Got marketing? Organics face quandary

The bill ties agricultural policy to food stamps (which take up 80 percent of the budget), favors large industrial farms over small, and only occasionally tosses in a token program to promote public health or environmental protection.

Both the Senate and House have amended the farm bill to permit organic producers and handlers to form a marketing and promotion program, commonly known as a checkoff.

Fee requiredThe way this works is that if the amendments survive, the bill passes and organic growers agree on the program - all iffy at the moment - the Department of Agriculture will require every producer and handler of certified organic foods to pay a fee per unit sale (the checkoff).

The fees go into a common fund to be used for research and marketing of organic foods in general.

The association is concerned that consumers cannot currently tell the difference between "natural," a term that is unregulated, and "certified organic," which is highly regulated, requires inspection and is more expensive to produce.

For one thing, it is distinctly different from all other commodity checkoff programs - "organic" is a production process, not a food.

Because farmers are allowed to pay fees into only one checkoff program, the growers of organic blueberries would have to choose between the one for organics and the one for blueberries.

[...] because checkoff funds are not allowed to be used for advertising that implies disparagement of other foods or production processes, small organic producers fear that marketing will focus exclusively on whether or not a product is certified and will be used to promote any organic product, including junk food.