The campaign against a checkoff program for the organic industry says more farmers oppose the proposal than favor it, and it cites its 57-page petition as proof. Not so, responded the Organic Trade Association, which says half of the signatures on the petition are duplicates or come from people who are not farmers.
The No Organic Checkoff Coalition unveiled its petition in hopes of derailing the checkoff, which is backed by OTA, the largest trade group for organics. The proposal for the checkoff was submitted more than a year ago and proponents hope the USDA will publish a final version of it by fall, opening the way to an industry-wide referendum. If approved, the checkoff would be the first dedicated to a production method rather than a product, such as cotton, beef or milk.
“USDA requires that there is ‘substantial industry support’ for [a new] research and promotion program,” said the coalition, but its list of 1,238 signatures “has shown that the organic industry does not support an organic checkoff.” The coalition said the USDA should “listen to the organic farming community and reject the OTA proposal.”
“It’s not up to any organization to decide,” said OTA, calling for a referendum. “People should not fear the process.” OTA says a checkoff, to raise money for research and promote organic products, would help the industry catch up with consumer demand. Opponents say the checkoff would be “just another tax on farmers” that will bring more regulation and no benefits.
OTA lists 1,178 backers for the checkoff, including farmers, businesses and industry leaders. Some 1,027 of the backers hold organic certificates, it said, but its analysis of the opposition petition found “only 415 [names] are clearly linked to 2015 organic certificates.” It said 278 signatures were duplicates and 399 were from people who said they were not farmers.