Organic Certifier Denounces New USDA Organic Standards

PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT PERSON Anne Mendenhall
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USDA DENIES ORGANIC MOVEMENT FREEDOM OF SPEECH

In the National Organic Program final rule released December 21,
the USDA has outlawed any organic certification standards that exceed
USDA's maximum-minimum standard. The USDA rule establishes not just
a base line standard, but a ceiling as well.

By this action the USDA is stubbornly denying certifiers, farmers,
and processors their constitutional right to tell consumers how their
products are grown and handled. And consumers are being denied a right to
know, a right to hear this speech.

Under the rule, certifiers may not allow their private, registered
trademarks to be used to indicate a higher level of performance. The
message is, 'You cannot be better, or if you are, you cannot say so.'
Everyone must be the same color of grey, or they will not exist.

This is history in the making. It is now unlawful to excel on
organic farms and to verify this to consumers with a third-party
certification whose standards go above or beyond those set by the USDA.

Imagine that we say to our school children, 'You may not make
grades higher than C, because if you do, you look better, and better is
out. In fact, it will be punished.'

Or shall we tell our automakers, who must comply with minimum
standards, that they cannot tell us that they have improved their brake
design for fear that we consumers might be confused? This is the USDA's
rationale for setting maximum standards.

In the circumstances, this amounts to an intellectual chain-link
fence. With this action the USDA is telling certifiers what their private
seals can and cannot represent. In one outrageous stroke, they have
destroyed the integrity of dozens of private seals. Is it now lawful for
government to 'take' registered trademarks?

Do certifiers want to be behind this fence? We think not. In no country
except in this land of liberty have government regulations gone so far.
Demeter Association calls on all who value freedom and excellence to join
us in demanding the right of private certifiers to exceed the national
standards and to use their private seals to reflect this. The first step
is to write to your Congressperson and demand that this absurd situation be
fixed. Congress has only 60 days to act, counting from December 21, so
time is critical.

National organic standards are mandated by the Organic Foods
Production Act of 1990. Demeter Association believes the USDA erred in
interpreting the will of Congress by setting maximum standards.

Demeter Association, established in 1982, is a private third-party
certifier for BiodynamicÆ and organic (Aurora Certified Organictm)
agriculture.