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market-farming - RE: Writer's Request: Organic Industry vs Organic Movement

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  • From: "Rick Williams" <mrfarm AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Writer's Request: Organic Industry vs Organic Movement
  • Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 20:22:02 -0500


Allan Balliett wrote:

> If you have criticisms of federal organic certification, particularly
> point-by-point ones, and, again, particularly short-comings of the
> federal certification, please pass them on to me, here or at
> igg AT igg.com
>
> I'm also looking for 'speaking points' on alternatives to federal
> certification

I know that we need something to for our farm that meets our needs and and
our products that we have ... since in turn it meets the needs of a wider
number of people than organic.

I still question whether or not there will eventually be a lawsuit from some
organization that will challenge whether it is actually possible for the
federal government to preempt a generic term like organic and make it
illegal to use outside of the narrow government imprimatur. My personal
perference would have been that the government have a certified organic seal
of approval for those who wanted such a thing and let regular people go
about their business as they see fit.

The lobbying groups got what they wanted, which was more power over farmers,
and they succeeded (so far) beyond I would bet almost anyones expectations.
What organic really means is a massive bureaucracy due to the nature of
providing the detailed minutiae that is necessary for some.

That bureaucracy will prosper, but it will need to extract most or all of
the wealth that theoretically increases the organic products value above the
commodity products. The money will go toward the bureaucracy and away from
the farmer. Similar to commodity production and the pathway to the consumer.

And as the organic products become more and more commoditized themselves,
this will be more evident because the percentage will need to increase as
the overall product price drops to match supply and demand. In order to have
economies of scale, to survive in organic, organizations will need to be
much larger. Small family operations will be much less practical.

It is interesting to note that although the organic laws do allow for a
token $5000 sale before certification is required, this amount is miniscule
compared to the gross sales that would be needed for substantial family
income from organic production. But over the next few decades, it will
effectively be a smaller and smaller amount due to inflation. For example,
if this had happened during the depression, and they allowed $500 at that
time, by today's inflation, the value would be minimal.

Sincerely,

Rick Williams
Misty Ridge Farm
Dairy heifers and dairy beef graziers
Viroqua, WI

www.mistyridgefarm.com





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