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Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic"
- From: KAKerby AT aol.com
- To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic"
- Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2011 11:41:18 -0400 (EDT)
Sometimes I wonder if the system is in part geared to rely on peer pressure
as one form of passive (or active) enforcement, and here we are talking about
all these rule-breakers and no one is doing anything about it. Not that
I'm any less guilty than anyone else in this regard. At one of our markets
this year we had a suspected reseller where reselling isn't allowed, and another
vendor was supposedly certified organic when their produce was suspiciously
uniform and perfect and out of season. Most of the folks at market noticed
and whispered and cast dark glances in their direction. No one did
anything about it. The market manager may or may not have been aware
of either issue, but they didn't qualify in the manager's mind as a
three-alarm fire alongside the other three-alarm fires which had to be attended
to. Now at the tail end of another market season, I'm not sure anyone even
spoke to them to follow up. That's not the vendors' failing.
That's ours.
On the one hand, I strongly dislike the general philosophy of
"spying on the neighbors" and using regulatory code to exact vengeance.
We've had a dispute with a neighbor this year mushroom out of control with that
neighbor calling Animal Control, the county Health District and the
Planning Dept out to our farm to do surprise inspections for supposed breaches
of county code. We passed all those inspections with flying colors.
But the wear and tear on our energies, our schedule and our faith in our little
community took a real beating. And we have no way of knowing whether we're
done. On the other hand, I think it's absurd to expect any agency to
be the eyes and ears in every circumstance to do our dirty work for us. If
we believe the rules are fundamentally sound, and we see folks breaking those
rules (particularly when it's deliberate), I think the burden falls on us to at
least get that ball rolling. A simple phone call may be all that's
required (that was apparently all that was required to sic all those gov't
agencies on us this year).
If that sounds uncomfortable, yea, I think it probably should be something
that makes us squirm a little. But allowing rule-breakers to persist is,
perhaps, worse. I was talking to one of the inspectors about this "turn in
your neighbor" aspect of code enforcement, and gee how it would be nice to have
the person require proof before disrupting everyone's day with unfounded
allegations. He said well, sometimes the ability to just pick up the phone
and complain is definitely abused, and yes sometimes everyone's time is
wasted. Other times, a vague concern about things "not being right" has
become "tip of the iceberg" stuff which the agency never would have known about
otherwise. So it's a mixed bag. But I think there's room in that
bag, squirm factor notwithstanding, to put some heat on rulebreakers and let
them know they're not going to get away with it. At least not for
free.
Kathryn Kerby frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA In a message dated 9/10/2011 4:41:54 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
vaspencer AT sisna.com writes:
I agree that bad guys will eventually get caught and pay the |
-
Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic",
KAKerby, 09/10/2011
-
Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic",
Road's End Farm, 09/10/2011
- Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic", Vern and Amy, 09/10/2011
-
Re: [Market-farming] clarification of use of "organic",
Road's End Farm, 09/10/2011
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