-Testing advocate says inspections only way to protect consumers-
OSOYOOS TIMES-January 9, 2008-
By Maureen ParriottrnOsoyoos Times
Don't fix it if it ain't broke, is the reaction of many Okanagan-Similkameen organic farmers to a recently publicized allegation that the way they prove their non-chemical status is too open to fraud or negligence.
Mischa Popoff of Osoyoos, an organic farmer and farm inspector, recently garnered national attention in a McLean's article and a CBC interview about his fear that consumers are paying premium prices for organic produce that may not be genuinely free of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.
The organic market has caught up to the vitamin market in terms of millions of dollars in sales, Popoff said in an interview with the Osoyoos Times, adding that this makes him suspect that the rapidly increasing demand for chemical-free food tempts producers to cut corners.
Sooner or later the lid's going to get blown off of this.rnHe said the only way to prevent misrepresentation in the marketplace is to institute unscheduled surprise testing of the leaves, bark or soil of trees or vegetables on an organic farm. The samples would be taken by an objective third party like himself and would be sent to a federally certified laboratory for analysis.
He contends that this is the only way to offer a real guarantee to consumers that they're getting what they pay for.
It would also, he added, make organic farmers more vigilant about such potential contaminants as wind-blown spray from a neighbour's non-organic orchard or improperly composted manure.
The current system of organic accountability is administered by regional or specialty certification groups under the umbrella of the Certified Organic Association of B.C. Growers are visited by an inspector once a year, sometimes twice if they're new and still in the process of converting. They are required to have up-to-date records of all their activities and any fertilizer applications or organically approved spraying.
Popoff said that this is useless, honour-based paper. It's like your husband keeping a diary that proves he's not cheating you.
Organic orchardist Brigitte Mukai of Osoyoos, who has been in business for 16 years, has no problem admitting that sometimes unexpected circumstances can compromise her goal of 100 per cent organicity.
She said your ordinary backyard lawn person putting down weed-and-feed can cause drift into her orchard and everyone has an oops now and again.
But it's pretty hard for a person to cheat under the current system of self-policing and paper-trailing required by the organic certification groups, she said.
I don't make as much money as someone who sprays (conventionally) and I didn't go into this for that reason, Mukai said.
As for unscheduled inspections or testing, she said somebody has to say they're coming. Farmers are so busy they're pretty hard to pin down.rnShe addressed the health, not monetary, concerns that brought her into organic farming in the first place.
I've heard there's a higher rate of Parkinson's disease here in the (Okanagan) Valley and it scares me that little kids are eating things that have been sprayed or just suffered from drift. I'm surrounded by vineyards now. They don't do much spraying, but they use lots of herbicides. And what about the treated fence posts?rnLinda Edwards, a Cawston organic orchardist, is skeptical of farm inspections. She says she was called last year by an inspector who offered to test her trees for $500, but she declined because she didn't trust the testing methods being offered.
Organic farmers never claim to be totally pesticide-free, anyway. We're like the polar bears in the Arctic because other things can contaminate us.rnEdwards added that she asked what substances the inspector was looking for, but he wouldn't tell her.
She is the president of the Pacific Agricultural Certification Society, the largest such certification group and she said the inspector hadn't approached them for consideration.
We're a volunteer group with some paid staff, she said. The Certified Organic Association of B.C. audits us; we check on the growers and they check on us.
She added she is satisfied with the veracity of the existing system.
She also feels the traceability of organic products back to the producer is amazing.
Any store owner can call me and ask to look at my records. And we do have annual inspections and some surprise visits already.
Edwards said that as of December 2008, all growers will be operating under the national standards currently being formulated in Ottawa that will be equivalent to the U.S. and European certification standards.rnPopoff, who moved to Osoyoos from Winnipeg five years ago following a career as a crop inspector for several local and international organizations, counters that the sampling and testing procedure he advocates would do away with the onerous regulations.
Although he is currently employed as a materials co-ordinator for Southern Mechanical in Penticton, he did approach several area growers about being tested and found that the ones who consented were totally in compliance.
He admits that many local growers and the organic packing house were negative when he approached them, and agrees that some see his testing as just another layer of bureaucracy.
But testing will do away with (the bureaucracy of) the certification groups. There will be no government agencies, and it will all be done privately, he said.
