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| Winter 1995 |
ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION ACT
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347 |
understand is why [the USDA] says, ‘For our industry, the lowest
common denominator will rule.’ Why not say, ‘In our industry, the standards will
be set by the best guy.’"119
Accreditation is a nightmare, and harmonization of international standards is
animpossibility unless organic standards are set high. With long lists, multiple
exceptions and split operations or producers and processors (doing both organic and
conventional growing and/or handling), certification will not be affordable.
- CONCLUSION
In order to prudently protect the Great Lakes from
continual agricultural non-point source pollution, a radical revision in farming practices
in the Great Lakes basin is necessary. This can be accomplished only if there is a strict
codification of organic farming practices under the Organic Food Production Act.
Regulations promulgated under this act must not violate the careful drafting of the act
itself and the intent of its originators—to eliminate the deliberate use of toxic
synthetics and naturals in farming practices called "organic". A clear, concise
differentiation of organically produced food, feed and fiber from non-organically produced
goods is absolutely essential.
Integrated pest management and sustainable agriculture systems, as
popular as they are these days (at least as catch phrases), will not accomplish this end
because toxic materials use is not genuinely abated by these token systems.
It is insane to continue using toxic pesticides in agriculture when
alternative practices, relying on the time-tested balances of nature and the use of simple
equipment, work just as well and often better. There is no time like the present to
convert to organic farming for the production of this nation’s food. There is no
place like the Great Lakes to foster this conversion—especially when a major
international fresh-water resource hangs in the balance.
119. Id. at
13.
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