010140 Organic Reforms Worry Farmers

Washington - New federal regulations for organic food aim to help the burgeoning $7.8 billion industry, but some farmers worry they could get hurt because of the one-size-fits-all government standards.

The Department of Agriculture announced last month that foods grown and processed according to the standards, a decade in development, will bear a seal of “USDA Organic.”

Diane Schill, who farms 700 acres of organic grain in Hannah, ND, said the label only attests to a minimum standard.

“To put everyone in the same boat together eliminates my edge,” she said. “This kind of a rule opens it up to big business and really threatens the small farmers. Big farms will be able to just slide under that label.”

The standards, to be implemented over 18 months beginning in February, ban pesticides, genetic engineering, growth hormones and irradiation of organic foods, and require dairy cattle to have access to pasture. They replace a hodgepodge of state rules and varying private certification standards.

“I see this rule as laying the groundwork for an industrialized organic food system,” said Theresa Podoll, executive director of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, an educational association of organic farmers and certifiers.

“And that system will not be friendly to organic producers who will not compromise in their drive for excellence. It will take away the right of farmers to differentiate their products in the marketplace.”

Certification of organic food will be done by private agencies hired by the Agriculture Department. That, too, has created controversy.

“We have a problem being solely an agent of the government,” said Annie Kirschenmann, president and CEO of Farm Verified Organic, an organic certification agency based in Medina, ND, which is considering a challenge of the restriction.

“Private certification is fundamental to the growth of the organic label. It's hard to imagine the government being on the cutting edge. It's the soul of organic that's at stake,” she said.

“The landscape has changed for certification organizations,” said Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association. “They become, instead of standard-setters, standard-enforcers. What you're hearing is they don't like that.”

Keith Jones, who runs the Agriculture Department's organic program, said an advisory board established in 1992 to come up with the standards can make recommendations on changes as the need arises.

“If the standards need to be increased, the National Organic Standards Board is the venue for that,” he said. “We want to create a process that is orderly.”

Jones said nothing in the new rules prohibits a producer from making a truthful claim on the product in addition to the USDA seal - for example, that it exceeds a specific standard. What is prohibited is a separate seal that certifies the product meets a definition of organic other than the USDA one.

“The (1990) act required us to set a uniform national standard,” Jones said. “Historically, certifiers have tried to differentiate themselves by saying, 'My organic is better than your organic.' Now we have a uniform national standard, and certifiers will have to compete like any other service provider - by being effective and efficient.”

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