{"id":32252,"date":"2023-01-27T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T05:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=32252"},"modified":"2023-01-29T14:22:26","modified_gmt":"2023-01-29T19:22:26","slug":"new-enforcement-rules-for-organic-standards-far-surpass-the-ongoing-poisoning-in-chemical-intensive-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/01\/new-enforcement-rules-for-organic-standards-far-surpass-the-ongoing-poisoning-in-chemical-intensive-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Enforcement Rules for Organic Standards Far Surpass Those in Chemical-Intensive Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, January 27, 2023) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), announced on January 19 its final rulemaking<\/a>, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule<\/a> (SOE). The new requirements aim to strengthen the integrity of the National Organic Program<\/a> (NOP) through both enhanced oversight and enforcement of existing program regulations, and the introduction of new ones to address occurrences of fraud in organic supply chains. Beyond Pesticides welcomes this important step in increased rigor for the burgeoning organic sector; the organization has long advocated for strong enforcement of the provisions of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act<\/a> (OFPA), the statute that gave rise to the NOP.<\/p>\r\n

It must also be noted that there is a significant difference between the (appropriate) attention being paid to oversight and enforcement in organic, and the long-standing lack of same in regard to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA\u2019s) pesticide regulations, weak as they are. Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman commented, \u201cIt is difficult to have a balanced conversation about any weaknesses in organic enforcement \u2014 which must be strengthened \u2014 without assessing the entire food system. The NOP provides the structure and the requirements for compliance with the OFPA. Not only does this far surpass anything that exists in the chemical-intensive food production sector, but also, advocates, government, and members of the agricultural community work continually to improve it. We must work to ensure that people can trust the USDA organic label, and know that the system is \u2018wired\u2019 to ensure its integrity.\u201d To this end, those working in organic, believing in continuous improvement, have indicated that there must be vigilance in oversight and enforcement, as captured by Beyond Pesticides\u2019 coverage of a 2010 USDA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

To the point about lack of rigor in the regulation and enforcement of conventional (chemical) agriculture: the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly identified flaws in federal oversight and enforcement related to pesticide restrictions, starting more than 40 years ago<\/a>. See Beyond Pesticides\u2019 coverage of an EPA Office of the Inspector General\u2019s report<\/a> on the agency\u2019s inefficacy. Other coverage has included this report by Harvard Law School\u2019s Environmental and Energy Law Program in 2020<\/a>, and coverage<\/a> of (1) a 2021 GAO report<\/a> on poor protection of farmworkers from pesticides, (2) a GAO report on EPA\u2019s \u201cconditional\u201d registrations<\/a> practice, and (3) another GAO report<\/a> finding that EPA \u201cdoes not have sufficient chemical assessment information to determine whether it should establish controls to limit public exposure to many chemicals that may pose substantial health risks.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The Federal Register publication of the SOE<\/a> (which will be effective March 20, 2023) asserts that the rulemaking is designed to \u201cstrengthen oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic agricultural products. The amendments protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations.\u201d The Washington Post<\/em> reporting notes<\/a>, \u201cKey updates to the rules include requiring certification of more of the businesses, such as brokers and traders, at critical links in organic supply chains. It also requires organic certificates for all organic imports and increases inspections and reporting requirements\u00a0<\/strong>of certified operations.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Even deeper into the weeds, the AMS announcement includes<\/a> a list of specific topics addressed: \u201capplicability of the regulations and exemptions from organic certification; National Organic Program Import Certificates; recordkeeping and product traceability; certifying agent personnel qualifications and training; standardized certificates of organic operation; unannounced on-site inspections of certified operations; oversight of certification activities; foreign conformity assessment systems; certification of producer group operations; labeling of nonretail containers; annual update requirements for certified operations; compliance and appeals processes; and calculating organic content of multi-ingredient products.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

This new rulemaking finalizes the draft version proffered by USDA in 2020<\/a>. USDA has taken some small steps to improve enforcement of the NOP requirements, including, for example, a memo<\/a> to \u201cput a stop to the practice of allowing organic certification for container systems produced on land managed with substances, such as the herbicide glyphosate, which are not permitted in organic production.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Chief Executive of the Organic Trade Association, Tom Chapman, remarked<\/a> that the new rulemaking represents \u201cthe single largest revision to the organic standards since they were published in 1990,\u201d adding that it should help boost confidence in the organic label. According to The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>, Mr. Chapman indicated that the move \u201craises the bar to prevent bad actors at any point in the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Executive Director of the National Organic Coalition, Abby Youngblood, commented<\/a> that the organization \u201capplauds the USDA for their sustained work to bring this rule to completion. Organic producers\u2019 livelihoods depend on strong and consistent enforcement of organic regulations. For more than a decade, operations have been undercut by fraudulent products that have no business carrying the organic seal. NOC strongly supports provisions in this rule that will give USDA and certification agencies more authority to crack down on bad actors.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Recent high-profile cases of \u201corganic fraud\u201d have brought increased attention to the issue of producers representing their products (e.g., non-organic grain, dairy, meat, or produce) as organic, and typically harvesting an undue premium price for the scheme. More recently, others in the organic supply chain have entered the fraudulent arena. And as the sector has grown, some \u201cfood manufacturers\u201d source ingredients from abroad, which makes it more challenging to assure that such items are legitimately organic. Domestic producers recognize, and voice<\/a>, that enabling such companies to market their products as organic \u2014 absent better oversight and enforcement \u2014 undermines trust in the label and makes a distinctly uneven playing field for \u201cgenuine Certified Organic\u201d vs. \u201cfaux-organic.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Both The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> in 2017 and The New Yorker<\/em><\/a> in 2021 covered such incidents. (That first article covers<\/a> a shipment of soybeans from Ukraine, via Turkey, to California, during which trip the beans were miraculously transformed from conventionally grown\/treated with pesticides, to \u201corganic.\u201d) Beyond Pesticides wrote an article in response<\/a> to the somewhat \u201corganic skeptical\u201d coverage in The New Yorker<\/em><\/a> article, \u201cThe Great Organic Food Fraud,\u201d in which it was explained how the NOP operates, and provided fuller context for thinking about fraud in the organic sector, given the state of conventional, chemical-intensive agriculture and the massive harms it inflicts on public health and the environment.<\/p>\r\n

Last year, a Minnesota farmer was federally indicted<\/a> for fraud because of his scheme to sell what he claimed were organically grown grains \u2014 but were not, according to the FBI \u2014 to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. He netted some $46 million from those sales. A co-conspirator farmer in the case has also been charged in the scheme. Another example<\/a> is that of several individuals and entities (out of Dubai and Turkey) being charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in the District of Maryland for a 2015\u20132017 multimillion-dollar scheme to export non-organic grain into the U.S. to be sold as Certified Organic.<\/p>\r\n

Some in the organic sector note that the increased demand for organically produced foods in recent years may be contributing to the increase in such cases. The MinnPost<\/em> writes<\/a>, \u201cThe booming organic produce market is worth at least $63 billion per year.\u00a0Increasing demands for organic grains have raised their prices to double or even triple the cost of grains grown conventionally with synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. But for those who purchase grain, it\u2019s difficult, if not impossible, to tell organic grain from non-organic grain, making fraud hard to detect and prosecute. And the temptation to sell crops at a much higher price is difficult for some to resist.\u201d\u00a0USDA has indicated, according to MinnPost<\/em><\/a>, that the growth of the organic industry, for example, \u201chas attracted many businesses to the USDA organic label and increased the complexity of global organic supply chains,\u201d perhaps overwhelming the capacity of organic industry watchdogs.<\/p>\r\n

USDA said in its press release<\/a> on the new rule, \u201cComplexity makes oversight and enforcement of the organic supply chains difficult because organic products are credence goods, which means that their organic attributes, or \u2018integrity,\u2019 cannot be easily verified by consumers or businesses who buy organic products for use or resale. The elements needed to guarantee organic integrity \u2014 transparent supply chains, trusted interactions between businesses, and mechanisms to verify product legitimacy \u2014 are more difficult to achieve in the increasingly complex modern organic industry.\u201d This reality explains the importance of \u201ceternal vigilance\u201d on the part of federal regulators, and evolution of the NOP to respond to the dynamism of the organic sector.<\/p>\r\n

Representative Chellie Pingree (D) of Maine welcomes the new SOE regulations, saying in a statement from her office<\/a>, \u201cWhen rule-breakers cheat the system, it sows seeds of doubt about the organic label\u2019s integrity and jeopardizes the future of the industry as a whole. As a longtime organic farmer, I know how expensive and time consuming it is to adhere to the required standards to earn a USDA [C]ertified [O]rganic label. It\u2019s been a long wait, but I am pleased that the\u00a0USDA\u00a0and the Biden Administration\u00a0are publishing a\u00a0final rule that works to help consumers trust that the food they\u2019re paying for was actually farmed\u00a0in a way that supports soil health, minimizes synthetic material usage, and strengthens biodiversity, as the organic label suggests. Equally importantly, it is critical that farmers who comply with the rigorous certification standards are not losing sales to fraudulent growers, suppliers, or importers.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Beyond Pesticides is among the most ardent of voices for organic integrity<\/a>, as evidenced by the organization\u2019s consistent urging of steps to protect it<\/a>. (For more, see here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and the organization’s webpage, Keeping Organic Strong<\/a>.) Beyond Pesticides recognizes that protecting and improving the organic sector is an ongoing project, and is hopeful that the new rule will make meaningful differences in NOP oversight and enforcement \u2014 bolstering trust of the Certified Organic designation and label by the public and, indeed, by elements of the organic supply chain itself. Advocates for organic integrity look forward to the improvements this SOE is designed to launch, will pay attention to its impacts on the organic sector, and continue to encourage public engagement with keeping organic strong.<\/p>\r\n

Source: https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2023\/01\/19\/usda-rule-organic-fraud\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

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 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides, January 27, 2023) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), announced on January 19 its final rulemaking, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule (SOE). The new requirements aim to strengthen the integrity of the National Organic Program (NOP) through both enhanced oversight and enforcement of existing program regulations, and the introduction of new ones to address occurrences of fraud in organic supply chains. Beyond Pesticides welcomes this important step in increased rigor for the burgeoning organic sector; the organization has long advocated for strong enforcement of the provisions of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), the statute that gave rise to the NOP. It must also be noted that there is a significant difference between the (appropriate) attention being paid to oversight and enforcement in organic, and the long-standing lack of same in regard to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA\u2019s) pesticide regulations, weak as they are. Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman commented, \u201cIt is difficult to have a balanced conversation about any weaknesses in organic enforcement \u2014 which must be strengthened \u2014 without assessing the entire food system. The NOP provides the structure and the requirements for compliance with the OFPA. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1,368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternativesorganics","category-uncategorized","category-us-department-of-agriculture-usda"],"yoast_head":"\nEnforcement Rules for Organic Standards Far Surpass Those in Chemical-Intensive Agriculture - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/01\/new-enforcement-rules-for-organic-standards-far-surpass-the-ongoing-poisoning-in-chemical-intensive-agriculture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Enforcement Rules for Organic Standards Far Surpass Those in Chemical-Intensive Agriculture - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, January 27, 2023) The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), announced on January 19 its final rulemaking, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Rule (SOE). The new requirements aim to strengthen the integrity of the National Organic Program (NOP) through both enhanced oversight and enforcement of existing program regulations, and the introduction of new ones to address occurrences of fraud in organic supply chains. Beyond Pesticides welcomes this important step in increased rigor for the burgeoning organic sector; the organization has long advocated for strong enforcement of the provisions of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), the statute that gave rise to the NOP. It must also be noted that there is a significant difference between the (appropriate) attention being paid to oversight and enforcement in organic, and the long-standing lack of same in regard to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA\u2019s) pesticide regulations, weak as they are. Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman commented, \u201cIt is difficult to have a balanced conversation about any weaknesses in organic enforcement \u2014 which must be strengthened \u2014 without assessing the entire food system. The NOP provides the structure and the requirements for compliance with the OFPA. 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The new requirements aim to strengthen the integrity of the National Organic Program (NOP) through both enhanced oversight and enforcement of existing program regulations, and the introduction of new ones to address occurrences of fraud in organic supply chains. Beyond Pesticides welcomes this important step in increased rigor for the burgeoning organic sector; the organization has long advocated for strong enforcement of the provisions of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), the statute that gave rise to the NOP. It must also be noted that there is a significant difference between the (appropriate) attention being paid to oversight and enforcement in organic, and the long-standing lack of same in regard to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA\u2019s) pesticide regulations, weak as they are. Beyond Pesticides Executive Director Jay Feldman commented, \u201cIt is difficult to have a balanced conversation about any weaknesses in organic enforcement \u2014 which must be strengthened \u2014 without assessing the entire food system. The NOP provides the structure and the requirements for compliance with the OFPA. 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The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32252"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32303,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32252\/revisions\/32303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}