Remember the infamous USDA organic industry draft standards that were
resoundedly rejected last year? They promised a second draft by summer’s
end; now it looks like it won’t appear before the new year. In the
meantime, a small group of volunteers is feverishly preparing its final
draft of North American organic standards, in time for ratification at
the October Organic Trade Association meeting.
“In my 25 years of working on organic issues I have never seen a project
of this size go this smoothly,” says Lynn Coody, of Oregon Tilth, one of
the drafters. The others are Jim Riddle, inspector and trainer, and Emily
Brown Rosen, Northeast Organic Farming Association and Organic Certifiers
Council.
According to Coody, every one of the 1100 comments on the second draft,
released in early August, indicated they were on the right track. The
state of Iowa pledged to adopt the standard for state certification, as
has a private certification agency. If others follow, the USDA’s rules
may be a moot point. In any event, an industry-wide consensus document
will be a useful tool to guide USDA’s efforts. In fact, a USDA representative
was first in line to purchase a copy at a recent trade show.
Source: Natural Foods Merchandiser
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