[MPWG] QUESTION OF THE MONTH: Certification Schemes

[Cafesombra at aol.com]

Re Patricia's excellent questions:
The urls listed in the initial email that started this discussion  should 
answer your questions regarding IFOAM and NOP since the websites for  both are 
listed among the five or six sites suggested.  
Currently, the National Organic Program standards do already apply to  
dietary supplements.  Recently an attempt to remove them was overturned,  mostly due 
to public comment.  "Dietary supplement," food, or herb, they  are 
agricultural products and the organic methods of growing and  processing them apply no 
matter what you call them.
Wildcrafted items are ocnsidered organic if they come from a certified  
organic property.  If not, the item is negotiated independently based on  the 
reputation of the supplyer., i.e., they cannot technically be called  "organic" but 
if they come from a reputable organic farmer, the buyer may trust  that 
source enough to pay a higher premium for the product, voluntarily.
Regarding quality:  beyond legally applicable food handling and  bioterrorism 
requirements for commerce, standards for quality are determined by  industry 
professionals, i.e., buyers, especially those who operate on an economy  of 
scale that gives them greater clout in the industry.  Some products that  have a 
long history of commercial trade have well recognized quality  standards.  
Ginseng, goldenseal, ginger are among them.  No doubt any  of our colleagues in 
the Herbal Products Assocation can address this  point.
I've been helping farmers in Latin America learn quality control and  
certification norms for gaining access to specialty markets (like the fair trade  
market for example).  What we hear from growers both abroad and in the  United 
States is that the certifications are requiring more and more paperwork,  so 
that farmers are having to become computer literate bureaucrats, or hire  
desk-bound paper-pushers just to keep up with it all.  In cases of small  farmer 
foriegn co-ops, many of the producer members seeking these certifications  are 
functionally illiterate, so the certification process demands that they  become 
dependent on aid agencies or outsiders (like myself).  This is an  important 
point in regard to fair trade which currently, overwhelmingly applies  to 
foriegn trade. Many of the agencies don't even offer the application  forms in any 
language but English (I was recently surprised to learn that the  Fair Trade 
Federation does not have forms available in Spanish or French  though they do 
much business in Latin America and in Africa).
A big point of contention on the buyer end of things is that some  industry 
professionals would like to see a whole-business certification, rather  than 
partial or product-by-product certification.  In other words, why is  Dole 
Organic on the shelves?  Dole is not an organic company.  Or, why  is Starbucks 
having so much trouble because they tried to run a fair trade  selection ? -- 
it's because the consumer who wants fair trade wants 100% fair  trade, not a 
single pick on a menu that by default, is not "fair".  At  any rate, it may be 
safe to predict that whole-business certification is the  next and coming level.  
Another big point of contention is is that fees are not adjusted by  national 
currency values -- farmers outside the US pay just as much for  
certification, often multiple certifications, as do domestic farmers, though the  cost in 
comparison to national economic indicators skyrockets for  the foriegn farmers. 
 Then, the US consumer for the most part refuses  to pay, or cannot afford to 
pay, a higher premium for products carrying one  or more certifications.  We 
can all say okay, then buy domestic... but the  price goes up.  "Outsourcing" 
does not just apply to IT services.   And, what about tropical or regional 
crops not available from domestic  farmers?
It would be nice to believe that farmers are out there following the  highest 
standards of production and quality but, the fact is, people lie.   We need 
third party certification to verify claims.  The only way  around it seems to 
be the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model.   That was, you as a 
consumer can get to know and trust your farmer.  But  this is frankly inconvenient.  
Consumers have to engage in sourcing their  own products which most people 
don't want to do,  unfortunately.  Nevertheless, the CSA model offers some 
interesting  alternatives and hope for a more engaged, well-educated consumer  
public.  For information about how a model of the CSA applied to organic  
medicinal herbs might work please see "Earth Medicine Share" and "Reserve Notes"  at 
the Heartsong website  _http://www.herbsandapples.com/FarmGrown/index.html_ 
(http://www.herbsandapples.com/FarmGrown/index.html) 
or write to Nancy and Michael with questions.  (I have  nothing to do with 
their farm.  They are just friends).
If certification is too much effort for farmers and too confusing for  
consumers, what that really means ultimately is that large scale commerce  simply 
isn't working.  Going local, and creating local-to-local direct  trade 
relationships (village-to-village) giving a human face to the trade  relationship, 
getting rid of the middle-man to the degree possible, and  co-creating standards 
that work on a local level, that's the only way  around expensive bureaucratic 
third-party certifications.  But,  its an ideal that is not yet in practice.  
Maybe the next  generation... 
Okay, I'll stop posting now!  and see what others have to say.   Please 
excuse my passion, this is the area of what I do...
Best regards, Jennifer
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