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market-farming - Agreement on organics -- it just ain't easy!

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  • From: Alliums <garlicgrower AT snip.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Agreement on organics -- it just ain't easy!
  • Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 06:37:16 -0500


Lucy wrote:

>If you want to call
>yourself organic you MUST follow the regs in your state until the USDA
>takes over next year.

Welcome to Pennsylvania -- with Rodale Institute very much still here, the
BioDynamic Farming and Gardening Association recently moving their national
offices to CA (but still *very* much a presence here with the Camphill
Village movement) and the Plain Sects (Amish, etc to those of you who aren't
familiar with the complexities of the familarily called Pennsylvania Dutch)
having farmed here since William Penn invited them, ain't NOBODY in
Harrisburg who's going to say what's organic and what isn't.

So, we have no state regs -- if you want to get certified, you have to go to
one of the private certifiers -- and if you've seen the listings on the
ATTRA page (I think there were 70 organizations the last time I looked),
you'll see that there are many different ideas on what makes one "organic"
and what doesn't.

>To do otherwise is to disrespect those of us who
>have gone through the trouble and expense of certification.

I don't think it's a question of disrespect -- you do what you have to do to
make a living in agriculture and as we all know, it's *tough* to make a go
of it. PA opted out of state regs because the state government folks knew
were there *long* histories in the state of very different opinions on what
"organic" was -- and they knew they weren't qualified to ref the firestorm
that would result. PASA has very carefully (even in its name "Pennsylvania
Association for Sustainable Agriculture") tried to bring everyone together
who *does* grow sustainably, knowing that there are *huge* differences of
opinion in the state on the term "organic" -- but also realizing that if
they couldn't bring everyone together to talk, "organic agriculture" could
never be the force it should be in PA.

There are many small growers, at least in this state and NJ, who feel that
given the differing requirements of the different certifiers, that the
"Organic Certified" label should be a basic, minimum floor and that what
will really turn the tide (and prevent all these folks who've been certified
with one group calling the other group "not really organic") is for growers
and their customers to discuss together what THEY feel are appropiate
practices to grow their food. (Of course, I know a lot of CSA folks, so
dialogue with your customers is built into the process. . .) Which is why I
haven't the tiniest problem showing anyone my records or asking me questions
about how I've grown my produce. Personally, I think Demeter's acceptance
of leather meal as a soil amendment (serious heavy metals there) is
reprehensible and something I'd never do. If someone else doesn't want to
accept my produce as organic because the seedlings were started in ProMix
(which, in all the conferences I've been to in PA, has *never* come up
before!) , they are free to move on.

>This is why
>regulations are necessary

Rodale Institute has maintained for years that the country needs a national
standard for organic agriculture so that everyone, everywhere, has an idea
of what the heck "organic" means. This is another reason why we don't have
state regs in PA -- Rodale lobbied *very* hard against it. This is also why
is is *critical* to participate in the Organic Rule all the way from the
national to the local level -- there are *many* opinions out there as to
what is acceptable and what is not and there truely needs to be a
nation-wide discussion about what is important, what is optional and what is
just damn picky.

>I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of people claiming to make
>under 5 grand off of their organic veggies and also making up their own
>organic rules claiming they are better than the bona fide regs.

Given the history of sustainable agriculture in the US, it's *very* possible
that what an individual grower is doing *is* better than the regs. Heck,
had we let USDA have its way, GMOs and sewer sludge would be part of the
Rule -- and there is great debate that USDA only put those items into the
Rule to distract the sustainable ag folks into screaming about them so we
wouldn't have the energy to make other changes (like reguiring open pasture
instead of "access to pasture").

The grocery stores in PA won't buy from you unless you're certified. For
direct sales, it *has* to be about grower/consumer dialog. What is
important to the customer and how do we, as growers, make sure that what the
consumer cares about is based on solid growing practices that build, rather
than destroy the ecosystem rather than hype from those who are more
concerned with big business than the earth?

>I honestly don't know if I will continue to get our farm certified after
>2002 because of the USDA because of various issue I have there including
>the weakening of the various 44 state and private regulations we now
>have and the fact they are breaking the rules that NOFPA set in 1990.

Exactly. Demeter and Oregon Tilth (to name two I am familiar with) are
*howling* mad because they've spend years determing what they feel are "best
practices" and now USDA is taking their term "organic" and watering it down.
I think there are also some business issues there (the certification process
is a primary source of funding for them) but they also feel that they've
worked hard to make the "organic" label mean something and now the current
USDA regs give the IMPRESSION that that the national label means the same
thing when it's not even close (especially in the case of Demeter).

>When I cease to be certified I will come up with another term.

This is exactly what many growers are thinking of doing. The term "organic"
has been co-opted, so what do those who *don't* agree with the Organic Rule
as written (but bitterly resent being lumped with the practices of
conventional, chemical-based agriculture) do? If you're going to sell 3rd
party, you're going to have to be certified. If you can do direct sales,
dialog with your customers seems to be the option.

And meanwhile, talking with other growers about, as I mentioned, what is
important, what is optional and what is just damn picky.

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460




  • Agreement on organics -- it just ain't easy!, Alliums, 03/18/2001

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