The discussion about the different ways in which the word “organic” is being applied in an agricultural context would not be complete without addressing organic certifications. By now, you have almost certainly noticed the creeping tide of organic certification logos appearing on more and more products in your supermarket. On the face of it, this would appear to be a positive development: it is now possible for concerned consumers to see at a glance which products have been produced using organic ingredients. However, the presence or absence of a certification logo is not the end of the story.

For a start, becoming certified is an expensive and time-consuming process. Organic standards are complex documents: the requirements for compliance with the USDA National Organic Program, for example, are contained in two documents (the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), and Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations) that together run to approximately 100 printed pages. The investment of time and money required to understand and ensure compliance with such regulations is often beyond the means of smaller producers*. The end result is that there are many smaller operators out there who are not certified (and hence may not even be allowed to refer to their produce as “organic”), despite meeting or exceeding certification standards, and that there are many larger operators who are certified, despite maintaining very industrialized means of production.

The large agricultural operators also tilt the playing field in their favor by lobbying for exemptions that weaken the standard and allow them to maintain their industrialized operations. Again, using the example of the USDA standard, these exemptions make their presence felt in one of the very first sections of the OFPA:

“To be sold or labeled as an organically produced agricultural product under this title, an agricultural product shall have been produced and handled without the use of synthetic chemicals, except as otherwise provided in this title” (emphasis mine)

So the USDA organic standard doesn’t even guarantee that the products were produced without the use of synthetic chemicals, one of the very basic tenets of the organic philosophy. In addition, the USDA standard allows for three tiers of “organic” produce, based on the percentage of organic ingredients contained within the product. The different tiers have slightly different labeling (“100% organic” for products containing 100% organic ingredients, “organic” for products containing at least 95% organic ingredients, and “made with organic ingredients” for products containing at least 70% organic ingredients), but all may carry the USDA Organic logo.

The essential problem lies not with the certifications themselves, but with the length of our modern industrial food chain. As the distance between us and the producers of our food has increased, the amount of visibility we have into that production has decreased. Certifications are an imperfect attempt to reintroduce some of that visibility into the process, by providing certain assurances regarding the production methods that have been used.

Beyond certifications, there is an alternate – and much more engaging – method of regaining accountability: shorten the food chain. By subscribing to a CSA or shopping at a farmers’ market, you are often directly interacting with the people who grew the food. Our farm is not certified for precisely this reason: as all our produce is sold directly to consumers via our CSA shares and the farmers’ markets we attend, our customers can have a conversation with us and ask questions about any topic they like, including topics that may not be the subject of any kind of certification or regulation at all. As a start you might like to ask about:

• How they maintain and improve the health of their soil
• How they manage weeds, pests and disease
• How they treat their livestock, and under what conditions the livestock are raised
• Whether they grew the food they are selling, or whether they sourced it elsewhere
• Where else they sell their food
• Where they source their inputs (such as seeds and fertilizer) from, including whether they come from the farm itself (e.g. seed-saving, compost)
• The degree of mechanization used on the farm
• The labor practices in place at the farm
• Their reasons for not being certified (or if certified, why they chose to certify and if/how it changed the way they operate)

If you’re really interested in what’s going on at the farm, you may even ask if you can visit, or volunteer to spend some time working in the fields – the farmer will almost certainly be grateful for the extra pair of hands, and there’s no better way to get an insight into where your food comes from than by getting your hands dirty at the source. Either way, you’ll be re-engaging with the story of your food, and strengthening connections with those who are producing it for you. Why not get to know your farmer and, in the process, get to know your food?

* To their credit, the USDA has introduced a program to help producers offset the financial costs of organic certification. However I can personally attest to the fact that on a small farm time is often just as, if not more, scarce a resource.