The Cornucopia Institute—an organic watchdog group—has filed a lawsuit against the USDA, claiming that the agency stacked the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) with agribusiness representatives, instead of farmers. The NOSB was established by Congress to determine the country’s organic food and agriculture standards.
Two certified organic farmers joined Cornucopia in filing the lawsuit, saying that they had applied for two of the board’s four farmer positions, but that the openings had gone to corporate executives instead.
“This type of appointment is part of a pattern of actions taken by the USDA to make the NOSB and the National Organic Program friendlier to the needs of big business interests,” said Will Fantle, Cornucopia’s co-director. “Not only are farmers being denied their voice and right to participate in organic decision-making, but statistics illustrate the corporate representatives sitting in farmer seats have been decisively more willing to vote for the use of questionable and controversial materials in organics, weakening the organic standards.” Cornucopia has tracked how farmers and non-farmers vote on the board on their NOSB scorecard.
The group recently filed a FOIA request to see records of how the the current board members were chosen for the four farmer positions, specifically Carmela Beck, who works as a “grower liaison” for Driscoll’s berry farmers, and Ashley Swaffar, a corporate compliance officer for the Arkansas Egg Company (she has since moved to Vital Farms).
This is not a new fight for Cornucopia. The organization has long called on the USDA to reveal the names of all applicants to the NOSB, so that the rest of the organic community can weigh in before any appointments are made. So far, the organization says it has 4,000 letters of support for its suit.