Hoping to soothe anxieties of organic certifiers and small-scale coffee and food producers in the developing world, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program (NOP) said Wednesday that regulations governing the certification of grower groups remain status quo, at least until any rulemaking changes can be discussed publicly this fall.

NOP Deputy Administrator Barbara C. Robinson wrote to certifying agents Wednesday to clarify a recent appeals ruling by the administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Lloyd Day.

Many in the industry were discouraged by the initial reading of the administrator's ruling, thinking it was the end to group organic certification of small farmer cooperatives.

Recently, representatives from the National Organic Coalition, Rural Advancement Foundation International, Equal Exchange, and the National Cooperative Grocers Association hand delivered a petition to Administrator Day signed by over 500 organizations and 3,000 individuals from 20 countries express concerns regarding the implications of such a ruling.

According to some, the campaign worked.

"I believe that we were able to rally those in our industry to speak out about our concern, and the NOSB and the NOP listened," Patty Vincent, coffee product manager with leading organic coffee roaster Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, told Sustainable Food News. "We do not wish to see the NOP weakened in any way. We must consider the thousands of small family farmers around the globe who grow organic coffee, tea, cocoa, tropical fruits, sugar, etc."

Vincent will address the rapidly increasing organic coffee market and discuss the widespread availability of organic coffee products in restaurants, schools, national parks, and even fast-food chains this weekend in Chicago at the All Things Organic trade show seminar "Organic for Breakfast."

At issue is an appeal involving a community grower group in Mexico that was seeking organic certification. The grower group was denied certification because, among other things, the certifying agent's policies and procedures were "inconsistent" with NOP regulations.

"Instead of inspecting each production unit of the grower group, the certifying agent selected a percentage of the producers in a community grower group for on-site inspection," the ruling read. "The ruling said that was in conflict with the provision §205 .403(a)(1), whereby each production unit must be inspected."

Grower group certification refers to the certification of a group of producers whose farms are uniform in most ways, and who are organized under one management and marketing system.

Grower group certifications have historically been used for the certification of cooperatives or groups of producers located in a geographical or social region, whose crops are marketed collectively. Primary crops produced by grower groups include coffee, cocoa, tea, spices, and tropical fruits.

A certifying agent must conduct an initial on-site inspection of each production unit, facility, and site that produces or handles organic products. After the initial inspection, the certifying agent is required to inspect only "the operation," and the grower groups would self-police the majority of the operations.

Many felt that if the ruling stood, certification costs would skyrocket, especially for cooperatives and small-scale producers in developing countries.

Rodney Earth of organic and fair trade foods supplier Equal Exchange told Sustainable Food News: "I personally can say the [NOP clarification] looks like very encouraging news on three fronts. One, it does not instantaneously throw a wrench in the works, so we can continue doing what we have been doing. Two, it suggests an encouraging degree of responsiveness [from NOP], and three, the fact [NOP] responded so quickly is also encouraging. It looks like [USDA] is taking the issue seriously."

NOP Deputy Administrator Robinson said the NOP will collaborate with the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which recommends organic production standards to the Agriculture Department, and put the topic on the agenda for the next NOSB meeting this October.

Robinson said "there may be some areas of the NOP regulations which might be amended, or suggested for amendment, which would require public input through notice and comment rulemaking."

Meanwhile, she directed certifying agents to the 2002 NOSB recommendation on grower group certification and assured certifiers "that as long as they use the NOSB recommendation for interim guidance, no enforcement action will be taken by the [NOP] related to grower group certification."

 

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