Appreciate your thoughts on the analysis below. On the OFMA Web site,
http://www.iquest.net/ofma/ (which address I know you are familiar with
Larry, but I constantly repeat for other folks) on the main page, is a link
to the comments the Organic Farmers Marketing Association supplied over a
year ago to the Regulatory Flexibility Act's Chief Advocate Counsel. Please
review and improve on them, by individually contacting or working with OFMA.
Many of our concerns at the time were to make sure the integrity and
truthfulness of the "organic" label is not maligned and made to mislead the
purchasing public. To bring a truly permanent organic market into being, the
highest of all priorities is that the customer can trust the certification
procedures and the label "organic".
Here is some information gotten off the Web by searching for Regulatory
Flexibility Act. This Act was tremendously improved by the 94 Congress and
is meant to correct many of the abuses carried out under administrative rule
making in the past. OFMA's proposals to have different requirements for
small to moderate size organic farmers, handlers and certifiers could be
enlarged on by active participation of those effected. The Web is obviously
the place to develop that national consensus. To me the first necessity is
for all those entering the discussion to understand clearly the power and the
language of the RFA, and to follow the SBA's format for making RFA work for
the organic community.