I started farming in1970 and working on standards for NYS organic certification in 1984.  I've spent hundreds of hours at my desk reading and studying.  I've spent hundreds of hours on the road.  All unpaid.  These were exciting times of high energy when a small group of farmers and friends would debate for hours on the great questions of the day: black plastic, percent organic grain for livestock, hydrogen peroxide, transitions and the 36-month rule, raw manure, sulfites, and costs.  The program reached out to all who wanted to participate.  We tried to capture an ethic and spirit,-to put it on paper, in black and white:applying organic principles to an administrative program.  Looking for the balance between production and the consumer...and reality.  Robert Perry recently referred to us as a "somewhat intractable group of farmer-philosophers". Yup.
After reviewing domestic and international programs, we stole what we liked, we changed what we needed to, and we filled in the gaps to hold it together.  This was a process not all New York organic farmers supported, but we listened and tried to meet as many concerns as we could.  The NOFA program grew from seeds planted by the farmer, not the consumer.  It was not easy.  Other states had Government/Ag School support.  We had none.  What we did, we did on our own.  We have been blessed with a skilled administrator and incredibly dedicated volunteer Board members who took the pages of black and white and made it real.  We can all be proud of our labors.  We gave life to a program and breath to a very small industry.
I share this introduction with you as a way of saying that I've paid my dues (and certification fees for 15 years), and now feel the time has come to express my opinions as a matter of obligation to this industry, and to encourage debate and comment.  I do not speak for the others who sat at the table in this or other states and programs, or for my cooperative.  I speak from the tradition of independent rural populism and I speak from my heart.  I am tired of listening to people who preach "local/regional food systems". "small is beautiful", and "sustainable communities" on Sunday morning, and who are on the phone to the U.S.D.A. Monday afternoon.  Maybe it is time for a new perspective to this issue: that instead of capitulation and submission to the USDA, we rise from our knees, we stand up and say "NO" to this federalization which has become feudalization; "No" to the USDA agricrats who have bastardized the organic principles and sucked away the energy from local decision making; and "No" we will no longer cooperate.  We always have a choice in all that we do.  The only time you can't change direction is when you're dead.
The Feds have stolen the word "organic" and unless we play by their rules, we can't use it. O.K. How about "organik", "cinagro", "orgreen", or better yet "orgasmic"!  They have stolen a word; let's not give them our spirit.  Let's be thankful for the financial help from Ag and Markets with the understanding it's only to lessen the shock of increased fees.  Look through the smoke at the realities we are facing.  Let's support the 5% or 10% of us who sell to processors or interstate/international markets, but not to the detriment of the entire industry.  Let's educate the consumers who support us, but don't understand our reality, that this feudalization is not in the best interest of the organic farming community and will only further depress our already fragile economy.  Let's not allow our strengths of "independence, stubborness and fortitude" remain our weaknesses.
Some of us have never been in support of the federal legislation and understood when the USDA appointed the very first National Standards Board that a real monster had been created.  Initiated in 1990 by our brothers and sisters who work those beautiful Vermont farms, it was a monster we could not control or even influence.  The snowball of bureaucracy was rolling downhill through the corridors of the USDA, soon to be an avalanche upon us.  We hadn't the time, money, influence or lobbyists to do anything but watch and wait.  We are only small hardworking farmers wanting to carve out a small space in the marketplace.  Some of us don't have computers or ease of words to express our thoughts, or even have clear organized thoughts on the 500 pages of regulations we have never read!  Some of us need to concentrate on increased productivity, better land stewardship, CSA's, processing, cooperatives, making a living at work off the farm, community work, and even time with our families.  We will never read those 500 pages.
However, the legal staffs of the Mega-Capital/Industrial-Agricultural Complex read them and watched as that shelf space grew 3...4...5 percent.  They used their lobbyists and influence to formulate the rules and procedures and their money to buy farms, farmers, and cheap labor.  The big fish will eat the little fish.  In the great spirit of Sam Walton, I refer you all to "Between The Furrows", The Natural Farmer, Spring 2001.  The USDA National Organic Program is a long was from those kitchen tables.  As Jim Hightower said, "The water won't run clean 'til we get the pigs out of the creek!".  We will soon hear about the number of farms and number of acres in the Federal program (as if USDA should take the credit).  These are the values that are important to the Mega-Capital-Industrail-Agricultural Complex.  I propose we look at the farms who drop away from certification, who stop their organic transition, or who will never consider it an option for their operation; let these be the "measure" of the success of feudalization.
It's been over ten years ago now since the members of the NOFA Organic Standard Board walked to the upper fields at Hemlock Grove Farm in West Danby and talked about the "worst possible scenario".  The USDA hadn't put any money into the National Organic Program (and didn't want to), so our fingers were still crossed.  But we asked "How bad could it get?" and that's about what we got.  We knew then that the issues of compost, fees, roles of farmers, material approval, inspectors, seeds, state relations, decision-making, etc.etc.etc. would not be decided in the best interest of the small farmer.
City folks have these events: "TAKE BACK THE STREETS", and "TAKE BACK THE NIGHT" when they stand together and face the evils of their communities.  When those responsible have failed to act in their best interest and for the good of their neighbors, they say "Enough, no more".  I suggest we rise and stand together, as caretakers of the earth and those blessed to grow life giving food, shed our fear of the monster and the unknown, and say, NO".
David Stern
Rose Valley Farm
Spring 2002