Caught Red-Handed: Organic Certifiers Freaking Out

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.”

This year is the 20^th anniversary of OrganicEye’s founder and executive director, Mark Kastel’s, career shift to doing corporate and governmental watchdog work in defense of the organic movement.

He and his team’s most recent investigation spotlights the organic certification system, with particular focus on certifiers granting USDA organic certification to industrial-scale livestock operations (also known as CAFOs) and hydroponic (soilless) growing facilities — practices that sidestep organic standards and economically disadvantage family-scale farmers. The first subject of OrganicEye’s scrutiny was California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), which led to the filing of a formal legal complaint against the certifier and a request that the USDA Office of Inspector General investigate the National Organic Program.

OrganicEye’s response to posts made by CCOF’s CEO, attorney Kelly Damewood, can be found below. But first, a brief recap.

CCOF, the largest certifier in the United States, has been targeted by OrganicEye for approving numerous industrial-scale hydroponic (soilless) production facilities, like the international berry giant, Driscoll’s, despite the requirement for soil stewardship clearly stated in the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) passed by Congress in 1990. CCOF also certifies numerous dubious factory livestock operations (CAFOs). Additionally, OrganicEye’s research has exposed the potential conflicts of interest created by the generous donations CCOF receives (totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars) from the agribusinesses they are hired to certify.