Real Organic Project
We are happy to announce that the Board of NOFA-NH voted in June 2021 to become one of the 1000 Real Organic Project Fans and an annual contributor to the Project.
The Real Organic Project (ROP) is a newly formed organization that is doing vital work to restore integrity to the USDA organic label. Many of you may already know Dave Chapman of Long Wind Farm, VT, who co-chairs this farmer-led organization with Linley Dixon. Some of you may even remember Dave’s convincing presentation about “Saving Real Organics” during a panel discussion at the 2018 NOFA-NH Winter Conference.
The Real Organic Project’s informational campaigns, free weekly newsletter, and add-on certification program are proving essential in the work to ensure that products labeled “Organic” in the United States have a genuine connection to the principles and practices of the original Organic Agricultural Movement as codified by IFOAM – International Organics.
At the present time, the ROP is struggling mightily to let purchasers / eaters know about the cooptation of the USDA Organic label by powerful interests. Such corporate entities are now promoting poorly regulated, industrial scale hydroponics, container berry production, and cruel Confined Animal Feeding Operations as Organic. They’re confusing / bamboozling ‘consumers’ while charging premium organic prices. Simultaneously, real, localized, diversified, agroecological growers and dairies are being pushed out of business. The capacity of struggling rural communities to survive is being eroded as independent family farms are being replaced by highly mechanized operations offering only poorly-paid, factory-type work – even in the organic sector.
The presence of a certified ROP add-on label will allow people to distinguish whether the organic foods they’re purchasing truly live up to the nutritional, social, and environmental standards that they expect and want to support.
To understand more thoroughly why the Real Organic Project is necessary, please read the summaries or watch the videos available on their website.
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If you’d like a very comprehensive and energizing overview of organic farming in the US and across the world, the ROP’s recorded 2021 Symposium is well worth the cost.
NOFA-NH is glad to endorse and support the Real Organic Project’s important efforts.