Massive imports, including many that have been proven fraudulent in the past, are crushing US farmers.
Image: Sunrise Foods International port facility in Giresun, Turkey; certified by FOG.
Source: https://www.sunrisefoods.com/isl/uploads/2020/11/Turkey-2-1.jpg

Industry Watchdog Files Legal Complaint Against Florida Organic Growers

GETTING DOWN TO THE LICK-LOG:

1. Some of the oldest and largest certifiers have partnered with corporate agribusiness to change the working definition of organic farming (allowing livestock factories and giant industrial greenhouses growing produce without soil).

2. An investigation by OrganicEye, a nonprofit watchdog organization for the organic industry, found that these certifiers are mixing lobbying, marketing, and activism with their certification responsibilities — and taking “payola” from the clients they certify — despite laws prohibiting those practices.

3. They are also certifying “producer groups” in Eastern Europe, Central America, and Asia without inspecting and certifying each individual farm as required by law — competitively crushing US family farmers while raking in tens of millions of dollars in profit for themselves.

4. Are foxes guarding the organic henhouse? USDA-appointed lobbyist-affiliates are serving on the National Organic Standards Board, setting policy and allowing certifiers and foreign corporations to undermine US farm production.

5. OrganicEye invites industry stakeholders (farmers, ethical businesses, and eaters/consumers) to tell the USDA to protect “our” organic label by enforcing the law.

LA FARGE, WIS: After Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, it charged the USDA with the oversight of dozens of certifiers to ensure their independence and the harmonization of standards. However, the country’s preeminent industry watchdog is accusing the USDA of allowing a handful of the largest certifiers to collude with corporate agribusinesses to industrialize, or import, the organic food supply at the expense of both high standards and the livelihoods of farmers who adhere to them.

OrganicEye, has updated its request to the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) to investigate the National Organic Program, alleging malfeasance in its lack of preventing corporate influence peddling, in the form of financial payments to certifiers over and above inspection fees, and failing to enforce the agency’s regulations preventing conflicts of interest, leading to the erosion of the integrity of the organic label.

In addition to the requested OIG investigation of federal organic regulators, OrganicEye has filed a third formal legal complaint against nonprofit Florida Organic Growers (FOG) and their certification arm, Quality Certification Services (QCS), based in Gainesville, FL. The complaint documents contributions, conference sponsorships, and other payments over and above certification fees from operations FOG oversees.

“We continue to say that it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to refer to money changing hands between agribusiness clients and the profiting organizations that certify them as ‘payola,’” said Mark Kastel, OrganicEye’s Executive Director.

USDA regulations require nonprofits doing lobbying, advocacy work, and education to divest themselves of their certification operations so competing activities do not constitute a conflict of interest. OrganicEye’s research has found that, despite clear instructions from the USDA when federal organic regulations first went into effect in 2002, FOG has remained a single, unified corporate entity.

“Our current research project is focused on why a certain subset of the largest organic certifiers have been all too willing to partner with corporate agribusiness on cashing in on the growth of organics, while others have upheld traditionally high standards,” said Kastel. “FOG/QCS has joined two of the other largest ‘independent’ certifiers in the country, CCOF and Oregon Tilth (OTCO), in selling out hard-working produce and livestock farmers by certifying giant industrial operations, many allegedly flagrantly breaking the law.”

In the fall of 2023, OrganicEye filed its first administrative law complaint in their campaign to address what the organization refers to as the “out-of-control certification system.” The complaint was filed against CCOF, based in Santa Cruz, California, the country’s largest certifier with revenues of $27 million a year.

“We’ve seen organizations like CCOF, OTCO, and FOG morph from being among the founding groups facilitating the growth of organic farming in the US to multimillion-dollar operations certifying multibillion-dollar corporate agribusinesses,” said Kastel. Based on the most recent filings with the IRS, these certification giants together have reaped tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue.

OrganicEye suggests these operations are “masquerading” as tax-exempt public charities since the preponderance of their incomes are derived from service fees paid by their business clients.

In addition to the controversies surrounding the certification of livestock factories, a number of prominent certifiers, along with the industry’s primary lobby group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA), spearheaded a stealthy campaign in 2017 that resulted in regulators allowing mammoth hydroponic greenhouses (soilless production) to be certified as organic, despite statutory and regulatory language requiring careful soil stewardship before a farm can be certified as organic under the USDA program.

This has left authentic organic farmers who focus on soil fertility and nutrient-dense produce production challenged to compete.

“We’ve been certified organic by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association since 1982. For twenty-five years I volunteered on the MOFGA Certification Committee here in the state of Maine and in our work, we understood our real job was to serve the public interest,” said Jim Gerritsen, who farms in Bridgewater and serves as OrganicEye’s Board President.

MOFGA, universally viewed as among the most ethical certifiers, approves neither hydroponic greenhouses nor large “organic” concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also referred to as “factory farms.”

Gerritsen, who specializes in selling seed potatoes to other professionals and gardeners, continued, “As a family farmer, I am extremely troubled that the largest organic certifiers in the country [QAI, CCOF, Oregon Tilth, and FOG] have partnered with corporate agribusiness and the lobbyists in Washington to cash in at the expense of ethical organic farmers and their certifiers, as well as organic consumers.”

“When we worked together to commercialize the organic farming movement, starting in earnest in the 1980s, it was, in part, to promote economic justice for working family farmers who were being forced off the land,” said Kastel. “Now that it’s an estimated $70 billion industry in the United States, most of the profits are flowing to greedy investors, just as in conventional farming. With the power of lobbyists and unrestrained campaign money, federal regulators have become co-conspirators. And the lack of certifier oversight is front and center.”

“With many family-scale organic farms struggling economically, and hundreds of others forced to exit the industry over the last few years (according to published data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service), these practices are clearly having devasting impacts,” Kastel added. OrganicEye reports that, since releasing its research concerning alleged improprieties two of the nation’s largest certifiers, CCOF and Oregon Tilth, the industry watchdog has received numerous inquiries from farmers indicating many operations are considering switching certifiers.

Florida Organic Growers (FOG) was founded in 1989 and certifies “clients” in 39 states in 20 countries. It has subsidiaries in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

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FOG has historically been one of the most politically connected certifiers, with its founder, Marty Mesh, serving as a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the country’s most prominent organic industry lobby group, the Organic Trade Association. While serving as FOG Executive Director, Mr. Mesh was also a charter board member of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), an unregulated, industry-funded body that certifiers subcontract to approve inputs for organic farming.

Mr. Mesh abruptly left both his position with FOG and the OTA at the end of 2018.

Currently, two of the three board members at FOG serve on the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the 15-member expert “independent” panel Congress set up to advise the USDA Secretary on implementing federal law governing organics and to scrutinize synthetic and non-organic inputs (Logan Petrey, an employee of Grimmway – Bunny-Luv Cal-Organic Farms, the nation’s largest organic farming operation with approximately 40,000 acres, and Dr. Franklin Quarcoo, an academic researcher at Tuskegee University).

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“We hope organic stakeholders are starting to see a pattern here based on OrganicEye’s research,” said Kastel. “Corporate agribusinesses play fast and loose with the rules, they choose friendly compliant certifiers, and when they are caught in the act, the USDA all too often fails to take action.”

OrganicEye is hoping that ethical farmers and certified organic business operations will consider switching their allegiance and economic patronage to certifiers who share their values and interpretations of federal law.

According to OrganicEye’s Kastel, “With the USDA delegating so much authority to certifiers, there are now effectively two organic labels: corporate brands affiliated with the OTA and certified by organizations motivated by profit and industry growth, and other industry participants who have not lost touch with the foundational precepts of the organic movement.”

OrganicEye is assisting farmers around the country, with free consulting and other resources, who are switching to certifiers who share their values rather than undercutting their livelihoods.

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For more information on FOG/QCS finances and conflicts of interest, please see OrganicEye’s backgrounder.

Group Certification Bombshell

FOG is heavily involved in the imports of organic food which are undercutting US farmers, including from “producer groups” whose members are almost universally uncertified (due to ignoring federal law requiring annual inspections by a qualified certifier).

A recent federal lawsuit, in which OrganicEye partnered with one of their farmer-members who was facing challenges in marketing his Oregon-produced organic hazelnuts due to cheap imports from Turkey, documented that the USDA is permitting certifiers to allow corporate agribusinesses-buyers to self-certify their suppliers in “groups.” Some of these groups were found to include hundreds or thousands of uninspected “organic” farms.

An investigation by the Washington Post in 2017, supported by OrganicEye leadership, uncovered large-scale fraud in the importation of organic feed grain, in particular from Turkey which has been a major US supplier.

Many operations in the Black Sea region were previously decertified, or voluntarily surrendered their USDA organic certificates, but continue to export to the US after either being recertified under the NOP or under the “equivalency agreement” with the European Union, including transshipping through Canada. One company, Canadian-based Sunrise Foods International, with facilities certified by FOG, is a prominent exporter to the US and has even built a separate port facility in Turkey to ship organic commodities.

“But not to worry,” OrganicEye’s Kastel sarcastically noted. “Sunrise, which has six operations in Turkey certified by FOG, has retained Miles McEvoy, former head of the USDA’s National Organic Program, as its ‘Organic Integrity Advisor.’”

Mr. McEvoy abruptly retired from the USDA in September of 2017 after Mr. Kastel filed a formal ethics complaint with the USDA questioning the propriety of the former regulator’s relationships with some certifiers and other entities he was, directly or indirectly, charged with overseeing.

“The revolving door — a long-established institution in Washington, where lobbyists and regulators frequently change positions and are rewarded with lucrative jobs or contracts after they leave public service — is unfortunately alive and well at the USDA,” Kastel lamented.

OrganicEye has long objected to the influx of industry participants affiliated with the lobbyists at the Organic Trade Association into both USDA management and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), where they currently hold the majority of positions on the board.

According to Kastel, “What has happened at the USDA’s National Organic Program can, sadly, only be described as ‘regulatory capture.’”

In addition to accepting donations from corporations and individuals receiving certification, FOG also accepts donations from suppliers of fertilizer and other farm inputs — the same inputs that must be scrutinized by the certifier for their appropriateness for use in organic production.

Over the past 20 years, OrganicEye’s Kastel has consistently been critical of the USDA’s National Organic Program for allowing “independent” certifiers to effectively act as lobbyists for their corporate clients.

Certifiers regularly testify at National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meetings in defense of the use of synthetic and non-organic materials in organic agriculture and food processing.

“I have contended that certifiers, many of which are members of the OTA lobby group, should act as impartial referees rather than advocating on behalf of their paying clients,” said Kastel. He went on to note that no certifiers have been more active in having employees serve on the NOSB and/or lobbying its members over the years than OTCO, CCOF, and FOG/QCS.

CCOF and OTCO also cofounded the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), an organization that receives the vast majority of its funding from agrochemical and fertilizer manufacturers while being tasked with scrutinizing their products for legal appropriateness for use in organic agriculture. FOG’s founder and longtime Executive Director, Mr. Mesh, served as a founding member of its Board of Directors.

OrganicEye is encouraging organic farmers to switch to one of the high-integrity certifiers, including: Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA), OneCert, Baystate Organic Certifiers, Global Organic Alliance (GAO), NOFA-NY, Vermont Organic Farmers, and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). [Certified organic producers can contact OrganicEye for a free consultation.]

In addition to OTCO, CCOF, and FOG/QCS, other certifiers that certify hydroponic and/or livestock CAFOs’s include: the Texas and Colorado Departments of Agriculture, Quality Assurance International (QAI), Organic Certifiers, Inc., EcoCert, Where Food Comes from Organic (WFCFO, formerly A Bee Organic), and Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA).

FOR ORGANIC STAKEHOLDERS: OPTIONS TO TAKE ACTION

1. Take two minutes to send a message to the leadership at the USDA National Organic Program demanding they take immediate enforcement action against certification scofflaws.

2. Please forward this email to your friends, family, and business colleagues. Knowledge is our secret weapon in going toe-to-toe with the corporate lobbyists.

3. Share a link to this press release on your social media channels: www.organiceye.org/improprieties

4. Please consider joining OrganicEye to support our work and stay connected to this and other issues. (Alternatively, you can sign up for our free news feed.)