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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Joel Salatin resigns from the NOSB (the USDA National Organic Standards Board)

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  • From: "Christian Stalberg" <christian@hartsmill.net>
  • To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Joel Salatin resigns from the NOSB (the USDA National Organic Standards Board)
  • Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:16:02 -0400

I was told that Joel Salatin was never on the NOSB. Tis true, confirmed at

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateG&;
navID=NationalOrganicProgram&leftNav=NationalOrganicProgram&page=NOSBFormerM
embers&description=NOSB%20Former%20Members&acct=nop

fyi


-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lawrence F.
London, Jr.
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 5:39 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Joel Salatin resigns from the NOSB (the USDA
National Organic Standards Board)


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Joel Salatin
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:19:10 -0400
From: Tara Adinolfi <ostara.farm@gmail.com>

Check out this article Joel Salatin has up on his website about the NOSB:

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/2012/06/01/from-joel-salatin-june-1-2012/

Full article:

http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/05/wildfires-rage-at-new-mexican-organic-meet
ings/

<>

Joel Salatin
"the charade that has become the national certification program"

<>

A comment: "As far as Joel resigning goes.... I think that was the easy way
out. It's much harder to stay in the system and stand up for what is right
regardless. If everyone does what he did... then what?????"

And a response to that comment:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Joel Salatin
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 22:49:56 -0400
From: Eric & Melissa Brown <milkandhoneyfarm@hotmail.com>

> It's much harder to stay in the system and stand up for what is right >
regardless. If everyone does what he did... then what?????

Why it is "much harder" to stay in the system? One could say it's much
harder when one isn't hiding behind a set of legalistic standards. One could
say it's much harder to forgo the labor-saving OMRI-approved pesticides,
fungicides, industrially processed fertilizers, plastics,
propane- and diesel-powered equipment, etc. that are essential to making
money on farms operating at a scale consistent with organic certification.
One could say it's much harder to sell the value of one's own farming
methods rather than just selling to the value of a program.
One could say it's much harder to get consumers to trust in a local
relationship than a bureaucratic label. It's not at all clear to me that
"staying in the system" is so unambiguously the high road, and as I've
noted, there are pretty good reasons to argue the opposite.

I certainly don't mean to defend Joel Sharlatin, as he only seems to combine
the worst of both worlds in his farm model. I do want to defend the
anti-certification camp generally. Most fundamentally, I object to the USDA
organic label because even if the rules were written and enforced by angels
the label would still be all about replacing community-based trust with
trust in bureaucratically governed certifying agencies. Isn't the organic
label designed to replace the need to personally know anything about where
or how your food was grown? Why was there ever a need for a label except to
enable the organic market to expand into the marketplace of global
anonymity? To answer your question, what would happen if everyone (meaning
presumably all small-scale/local farmers) opted out of the USDA system...
then what? I think the answer is that corporate agribusiness wouldn't be
able to piggy-back on the integrity of the small farmers any more. Consumers
would see a much clearer distinction between a limited set of legalistic
standards and commitment to principle. If consumers wanted real organic
assurance then they'd have to reconnect to the source of their food.
Consumers might actually be empowered with a little real understanding of
agriculture instead of just getting exploited by corporate marketing.
Consumers might even find themselves troubled in their lives as modern,
wasteful elites of the global economy and begin to effect broader positive
changes. Just imagine if people insisted on knowing and trusting the farmers
that they depended on! That sounds like a very good thing to me.

-Eric

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  • Re: [permaculture] Joel Salatin resigns from the NOSB (the USDA National Organic Standards Board), Christian Stalberg, 07/14/2012

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