Salon rings the alarm bells on a new ruling released by the USDA that would tighten the requirements for organic certification, and in so doing cause irreparable harm to smallholder farmers of organic certified specialty coffee the world over.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly released a ruling that alarmed organic certifiers and groups who work with third-world farmers. The decision tightens organic certification requirements to such a degree that it could sharply curtail the ability of small grower co-ops to produce organic coffee — not to mention organic bananas, cocoa, sugar and even spices. Kimberly Easson, director of strategic relationships for TransFair USA, the fair trade certification group, puts it bluntly: “This ruling could wipe out the organic coffee market in the U.S.”
While it’s almost certainly not the intent of USDA to favor large, colonial-style coffee plantations to the ruin of smallholder farmers (bear with me, I’m trying to keep my cynicism in check for the duration of this article) it would seem — at first glance, anyway — that’s precisely what would happen.
I’ll be following this issue closely, and will follow-up soon as I can.
April 3, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Thank you for getting this out there.
There needs to be much movement against this. I recently visited some of our farmers that get our coffee from in the Dominican Republic. Some are still fighting to transition to organics. It costs so much for them. Nickels and dimes to us, but it’s nearly unattainable for the farmer. They will never again be able to certified organic if this happens.
If this all goes through we will no longer be able to carry the organic seal on our bags because we only roast fair-trade beans from these small farms. That seal really helps us move into the specialty coffee sector. It’s what sets us apart, proves the value, and shows the consumer that we are committed to sustainability. This is going to thoroughly disrupt the specialty coffee market. Not only is the NOP destroying small farmers in the third world, but they are going to wipe out the specialty coffee market. Suddenly every can of Maxwell House and Folgers is going to be organic and none of the higher end stuff will be.
We are going to see a coffee crisis again, only this time, I fear the effects are going to be immeasureable and unable to be corrected.
My head is spinning and I can barely gather my thoughts. Something must be done!
April 5, 2007 at 1:00 am
In trying to get my arms around this issue I’m finding it’s about as complex as they come.
There are heartfelt and honest perspectives offered by the organic community, who have concerns about corporate “greenwashing” and phony products; folks involved in food safety have a point of view; and certainly coffee growers and importers and roasters have a view. About the only folks who *don’t* have a point of view on this issue to-date are consumers, who simply haven’t learned about it just yet.
I’m rounding up conversations with roasters and certifiers and the like, and hope to post more at length soon.
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April 18, 2007 at 10:50 am
Let’s not forget that this arose as the result of a violation, okay? That doesn’t mean the USDA is totally in the right, but it does mean that they aren’t being altogether random. Poke around a bit and you’ll find a petition designed to respond to this. It’s not over.
Debbie
http://www.organic-food-and-drink.com
April 18, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I understand that, save for a single recorded violation in one coffee cooperative in Mexico (where one or more farms were using a synthetic fungicide,) the impetus for this change comes not from coffee at all, but from apparently massive violations among organic certified soybean growers in China.
Certainly it makes sense that USDA make some changes to curtail and contain violations… but those changes need to be appropriate to the scope and nature of the problems, not a sweeping update to all group certifications. That’s a reflexive action that’s entirely out of proportion with the apparent cause, and *so* sweeping as to make one wonder whether there’s not a hidden agenda at play.