Can anyone suggest an alternative to USDA organic certification?

Question

Please Yahoo: Feature this question, it is very important.

All sorts of research point out that organic food is healthier for people and better for the environment. No one can scientifically refute that.

If more people can see one important value of organic products which is higher nutrition, more people would be willing to spend a little more on organic foods.

But even though a lot of producers and dealers believe in the goodness of organic products, they don't want to go through the certification process because it can be very expensive.

People: this is what they mean by "scam" ... the benefits of organic foods ARE real. But farmers think it's unfair to be charged ridiculous amounts in fees to be "USDA Certified Organic". They feel they are being charged to do something good for the people and the planet.

Labelling a product "organically grown" doesn't always cut it. People trust "certified".

What do you suggest to make the organic certification more affordable?

Answer 1

With more and more scientific evidence coming in about the benfits of organic food - both for the environment and the people consuming it - I believe that applying the polluter-pays-principle would be a viable option to reduce the certification costs of organic food.  

For example: organic growers who are responsible and follow good farming practices by applying compost (instead of just raw manure) increase the water holding capacity of the soil and thus counteract potential flooding.  The same soil also tends to fix more CO2, which otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.  

By charging conventional farmers for the consequences of the unsustainable practices of their farming method, the price for organic certification would be compensated.  Alternatively, organic farmers could receive environmental credits, which are directly related to their sustainable practices to offset the costs of certification.  

If your question implies to make organic food more affordable, then you need to question the need for certification in the first place.  If there is a transparent system in place, i.e. you - or somebody you trust - knows the grower, the food tastes good, the grower wins prizes for environmental stewartship, there is plenty of interaction between the grower and the community at large etc., then what do you need certification for?

Answer 2

Go to this website:

http://www.naturallygrown.org/

Answer 3

Glad you know organic is good for the environment - since organic can include genetically engineered crops and growing organic takes more land for the same output as regular crop growing.  While using less pesticides and less fertilizer is probably a good thing, that doesn't mean that using none is great.  

  There are so few differences between organic and regular crops that testing will be expensive and there is not a lot of evidence that the extra costs of organic is really worth the so called health gain.  It is likely that locally grown food, where available, is better because of less deterioration in transport than organic grown some distance away.

  Of course, what farmers want is sloppy organic - instead of precise numbers of days or percent for ground feed chickens to be out and have it apply to all chickens, they would be happier if most of the chickens got a few days and that made them organic - so checking on sloppiness is expensive.

Answer 4

I'm one of those small farmers who will not go through the certification process and put more money in the Governments pocket.

I raise meat goats, and meat rabbits.  We grow our own feed for the animals, no chemicals, nor pesticides of any kind used on our farm.

I even research a lot of the cultural taboos of my customers.  Like the mineral/protien licks for my goats.  Almost all of the licks get their protien from chicken feathers, or pig fat.  Both are taboo for my Muslim customers.  So I don't feed such licks to my goats, because I respect my customers.

It is a very difficult subject for the small farmer.  If my sales top ten thousand a year, I would have to be certified by the Government, if I want to LEGALLY use the word "organic."  My solution is to simply eliminate the word "organic" from any of my farm newsletters, brochures, or anything I say.  

"Grown with nature," or "Grown as nature intended" are the two phrases I use instead of the word organic.  

No matter what, you are going to have people trying to get under the laws, skimp in some way, or simple be dishonest.  I do not think a second word is going to be more bennificial.  Nor do I see a reasonable way to make the organic certification process more affordable to the small farmer.

Buying at farmers markets is a good way to get organic foods, from farmers who cannot, or choose not to go for the organic cert.  Farmers should always be willing to talk about their practices, and open and honest about how they manage their farm and crops.  If they are not, choose someone else to buy from.  Note: if a farmer thinks you are an environmentalist, they are quiet likely to clam up real quick.

There will also ALWAYS be small farmers like me, who refuse to go through the process....even if it were free.  Simply because we don't think it's the Governments business to be tramping about on our farms, and entering our information into huge databases.

By the way, because of the titanic demand for organics, rules and regulations are being loosend up all the time, because of the push/lobbiest from mega agra business men.  Organics are no longer produced by the nice mom & pop hippie farmers.  They are produced on mega huge farms, and in ways that are quiet similar to the non-organic foods.  Notice how the blemishes have started to disapear on organic foods?

If you want true organics, find some small farmers, and buy from them.  Help support their family business, and their methods/dedication to producing healthy foods.  We are out there....just hard to find.  Also expect to pay a fair price for what we produce.  It costs more for us to produce true quality foods (often heirloom breeds/types) than the generic tasteless garbage you find in the grocery store.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years