Regulations slow down industry, farmers say

Synthetic ingredient bans and feed requirements are more costly, farmers say.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some farmers are worried that a federal court ruling requiring that the Agriculture Department must come up with stricter standards for organic food will slow the fast-growing industry.
Consumers advocates say the decision will help ensure that people get higher-quality food when they buy products with the organic label.
The U.S. District Court in Maine finalized a court ruling this month that bans synthetic ingredients in products labeled organic. Also, the ruling requires dairy farmers to feed their cows 100 percent organic feed during the transition to organic.
In a lawsuit against the department, a Maine grower of organic blueberries, Arthur Harvey, contended the current regulations violated the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
Higher costs
The organic dairy industry says the new regulations would make it more expensive for dairy farmers to convert to organic because organic feed can cost two or three times more than conventional feed. Advocates are considering going back to Congress for a legislative remedy.
The department declined comment about the court case or what it would do about the standards.
"We think this will discourage dairy farmers from becoming organic," said George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley, a national farmer-owned organic cooperative based in La Farge, Wis.
Demand for organic milk has risen steadily as consumers seek products free of pesticides and antibiotics.
The court gave the department one year to develop new regulations; the agency would then have an additional year to phase them in.
Current regulations allow dairy farmers who want to go organic to feed their cows 20 percent conventional feed and 80 percent organic feed in the first nine months of the transitional year. That goes to 100 percent for the last three months.
Milk can be labeled organic only after the transitional year.
Warnings
Members of the U.S. House Organic Caucus recently wrote Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to warn that the decision "could decimate every sector of the organic industry." The lawmakers did not call for a change in law, but said they wanted to work with Johanns to resolve the conflict.
Six agriculture, retail and food safety groups, including the Center for Food Safety, have asked the department to develop strict standards in the wake of the court ruling.
Jerome Walch, who has a 50-cow dairy near Rochester, Minn., about 90 miles south of Minneapolis, is in the process of converting to organic. He said he still hopes to go through, but now worries about the economics.
"We'll be selling milk at conventional prices, but buying feed at organic prices," Walch said. "I can buy conventional corn feed for $1.78 a bushel. Organic corn costs $5 to $6."
Urvashi Rangan, an environmental health scientist at Consumers Union in Yonkers, N.Y., said farmers and consumers will benefit from the ruling in the long run.