As our family started making smarter choices with regards to food, we often find ourselves choosing organic items over a similar non-organic one. Being somewhat of a cynic, I wondered if the items labeled as “organic” truly were.
First, a bit of information on the process a business must go through in order to put that little sticker on their product:
A grower or handler seeking organic certification submits an Organic Farm Plan or an Organic Handling Plan to a USDA-accredited private or state certification program. The Organic Plan must detail all current growing or handling methods and any materials that will be used. The Plan also covers future intentions and improvements to all areas of production.
Even growers or harvesters of organic wild crops, such as fiddlehead ferns, must develop a Plan showing that harvesting practices will not be destructive to the environment or to the future productivity of the crop.
Five-year records must be kept of all management practices and materials used in organic production.
In addition to assessing the Organic Plan, the certification agency performs annual on-site inspections of each farm or handling operation participating in its program. Certification is then either awarded or denied. User fees are collected from each grower or handler to cover the cost of the certification program. Source
Ok, so it looks like a “pay to play” scenario for some of the larger producers of organic fare. What I don’t know is how much that fee is. According to owners of smaller farms (those that you would typically find in a local farmers market) the organic certification often costs too much money. This helps explain why organic is almost always more expensive..someone has to pay for the certification and re-certification process each year. More often than not these smaller growers will label their items as “chemical free” or “pesticide free” since they don’t have the legal rights to call themselves organic under the current regulation. On one hand I agree with charging a fee so that funds are collected to employ inspectors to keep growers honest. On the other hand, if having that organic label helps small growers sell, they need to be able to afford it.
Ultimately, we can only trust the growers and inspectors to do what’s right. Good old truth in advertising. Personally, I feel that items with the organic label are truly organic. Until Dateline goes undercover and finds out we’ve all been fooled, I feel comfortable dropping the extra cash on the organic items.
Interesting. I’m always weary of labels that require a pay system, but on the other hand we also have to consider the costs of running a qualification system designed to separate the goods from the cruft. Its a tough balance to achieve I think, but it definitely should be priced so that it isn’t prohibitive to smaller businesses.
As someone who works in the produce industry. I can tell you for a fact that the people at farmers markets who claim to be local growers or organic are NOT. I’m not saying ALL of them aren’t local/organic, but we have a very large number of small sales that come to our doors every day for a will-call pickup of produce that they take to local farmers markets and sell as locally-grown/organic produce.
I think to really be sure someone is local/organic. You should ask where the farm is and ask for a tour.
@Cj B. I had forgotten that’s where you are. Oh boy, now I’m gonna have to rethink again.
Most of my purchases typically come from larger farms with the official stamp. Items such as canned tomatoes, etc etc that say they are organic…I’m hoping they are. I heard that the fine for lying is not that much. Can you confirm?
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I too look for organic items, especially because I am so concerned about hormones in products. I After a trip to Mayo Clinic yesterday in Jacksonville, I am really looking at being eating mostly fruits and vegetables, avoiding glutens and eating fish fish fish. I love real cheese, milk, butter, but have found some great recipes using alternatives that are quite good as well. The costs are high for organics but we have so many local markets here in Florida, that you can get to know the growers and buy items that are locally grown and MAY be organic. One day at a time!
@Jane. If you have not seen the movie Food Inc., I highly recommend it. You can stream it on Netflix as well if you have the service.
Hey Dave and Lena!
This is a topic that I feel very strongly about! We have a FABULOUS little market up here called, Nature’s Touch. She only buys produce from local farmers and meats from local farmers that she has personally visited and tested the soil. So she knows what is in the food she is purchasing. It is brilliant. She offers a CSA basket from all of the local veggie farmers she buys from – year round! It is great! We get healthy, seasonal and local produce all year. I love it and feel it has made us much healthier as family. I do agree with pay to play in some instances – especially with respect to our business. We are not organic, but we are farming as sustainably as it gets, yet we are not ‘certified sustainable’ due to the pay to be certified situation, it really bugs Eric!
Oh yeah, I forgot…Come visit us soon!!!
@JillO…Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. We definitely need to make the trip up there. Hope you are all doing great. As far as this post goes, I really wish the powers that be would make that certification accessible for more businesses. I think reducing the cost would be a good start to improve the number of people doing what you do with Zenaida Cellars…more sustainable practices. It’s commendable that you do that even though they won’t “officially” recognize it. No wonder your wine is so good.