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Organic Certification is based not only on the farmer’s practices but
an on-site inspection during which every aspect of the operation
is scrutinized: crops, seed, equipment, records & logs, fertilization,
pest control and more. The logistics of coordinating
on-site visits can get complicated with inspectors trying
to locate out of the way places. I’ve driven in circles, for
example, around eastern New Mexico where landmarks
are few and the boundary between us and Texas can get
mighty fluid at times. Cell phone service is spotty and
roads aren’t always clearly marked for us city folk.
Eventually through the grace of neighbors (who may be
five or ten miles distant), a hard-traveling postman or the
infrequent grocery/feed store, directions are given, even
to a “government man” whose presence is always suspect
in rural areas.
That in mind, picture this: remote coffee or sugar cane
fields, orchards of mango or bananas in a so-called
“developing” country. Roads may be little more than
burro trails. Spanish could be the farmer’s second language
(his first language being a native dialect different from the one
ten miles away) and English rarely heard. The farm doesn’t fit our
Western outlook of clean cultivated orderly rows. It’s like the botanic
explorers of old asking the “natives” where their fields were, while
standing in their midst. Although we pay top dollar for their exported
specialties, the campesino’s return could be less than $1000 U.S. annually,
an income not even close to covering organic application fees, the
inspector’s expense and travel costs to say nothing
of investing in the farm’s needs, not to mention supporting
the family.
What has developed then (in place of the vast foreign-
owned conglomerate farms of the not too distant
past) is a collective that works each plot individually
but farms using the same methods & inputs
under a manager who oversees the group for uniformity
and compliance with USDA/National
Organic Program rules.
The problem is that each group could be comprised
of a dozen or a hundred farmers spread over many
hectares and kilometers, often with jungle, bandits
and poisonous creepy crawlers in between. For
many years, an actual on-site inspection of on average
20% of the collective per year has been the
norm. As I write, this practice is being revisited by
the USDA/NOP in an attempt to prevent misrepresentation
and fraud within organics.
Many folks react in horror over the fact that a mere
20% of an organic crop might be actually inspected
each year, but this is really no different than the percentage
of testing for, say, packaged hamburger or
international shipping containers feeding the gaping
Wal-Mart maw. But for those of us who value
“organic” as more than a commodity, observation
of less than each farm seems unthinkable. Indeed,
this is not the organic practice within the U.S. The
grower group exception was created for a very specific
geo-cultural framework.
Unfortunately, this exception has been used to certify
a very large U.S. organic retailer where only a small
portion of hundreds of locations receive an on-site
inspection. In an even more chilling example, as
grower-group oriented China steps up its production
to meet the demand for cheap organic food from
Wal-Mart, Target and other mega-stores, circumvention
of the rules (to put it nicely) has been identified.
As well, the recent specter of toxins present in nonorganic
pet foods and toothpaste from China has
raised fears that, without closer scrutiny, this carelessness
might carry over into the organic sector.
Taking input from dozens of worldwide certification
agencies, hundreds of organic food processors
and suppliers as well as individuals, the USDA/NOP
is tackling how best to deal with this situation. The
establishment of one exception within a set of rules
leads to justifying how and why not to extend that
exception to others. Like your mom said, If I give
you some ice cream before supper, I’ll have to give
some to your brothers and sisters too.
Rest assured some good minds and conscientious
people are involved in this issue. A tightening up of
the group exception (which is clearly needed) will
have the eventual effect of raising the price you pay
for organic commodities such as bananas, sugar,
coffee and chocolate. Keep in mind that these products
were once considered luxuries for the very same
reasons that inspecting them is problematic: remote
locales and a different cultural context.
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