Organic Agriculture Standards Legislation

Pt I: Congress Weakens Organic Standards

By Ken Roseboro, publisher and editor of The Non-GMO Report

Ken Roseboro has written extensively about genetically modified foods, GMO testing, non-GMO certification, and identity preservation. His articles have appeared in leading organic agriculture industry magazines, such as Acres USA.

Editors's Note: This series of articles covers the attempt to weaken the organic feed requirement in the Organic Standards Act through legislation. If successful, it would have been the thin edge of the wedge for many similar incursions by the industrial agriculture and food industry. This would put the organic agriculture and non-GMO movement at risk by gutting the Organic Standards Act.

The legislation is a symptom of the strong anti-environmental, anti-organic agriculture, pro-GMO attitude prevalent in Washington. As an example, when the Organic Standards Act was being drafted, pro-GMO lobbyists tried hard to have GMO food admitted as organic. GE labelling is another example (there isn't any). The end result of all the lobbying is that the burden is on consumers to know what's GMO and what's not. For instance, packaged food with some organic ingredients has the organic ingredients listed, but doesn't list ingredients that are GMO.

Big corporations have a lot of money at stake, and they won't just go away, especially now that they have a sympathetic administration. If we want the organic movement to continue growing strong, we need to be alert to anti-organic, pro-GMO efforts, and fight back. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending, but that wasn't luck; that was a lot of people yelling loud and long.

Congress Weakens Organic Standards:

U.S. Congress recently passed a $397 billion spending bill that contains a buried provision, which jeopardizes the new U.S. organic standards. The provision, which was slipped into the bill at the last minute without debate, would permit livestock producers to certify meat and dairy products as organic even if the animals had been fed non-organic or genetically engineered grain. The provision would override the National Organic Program's requirement that 100 percent organic feed be used to produce organic meat products.

In a classic example of backroom political maneuvering, Georgia Republican Congressman Nathan Deal slipped a provision into a 3,000-page congressional spending bill that would override the requirement for organic feed. The last-minute, one-sentence provision attempted to gut twelve years of work to develop standards that were supported by the entire organic industry. Deal acted on behalf of his campaign supporter Fieldale Farms, Corp., a Georgia poultry producer that has lobbied to get the exemption for non-organic feed, claiming that not enough organic feed is available. However, if Tyson Foods, which is one of the world s largest poultry producers, can source organic feed, why can't Fieldale Farms?

The organic industry was furious. The Organic Trade Association is outraged to see such underhanded methods used by those unwilling to play by the rules. This is an example of someone doing an end-run to manipulate the government, with disregard for the public's wishes, said Katherine DiMatteo, OTA executive director.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, who sponsored legislation in 1990 that established the National Organic Program, also called the provision an outrage and said he would introduce legislation to repeal it.

Fieldale Farms reprehensible action along with its government support demonstrates how corporate interests threaten the integrity of organic foods. Please contact your elected representatives and ask them to repeal Section 771 of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill that focuses on organic feed. (Editor: Or any other legislative initiative you don't like)

Next:

Articles and Reviews on Related Topics: