September 29, 2008

Earning The Organic Seal Of Approval

Organic Certification Ensures A Level Playing Field For Organic Farmers

By Leslie Kimel

When you pull up at Green Meadows Farm in Monticello, Florida, the first thing you see is a big wooden sign emblazoned with the green and white USDA organic seal. This U-pick farm is certified organic. Purple martins cruise overhead, and beyond the sign stretch lush, sunny rows of blueberries grown without synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers.

“Being certified organic has definitely helped us to attract customers,” said Delores Green, who owns and operates Green Meadows Farm with her husband, Ronny. “We sold all the blueberries we had this year. And the demand exceeded our supply.”

The Greens’ success isn’t really surprising. Each year for the last 10 years, American consumers’ demand for organic products has grown by double digits. According to the Organic Trade Association, the U.S. organic industry grew 21 percent to reach $17.7 billion in consumer sales in 2006.

One of the Greens’ customers is Karen Sugrue, a Tallahassee elementary school teacher who estimates her diet is about 80 percent organic. “Organic has become a big selling point with me,” Sugrue said. “Seeing the organic seal is really important to me, especially when I’m shopping at the supermarket. When I’m at a store, I can’t ask the farmer about his growing methods. I can’t tour his farm. The label is all I’ve got to go on.”

For Sugrue and other consumers shopping for organic food, the USDA organic seal serves as product assurance, a guarantee that the food they are buying really is what it claims to be. For growers like the Greens, it is proof that their farm meets or exceeds USDA organic standards, which are among the strictest food production standards in the world.

A little history

According to the Organic Trade Association, mass-market grocery stores are now the largest single distribution channel for organic food products. That’s quite a change from the early days of the organic movement when organic foods were sold mostly locally at farmers’ markets. When a farmer sells directly to consumers, consumers have a chance to ask questions and can become well acquainted with the farmer’s philosophy and practices. Supermarket customers and their farmers, on the other hand, don’t have that personal relationship. They are usually separated by many miles and any number of middle men.

So how can consumers who lack direct access to their farmers be certain that the food they are buying is really organic? The idea of third-party certification first began to catch on in the 1970s as a way to assure quality and prevent fraud. In the beginning, certification was rather informal and completely voluntary. The USDA wasn’t involved. Certification was granted by independent certifying agencies usually founded by local growers, and organic standards varied from agency to agency.

But starting in the late ‘80s there was a push for uniform, enforceable organic standards. Organic producers and consumers sought federal legislation in order to eliminate confusion and protect against mislabeling. The result was the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which called for the creation of the National Organic Program (NOP) and the establishment of national organic standards. Organic rules and regulations were drafted, and after years of public input and debate, uniform organic standards were fully implemented in October 2002.

Since then, in order for a product to be labeled organic, the farm that produces it must be certified organic by a USDA-accredited certifying agency. The certifying agency verifies that the farm meets or exceeds national organic standards. USDA organic certification protects consumers and ensures a level playing field for farmers.

“A farmer who wishes to claim their farm and its produce to be organic and who grosses more than $5,000 in a year is required to be certified,” said Matt Vargas, outreach coordinator with Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, the Gainesville-based non-profit whose certification arm, Quality Certification Services (QCS), is the only USDA-accredited organic certifying agency based in Florida. “Wholesale and retail businesses will not purchase produce represented as organic without an accompanying organic certificate that has been issued to the producer and which lists the crops to be sold.”

Acing the application

A farmer seeking organic certification must complete a written application and submit it to a USDA-accredited certifying agency. The application must include a history of the management practices used on the farm for the previous three years. Knowing the farm’s history is important: In order to be certified organic, the land must not have had any prohibited chemicals applied to it for at least 36 months prior to harvest.

But the centerpiece of the application is the “organic system plan,” which explains how the farmer plans to meet national organic standards. The farmer should clearly describe practices in detail, including crop rotation plans, soil conservation practices, practices to protect water quality, a soil fertility management program, and plans to manage weeds, pests, and diseases.

“The organic system plan is a farm plan that the farmer submits as sort of an agreement between himself and the certifying agency,” Vargas said. “The plan can be amended at any time, such as to add a new input, but any changes must be reviewed and approved by the certifier before they are implemented.”

Documentation is required to demonstrate that the organic system plan is being followed. Farmers are asked to submit crop plans, receipts for seeds and other supplies, field history sheets, and other records.

“Recordkeeping requirements are definitely a big part of the demonstration of compliance,” Vargas said. “For example, farmers are asked to submit invoices for the seeds that they purchase to prove that the seeds are certified organic. They should provide invoices for any other inputs as well. Activity records are also required. These are records that show when a field was cultivated, for example, and when it was planted with crops. If there were any pest or disease control products used, then those should be recorded. These are the kind of details that we’re talking about.”

Vargas admits the paperwork might sound daunting, but he doesn’t think it should deter farmers from pursuing certification. “A lot of the records that are required for certification are records that diligent growers would keep anyway,” he said.

Grower Eva Worden agrees. She farms 55 acres in Punta Gorda with her husband, Chris. The Wordens grow dozens of different crops, including organic vegetables, herbs, strawberries and other small fruits, and cut flowers.

“There is a lot of paperwork, but we don’t find it to be a barrier because we would keep extensive records of our operation whether or not we were certified,” Worden said. “And we feel like the organic standards and the certification process provide a good set of guidelines for producing crops in an ecologically sound manner.”

Growers seeking certification don’t have to go it alone. Staff from the certifying agency are available to answer technical questions as applicants make their way through the process.

“What they really do is help you through the paperwork,” said Delores Green, whose farm is certified through QCS. “The people at QCS were very nice and answered all our questions. It did take a while to complete the application—it took several months to get through. But we couldn’t have done it without the help we got at QCS.”

Once the application is complete, it is submitted to the certifying agency, where it is reviewed for basic compliance to organic standards. Next, the application is forwarded to an independent organic inspector, who contacts the applicant to schedule a farm inspection. Once the application has been submitted, the certification process usually takes about six to 12 weeks.

What to expect from your inspection

“The inspector goes through the application and reviews it and becomes the eyes and ears of the certification agency,” said Cynthia Connolly, an organic grower and inspector based in Monticello.

The inspector visits the farm and verifies that the organic system plan is actually being implemented. The inspector looks closely at the grower’s fields, greenhouses, equipment, and storage facilities. She talks to the grower about long-term plans to build soil and control weeds, diseases, and pests.

“All kinds of things come up in an inspection that a grower might not think about,” Connolly said. “And it’s the inspector’s job to point those things out. Maybe your neighbor is doing heavy chemical farming. Well, then you have to consider the possibility of aerial contamination, and contamination due to erosion and runoff. That’s why an inspector checks not only the fields but the borders around them. There needs to be an adequate buffer.”

Vargas stresses that a farmer shouldn’t panic if his operation isn’t in perfect compliance right away. “Certification allows for continual improvement of minor non-compliances,” he said. “Obviously there are certain important things you need to be doing and things you must not be doing in order to be granted certification, but when it comes to much more minor issues the certifying agent has discretion to allow the grower to resolve the problem.”

Connolly praises the certification process as “a very good one” and encourages fellow growers to seek organic certification “as a way to better their operations first and foremost.” The process, she said, “pushes us all and drives us to learn more. Every year that my farm has been certified, I have learned more.”

Footing the bill

Small farmers are often concerned about the fees associated with certification, but cost-sharing programs are helping to make certification affordable. Cost-share funding included in the 2002 Farm Bill allowed for reimbursement of up to 75 percent of the cost of certification, or a maximum of $500 per year. The 2008 Farm Bill increased funding to a maximum of $750 per year.

“Any expense in farming is something that can be challenging just because farming these days is so difficult and land costs are so high,” Eva Worden said. Worden Farm has been certified with QCS for five years. “But the cost-share programs have been very helpful to us, and I would certainly advocate for their continuation.”

Where to find out more

Interested farmers and growers can find out more about the National Organic Program and organic certification at the NOP’s webpage, www.ams.usda.gov/nop. The first step in the certification process is to find a USDA-accredited certifying agency. The NOP’s webpage provides a list of agencies, and farmers can choose from any of the accredited agencies no matter their location (the agency does not need to be located in your state). Farmers who wish to seek certification with Florida’s only accredited certifying agency, Quality Certification Services in Gainesville, can order an application packet at www.qcsinfo.org.