The definition of organic, these days, especially as it pertains to agriculture, is murky at best. Marketing dictates that whatever the latest trends, and whatever is selling the best or the fastest means — a term is gonna’ get coined, stickers and ads are gonna’ get made, and products are gonna’ get labeled. But as consumers, what are we supposed to pay attention to? What does organic mean, and who is actually making the rules?
According to the Organic Trade Associations’s website, “Setting the stage for U.S. National organic standards, the U.S. Congress adopted the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) in 1990 as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. This action was followed by over a decade of public input and discussion, which resulted in a National Organic Program final rule published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December 2000 and implemented in October 2002. These stringent standards put in place a system to certify that specific practices are used to produce and process organic agricultural ingredients used for food and non-food purposes.”
According to the Organic Trade Associations’s website, “Setting the stage for U.S. National organic standards, the U.S. Congress adopted the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) in 1990 as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. This action was followed by over a decade of public input and discussion, which resulted in a National Organic Program final rule published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in December 2000 and implemented in October 2002. These stringent standards put in place a system to certify that specific practices are used to produce and process organic agricultural ingredients used for food and non-food purposes.”