Agribusiness & USDA Ponder
Degrading Organic Standards

June 5, 2002

Georgians push for looser use of 'organic' for chicken

By JEFF NESMITH
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Washington -- Efforts by Georgia congressmen to create a special
category of "organic" chicken for a home state poultry processor have
provoked an angry response from other organic farming interests.

To allow Fieldale Farms of Baldwin to market its Springer Mountain Farms
chicken as organically raised, even though the birds are given
non-organic feed, would undermine growing public interest in organic
products, say farmers and producers.

The industry's reaction to efforts by Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., and the
state's other seven Republican House members to get a special category
for the Georgia chicken is typical of the controversies that have marked
the emergence of organic food as a serious market force in America.

When the Clinton administration's Department of Agriculture proposed a
set of organic food standards that were deemed weak, it was deluged with
more than 275,000 angry letters from farmers, producers, retailers and
people who eat organic fruit, vegetables and meat. The USDA hastily
retreated and wrote the tough new organic food standards, which will go
into effect Oct. 21.

These standards would be impossible for a growing organic poultry
industry to meet, say officials of Fieldale Farms, which appealed to
Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman to allow an alternative label for
Springer Mountain Farms chicken.

But the Organic Trade Association, which represents organic farmers,
processors, shippers, retailers and others, issued a statement late
Tuesday in which it denounced "back-room dealings" in Fieldale's behalf.

"OTA feels strongly that it is more important to meet the requirements
of national organic standards to safeguard the integrity of organic than
have the market flooded by products that fall short of what consumers
want. And what consumers want is chickens raised organically to be fed
100 percent organic feed," said Katherine DiMatteo, the group's
executive director.

Fieldale has asked the government to allow it to market its chicken with
a label that says "organically grown," even though the new regulations
provide only for labeling meat and poultry as "USDA Organic."

To qualify for that seal, the regulations require that chickens be
raised on feed that is mixed from grain harvested from land to which no
chemical fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide has been applied for the
previous three years.

Animal manure used as fertilizer on that land can have been produced by
livestock that was fed non-organic feed -- but only after the manure has
been composted at a temperature of at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

A Fieldale official confirmed that the company wants permission to apply
the words "organically grown" to chicken raised on feed mixed from
conventionally produced grain.

The official, Stephen Gray, said the company believes too little corn
and soybeans are being produced under specified organic conditions to
serve the growing demand for organic chicken.

But the owner of an Illinois grain company said he would have no trouble
providing the company with all the organic corn and soybean it needs,
some of it produced by Georgia farmers.

"I can't understand why the USDA is even listening to these people,"
said Lynn Clarkson, owner of Clarkson Grain Co. of Cerro Gordo, Ill.
"You have about a dozen producers of organic chicken in this country,
including Tyson Foods, and why the government would want to set up as
special category for this one company, which would just kill the organic
food industry, is beyond me."

Clarkson said that Fieldale officials contacted him on several
occasions, asking about the availability of organic soybean and corn,
which sells for roughly twice the price of conventional grain.

"Every amount they asked about, we can provide," he said. "But they
object to the price."

Instead of having government inspectors determine whether poultry is
produced under specified conditions, the Department of Agriculture has
delegated this responsibility to "certifying" organizations.

In order to certify that food is organically produced, these
organizations have to be accredited by the government.

For a time, Fieldale was being certified by a Gainesville, Ga., company,
Organic Standards Inc. Records filed with the Georgia secretary of state
show that Organic Standards was started by Fieldale officials.

Gray confirmed that Fieldale officials had started the accrediting
company, which he said is now defunct. The company has arranged to have
its product certified by the Georgia Crop Improvement Association, an
Athens nonprofit group, he said.

He said Springer Mountain Farms chicken exceeds some of the upcoming
organic chicken standards in that it is never given antibiotics or
chemical medicines, while the standards prohibit that treatment only
after the second day following hatching.

Chris Riley, Deal's press secretary, confirmed that the Gainesville
congressman had contacted Veneman in Fieldale's behalf.

In a letter urging Veneman to allow the "organically grown" seal, Deal
and Reps. Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Isakson, Jack Kingston, Charlie
Norwood, Bob Barr, John Linder and Michael Collins said they were "not
advocating this approach as a permanent fix, nor are we attempting to
redefine organic farming principles.

"It is our position this is a temporary, common-sense approach that
would allow producers necessary time to meet the new standards and
continue in the organic poultry and meat market," they wrote.