> I'm afraid I must agree with Sal.
Good decision.
> Our farm has been known as Full Circle Organic Farm since before any of
> this certification business got started on the state (CA) or federal level.
> We use the word in our name to indicate how we treat our plnats and soil as
> opposed to the conventional folks around here. We "were organic when
> organic wasn't
> cool."
>
> I have no need or desire to ship grain, beans, or produce all over the
> world - the real genesis of the federal regs - I don't even have a need or
> desire to truck my produce two counties away.
> My personal belief is that
> sustainable, organic growing is about local distribution of locally grown
> products with local inputs, as much as humanly possible, put back into the
> soil.
A very special Amen to that statement!.
> I've detailed the enormous cost of certification for us both on this list
> and to the national committee so I won't rehash it here. But there is also
> the matter of principle involved. I should not be forced to change the
> name of my farm after all these years simply so someone else can have rules
> allowing them to sell in interstate and international commerce. Nor should
> I have to pay for the privilege of keeping the name.
Good heavens, I had overlooked that impact on existing organic farms
from the mandatory certification debacle. I don't seem to remember
anything
about federal compensation of farmers for loss of business resulting from
having to change the name of their business, much less some other
competing, "certified" farm snatching up their name and making hay off the
years of work and reputation building by the farmer who lost his business
name because he stood firm and refused to be railroaded by a
government-sponsored scheme to rid the nation of good organic small farms
in order to help the corporate world market adulterated products to even
more unsuspecting consumers.
> Organic was an ecological, soil-saving/building, non-chemical paradigm long
> before it was co-opted as a marketing word. Kosher was a religious
> paradigm long before it became a marketing word. Neither needed
> "certification" until they were used to sell products outside the local
> community.
Voluntary 3rd-party organic certification can do all that is needed for
remote marketing of organic products and spare the small organic local
grower in the process.
Again, its a win-win proposal. How can anyone lose? Except the evil,
greedy, non-caring power freaks.
LL
Lawrence F. London, Jr. Venaura Farm
http://metalab.unc.edu/permaculture
/intergarden /intergarden/orgfarm /ecolandtech
lflondon@mindspring.com london@metalab.unc.edu
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