countries have import authorizations as well. Organic methods hold
great promise for ecological and social benefits in developing countries for
domestic
use which should be encouraged (Rasul and Thapa 2003). There
are substantial barriers for farmers in developing countries to export their
products - most notably cost for certification and acceptance of various
organic labels from abroad. And as much as possible, we should try to
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