RAFI-USA E-Bulletin
#13 May
2003 ********************************************************* Victory
for Organic Standards Effective
Consumer Tactics New
Coalition, the NOC **********************************************************
Victory
for Organic Standards By
Steve Etka, Consultant to NOC
It is not
uncommon in the Congressional budget process in Washington for extraneous
"riders" to be tacked on at the last minute to appropriations
bills. Often these riders
are controversial provisions that would not survive if they were to
be subject to an up or down vote on the House or Senate floor. Instead, the riders are often attached as barnacles to large
"must pass" bills during Conference Committee consideration,
where there is little time for the public to learn of the inclusion,
and little or no opportunity to strip the rider from the larger bill
before it is passed.
In February
of this year, the organic agriculture community learned this lesson
first hand when a last-minute rider was added to the Fiscal Year 2003
Omnibus Appropriations bill. At
the behest of Fieldale Farms, a poultry company in Georgia, a provision
was added to the bill (requested by Rep. Nathan Deal R-GA and helped
by Speaker Dennis Hastert R-IL) that would undermine the integrity of the hard-won national
organic standards.
Offensive
rider Specifically,
Section 771 of the Fiscal Year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill would
have allowed livestock producers to label their products as certified
organic, even if they did not use 100 percent organic feed, if the costs
of the feed exceeded 200 percent of the cost of conventional feed.
Within
days of enactment of the offending feed rider, legislation was introduced
in the Senate by Senators Leahy of Vermont and Snowe of Maine (S.457)
and in the House by Congressman Farr of California and Kind of Wisconsin
(H.R.955) to repeal the rider, and restore the integrity of the standards.
Thanks
to strong grassroots support and media outreach, the response was overwhelming
(see consumer tactics below).
The Senate bill garnered 69 cosponsors and the House bill 103
cosponsors.
Wild
Seafood During
the Senate consideration of the Supplemental Appropriations Bill
to Fund the War in Iraq, Senators Leahy, Craig of Idaho, and many
others offered the Senate organic feed rider repeal bill as an amendment.
During the discussions, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
Ted Stevens of Alaska saw an avenue to further his long-standing efforts
to have wild seafood, particularly wild Alaskan salmon, certified as
organic. Again Senator Leahy worked to modify the Stevens' provision
to ensure that the public and the National Organic Standards Board are
fully involved in any standard-setting process with regard to wild seafood.
Signed
into law When the
House and Senate Conference Committee met to resolve the differences
between the two versions of the Wartime Supplemental Appropriations
Bill, the House leadership objected to the non-war provisions added
by the Senate including the organic provisions.
However by the end of the day, both organic provisions (the Leahy
organic feed rider repeal and the Stevens organic seafood measure) remained
in the final package, which was signed into law by President Bush on
April 16th.
The repeal
of the organic feed rider a mere 55 days after its enactment was a significant victory for the organic
community in general, and helped to send the message to Congress that
efforts to undermine the integrity of the organic standards will not
be taken lightly. *****************************************************
Effective
Consumer Tactics When something
works so that ordinary people can have an immediate effect on legislation,
we all need to take a close look at the tactics used by the winners.
Some citizens have nearly given up on having a voice anymore in their
political life when well-paid lobbyists are known to roam the halls
of Congress to work against them.
Yet, despite
the fact that the Iraq war dominated the news when the special rider
to loosen the organic standards was tacked onto an appropriations bill
in Congress, grocery stores and concerned consumers went to work to
defeat it.
Whole Foods
Markets distributed 1 million legislative action cards to their customers
at their 143 stores telling them how to contact their members of Congress
and what to say to repeal the rider.
They directed people to their website to learn more as the fastest
way to instruct the populace. "The outpouring was tremendous,"
said Sarah Kennedy, mid-Atlantic director of marketing for Whole Foods.
Wild Oats,
which has about 75 stores nationwide, launched a similar grassroots
campaign. They put letters in their stores for customers to sign. They
contacted other retailers and producers in their districts who sell
organic foods. The uniting concerns were the attack on the standards
that have been in the making for almost two decades and the trickery
that was attempted.
Even the
mainstream food industry rushed to get onboard since the organic lines
of food are increasing on their shelves as well from "traditional"
companies such as Frito Lay, General Mills, and Tyson Foods. While only about 2 percent of the food supply in the United
States is grown using organic methods, during the past decade sales
of organic products have shown annual increases of at least 20 percent,
according to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, making it the
industry's largest-growing sector.
"What's
been striking to me is that [when] this rider was kind of added, I think
that there was this sense that this was a niche market, a sidelined
group of crunchy granolas that didn't have much political clout, and
if you wanted to go in and mess with the standard, who was going to
stand in your way?" said Steve Etka, consultant for the new National
Organic Coalition.
"The
industry is finding its voice here in Washington," said Michael
Sligh, Director of RAFI-USA's Sustainable Ag Project and the first chairman
of the National Organic Standards Board.
"There is a growing sense in the Senate and in the House
of a need for informal working groups on organics - a positive sign
that this is something that needs to be taken seriously," he said.
(Quotes
and notes from Roll Call Inc., April 9, 2003,
"Political Game of Chicken" by Suzanne Nelson) *********************************************************
A New
Coalition, the NOC Shortly
after the organic feed rider was enacted, RAFI formally joined with
the Center for Food Safety and the Humane Society of the United Sates
to create the National Organic Coalition (NOC).
NOC is "a national
alliance of organizations working to provide a voice for farmers, ranchers,
environmentalists, animal welfare activists, consumers and others involved
in organic agriculture."
The goal
of the coalition is to assure that organic integrity is maintained,
that consumer confidence is preserved and that policies are fair, equitable
and encourage diversity of participation and access.
Each of
the organizations participating in the Coalition's core planning group
have organic agriculture reform as an organizational priority and have
agreed to donate resources to the Coalition. Contributed resources include
financial support, staff/volunteer time, and organizational support.
RAFI-USA has agreed to play a coordinating role, bringing together partners
and raising funds for the Washington-based consultant, Steve Etka.
Each partner
participates in periodic conference calls and members of the core planning
committee communicate with
their membership and participate in larger events focused on organic
agriculture reform as needed.
The repeal
of the organic feed rider was the first order of business for the new
Coalition, and proved that even with few organizations involved, NOC
could be effective. Throughout
the process, NOC worked very closely with the Organic Trade Association
and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.
The NOC
is now turning its attention to the Fiscal Year 2004 appropriations
process, and efforts to seek adequate funding for important organic
programs at USDA and to assure that USDA uses its funds according to
the guidelines laid out by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
For the
National Organic Coalition to continue to be an effective voice in Washington,
it is important that other like-minded organizations join the effort.
Organizations interested in joining the NOC are encouraged to contact
Michael Sligh: msligh@rafiusa.org
****************************************************************************** Bulletin
edited by Mary Clouse - 919-545-0945 ; clouses64@yahoo.com ****************************************************************************** |