Organic Agriculture
What's
New?
- Keeping Organic Strong - Current issues before the National Organic Standards Board
- Eating with a Conscience - Food choice guide for you, farmworkers, farm families and the environment.
- Read "Antibiotics in Fruit Production A challenge to organic integrity," from the Summer 2011 issue of Pesticides and You.
- Read "Organic Q&A with the Rodale Institute," from the Spring 2011 issue of Pesticides and You.
What Does
“Organic” mean to you?
People think of organic agriculture in many ways. Some define it by the
things that are lacking—organic production should involve no pesticides,
synthetic chemicals, or processing technologies you wouldn’t have
in your kitchen. Others think about it in terms of food value—organic
food should be nutritious and safe to eat without washing. And some think
of it as ecologically-based agriculture. Still others think of the economic
opportunity provided by a market for a premium product.
For the originators of the organic method, it was all about the soil. They believed that the soil must be regarded as a living organism. Organic gardening and farming literally grew out of the study of composting. As J.I. Rodale and the Rodale staff wrote in The Complete Book of Composting, "At the very foundation of good nutrition is the soil—soil that is fertile and alive, that is kept in shape to grow plants as nature meant them to be grown. The life and balance in this soil is maintained by returning to it those materials which hold and extend life in a natural cycle, and aid in replenishing the nutrients needed to produce healthy, life-supporting crops. Soils that lack vital plant nutrients cannot give these food values to what is grown in them.”
Hence the saying, “Feed the soil to feed the plant.”
The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) was written with the intention of ensuring that organic food meets all of these expectations. And it offers opportunities to engage in protecting our vision of organic food. Protecting the integrity of the organic label depends on our views of what “organic” means to us being repeatedly voiced in response to proposals that might weaken the legal meaning. Under OFPA, organic agriculture embodies an ecological approach to farming that does not rely on or permit toxic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, sewage sludge, or irradiation.
Hungry for more?
- National Organic Standards - History of the USDA organic standards; what is permitted; labeling; the importance of organic integrity
- Health benefits - Organic agriculture’s advantages for farmworkers and consumers
- Environmental benefits - Organic agriculture’s contribution to stopping climate change and ensuring ecological health
- Buying organic products (on a budget!) - How to buy local, organic products; what to do about non-certified farms; buying from a co-op or buying club; considering fair trade; talking to your local farmers
- Growing your own organic food - Soil testing; organic gardening products; community gardens and farms
Beyond Pesticides
and Organic Agriculture
Beyond Pesticides is a member of the National
Organic Coalition (NOC). The coalition’s materials give up-to-date
information on organic agricultural policy in the U.S., including Farm
Bill recommendations and discussions.
Beyond Pesticides supports organic agriculture as effecting good land stewardship and a reduction in hazardous chemical exposures for workers on the farm. The pesticide reform movement, citing pesticide problems associated with chemical agriculture, from groundwater contamination and runoff to drift, views organic as the solution to a serious public health and environmental threat.
National
Organic Action Plan
The National Organic Action Plan: From the Margins to the Mainstream
-- Advancing Organic Agriculture in the U.S. (NOAP) presents a shared
vision and blueprint for an organic future for the US -- “To establish
organic as the foundation for food and agriculture in the US.” It
represents the culmination of a 5-year dialogue process with organic stakeholders
across the country. The NOAP describes the current status of organic in
the U.S. and provides a concrete framework for the development of organic
food and agriculture practices, programs, and policies for the next decade
and beyond. It informs and empowers the grassroots to engage in public
policy debates on organic by providing a detailed plan of action that
can be adapted to meet community, state, and national needs. To download
a copy or for more information, visit www.nationalorganiccoalition.org.