At a meeting in San Antonio, Texas this week to discuss national organic standards, government officials from the USDA had organic food activists arrested and then seized control of the meetings appointing their own chairman.
It appears that the goal of corporate agribusiness is to lower the standards of organic agriculture by using more and more non-organic and synthetic substances. They want to use factory farming techniques and all the other mass production methods that they have been using in conventional food production, but under the organic label. In short, they want to obtain the financial gain of using the certified organic label, while not expending additional money to produce higher quality products.
They are happy to be organic in name only and to meet the lowest bar of organic production that is possible. They are using the organic label for corporate gain while destroying the meaning of the word “organic” for those who are working hard to produce the highest quality products.
If corporations continue to dominate the National Organic Standards Board and continue to control the staff of the National Organic Program, then we can expect to see greater weakening of organic standards. If this happens, then we will no longer be able to depend on the USDA to help us navigate between food options.
