What’s Organic

Changes to US Department of Agriculture requirements for organic certification will freeze out many organic coffee growers who relied on growers groups to bring down the cost of certification.

First pet food, now coffee — recent problems with imported agricultural products may be the reason for a USDA change in organic certification requirements. Under the new rules, certification requirements will become cost-prohibitive for smaller organic growers. Imported products found to contain non-organic contaminants are the stated reason for the rule change, highlighting the need to buy Fair Trade in order to strengthen small growers so they can cope with these and future changes to USDA requirements.

“It is hard to imagine who benefits from this new decision, aside from a handful of large-scale organic coffee farmers who can afford yearly inspections. It certainly doesn’t benefit organic smallholders, who produce the bulk of organic coffee in the world, or consumers, who will see the price of organic coffee go through the roof.”
–Food First: End of Organic Coffee? Small Farmers in the USDA’s Sights

Samuel Fromartz writes about recent change in USDA certification requirements in The last organic latte on the Gristmill blog and his own blog, Chew Wise: End of Organic Java, Part Deux. Fromartz is author of Organic Inc. - Natural Foods and How They Grew

Stephanie Paige Ogburn’s post to Gristmill Java justice writes more about the nuts and bolts of the USDA decision.

Buying imported coffee certified both Organic and Fair Trade is one way to vote with your dollars in favor of small-scale farmers and cooperatives.

For more info:

• On coffee and the environment - Coffee & Conservation
• On the movie about coffee and fair trade - Black Gold
• On Fair Trade and Organic coffee certification - Bean Counting, the Pros and Cons of Fair Trade Coffee by the Santa Barbara Independent.
• On Fair Trade certification - TransFair