Given how the United States is recognized as a nation having one of the most stringent regulatory and standard agencies in the eyes of the world, people would doubt the success of these governmental agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in putting out the rage of millions of Americans, which those include organic farmers or social activists.
The pro-organic community had been worried and concerned about the validity of organic the ‘Certified Organic’ labels issued by the National Organic Program (NOP) of the USDA. While it is very pleasing to see that organic farmers are subsidized, meaning that the government is actually encouraging the growth of organic farming, the ‘license’ to farm organically is just being given to farmers, way to leniently.
The sad truth is that the probability that the integrity of organic food will be compromised is just too high, either a possible pollen drift from a genetically-modified organism (GMO) or the fact that giants like Wal-mart getting a share in the organic food market. Thus, the NOP should consider reestablishing or strengthening the regulations for maintaining the standards of organic farms and organically grown crops. It can begin from the location of the farm. Besides soil quality, farms should only be granted certification if the location is of a certain distance away from any urban developments or conventional farming operations. Taking a drastic step further, the NOP could even make specifications and restrictions on the location of organic farms. For instance, organic farms must be contained in valleys to prevent any pesticides and GMOs ‘contamination’.
There are also voices that call for the inclusion of GMOs into the definition of organic food. Just because that Bt toxins are sprayed on organic crops, does that mean that GMOs should be allowed to enter the organic framework? All should realize by now that while Bt pesticides are applied on organic crops, GMOs containing the Bt gene are constantly producing these insecticidal toxins. Bt crops are not synonymous to applications of Bt toxins manually due to that application of the toxins can be manipulated besides that the toxins readily break down in less than a week, and the applications are very minimal in the case of organic farming.
Advocating organic farming does not imply a rejection of conventional farming. Let’s be realistic and admit the fact that the production of organic food is very labor-intensive and would not be sufficient to feed the entire American population, if not the world. Therefore the equilibrium point between conventional and organic farming is needed. While conventional farms are feeding the people, organic farms are there to offset the possible health and environmental impacts, apart from providing the ideal food items for those health conscious people who can afford purchasing organic foods.
Editorial for Plant Pathology 597
