For the last eight years, Bush administration officials at the USDA have been widely criticized for "monkeywrenching" the National Organic Program. They have been accused of not enforcing the law and, among other improprieties, allowing giant factory farms to produce organic milk, meat, and eggs.
Understandably, the industry viewed Barack Obama's election as a likely turning point. "We were and still are optimistic that when Mr. Obama talked about 'change' during his campaign, that he included a shift away from corporate agribusiness domination at the USDA," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute.
Kastel cites the large number of petition signatures - 40,000 on Organic Consumers Assocatiation's petition asking Congress to reject Vilsack's nomination (which Congress promptly ignored, unanimously confirming Vilsack immediately after the inauguration) and the Food Democracy Now petition which is at 83,798 signatures and still going.
Food Democracy Now began by asking for a "reform" oriented USDA secretary and provided a list of six candidates they endorsed. After Vilsack's nomination, they extended their list to 12, asking for a lower USDA appointment for one of their "sustainable dozen." The result of the petition is still waiting to be seen.
Apparently Industrial Organics felt so threatened by the success of these petitions, they launched their own site - SupportVilsack.com.
The success of the Organic Consumer Association's outreach prompted a group of the organic industry's corporate CEOs to launch their own counter petition drive in support of the Obama nominee.
Officers of some of the largest corporate entities like Whole Foods, Stonyfield and United Natural Foods Inc., the nation's near-monopoly organic and natural foods distributor, have signed on in support of Mr. Vilsack. Their petition, totaling about 500 signatories, includes many Iowa residents who personally worked with Mr. Vilsack when he was governor.
What does Kastel have to say about this?
"We hate to see what appears to be the grassroots lining up in opposition of this nominee and corporate investors breaking with their most dedicated customers. This split is not healthy for the organic community."
I interpret this to say: Whole Foods, etc, PLEASE understand that your customers do not want the same types of industrial practices used on their food, only to have an organic label and a higher price slapped on the packaging. They are dedicated to truly sustainable agriculture. While Cornucopia does not endorse any of the dueling petition sites, they do hope Obama will bring change to the National Organic Program, which Cornucopia called "dysfunctional."
"Mr. Obama has made it clear that he will be the CEO of the new executive branch management team," Kastel added. "We fully expect, whether or not Mr. Vilsack is confirmed, which appears likely, that the White House will reinstate transparency and a sense of dedication to serving the public at what Lincoln called the 'People's Department.'"
Cornucopia's letter to the Obama team:
described the NOP's long-standing adversarial relationship with the majority of organic farmers and consumers and the groups that represent them. It said, based on information gathered from freedom of information documents: "Senior management, with oversight of the NOP, has treated industry stakeholders arrogantly and disrespectfully and has overridden NOP career staff when their findings might have been unfavorable to corporations with interests in the organic industry."
"We would strongly recommend, as many public corporations do when trying to regain shareholder and Wall Street confidence, that the Department bring in a highly respected and skilled individual from the outside to run this program," added Kastel.
Another key quote in the op ed is:
In addition to having a program staff devoid of professional or academic backgrounds in organic agriculture, the USDA has been sharply criticized for "stacking" the NOSB, the expert advisory panel set up by Congress, with corporate interests.
They also noted that starting out with signals that they intend to clean up the USDA's record on organics would be a very sharp political move for either Obama or Vilsack.
"A positive statement on organics now, by Mr. Vilsack, should satisfy both the corporate and grassroots factions now competing in the (organic) marketplace of ideas." |
