Transparency and Choices

As consumers, with all products such as produce, protein, fruits and textiles that are available to us have choices. There are many choices that we can make on the ones we want to consume or wear. We rely on the integrity of the products, specially what’s on the label or signs that display the produce, for example. Farmers plant, grow and producers supply the US, can export as well. The US also imports products that have been processed or imports only unfinished products and processes it in the US. Transparency and integrity of any consumer textile products that’s purchased as clothes, bedding, drapes, or materials used for housing, in cars, for example are very important. Most important should be the foods and drinks consumers consume daily.?

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When it comes to food consumption of certified organic products from Acai to Zucchini has taken the food chain by surprise since the Pandemic. Even though that the organic trend started in the 70’s by two college dropouts, started an organic store which is now Whole Foods. At the same time different third party started the California Certified Organic Farming in Santa Cruz. Slowly, these both grew “organically” strong for over five decades. While other Organic certifications were occurring during this period throughout the world, also many other stores tip toed into organic products in areas of the store. Many believe the largest single push however was the last four years due to the pandemic. There’s been a huge push world over, social media and alike for organic products.

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Farmers must have a minimum of three full years with no synthetic materials applied to their farm to become organic certified in California. This is called transition period. This would be a full compliance with inspections annually. This is what you see at the farmers market with the cardboard sign that says the tomatoes are Organic. Unless they have a Certificate, they didn’t go through the rigid compliance, inspections or went into transition for three years. I also believe that anyone says that they are practicing Organic is not certified. Practicing means you keep running the play on the baseball field until you get it right. My view we follow the methods, and we are Certified Organic. Yes, strict inspections every year from a third-party certifier, yes there’s buffer zones from neighbors who are non-organic and compliance of not using any synthetic materials. The inspector will find out if you applied a non-certified material to the farm, then your back doing a 3-year transition period.

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Research is now showing farming organically can be more profitable than conventional or sustainable or any practices that use synthetic materials. Many of use organic growers already know that. I as a farmer in Napa Valley and certified since 1984 already knew this with decades of experience farming my vineyards and others in Napa Valley. We end up dropping great fruit on the ground each year with over production. We still end up with higher production averages of Napa County. This also happens with my organic vegetable garden and fruit orchards as well. I would say unless you know how to prepare yourself through transition that could be a costly experience. The US organic food market, which is estimated to grow from 88 billion in 2024 to 255 billion dollars in 2034 has the consumers behind them. So, it doesn’t take Roundup Ready Seeds, GMO and Synthetic materials to do so, that is greenwashing from websites that most likely backed by the big Ag Chemical companies. ?

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I am very concerned about how produce was farmed prior to purchasing it and consuming it. As a second-generation farmer, and I know the difference and so should everyone else.

Only if we had factual transparency from our USDA and FDA about the differences in farming methods and food processing, the people in the United States could make clearer, more educated choices around the food they eat.?Really gets down to two choices; one with grown, produced with synthetic materials and one without; Certified Organic. The synthetic route has a bunch of cute marketing words that are used Natural and Sustainable for example. Both can use syntenic materials. ?was once called Chemical Farming, Industrial Farming then it became Conventional farming then became labeled Sustainable farming. They all use unhealthy synthetics materials that harm the destroys the soil, unhealthy for farm workers to work in, destroying the environment in numerous ways and the consumers end up purchasing it without knowing what the true side effects are. Big Ag Chemical companies lobby so much money annually and worked with greenwashing the system this happening for 100 years.

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The produce or plants grown without the use of synthetic materials on a certified organic farm can be labeled “made with organic” however to get the full potential the processing must be an organic certification process. Then the final product can be labeled certified organic. I am certain that if both phases were tested and verified the certification emblem would be present on the label, otherwise what’s the point?? If you one that believes your body should not be subject to these synthetic materials, you do have a choice.

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As consumers, we need more responsibility around labeling of imported products here in the US. Allowing labeled certified organic products to come into the US, without creditable and verified classification should not be allowed or returned to that country or suppler at their expense. Having a product enter our shelves that is stamped organic from another country, which does not adhere to the US certified organic standards should not happen.

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The same should be asked by farmers/processors concerning the products that are marked “organic” yet do not meet our US organic standards.? I am not surprised, as there seems to be a flaw in the system. Some importers are not asking for the inspections prior to shipment of these products. They then receive the goods, which are not usable, or worse get used and then cause a ripple effect and lose their organic certification due to this violation.

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The strict guidelines on farmers and processors that are implemented in the United States to grow and produce certified organic vegetables, fruits, and protein, and to be able to label them is the strictest in the world. Accountability of our health is in the hands of those who are not transparent their integrity is not in their heart with the people of the United States.

This fraud is just one of the reasons that Organic farmers simply cannot compete with cheaper imports that may or may not be real. I do not think anybody agrees or disagrees if the product is cheaper. However, it’s fraudulent when a product is labeled organic when it’s not. Who is responsibility for the liability issue when a farmer loses his efforts to certify because of this? Not only imported fraudulent organic grain has been brought into this country, but it also has fed to certified organic animals for the organic protein markets. Now we get to the ?bigger picture, who is to be held accountable for this? The farmer who fed the mislabeled grain or the producer of the fraudulent labeled grain, or the associations that import the goods. Farmers have gone to great length to become certified organic in United States of America. However, this has put the US farmers at financial risk with a worldwide growing trend within our own country and with the world competition.? Consumers alike are demanding organic products than ever before. Even when our government has not been transparent between systemic made materials, and how harmful they are to our environment in all aspects as well as the consumer.

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I believe many consumers would not want any synthetic materials in their products if the facts were told to them about the “side effects and health issues”. ?It’s the point why have any at all when you can grow products on the farm like we did prior to the industrial chemical era. Organic farming without using any synthetic materials can be very profitable with more production per acre and not destroying our soil. With more production the supply will reduce the price. But we all must demand clarity around imported products that enter the US market that are not of standard for US certification. This is counterproductive to the growing organic movement in the US. As humans consuming products should consume them from an Organic source from the soil. Where synthetic materials like chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides can breakdown and kill soil microbes?and negatively impact the soil food web. These synthetic materials will end up in your food supply as roots and plants will absorb them. So, not only negatively destroying the soils, but it also goes beyond that that includes the aquifer, rivers, lakes and the ocean. This has destroyed and continues to interrupt the biodiversity and will continue the threat on the whole ecosystem.

We do have the technologies and research to farm organic and regenerative organic are worldwide. More important it’s in our best interest to do so. The research and technologies can increase production, leading to the world being well fed, restoring the soils and biodiversity, and creating a huge carbon sink that will reduce the climate change we talk about.? Certified organic farming method is truly the one and only that is sound environmentally to the ecosystem, creating a true carbon return by restoring the soils that have been chemically damaged. It would save us from losing our farmland that only has 50 or less years before it is not farmable. We would not need to destroy more forests for farmland. Produce, fruits and nuts that grow in the soil adds microorganisms that are necessary for human health is more important than the takeover by greenhouse farming that is truly not healthy for humans and the environment.

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We need to stop the lobbyist from these huge chemical agricultural companies that supply synthetic made products for farms. Fact check all imports stating that they are organic when they are in fact not organic certified. Imports must meet the US strict organic certified requirements to be imported into the US.