USDA Rules Leave US Organics Disadvantaged Against Imports, Alleges Watchdog

Foreign group certification of organic food continues to raise problems for U.S. farmers and consumers.

Valerie and Brian Quant in the turmeric fields on their organic farm, White Rabbit Acres. Courtesy of Brian Quant

A Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog group warns that United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules are leaving American farmers at a major disadvantage compared to imported foods that can claim organic status with less oversight and fewer requirements.

The group has requested the U.S. Inspector General conduct a formal investigation into correct implementations of organic food regulations.

The group, OrganicEye, has accused the USDA of betraying “its commitment — and the legal requirement — that all organic food come from independently certified and inspected farms.”

The result is cheaper imports that have less oversight and can out-price American-grown produce. OrganicEye says this is due to five key factors:

1. Under U.S. federal law and congressional mandate, organic farms are subject to an annual inspection of their operations.

This includes, but is not limited to, the examination of the growing and harvesting process, handling and packaging management of the produce, and inspection of the farm’s facilities.

U.S. organic farmers invest considerable time and money to fulfill these stipulations and receive the organic certification label thereby ensuring an organic product grown according to the guidelines.

Imported food often bypasses these procedures when it is either wildcrafted (foraged from natural habitats) in areas that have no parameters at all or grown on farms that do not adhere to these regulations because they are operated by micro-farm-units (often families) and centralized through an international “grower group.”

2. The National Organic Standards Board adopted recommendations for the certification of “grower groups” in 2002.

These group certifications were primarily intended for imported crops, such as coffee, tea, spices, cocoa, and tropical fruit not produced in the United States.

Annually, only around 2 percent of all farms consolidated under a “grower groups umbrella” are inspected by an independent entity, Mark Kastel, executive director of OrganicEye told The Epoch Times in an interview.

This allows for imported produce to carry the organic label and fill supermarket shelves without having ever been subject to the rigorous monitoring that U.S.-grown produce is subjected to.

3. Umbrella-certifiers, such as French-based Ecocert, manage and market uniformed small-scale farms or family units in developing countries.

Ecocert USA operates as a for-profit organization overseeing agribusiness clients in more than 130 countries, employing more than 800 “organic experts,” and servicing upwards of 65,000 clients.

Certifiers can come from within the organization’s grower groups, which therefore removes independent outside control.

4. It appears that these “grower groups” are not linked by location, community, or cooperative, and instead “constitute nothing more than a list of suppliers to a specific processor/marketer,” said Mr. Kastel.

Consequently, the initial idea of supporting small family units and farming communities in developing nations has taken a back seat.

“Instead of community elders acting as liaisons in the group certification process, we have agribusiness employees conducting up to 98 percent of inspections,” said Mr. Kastel. “The buyers of these commodities have an economic interest and are anything but independent. And they are certainly not an accredited certification agency, as is required by law.”

5. These points stand in distinct contrast to the regulations U.S. organic farmers must adhere to on their home turf, according to Mr. Kastel. Organic produce reaches the U.S. market below production costs for American organic growers.

This leads to a die-off of American organic farms, which is detrimental given the fact that the demand for organic food continues to rise in the United States, said Mr. Kastel.

According to the Organic Trade Association, organic food sales broke a record of $60 billion in 2022. Nevertheless, organic farm acreage “was still less than 1 percent of U.S. farmland. Retail has shifted and big food stores, such as conventional supermarkets, club stores, and supercenters gain shares of the organic food market.

This leads away from local and domestically-grown produce, causing a move toward large international companies dominating the organic food market.

U.S Department of Agriculture

Repeated Challenges for US Organic Farmers

Brian Quant and his wife Valerie run White Rabbit Acres in Newberry, Florida, where they grow organic turmeric. Mr. Quant said that he wishes that foreign farms simply would be subject to the same regulations.

“What grinds my gears is that we, as U.S. farmers and carrying GAP [Good Agricultural Practices] and an organic certification, are held to a much higher standard and have annual inspections and the fees associated, extensive record keeping, etc., that we must do to be in compliance. Through group certification, none of these growers or collectors have to deal with any of this,” Mr. Quant said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Mr. and Mrs. Quant harvested a record crop of over 30,000 pounds of turmeric this year.

US Organic Farmers Facing a Turbulent Market

Although Mr. and Mrs. Quant are proud of such a high-yielding, toxic-free crop this year, they told The Epoch Times that they have had problems selling their organic turmeric on the domestic wholesale market.

“I know from multiple wholesale buyers of turmeric that they buy certified organic turmeric from Fiji for $65.00 to $75.00 per 30-pound box delivered about anywhere in the U.S.,” said Mr. Quant. “That’s $2.50 per pound. Have you ever seen organic turmeric in any store for less than $12.00 per pound? It’s good to know that someone is doing nicely in this arrangement.”

And so, he said, he and his wife continue to battle competing forces and struggle for the survival of their farm.

Courtesy of Mark Kastel, OrganicEye

Currently, the Quants are selling their class-A product directly to consumers and ship for free within the continental United States.

They also have teamed up with OrganicEye and welcome the formal request for an investigation by the Office of Inspector General.

Formal Appeal for a Non-Crop-Specific Problem

OrganicEye issued a formal complaint on June 17, requesting an investigation of the National Organic Program (NOP) “requirements of certification.

This follows a 2023 lawsuit against the USDA, filed by Bruce Kaser, an organic hazelnut farmer and attorney from Oregon, who teamed up with OrganicEye.

Several cases were brought to the attention of OrganicEye that are alleged breaches of the Organic Foods Production Act and include failings (actions or inactions) of the NOP. They challenge the intent of the Strengthening Organic Enforcement ruling, which the USDA implemented in 2023—the first tightening of organic oversight since the act was passed by Congress in 1990.

Ongoing Investigations

“We don’t need another lawsuit,” Mr. Kastel told The Epoch Times. The Oregon hazelnut case is comprehensive and covers other crops as well, he said.

However, “existing laws need to be enforced. We also need to be vigilant about what lawmakers are doing in Washington D.C., possibly retrofitting amendments hidden in bills thousands of pages long,” Mr. Kastel said.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy to cry crocodile tears on behalf of these hard-working, small farmers while OTA [Organic Trade Association] agribusiness members rake in billions of dollars and fail to show any compassion for the United States growers who are being squeezed out of business,” said Mr. Kastel.

OrganicEye has created an action alert, which states that “the industry’s powerful lobbyists at the Organic Trade Association are proposing that the legal conflict be resolved by having Congress change the law, thus legalizing the current practice and allowing a vastly different standard for imported commodities than for those grown domestically.”

They urge the public to contact their members of Congress to ensure their representatives are aware of this subterfuge.

Consumers Be Aware–Contaminated Turmeric as a Health Risk

Monitoring and testing turmeric imports are important.

Mr. and Mrs. Quant had their produce tested for heavy metals by an independent laboratory facility. The results came back clear and showed low contamination levels of less than 0.015 parts per million (ppm) of lead and less than 0.0018 ppm of mercury.

As a comparison, the “EPA’s standard for lead in bare soil in play areas is 400 ppm by weight and 1200 ppm for non-play areas,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The British Committee on Toxicity wrote in a 2022 meeting statement, “Turmeric powder can be intentionally or unintentionally adulterated with chemical dyes or powders of other species of Curcuma which may be toxic.”

“Furthermore, in supplements, there have been a number of reported cases that involved adulteration with nimesulide, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug known to cause liver problems,” the statement continues.

According to a public health report published in the National Library of Medicine, turmeric and other spices are often altered to enhance color or weight.

A study published in the journal Foods notes an increased “economic adulteration and contamination with botanical additives and chemical substances.”

History of Organic and Group Certifications

In the 1980’s, organic farmers called for an increase in regulations to support their sustainable growing practices. “Back then, nothing was regulated,” Mr. Kastel recalled during his interview with The Epoch Times.

“Some farmers used pesticides one year, the next growing season they decided not to and sold the produce as organic—without any waiting period. There was no level playing field, so we called for certifications. Now, we must live with the consequences and fight the gross exploitation of this. Once again, there is no level-playing field.”

“The organic label was created to make shopping easier for individuals, to know at one sight the quality of the product in hand. This has changed,” Mr. Kastel told The Epoch Times. “These days, customers of organic products need to conduct even more research. It would be best to seek U.S.-grown produce.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the USDA for comments on this matter. At the time of printing, we had not received a reply.