National Organic Certification in the United States and the Organic Agriculture Movement
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Authors
Wyant, Vanessa
Issue Date
2007
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
What is "organic"? Organic Agriculture is defined most basically by how it
compares economically and environmentally to conventional farms and by techniques
that take advantage of and work in harmony with natural ecological systems. Ideas of
ecological or sustainable agriculture predate the more recently popular idea of "organic"
agriculture, but since the 1970s when the "organic movement" began to take shape, the
organic foods market has been growing at an increasing pace. Accompanying the
popularization of organic foods, certification schemes began to emerge at the regional,
state, and eventually the national level as a way to protect against fraud and encourage
additional growth of the organic market. After a long struggle to establish national
organic standards and uniform guidelines for organic practices, opposition remains
regarding issues of cost, corporate manipulation of regulations, and the detrimental
effects of commercialization. These concerns are mostly held by small farmers and
people strongly committed to the fundamental philosophies of the organic movement.
Using opinions of several small-scale farmers from southwest and central Michigan, I
examine how the establishment of national organic certification standards contradicts the
varied and localized philosophical and practical foundations of the organic agriculture
movement.
Description
x1, 46 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.