[Iowa-dx] End or organic coffee?

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/04/03/coffee_organic/

Is this the end of organic coffee?

Thanks to a recent hush-hush USDA ruling, your clean-conscience, =20
fair-trade, organic latte may soon be a thing of the past.

By Samuel Fromartz

April 3, 2007 | Enjoy your organic coffee now, while it's hot -- =20
because it may not be around for long.


Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly released a =20
ruling that alarmed organic certifiers and groups who work with =20
third-world farmers. The decision tightens organic certification =20
requirements to such a degree that it could sharply curtail the =20
ability of small grower co-ops to produce organic coffee -- not to =20
mention organic bananas, cocoa, sugar and even spices. Kimberly =20
Easson, director of strategic relationships for TransFair USA, the =20
fair trade certification group, puts it bluntly: "This ruling could =20
wipe out the organic coffee market in the U.S."

TransFair USA is not the only organization sounding the alarm. In the =20
past week, I spoke with nonprofits, businesses and organic certifiers, =20
all of whom are concerned that the USDA ruling will catastrophically =20
raise costs for small-scale producers of organic goods and likely push =20
them back into conventional commodity markets.

The USDA's controversial ruling hinges on methods of organic =20
certification -- a process in which inspectors visit farms and walk =20
through fields, review growing methods, and see what measures the =20
farmer is taking to avoid pests and weeds. If the methods comply with =20
regulations, the inspector then makes a recommendation to a =20
certification agency; and if the farm is approved, it is certified for =20
one year and granted permission to carry the organic label on its =20
products. The USDA National Organic Program has overseen this process =20
since 2002, when a patchwork of state organic standards were codified =20
under a national regime.

Until now, however, there has been a special provision for "grower =20
groups" that made certification practical for farmer cooperatives in =20
the Third World, whose memberships can reach into the thousands. =20
Because of the immense logistical demands of inspecting every farm in =20
a large co-op, a compromise was reached: An organic inspector would =20
randomly visit only a portion of the group's farms each year, usually =20
20 percent. The grower groups would then self-police the remainder =20
through a manager who made sure they followed the rules. The following =20
year, an inspector would return and visit another 20 percent of the =20
farms. After five years, all farms would be inspected.

But in the ruling made public this month, the National Organic Program =20
overturned that system, saying every farm in a grower group must now =20
be visited and inspected annually -- as has been the practice in the =20
United States -- rather than only a percentage.

"[The previous system] was a mechanism for the low-resource global =20
south to afford organic certification," said Michael Sligh of Rural =20
Advancement Foundation International USA. He has worked with farm =20
groups in the global south for years and in the 1990s helped craft the =20
U.S. organic regulations. His e-mail in box is now bulging with =20
questions about the ruling from non-governmental organizations across =20
the world. "We're literally talking about hundreds of thousands of =20
farmers who will be affected," Sligh explained. The staggered =20
inspection method has been crucial for, say, coffee grower unions in =20
Ethiopia, which have upward of 80,000 members. It was used by organic =20
tea and spice farmers in India, organic sugar co-ops in Brazil, and =20
organic cocoa farmers in Costa Rica, who would otherwise not be able =20
to ship certified organic products to wealthier countries in the =20
Northern Hemisphere.

The new USDA certification ruling arose out of a case involving an =20
unnamed Mexican grower group that failed to detect a farmer using a =20
prohibited insecticide and prevent empty fertilizer bags being used =20
for crop storage -- both of which violate USDA organic regulations. =20
NOP blamed the problem on inadequate internal controls of the =20
self-policing system and decided to ban the practice everywhere. "The =20
... use of an internal inspection system as a proxy for mandatory =20
on-site inspections of each production unit by the certifying agent is =20
not permitted," the NOP stated. The agency informed organic certifiers =20
of these revised standards in January, and in March published the =20
ruling on its Web site.

In conversations over the past week, certifiers told me they knew of =20
instances where the co-op inspection system had broken down, but =20
thought that the NOP had taken an extreme stand, ending the =20
possibility of group certification and ignoring the constraints of =20
low-income producers. A more measured response would have been to =20
punish the errant grower groups and then launch a public review of the =20
certification system. "We need to have open comment on this and have a =20
dialogue; we need to take a step back and look at the whole thing," =20
said Patty Vincent, coffee product and certification manager at Green =20
Mountain Coffee Roasters, an organic and fair trade coffee company. =20
The goal of certification should be to ensure the integrity of the =20
organic product -- so consumers know what they are buying. But Vincent =20
and others believe that integrity can be achieved without sacrificing =20
the economic livelihood of farmers and the viability of the product =20
itself.

If the ruling is unchallenged, certification costs will rise =20
precipitously for co-ops in developing countries. Lebi Perez, training =20
coordinator for Organic Crop Improvement Association International, a =20
U.S. certification group active in Mexico and Central and South =20
America, explained that it currently takes about 20 to 30 days to =20
certify a grower group. "You have to go to the community by car, bus, =20
mule or on foot, and access is difficult during the rainy season, =20
because a stream might swell and you can't get across," he said. In =20
the best of times, inspectors visit four or five farms a day. (Perez =20
said OCIA certifies about 300 grower groups in the region, which =20
average about 400 members each -- or more than 100,000 farmers.)

"We think it will now take up to a year to certify an entire group -- =20
that's our calculation," Perez explained. And because OCIA charges =20
$150 to $270 per day of inspection, the farmers' financial burden will =20
increase dramatically. For small coffee and cocoa growers who earn =20
about $2,000 a year, that burden may become too heavy; to survive, =20
some will be forced to drop organic certification.

Indeed, the only farms likely to afford the new inspection program =20
will be large-scale plantations. As an illustration, consider the case =20
of one co-op of Peruvian banana farmers, for whom the USDA ruling is =20
especially ironic: The 1,500 growers formerly worked as tenants on a =20
single plantation, but with agrarian reforms in the 1960s each family =20
got a plot of the landlord's land. Had that plantation been =20
maintained, it could have had one visit a year from an inspector. But =20
because the property is now split among 1,500 families, inspectors =20
will need to visit each farm on the land.

"Our cost is going to be at least double, because we're going to rise =20
from 40 inspection days a year to more than 100," said Luis Monge, =20
regional certification manager with Dole, which buys organic bananas =20
from the Peruvian co-op. If the market does not cover the extra cost =20
of certification, Dole has another option. Instead of reaching out to =20
small, community-based grower groups, it could buy exclusively from =20
larger banana plantations in Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras that can =20
afford to pay for their own certification. "It will present an =20
opportunity for larger farmers to get in business," Monge agreed. "But =20
that's against the roots of organic agriculture, isn't it?"

In the end, though, even the rise of plantations may not be enough to =20
keep certified organic coffee in American mugs. The U.S. market for =20
the brew is growing 40 percent a year, but organic coffee -- unlike =20
bananas -- is impractical to farm on a large scale. It's too =20
labor-intensive, because the plants grow under a shade canopy on steep =20
hills and must be harvested and weeded by hand. So farmers seeking =20
higher income may make the switch to non-organic methods, tearing out =20
native shade trees and relying on herbicides and pesticides to boost =20
bean yields. Growers who can't afford to make that jump may continue =20
to farm organically and forgo certification, selling at the lower =20
conventional price and hoping for the best.

Either way it's a bitter cup. But if the USDA ruling remains =20
unchallenged, it's what we'll all be drinking.