[SustainableTompkins] [Fwd: The Organic Divide: Corporate Executives and Organic Community Hold "Dueling" Summits]

[Liz Karabinakis]

Another try since the forward doesn't look like it went through the 
first time...
For those that get confused- the Organic Summit is being held this week 
in Boulder and is exclusive, the Organic COMMUNITY Summit was a 
teleconference and was inclusive.


Below, please find an open letter from the participants in the Organic 
Community Summit. The letter grew from a discussion by approximately 100 
diverse organic stakeholders and participants during a conference call 
this past Monday. This open letter has been sent to the organizers of an 
event being held this week in Boulder, Colorado, that’s been promoted as 
"/The/ Organic Summit" (sponsored by New Hope Communications—a major 
industry trade show firm and publisher of /Natural Foods Merchandiser/).

When many of us first heard of "The Organic Summit" we assumed that the 
term /summit/ was indicative of an all-inclusive gathering of the whole 
organic industry/community. However, due to a cap on the number of 
participants, high fees and hotel costs, transportation expenses to 
Colorado (far from where the majority of organic production takes 
place), as well as scheduling the event during the busy farming season, 
it became apparent that the organic discussion was primarily designed 
for business leaders, industry representatives, venture capitalists and 
investors with just a smattering of (selected) community delegates.

In fact, participation could easily cost a small farmer or family 
business owner $2500 or more.

Those signing this open letter helped organize the Organic _Community_ 
Summit because many members of the organic community are being excluded 
from what has been billed as the “new organic conversation” with 
"industry leaders" in Boulder.

We further understand that only three preselected members of the media 
were invited to cover this event and that other reporters have been told 
they are not welcome. We hope that reporters covering the Boulder event 
will balance their story by including an articulation of our concerns.

If you are a member of a listserv, publish a blog, or maintain a web 
site, we also encourage you to disseminate this information widely. We 
are all stakeholders in preserving the integrity of the organic label…..

*The Organic Community Summit*

June 18, 2007

Dear Organic Stakeholders,

Approximately a hundred diverse members of the extensive organic 
community met on Monday, June 18, in an effort to reach consensus on 
issues of deep concern to members of the organic movement that includes 
a wide range of commercial entities, consumers, advocates, and farmers. 
The teleconference was quickly put together in response to the highly 
exclusive nature of the so-called Organic Summit due to meet this week 
in Boulder, Colorado.

When many of us first heard of that meeting, we assumed that the term 
/summit/ was indicative of an all-inclusive gathering of the whole 
organic industry/community. However, due to a limit on the number of 
participants, high fees and hotel costs, transportation expenses to 
Colorado (far from where the majority of organic production takes 
place), as well as scheduling the event during the busy farming season, 
it became apparent that this discussion of organics was primarily 
designed for business leaders and industry representatives, with just a 
smattering of selected community delegates. We were motivated to sponsor 
the Organic _Community_ Summit when we learned that many key 
participants would be excluded from joining what was billed as the “new 
organic conversation” with "industry leaders" in Boulder.

The Community meeting featured two keynote speakers. Jim Riddle, former 
National Organic Standards Board chair, said organics encompasses a wide 
range of farmers, activists, academics, business people, and regulatory 
personnel, and “in harmony we thrive.” He said the organic movement has 
strong roots, and this is a time of great opportunity for the whole 
community, as organic agriculture is best positioned to meet today’s 
paramount challenges of climate change, energy use, and sustainable food 
production. These issues were underscored by the second keynoter, Fred 
Kirschenmann, a universally respected organic leader and also former 
member of the NOSB, in the context of the longtime organic movement, 
which grew out of the commitment to soil health principles espoused by 
its early pioneers. He also referred to the tension the organic 
community is experiencing with the commercialization and mainstreaming 
of movement ideals and the need for the entire industry to move beyond 
this conflict if organic is to survive as meaningful label in the 
marketplace.

The remainder of the meeting was open to all the Summit participants. 
Others sent comments via e-mail. Participants strongly felt that all 
sectors in the organic community (farmers, advocates, consumers, 
academics, public interest groups, investors, manufactures, 
distributors, and retailers) are vitally important to both the economic 
success and realizing the societal benefits that organic food represents.

Maintaining genuine and meaningful organic standards was high on 
everyone’s list. The organic industry is successful because of the high 
esteem the consumer holds for organic food and the farmers who produce 
it, as well as an authentic approach to food processing, distribution, 
and retailing. There is great danger that market acceptance will rapidly 
diminish if consumers perceive the integrity of organic is being 
breached by business interests looking to capitalize on organics’ good 
name. Organic production does not mean business as usual in this 
respect, but rather resides in the province of socially responsible 
business.

In the coming years, climate change, energy conservation, water quality 
and quantity, and food security will be the major emerging themes in 
this country and around the world. How agriculture reacts to the end of 
cheap energy and cheap water resources will have a profound effect on 
our well-being and, through impacts of global warming, on the planet. In 
all of our deliberations we need to make sure that organic food 
production, processing, and distribution remain a proactive alternative 
for consumers to meet these profound challenges.

Organic food also needs to remain at the forefront of offering consumers 
alternatives to technologies and practices they find environmentally 
destructive, a danger to their families’ health, or morally abhorrent. 
In the near term, animal cloning, genetic pollution, livestock 
confinement operations, as well as the exponential growth of imports and 
concomitant food safety problems will be high-profile issues that have 
the potential to showcase the vastly superior organic alternative.

To keep organics healthy, other important issues will also need to be 
addressed. There is wide concern that smaller farmers and processors are 
being squeezed out in terms of distribution opportunities and escalating 
costs at the USDA for certification. Also, aggressive action is needed 
to recruit and train new, young farmers to take the place of retiring 
organic producers and to meet increasing demand for organic 
commodities—domestically. The word /local/ needs to be respected and 
continued to be associated with organics. Shipping food around the 
country, or around the world, does not conform to the expectation of the 
organic consumer. And more needs to be done to facilitate market access 
by smaller, dedicated farmers, who are held in high esteem by the 
consumers. These family-scale farmers are the "face of organics”!

Overall, we need a greater level of transparency, both in the processes 
and ingredients used to manufacture organic food and in the oversight of 
our industry by the USDA. At the same time, the National Organic Program 
needs a much higher level of funding, as does organic research. Industry 
clout could be a positive force for change at the political level to 
support and expand all aspects of organic agriculture.

In closing, we need to move toward a unified industry. The fact that we 
felt compelled to hold a /Community/ Summit in the same week that 
industry interests were holding /their/ Summit is counterproductive and 
a loss of a great opportunity to join experienced and passionate people 
in the common goal of furthering the organic movement. This message, and 
our gathering, were not intended to be "anticorporate." We absolutely 
welcome corporate investors into the organic market. Their capital and 
expertise have broadened both product offerings and distribution and are 
an integral part of organics’ success. But, the commercial sector needs 
to carefully consider the long-term implications of not respecting the 
high standards created by the organic community/industry. If we lose the 
integrity of the organic standards, we will rapidly lose organics’ 
preeminence in the marketplace.

We all look forward to future meetings that are truly legitimate 
gatherings of the /entire /organic community. Together, we can ensure 
that organic food and farming offer healthy returns to farmers and 
investors, respectful employment to all those involved in such an 
important enterprise, respect for the Earth, a productive, sustainable, 
safe, and nutritionally rich food supply that meets modern energy and 
climate challenges, and a positive “green” model for society.

Sincerely yours, on behalf of all those who participated in Monday's 
Organic Community Summit,

Barth Anderson

The Wedge Co-op

The nation's largest single-store natural foods cooperative

Dave Engel

Certified organic dairy farmer

Natures International Certification Services

Ronnie Cummins

Organic Consumers Association

Steven Heim

Expert in corporate responsibility and ethical investing

Boston Common Asset Management

Steve Gilman

New York Organic Farming Activist

Michael Potter, CEO

Eden Foods

Ken Rabas

Farmers All-Natural Creamery

Mark Kastel

The Cornucopia Institute

Trudy Bialic

PCC Natural Markets

The nation’s largest consumer-owned grocery Cooperative

Goldie Caughlan

PCC Natural Markets

Former member: National Organic Standards Board

/Organizations listed are for identification purposes only/


  *_ _*


  *_Minutes from the Organic Community Summit – 6/18/07_*

The */Organic Community Summit/* phone conference began at 1 pm CST on 
Monday, June 18. Conference call phone logs indicate approximately 100 
people participated in the phone conference (we maxed out the capacity 
of the phone system—98 callers—so, unfortunately, we assume that some 
folks who had intended to participate might not have been able to get 
through).

*Jim Riddle*, one of the invited speakers (internationally recognized 
leader in organic inspection policy and training and immediate past 
chairman of the National Organic Standards Board), presented his 
observations about the gathering, focusing on aspects of organic, 
community, and summit. All of these pieces have substance and meaning, 
Riddle said. When we work in harmony is when we thrive, he added. As 
organic continues to grow, Riddle predicts we will see peaks and valleys 
along the way, and we need to stay focused on the opportunity and the 
challenges. *Energy conservation*, *water quality, and food security* 
are emerging themes. We need to take head-on the issue of organic 
integrity.

Riddle identified other important issues, including *cloned animals*, 
*confinement of livestock* *and pasture*, *imports of organic food* and 
threats to our own food security, the lack of standards enforcement, and 
the inadequate funding of the National Organic Program, which needs its 
fair share of federal dollars. He said we need a *conversion to organics 
incentive* program and *funding for organic inspectors*. We need to 
include credentialing to ensure those inspecting understand the 
principles and how they apply.

Riddle called on the community to think strategically. The critics, he 
noted, are needed, but we need to strategically think how we relate to 
consumers.

*Fred Kirschenmann* (one of the most respected voices in the organic 
community—farming 3500 acres in North Dakota, respected academic, early 
pioneer in organic certification, and former member of the National 
Organic Standards Board) also added his perspective as a keynote 
presenter on the call, helping frame the discussion. *Organics, he 
mentioned, emerged as a reaction to industrial agriculture,* and a 
primary aspect of organics is *maintaining soil health*. The core 
message of the leading organic thinkers was that soils were being 
depleted through the use of chemical products. The rise of organic 
certification helped the emergence of organic products into the 
marketplace. Kirschenmann said that organic processors and manufacturers 
involved with the organic industry have a different set of goals, 
including the *mainstreaming of organics*. *Industry goals, he said, 
sometimes conflict with ecological principles*. IFOAM has been working 
to develop approaches overcoming this tension. /Note: Fred has also been 
invited to give the keynote speech at the upcoming corporate-dominated 
Organic Summit in Boulder, Colorado./

Kirschenmann highlighted three major organic challenges, which he 
intends to take to the coming summit in Boulder: the end of cheap stored 
energy, climate change, and the end of cheap water resources for 
agriculture. With 70% of freshwater resources now used for agriculture, 
Kirschenmann called for development of practices utilizing half that 
amount. He said agriculture must develop a new approach to energy 
consumption, as the era of cheap fossil fuels is ending. Climate change 
will further complicate agriculture by, at a minimum, lessening weather 
stability. And it is making monoculture obsolete. A healthy and 
biologically active soil, he added, will not require as much water and 
energy inputs and will be a more diverse system. Together we must face 
the challenges and use the tools and resources set forth by Steiner, 
Rodale, Howard, and others to develop healthy soils, use less energy and 
water, and go beyond the existing diversity to create biodynamic 
synergies with organic agriculture leading the way. Lastly, Kirschenmann 
called upon us to identify farmers who represent the early models of 
sustainability and to document and spread their practices.

Mark Kastel, of The Cornucopia Institute, acting as the moderator, next 
outlined the plans for development and distribution of a letter from the 
participants of the conference call to the attendees/organizers of the 
coming summit in Boulder—the event that precipitated this conference 
call. He also advised people who wanted to speak during the call to send 
an email with a request to speak. Others, without access to e-mail 
during the teleconference, would be able to chime in later in the call.

Fred Kirschenmann added one final observation. He said it is very 
important to pay attention to the marketplace, as consumers are not 
passive, but instead want to be involved with organics. Industry’s 
desire to mainstream doesn’t necessarily include this fact, and we must 
work to encompass the consumers’ desires or face consequences in the 
marketplace.

* *

*…. Comments from community participants:*

*Marty Mesh* (Quality Certification Services, member Organic Trade 
Association board—Florida) asked where the priority is for local in 
organics, where’s the guarantee for market access for smaller producers? 
He also said that conventional grocers and their produce purchasers are 
making a mistake by telling organic farmers what varieties to grow for 
sale in their stores.

*Michael Potter* (CEO, Eden Foods—Michigan) said that many on this phone 
call were driven to it by the loss of natural in organic foods. He 
pointed to unnatural additives and substances that processors are or 
seeking to add to organic foods.

*Leslie Lowe* (Interfaith Council on Corporate Responsibility—New York) 
asked about the likelihood that many urban consumers will be able to 
access and find locally grown foods.

*Mark Kastel* mentioned that cooperative grocers are the gold standard 
for distribution of local foods and Whole Foods is now seeking local 
producers and that organic community members should monitor their 
follow-through.

*Erin Rosas* (certified organic livestock producer—Florida) said the key 
was getting food distributors to wake up to local food demand. She said 
she has noticed an uptick in that during the past two months.

*Doug Crabtree* (USDA accredited certifier—State of Montana) expressed 
concern over the loss of small farmers and producers from organic 
production. He called them the face of organics and one we can’t afford 
to lose, as consumers expect that relationship. He said we need to keep 
organic certification costs affordable and called for reform of the 
National Organic Standards Board so as to allow for greater farmer 
involvement.

*Albert Lusk* (founder, Albert's Organics, distributor—Delaware) said 
that he no longer sees that the larger organic community and its core 
group are effective in guiding the direction of the organic industry. We 
should create programs for recognition of local producers and small farm 
producers. These are marketable, he said.

*Dave Engel* (Natures International Certification Services, organic 
dairy producer—Wisconsin) noted that he, as a farmer, is getting tired 
and called upon us to find and bring in new and more farmers to organic 
agriculture. He said he was not seeing new farmers moving into organics.

*Susan Horn* (TOFGA—Texas) said that the Texas Organic Farmers and 
Gardeners Association holds New Farmers workshops, and she sees two 
segments of new farmers, young families and newly retired.

*Arthur Harvey* (organic inspector, certified grower—Maine) said that 
controversy could be lessened by adding transparency for consumers. He 
called for adding legal language eliminating synthetic processing aids 
and inputs like corn syrup made with the use of benzene. He said the ban 
on synthetics should be noted on the organic ingredients label. He asked 
others to contact him at arthurharvey at yahoo.com 
<mailto:arthurharvey at yahoo.com> if they are interested in working on the 
matter.

*Merrill Clarke* (certified organic livestock producer, former member of 
the NOSB—Michigan) said it was not productive to blame the organic 
industry, but rather, necessary to protect organics through the laws 
that were followed by those who came into organics early on.

*Steve Gilman* (long-time organic farmer and activist—New York) 
mentioned that we have to move toward a unified industry. He expressed 
frustration at the cost of the pending industry summit, which may unify 
the industry but leave out leave out the small producer. Small farmers, 
consumers, and integrity are keys to a unified partnership. But cost 
containment of input providers is not part of this view.

*Mark Kastel* then asked for others who had not yet spoken to add their 
perspectives and concerns. He suggested that anyone who wanted to have 
input into the pending draft of a letter from this conference call by 
its conveners should contact him. The letter will be directed to the 
organizers and attendees of the coming business summit.

The Organic Community Summit phone conference ended at 2:05 pm CST.

Additional notes:

/Organizational names appear for identification purposes only./

/ /

/Many e-mails of thanks, including thoughtful comments, from call 
participants that did not speak during the teleconference were received 
following the call and distributed to all the co-conveners prior to 
drafting the public letter./

/ /

/These minutes were prepared by Will Fantle, Susan Horn, and Steve 
Gilman.///

/ /

/We were asked to distribute this message by NOAP organizers. Many on 
the call support their work: Several national groups, led by the Rural 
Advancement Foundation International, have been working for the past 
several years (and continuing) to engage the entire organic community in 
developing a _National Organic Action Plan. _*Ongoing regional dialogues 
have been held in 2007, open to participants in many venues around the 
country, and more will continue throughout 2008, culminating in a 
National Organic Action Plan Summit in very early 2009, where 
participants can come together to focus a National Plan. *After years of 
reacting to the implementation of the Organic Foods Production Act, and 
USDA’s National Organic Program, it is time for the entire organic 
community – farmers, consumers, farm workers, industry, trade, urban and 
rural groups – to take a step forward, and begin to develop a vision for 
Organic -- 10 to 20 years in the future. The scope and vision could 
include both governmental and non-governmental goals as to where organic 
should go, and how to get there, from Farm Bill priorities for Organic, 
to acreage and sales goals for the future, as well as incorporating 
quantitative and qualitative measures for a long list of societal 
benefits provided by organic.
*For more information, or if you would like to participate in regional 
dialogues and/or the National Summit, please contact Liana Hoodes at 
Liana at hvc.rr.com <mailto:Liana at hvc.rr.com>

*/Liz Karabinakis wrote:

> As Walmart trumps Co-ops in "organic" sales, the future integrity of 
> organic agriculture has become (more) uncertain. Eating is something 
> we all do (I hope) but it sometimes escapes us that our food choices 
> provide us with a means to support sustainability on a daily basis. 
> For those interested in the future of "organic" you might find the 
> below information of interest.
> In Cooperation,
> Liz
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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-- 
Elizabeth Karabinakis
Member & Community Services
GreenStar Cooperative Market
607.277.0080 x501
ekarabinakis at greenstar.coop