ITCHY Green Thumb

For Love & Money

Hard to believe, but a num-ber of folks, noticing my absence here of late, have become con-cerned that I would no longer be penning this monthly contribution. In the confusion of shutting down the old N.M. Native Seeds/ SEARCH office and moving into the real office (i.e., computers, taxes, copiers, coffee machine, climate control, one tiny window etc.) of the N.M. Organic Com-modity Commission, I merely succumbed to the dreaded deadline doom. The column will continue for my love of plants & New Mexico, for the spread of knowledge & experience. Thanks for your concern…

Oaths of Office

My tiny corner here (the NMOCC office) is quite different from the old NS/S office. Namely, there’s not as much darned stuff lying around. In fact, there’s more space at my desk now in a smaller cubicle ’cause there’s not piles of seeds, books, mags, garden equipment and dumpsterdive goodies underfoot anymore. No, what we have here is paper and lots of it.

The Organic Certification process for each farm takes enough paper trail for roughly a chunk of forest the size of that farm to produce said paper.

There’s sadly no other way to do it… unless it was all replaced by e-documents (I think the “e” stands for egregious), and in that case, would probably require the equivalent chunk of land that would be contaminated by the extraction of coal and/or uranium used to produce the electricity required for those e-documents.

The reason for all this documentation is that it’s a legal process and as we all know, if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist. Ever lose your (pick one: driver’s license, passport, student ID) and have your life screech to a halt? Same thing here.

Apply Yourself

An Organic Certification appli-cant (after ponying up some dough) must fill out a lengthy survey as to activities on the farm: their cultivation practices, inputs, water, pest control, what possible reason they could have to justify working like a dog ’round the clock for the equivalent of 52 cents an hour).

This must be reviewed by yours truly, the Chief Inspector (in bureaucracy-speak, I’m actually a Management Analyst IV — yikes! I guess I do “manage” stuff but the “analyst” part? I dunno — drop the last three letters and it’s more accurate…).

Elementary, My Dear Inspector

The application is then assigned to the appropriate inspector who must leave their own farm at the busiest time of the season, travel miles from home up & down dirt roads that tear up their personal vehicle to verify as fact (or fiction) all the stuff (s)he read in the application by grilling the grower and by general snooping.

This intrepid inspector then must fill out an extensive questionnaire, write a narrative report, tie up loose ends (where’s the accurate farm map, why do you plant in such a manner and what’s that bag of DDT doing in the barn anyway?), maybe take a soil test or spend time & money on the phone to track the compost manufacturer (or whoever) to ascertain the stuff is acceptable.

All this is required to be backed up in writing. When and at what rate were those organic insecticides used? Do the organic harvest records match the actual acreage planted (in other words, how can you have produced 800 pounds of rutabagas, sir, from a plot that is 6 x 12)? Was only organically-certified feed fed to the organic livestock? And on & on.

Call To Order

Now that all that is taken care of, copies of every page of every application, report, affidavit, survey, ledger, etc. must be sent to each Commissioner to review before they travel to the city at least once a month for NMOCC meetings on their own time — for free, gratis, volunteer, unpaid, no remuneration, zip, nada — except a few bucks for mileage.

The Commissioners are all Certified Organic Farmers/Ranchers/Processors who sweated this process out themselves.

They travel from far-flung places like Anton Chico (near Las Vegas, NM), Anthony (near El Paso), Roy (near nowhere) Roswell, Socorro, Los Lunas, etc., depending on who is currently serving on the board.

At the meeting, we hash out all the details for brain-numbing hours on end, nitpick after nitpick until the Commission votes on whether to grant or deny Certification.

Finally, a Certificate and congratulatory letter is sent to the grower (usually chock full of conditions they must meet for final approval) who is finally done with this time-consuming process — until next season when the whole furshlugginer mess is begun anew in order to keep things current.

Dang, just wait a year or two when the Federal Organic Rule finally takes effect… they love records & procedure even more than the State does…