The following is my personal response, somewhat starkly put, to recent E mail positions by Steve Sprinkel --³The Mouse That Roared², Mark Lipson -- ³The Rule Blues², and Eric Kindbergıs response to Rule Blues as well as phone conversations with Elizabeth Henderson of the Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and articles in the national press. Since NOFA will be playing a role in the upcoming retreat for the Northeast Interstate Certification Committee I think it is important to get some talking points and other contributions on the table from Interstate Council members and others for discussion purposes.
- By now, it is well evident that USDAıs National Organic Program (NOP) Rules bear little resemblance to the original 1990 Organic Food Production Act (OFPA) and are insidiously cynical at best -- and fraudulently illegal at worst. It is completely disingenuous and manipulative for USDA, at this point, to put up the questions of allowing genetically modified organisms (GMOıS), food irradiation, sludge, use of synthetics, inerts, antibiotics and confinement operations in livestock, etc., etc., etc. to the public for comment. This is a no-brainer -- not by any stretch are these Organic practices as defined by the countryıs (and the Worldıs) existing certification programs, the OFPA or the years of work by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) that was legally constituted to work out the definitions of acceptable practices, procedures and products.
- Weıve all known that this day would finally come, while all along the release date of the NOP rules has been a running sick joke -- they were originally due by October, 1993. Despite all the countless, good faith hours and deeply considered input contributed by a lot of dedicated organic supporters across the country -- THIS is all that USDA could come up with!
The good news is that in the process our ³Industry² has tackled most of the hard questions that have divided us organic farmers, handlers, processors, advocates and consumers, etc. through the NOSB process and, in fact,we have already all taken a series of collective giant steps together. It might not be too difficult at this point to put together an overall, private, industry-based National Organic Program of our own.
- In terms of what action we should take next, the appropriate working analogy is what happened to the proposed changes to the ³Made in the USA² legislation in early December. There, various industrial interests tried to get the Federal Trade Commission to change their rules to allow a greater percentage of foreign manufactured materials in American-made goods that would still qualify for the federal ³Made in the USA² logo/label. The ensuing stink was swift, sure and deafening from a large, previously unlikely coalition of (U.S.) Businesses and Labor Unions and the measure was shot down completely and definitively.
- It is incumbent on us all to now marshal as much vast public and media support as possible and raise a Huge Stink of our own -- or ³Organic² as any kind of a meaningful term/label will go down the tubes forever, and another notch will get carved on the gun butt of Big Food. This time also presents a huge opportunity -- the world is watching, many people care and alot of others may be brought into the organic fold when they see it -- and their freedom to choose via a trustworthy label -- being victimized and trashed by Agribusiness and their Governmental minions.
At this point, given the total insincerity of the NOP rule makers and their bosses, its hard to see how we can possibly hope to salvage these Rules and convert them to Real Organic. The same process which produced what we got now will most likely not be ABLE to do any differently if and when the process is allowed to proceed to fruition. It also will be next to impossible to rally support in the hopes of fixing something so completely flawed -- from our own farmers and supporters as well as a thoroughly confused public.
No, these Rules must be completely rejected NOW.
- This has to be done with complete responsibly. The public should understand that they are already well protected through the existing certification programs. The media has already built up tremendous public expectations based solely on the legitimacy of a USDA label -- the public has to be told loud and clear what the USDA has done/is doing to the definition of Organic and the publicıs freedom of choice.
Having some additional Big Issues -- such as USDAıs continuing discrimination against organic and lack of research, programs, staff support,etc. is all demonstrable. It never hurts to have a national forum to passionately state our case.
- It is important to realize the position everyone is in. This comes at a time when the Clinton Administration is vastly increasing funding for new ³safe food² protections and USDA is beginning a major campaign to win the hearts and minds of the public to the benefits and glories of bio and other food technologies -- based on True Science -- while forcing open the doors of foreign trade to our GMO exports. Agribusiness doesnıt want any labeling of anything, period (a la Bst in milk). The Nuclear industry is looking for a place to dump its cobalt (irradiation in the name of food safety) and the Waste industry its sludge. And in the middle of everything here comes the Organic label up for grabs, literally.
Secretary Glickman, a longtime friend of Biotech, talks the old line that organic canıt be officially considered better, safer, etc. than anything else -- but the mere presence of organic, so rapidly rising in the marketplace due to huge, widespread consumer demand, is threatening in itself. Meanwhile, Agribusiness is famous for giving huge and regular campaign contributions to Republicans and Democrats alike and USDA officials themselves have been known to be treated kindly -- the system is systematically corrupted. Since the 6, 7, 8 and 9 figure incomes of Corporate managers and executives as well as stock values, etc. are contingent on agribusiness as usual -- well, you do what you know how to do.... its just business. The Government R US, however -- its up to us citizens to reclaim it!
- Therefore what we need is a National Campaign to Save Organic, or somesuch. An energetic combination of national, local and grass roots initiatives is necessary to defend Organic. A good case in point, albeit on a smaller scale, is the action over the Summer of 1997 conducted by NOFA-MA against Baystate Organics, a Boston sludge processor. The purpose of the action was to get them to change their name and stop labeling their fertilizer products as ³organic². A well organized, concerted campaign with letter writing, media alerts, legislative lobbying and on-site public protests proved ultimately to be very successful. In the process, a lot of people were educated about organic and NOFA-MA gained a number of valuable new members and supporters.
- Our diverse organic groups across the country should individually and collectively petition Senator Leahy to conduct an immediate Congressional investigation of this whole mess. There may also be some additional recourse through the Courts -- which should also be vigorously pursued. Currently, for example, NOFA has joined with over 30 other farming, environmental and advocacy groups under the auspices of Greenpeaceıs legal department to petition/sue EPA to stop the field release of transgenic Bt in order to prevent sure and immediate pest resistance to this important biopesticide which has been in wide scale use by conventional and organic farmers alike for 40 years now. Part of the legal case is based on the fact that EPA has violated its own rules in its own processes.
In addition, we need professional expertise to go over the legality/illegality of USDAıs NOP Rules action. Not only has our Industry lost valuable time -- and suffered major economic losses due to the extreme lateness of this Rule, but also we are now back at square one. To quote Secretary Glickman at USDAıs Rules Press Conference, ³One, unified standard could clear the path and unleash even stronger growth in the organic industry. National standards would clear a similar hurdle on the international front. ...Greater income for small farmers and ranchers, stronger exports, one high consistent standard for consumers -- clearly we have a lot to gain from this rule.² In addition, the proposethey d Rules place extreme fee barriers on the certifying agents which stand to drive many out of business and automatically disqualify a lot of small farmers who can't ante up in USDA's high price game.
- Finally, as an Organic vegetable farmer Iıve been dealing with some of the same restaurants in our area for some 22 years now, as well as a CSA since 1990 and if ³Organic² gets trashed and co-opted Iıll get by fine on my own earned reputation and I know many other farmers are in this position. Iım not about to let ³Organic² go however. Thereıs alot of good people out there who have a true interest in rejecting such a perpetuated fraud. Any co-opted USDA label would quickly become a laughing stock and a national ³Real Organic² label could quickly capture the marketplace...
The truth is that weıve all bargained in good faith and actually have alot to show for it -- the OFPA and the NOSB process still stand as a valid agreed-upon basis for Organic. USDA is still legally bound to comply with its mandates. If it takes them another 7 years or more to try and put something out again, so be it -- its time now that our national Certification groups rounded up the wagons anyway -- the public deserves and is demanding an overall label that certifies the certification programs and such an industry label could become as important and legitimate in the marketplace as any USDA one, even more so.
From the larger perspective, weıve really struck the raw nerve at the heart of todayıs overblown and declining industrial food system -- just by the nature of our being. More and more theyıre having to resort to extreme, desperate and dangerous mega-technological fixes (like irradiating our food) just to stay in the same place. So -- hereıs this titanically huge agribiz/governmental entity that has just run into the smallish-appearing tip of a what is really an incredibly large iceberg...
1/1/98