Staff
photo by Fred J. Field
Organic farmer Lisa Turner stands in
a lettuce field at her Laughing Stock Farm in Freeport. Turner
practices organic farming, meaning that she doesn't treat her
crops with pesticides, herbicides or sewage sludge common at
conventional farms.
FREEPORT — Crouching inside a greenhouse at her Laughing
Stock Farm, Lisa Turner yanks a turnip out of the ground, twists
a clump of dirt off the bottom of the small white bulb and
offers a bitter bite. She practices organic farming, meaning
that she doesn't treat her crops with pesticides, herbicides or
sewage sludge common at conventional farms. She is part of an
industry that was growing explosively across the country even
before the federal government seven months ago created national
standards for what can be called "organic."
While the Department of Agriculture offers no assurance that
organic food is safer or more nutritious, farmers and grocers
voice concerns about the health effects from toxins sprayed on
crops. Advocates contend that organic fruits and vegetables are
tastier, too.
"Last year we noticed that everything tastes
sweeter," said Turner, surrounded by rows of carrots,
turnips, dill, cilantro and mache. "Would you have ever
thought, 'I'd like to eat a turnip'?"
With 250 organic farms statewide, Maine ranks in the top 10
in the country, according to the Agriculture Department. The
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association organized in
1971 to set up voluntary standards and now certifies compliance
with federal rules.
But challenges to the rules continue, from legislative
tinkering to a pending federal lawsuit in Portland.
"Part of the Organic Trade Association's role is to
protect the integrity of the organic label," said Holly
Givens, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts-based group.
"It is something the OTA will keep watchdogging."
The Agriculture Department adopted organic standards last
Oct. 21, after developing them for 12 years. Farmers who meet
the standards can put labels on their products calling them
"100 percent organic," with labels such as
"organic" and "contains organic ingredients"
available for products that are slightly less pure.
Congress made several appropriations recently to strengthen
organic farming. They include:
"More and more consumers are searching for healthy and
environmentally friendly food and rely on organic labeling to
make informed decisions," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
"I have been working to enforce organic standards and now
we must commit the funding to protect consumers and
producers."
The integrity of the organic label was threatened in February
by a last-minute change to a federal spending bill. The
amendment would have allowed livestock producers to feed their
animals regular food - when organic feed is too expensive and
unavailable - while still marketing their meat and dairy
products as organic.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., warned that the change would allow
any producer in the country to avoid the feed requirement
entirely. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman supported the repeal
of the loophole.
"It is important to maintain a strong organic program
that ensures the integrity of the organic label placed on
consumer products," she said.
Congress repealed the change in April - two months after
approving it - as part of legislation paying for the war in
Iraq.
But at the same time, Congress also approved a provision
allowing wild fish to be labeled organic. Organic farm groups
complained that the change gutted the standards because there
can be no way to determine what wild fish are eating.
Some organic farmers and customers fret that the federal
standards are less strict than what Maine already had in place.
Blueberry farmer Arthur Harvey of Hartford filed a federal
lawsuit two days after the rules took effect, alleging that the
regulations didn't follow the 1990 law setting them up. He
argued that Maine standards had been stricter than the new
federal rules, so the federal standards should be minimums
rather than limits.
For example, a blueberry farmer could use the herbicide
Velpar, which kills weeds for up to a decade. The federal rules
prohibit labeling as organic any crops that receive herbicide
within three years. But a farmer could sell the berries as
organic in later years.
"It really makes my blood boil," Harvey said.
Motions for summary judgment in the case are due July 1.
Halsey Frank, an assistant U.S. attorney in Portland, has
responded that the rules don't violate the law and aren't
arbitrary.
Givens, at the national trade association, said the key is to
apply national standards only in states where standards were
voluntary, and could therefore be ignored by farmers.
The organic market is ripening, from the shelves of specialty
shops such as The Whole Grocer in Portland to the bottles of
Oakhurst milk in the convenience store cooler whose labels
proclaim "No Artificial Growth Hormones."
Organic sales were estimated at $7.8 billion in 2000, which
represented a 20 percent increase from a year earlier, according
to an Agriculture Department report. California and North Dakota
each had nearly 150,000 acres growing organic crops. Maine had
9,785 acres farmed organically in 2001 out of 1.25 million
statewide, according to federal figures.
Meeting the standards can become a way of life.
At the Laughing Stock Farm in Freeport, where Turner took the
name jokingly from an edition of "A Prairie Home
Companion," a red McCormick Farmall tractor from the 1940s
is used to weed the crops.
But all the picking is done by hand, which limits the farm to
its 8 acres of crops, as compared to farms in the Midwest that
cover hundreds of acres.
Outside the greenhouses, white gauze called Remay covers the
mustard grasses, a barrier that substitutes for pesticides. The
sheets are anchored by mud to protect against flea beetles that
chew holes in the leaves.
"It ends up like a colander," Turner said.
To fertilize the Maine clay, she adds manure, compost, lime
and green sand, a marine product high in potassium. But organic
farmers don't use sewage sludge or chemical fertilizers common
on conventional farms.
Because organic farming is more labor intensive, the farms
are smaller and the prices slightly higher. An ear of organic
corn can cost 69 cents at the store.
But that doesn't stop restaurants from Portland to Brunswick
from buying flavorful mache for salads and arugula for recipes.
Stores including The Whole Grocer in Portland and Royal River
Natural Foods in Freeport stock their shelves with organic foods
for loyal customers. Some are seeking a respite from additives
because of concerns about allergies and other health problems -
while others are there for the flavor.
"It's extremely important," said Meaghan Foley,
manager at The Whole Grocer. "The dollars aren't the first
thing on these people's minds."
Staff Writer Bart Jansen can be contacted at 202-488-1119 or
at:
bjansen@pressherald.com
