MONTEREY — A representative of organic farmers warned Wednesday that
creating a national version of California’s Leafy Greens Marketing
Agreement would discriminate against small-scale organic farmers.

The
California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement is a set of food safety
measures adopted by the agricultural industry in 2007 after a 2006 E.
coli O157:H7 outbreak was traced to Central Coast spinach. Participants
in the agreement adhere to practices that help to minimize the spread
of bacterial contamination in leafy green vegetables through water,
soil and handling.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has
scheduled a set of hearings to address a proposed national version of
the agreement, with the first of the hearings taking place in Monterey
this week.

On Wednesday, Steve Etka, coordinator of the
Washington, D.C.-based National Organic Coalition, testified against
the proposal, saying it would be “crippling to small- and medium-scale
farmers, confusing to consumers, and a highly inefficient and
ineffective way to address food safety concerns.”

Western
Growers, a marketing coalition serving the growers and producers of
most California and Arizona produce, represented the proponents of the
national agreement at Wednesday’s hearing.

“We’re not talking
about taking California standards and applying them nationally,” Paul
Simonds, the Western Growers communications manager, said in response
to Etka’s testimony.

“It isn’t a one size fits all situation.”

Etka
referred in his testimony to a survey of California leafy-greens
growers conducted by the Small Farm Program at the University of
California, Davis. According to the survey, 2007 compliance with the
state agreement cost about twice as much per acre for growers with
revenues under $10 million.

Costs are “not necessarily
insurmountable” for small farmers, said Frank Giclas, vice president of
science and marketing for Western Growers, during a break in the
hearing.

Participation in both the state marketing agreement and
the proposed national agreement is nominally voluntary. Yet
participants in the state marketing agreement represent 99 percent of
the leafy greens produced in California, according to the California
LGMA Web site. Etka argued that industry and buyer pressure would force
most leafy-greens handlers to comply with a national marketing
agreement.

Gary Peterson, deputy director of a Salinas-based
nonprofit that supports fledgling organic farms, said he did not know
of any small organic farmers who felt pressured to join the state
marketing agreement. Yet Peterson cautioned against public confusion
between marketing and food safety.

Compliance with a leafy greens
marketing agreement “should not be used as a promotional label,”
Peterson said in a phone interview.

Dale Coke sells produce from
his own farm and from other organic farms throughout the Central Coast.
Coke, who testified on Wednesday, said in a phone interview that he
lost $50,000 worth of revenue last year because Canadian buyers refused
to purchase greens that were not compliant with the state marketing
agreement.

The Agricultural Marketing Service, a branch of the
USDA, is administering the hearings, which began Tuesday and will
continue through Friday. Etka questioned the propriety of USDA
leadership in the development of food-safety standards, a role normally
assigned to the Food and Drug Administration.

“We do not believe that AMS has the capability to develop good safety regulations,” Etka said.

Western
Growers and AMS representatives acknowledged their lack of scientific
expertise and expressed a desire for the participation of scientists
and smaller and organic growers in the development of national
guidelines.

“We want to develop a program that works for everybody,” Giclas said.