In the 1960s and 1970s, food described as “organic” was produced by small growers who were rebelling against the “chemical revolution” in agriculture. The 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which helped bring about the banning of DDT, raised people’s awareness of the environmental and health dangers of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

Fast-forward to 2002, when the U.S. government introduced the National Organic Program (NOP) which restricted the use of the word “organic” for the first time. Produce – and manufactured products – that met the program standards were allowed to use the USDA Organic logo. The creation of those standards was a story all by itself, because the US Department of Agriculture started out with rules that benefitted large companies and made it difficult or impossible for small farmers to comply.

Before government agencies can impose new regulations, there is a comment period for anyone affected to have their say. The outrageously biased NOP rules allowed genetically modified seeds and the irradiation of food, among other dubious practices, which prompted an outpouring of more than 275,000 critical comments from small farmers. This was the most comments the USDA had ever received on a proposal.

Since that time, the NOP and the USDA Organic program have come under increasing criticism from small organic growers and consumers. As the market for wholesome food has become a multi-million-dollar business, agribusiness lobbyists have tried – sometimes successfully – to get loopholes built in to the NOP to benefit their clients. The dairy and poultry industries probably have more of these than other growers.

At the same time, the USDA backed off regulation of some products. Seafood, body care products, pet foods, fertilizer, and clothing can be labeled “organic,” regardless of how they are produced. The red tape, record-keeping, and expense of compliance with the NOP – along with the program’s steady loss of credibility – has led to the creation of numerous alternative programs. Perhaps the most popular of these is Certified Naturally Grown, “a non-profit alternative certification program tailored for small-scale, direct-market farmers using natural methods.”

A regional farming group, the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) has introduced The Farmer’s Pledge, which defines organic growing the way most people would agree with but without the industry loopholes for large producers. EECO Farm has signed the Farmer’s Pledge because we believe it truly embodies the honest meaning of “organic.”