[cgfc] Action Alert! Organic Standards

[Jeanne Higgs]

I am considering attending the event below to read a statement. If anyone 
else is interested maybe we could head up to Chicago together?

Jeanne Higgs
Outreach Coordinator

Action Alert=20

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The Corporate Attack on Organic Agriculture=20

USDA National Organic Program selling out to corporate agribusiness=20

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It's time for organic consumers and farmers to draw a line in the sand.  =
Now
that organic agriculture is a 12 billion dollar industry it is squarely =
in
the crosshairs of multinational corporate sharpshooters.  Some want to
discredit organics and kill the hope it offers farmers.  Others-major =
food
manufacturers-are entering organic production, cutting corners, =
jacking-up
prices, and endangering the integrity of organic agriculture (factory =
farms,
nonorganic inputs, and imported ingredients with questionable
certification). =20

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*     Large multinational corporations like General Mills, Kelloggs, =
Heinz,
Dean's, and Dannon are gobbling up organic concerns and contracting out =
to
factory farms or importing their ingredients ... raising prices to the
consumer while sometimes cutting what they're paying farmers. =20

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*     The political appointees and bureaucrats at the USDA's National
Organic Program (NOP) are becoming masters at creating loopholes for
corporate organic farming.  Want to raise chickens without access to the
outdoors, include an unapproved preservative in your product, bring in
replacement dairy cattle shot-up with antibiotics and from nonorganic
sources? ... No problem, the NOP would not think of making you choose
between the integrity of organic agriculture and your greedy zeal to
increase profits.  Just this month they approved the use of antibiotics =
on
young cattle on organic dairy farms!

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*     Right-wing think tanks like the Hudson Institute and Competitive
Enterprise Institute are cranking out misleading news stories accusing
organic farmers of lying to consumers about not using pesticides,
mislabeling food, etc.  Not surprisingly, funding for this =
smear-campaign is
coming from large chemical and biotechnology companies like Dupont and
Monsanto. =20

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Take action now!=20

The National Organic Standards Board is holding their semi-annual =
meeting,
with the opportunity for public comment, on April 30th at 8:00 a.m.  =
Your
voice needs to be heard.  Organic farmers cannot do the quality job of
sustainable stewardship and compassionate animal husbandry if they're =
forced
to compete with lax standards on factory farms and cheap, suspect =
imports.
They need your support!

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You can testify in person or in writing, we will arrange for you to
"partner" with an organic farmer, too far away to afford the time away =
from
the farm to make it into Chicago.  You will have their proxy.  This will
give you the normal 5 minutes to present your views and concerns and an
extra 5 minutes for read a statement from your farmer-partner.  Please =
send
an email to the address below identifying who you are and, something =
about
yourself (family, kids, how long you have eaten organic food and why, =
etc.).
We will email you very simple instructions on how to participate (your
statement can be quite short and we can help you write it if you want).  =


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Now is the time to draw that line in the sand.  If we wait, we run the =
risk
of losing quality organic food and seeing the corporate sector, instead =
of
organic farmers and consumers, benefiting from all the hard work that =
has
gone into building this community. =20

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Yours in solidarity,=20

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Mark Kastel

Director

The Organic Integrity Project=20

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PS: Please pass this message on to other supporters of organic food!

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The Cornucopia Institute=20

P.O. Box 126=20

Cornucopia, Wisconsin 54827=20

<mailto:organic at cornucopia.org> organic at cornucopia.org

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The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice =
for
the family-scale farming community.  Through research, advocacy and =
economic
development our goal is to empower farmers both politically and through
marketplace initiatives. =20

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The Organic Integrity Project will act as a corporate watchdog assuring =
that
no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the =
food it
produces are made in the pursuit of profit.  We will actively resist
regulatory rollbacks and the weakening of organic standards to protect =
and
maintain consumer confidence in the organic food label.

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