By Catherine Haug, April 12, 2018 (image, right, from organic (dot) org (3))
I got the following text in an email today from NEXT7.org. I find it very disturbing and hope you do too. The USDA “Organic” label is in trouble as BIG AG has gotten more than their foot in the door to use that label to their benefit. To quote NEXT7, “Recent decisions by the National Organic Program (NOP) … mean what is being sold under the USDA Organic label is not something anyone would recognize as truly organic.”
Here in the Flathead, we do have access to local, truly organically-grown fruits and vegetables because our local farmers choose to raise their foods that way, and we can visit their farms to verify their methods for ourselves. But people who live in large urban areas may not have that option, and so depend on the honesty of labels when selecting their foods.
Read on for more, and for a link to a very short survey (1 question) about this issue.
If you want to know more about NEXT7, visit their “about”website (2).
Help preserve the integrity of the Organic label
The following is a quote from the NEXT7.org email:
“Organic” dairy cows in factory farms (CAFOs): “Organic” fruit and vegetables grown in plastic containers instead of soil; monoculture mega farms taking over small family farms; harmful Carrageenan now allowed in organic food.
This is the new reality of the UDSA “Organic” label.
We can’t simply stand by as something as important as organic food is taken over. We have a plan to do something about this Are you in?
Family farmers and activists like you worked hard for decades to build this. We created and built incredible value in the organic label, so much so that massive corporations have taken over the label and put profits over people, animals and our environment.
Organic food was founded by those farming in a way that produced healthful, clean food in cooperation with the principles of nature. Many organic farms continue to farm like that. But you as a consumer have no means of knowing at the grocery store if a farm or cooperation labelling their food ‘organic’ is really growing healthful and nutritious food for you and your family, or rigging the system.
We may have lost the organic label as a meaningful signifier of nutrient-rich food grown in healthy soil. But we aren’t completely lost. We have an exciting plan to put the power back in your hands and we need your input to decide our first steps together.
Click the survey link (1) if you are in, and answer our one-question survey.
Cat’s note: you need to provide your email address on the link for the survey. That means you will get future emails from them.
References:
- Survey link: Click here if you are in, and answer our one-question survey?
- Next7.org and their ‘About us” page: next7.org/about/
- organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-201
Tags: organic