>David DeCou wrote:
>>=20
>> I am an organic farmer in western Oregon and have been certified for
over
>> ten years. I am also deeply involved with an organic produce
marketing
>> cooperative called Organically Grown Cooperative. I am also a board
member
>> of OFMA (Organic Farmers Marketing Association). I find it rather
>> disturbing to read this ongoing discussion about Organic Certification
with
>> little attempt to work with facts.
>
>I agree Dave, please do make an effort to work with the facts.
>
>> I know that I do about $125,000 in sales from 45-50 acres of
>> vegetables, herbs, and grains, all organic. My certification costs
about
>> $895 a year. I spend about 1/2 a day a year filling out paper work
and
>> another 1/2 a day showing an inspector around. The minimum ongoing
>> certification cost by Oregon Tilth is $225, the scale slides up from
>> there with the percentage cost in relation to gross sales=20
continually
>> diminishing as sales increase. Here in Oregon we do not need to be
>> certified but can register with the State of Oregon for free.=20
>
>I don't think the value or need to certify is in question in many if
not
>most cases. Nor is the need to provide a legal basis for a minimum
>definition of "organic" under law at the national level, or that
>certifiers be obligated to register with the USDA and commit=20
themselves
>to uphold those minimal standards. What IS in question is the
>advisability of allowing a sadly flawed law to take effect, knowing
full
>well that there are circumstances under which obligatory certification
>(the basis of the law's "appropriating" the words "organic" and
>"natural"), is neither necessary nor recommendable, and the same can=20
be
>said for prohibiting certifiers from publicizing the fact that THEIR
>standards may go BEYOND those of the OFPA. And it's going to hard=20
for
>you, Eric or anyone else to deny that. (Eric might give his best shot
>but it certainly won't be good enough, and I say this because we've
>discussed it at length face to face. He's kind of stubborn, but not
that
>comprehensive).
>The Supreme Court decision on Glickman v. Wileman Bros and Elliot inc.
was supposed to put an end to first amendment free speech challenges to
the validity of mandated programs as long as they do not : compel any
person to engage in any actual or symbolic speech or compel the producer
to endorse or to finance any political or ideological views or
<bold><bigger>restrain the freedom of any producer to communicate any
message to any audience</bigger></bold><bigger>.</bigger> The USDA will
say that they do not compel us to use the word organic that if we
voluntary use the word we must pay the organic mandatory fee. True !Now
does this law make us support political or ideological views. I don't
know but I do feel the law will restrain the freedom of any producer to
communicate any message to any audience. Hope this helps The USDA will
say that the law was created at the request of an industry that demands
them and they are not forcing us to use the word organic yet to me this
law does <bold><bigger>restrain my freedom to communicate my message to
my customers.=20
</bigger></bold>
I also feel the law is not right when you have some states that charge on
top what you pay a certifier and .some states charge only $110 and they
do the inspection and certification and some states charge $150 for 20 a.
and they certify. with all these different costs how can the USDA demand
we be certified if the certification field is not a level playing field.=20
this does not seem right . In Ca. I have to pay the state and a certifier
and an inspector and the cost is a lot higher than say in Mich. where
they only pay $110 for everything no matter what you sell or how much
you take in or Texas where it would be around $150 for 20 ac. I should
not have to pay one extra cent more than a chemical farmer pays to sell
my organic crop as organic.=20
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