National Organic
Standards Ready
PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. (AP)
-Consumers who are gobbling
up organic products at an un
precedented rate should have a
better idea of what they’re eat
ing when the nation’s first or
ganic labeling rules roll out this
year, a federal agriculture offi
cial told farmers Thursday.
“This will not be a perfect
rule, a holy grail, but it’s a place
to start so that farmers and con
sumers and the government can
have some agreement on what
organic means,” said Keith
Jones, who heads the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s
National Organic Program.
Jones said the rules-expected
to take effect this summer-will
require organic producers to go
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MARTIN’S TIRE & ALIGNMENT
through a mandatory planning
process, use materials off a
restrictive list and get their
farming practices verified by an
authority
Enforcement, he said, will be
handled by state, county and
private agencies that currently
oversee the industry with a
hodgepodge of rules and guide
lines.
“We have empowered certi
fiers in this rule. But we’re also
going to ask certifiers to step up
to the plate and take action,”
said Jones, speaking at the
Ecological Farming Conference
in Pacific Grove, Calif, the
nation’s largest annual gather
ing of organic farmers.
Congress called for consistent
national “organic” guidelines 10
years ago. But earlier proposals
included irradiated and geneti
cally engineered food in the
organic categories, drawing
more than 280,000 protest let-
our farm.
ters from consumers and organ
ic farmers.
Jones said the revised rules,
now match industry standards
that exclude irradiated and
genetically engineered products.
Katherine DiMatteo who
heads the Greenville, Mass.-
based Organic Trade Association
said that despite existing self
regulation, her industry needs
the promised federal regula
tions.
“Without the government, we
would not be able to enforce this
program universally,” she said.
While the USDA has been
grappling with how to define
organic, the industry has boom
ed. Sales reached $6 billion last
year, and industry organizations
project growth of 20 to 25 per
cent a year as organic products
become mainstream, according
to the Organic Trade Assoc
iation.
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ox 840, Lebanon, PA 17046
5-6611 Fax #865-7334
800-452-4004
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570-568-1420
Bob Anderson, who chairs the
national organic advisory board
and heeds the 54-year-old or
ganic farming network Walnut
Acres in Penn Creek, Pa., said
consumers have a lot to gain.
There will finally be a consis
tent standard, and therefore the
consumer will know what’s in an
organic product and buy it with
confidence,” he said.
The USDA submitted its pro
New York Farm Bureau
GLENMONT, N.Y.-New York
Farm Bureau, the state’s largest
general farm advocacy organiza
tion, recently contacted the New
York Congressional delegation
urging support for expanding
the Northeast Interstate Dairy
Compact to include New York
State. The need for the Compact
has increased as most New York
dairy farmers are experiencing
rapidly falling prices that are
putting family farms in jeop
ardy.
“There are some New York
dairy farmers who may be pro
tected from the falling prices,”
stated New York Farm Bureau
President John W. Lincoln.
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2.12 volt DC motor (connects direct to a battery, and uses less than
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loft Cushii
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Dealers Wanted. Buy 3 units to qualify.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000-A29
posed rule to the Office of Man
agement and Budget last fall.
The OMB is required to publish
the rules in the Federal Register
in February.
After that, there will be a 60-
day Congressional review, fol
lowed by an expected 18-month
implementation period.
“Those dairy farmers shipping
milk into the Compact region
will have the benefit of the
Compact’s stabilizing effect on
prices. New York Farm Bureau
believes all of New York’s 8,300
dairy farmers should be able to
join the Compact.”
New York Farm Bureau has
been vocal in showing apprecia
tion to New York’s delegation for
their outstanding efforts during
the first half of the 106th session
of Congress. The over 30,000
farm family members were
pleased by the achievement of
Option 1A milk pricing and the
extension of the current
Compact.
More comfortable than hard plastic, and it