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  • From: Aozotorp AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Organics struggle with rules
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 09:40:32 EDT


http://www.bouldernews.com/business/22borg.html

Organics struggle with rules
By Katie Ford
Camera Business Writer


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BROOMFIELD — Although they are competitors in the retail world, leaders of
companies selling organic products came together to discuss a new USDA law
regulating the organic industry at the fifth annual Natural Business Market
Trends conference at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield this week.

While trying to understand how to implement the new law, companies marketing
organic products need to remember the consumer's personal interest in their
products, said Mark Retzloff, co-founder of Longmont-based Horizon Organic
Dairy.

"Once we do that, the highway broadens," Retzloff said. "We need to make
those connections with the consumer."

Speaking to an audience of mostly manufacturers and growers in the organic
industry, Retzloff, Theresa Marquez, director of marketing for
Wisconsin-based Organic Valley and Thomas Harding, president of AgriSystsems
International, talked about the opportunities and challenges presented by the
new regulations.

The law is a culmination of work over the past 10 years to certify organic
products and was released in late December. Companies selling and making
organic products have up to Oct. 21, 2002 to implement the guidelines for
organic products set forth by the law.

The new standards created a national standard for the term "organic" and
details the methods, practices and substances that can be used in producing
and handling organic crops and livestock, as well as processed products. The
law also established organic labeling criteria to be implemented by mid-2002.

Retzloff said the challenge for the organic industry in the future will be to
convey its core values to consumers.

In the past, organic companies have promoted the environmentally friendly
side of their products, but they need to also focus marketing on the personal
effects on the consumer, he said.

"That's not as important to a consumer as how that food impacts a person's
life," he said, adding the industry needs to do more to market the
nutritional values of organic foods.

A soil association in England plans to release research on the nutritional
benefits of organic foods late this summer, Retzloff said.

Harding said the law, which materialized into a document of about 580 pages,
will help create a level playing field in the industry even though concerns
remain about its implementation.

Marquez said certain restrictions in the law present problems in the
industry. For example, the law dictates which synthetic and non-synthetic
materials can be used in production of an organic product.

"For the growers there are some real threats," she said. "The materials list
is difficult."

Retzloff said the standard labels for organic foods will help the consumer
identify those products and, hopefully, create a standard reference.

"That is a very important thing for people and their buying decisions," he
said.

The organic industry needs a way to promote its message in a way that
consumers understand, Retzloff said. He said industry leaders have discussed
starting a nonprofit company to help market the industry.



June 22, 2001



  • Organics struggle with rules, Aozotorp, 06/23/2001

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