Re: Comments on Comments -Reply
sal (sals@rain.org)
Mon, 23 Mar 1998 11:51:30 -0800
How much will this cost the small grower of say less than 5 acres? It is to
hard to plan ahead with so many people this law forces one to pay and them
charging different amounts and some states also charging on top of
certification and inspector giving themselves raises and residue testing that
the small farmer will also have to pay for that I don't know what this law
will
cost. With all these payoff what will it cost a small grower? how can we
comment if we cannot tell what the total cost will be? you have to remember
that this law will force us to pay more than just the USDAs cost but all the
other paper pushers costs that this law is forcing on the organic grower.
What does it cost the small grower? what is the total cost ? you don't
know do
you because so many people have their hand out and all charge what the market
will bear. I think if the USDA wants to make a law let them pay for it . If
they were paying for it I know they would not be adding on some many payees
.
What about the organic growers that are already certified and state approved
and don't need any help from the NOP. How many small farmers are on the NOP?
I wish the NOP would protect the growers instead of volunteering our money to
their little game. I am a member of IFOAM CCOF I pay the state of Ca. a
registration tax and now the NOP wants to makes me pay even more people . You
folks seem cold hearted to me. oh yeah the farmer will pay for the certifier
and for the state and for the inspector and for the residue tester and for the
USDA and for the etc. I say kick out the NOP and the USDA Law and let the
organic growers and buyers work it out as they have been. More fees and paper
work is not the answer. We can work it out . The market was not that
confused. the NOP and the USDA are the ones that are confused. The poor
customers know more about what is going on than the USDA just look at the
comments. the law was flawed from the start saying things like a small farm
is any one making over $5000 . Hello any one home? Light look like they are
on . The law needs kicked out not rewritten. Just say NOPE to the NOP. My
assumption is Mafia protection money pay offs back door deals hard money and
soft money and under the table money. political football instead of a way to
grow food. BS I think because this is a non funded federal mandate and the
grower has to pay that there is no reason to keep cost down in this law . 700
pages and maybe 5 of them have to do with growing organic the rest is
bureaucratic bull to see to it that every one from the certifiers to the
inspectors to the state to the USDA to the residue tester gets their 30 pices
of silver . I am all ready paying too much!
At 10:29 PM 3/22/98 -0500, Grace J Gershuny wrote:
>One of the ironies of the unstated assumptions running throughout many
>comments is stated by this commenter: The desire for national organic
>standards is countered by the presumption that USDA is not willing or
>able to implement them because of its historic opposition to organic
>agriculture. The commenter then goes on to praise the
>conservation-oriented agencies, despite USDA's history of also
>supporting commodity subsidy programs that discourage soil
>conservation (the infamous "hedgerow to hedgerow" policies for
>example). The fact is that the administration of USDA now publicly
>supports implementation of national organic standards that, in the words
>of the Secretary, "the whole community can embrace." With the amount
>of publicity being generated by the proposed rules, the political fallout of
>reversing this position would seem to be too large to ignore.
>
>Grace Gershuny
>USDA, National Organic Program Staff
>
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An organic growers homepage check out
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
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