Organic standards

Two hundred thousand letters, the large majority saying more or less the same thing, informed Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman that his proposed regulations on organic food struck the writers like so much insecticide on an aphid. The secretary is to be commended for recognizing their disgust and promising to find better standards than the ones he most recently proposed.

Out are genetic manipulation, food irradiation and the spreading of sludge on fields. According to the secretary, “Biotechnology, irration and biosolids are safe and have important roles to play in agriculture, but they neither fit current organic practices nor meet current consumer expectations about organics.” Plenty of organic farmers would have trouble with the first part of his statement, but the second part is both true and to the point.

Organic farming already has well-understood standards that committed practitioners have been using without federal oversight. Were the feds to weaken those standards, the farmers would simply come up with another name for what they do. This would neither help the USDA nor consumers, who might be confused by the various standards, at least for awhile. Rep. John Baldacci, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and a critic of the USDA proposal, correctly called for a “final definition of organic labeling does not dilute the strength of our industry.”

Like similar organizations in many other states, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has spent years refining its standards to produce high quality food while building the soil and considering the ecological impacts of farming. As the secretary constructs a new set of federal standards, he might use MOFGA’s as a guide.

MOFGA outlines how soil is to be treated, types of insect and rodent control and disease and weed control. It sets standards for feed crops and vitamin supplements for livestock and describes growing and housing conditions for livestock. There’s nothing mystical here: MOFGA’s standards are what consumers expect when they shop for organic food.

The secretary’s decision to take another try at organic standards suggest that he is not likely to repeat the mistake of letting in nonorganic businesses interested in capitalizing on this small but fast-growing section of agriculture. Bet, however, that organic farming associations won’t rest easy until tougher rules have been drafted and passed. They shouldn’t.