Washington -- The government is proposing to exempt producers and marketers of 100 percent organic products from most marketing program payments. The proposal would affect producers of 28 regional varieties of fruits, vegetables and nuts, from California dried prunes to Washington hazelnuts and Florida tomatoes.
Those who sell these commodities must pay fees to support "marketing order programs" - educational, research, promotional and quality-control programs administered by boards or committees. The Sowden brothers, who grow organic prunes in northern California, are tired of being treated like conventional farmers when it comes to paying fees to an industry marketing board.
"We do not market in the same areas as conventional food. We do not compete with conventional food in that we sell at a higher price," Buzz Sowden said. "We have to pay for (organic) certification and then to have to pay the marketing order dues on top of that. We find it excessive and definitely not to our benefit."
Buzz and Bud Sowden farm nearly 200 acres of organic prunes near Live Oak, about 60 miles north of Sacramento. They soon may get relief from the marketing fees, which Buzz Sowden estimated cost their operation more than $10,000 in 2002; last year's figures were not yet available.
Under the government's proposal, which is open to public comment through the Agriculture Department until February, organic sellers no longer would have to fund the marketing, advertising or promotional portions of the programs. As a result, they would be exempted from about 65 percent of the fees they now pay, the department estimates.
The department is preparing rules covering the same organic exemption for 16 other research and promotion programs that are administered nationally. Among them are the milk and pork programs - sources of the famed "Got Milk?" and "Pork, The Other White Meat" campaigns.
The change was inserted in the 2002 farm bill after lobbying by the Organic Trade Association, which says organic products now account for about 2 percent of all food grown in the United States.
"The feeling is pretty much universal that the thing that sells organic, whether it's milk or beef or an orange or a box of cereal, is the fact that it's organically grown, not that it's another box of cereal or piece of beef," said Katherine DiMatteo, the Organic Trade Association's executive director. "Organic producers felt that the scientific research and the promotion did not serve them, did not sell any more organic."
Some conventional farmers dispute that, believing all marketers of a product are helped by its promotion.
"I see frankly no reason they should be exempted from the assessments requirement," said John McClung, who manages marketing order programs for Texas citrus, onions and melons. "They essentially receive the same benefits as anybody else. You pool the assessments, you do marketing and promotion activities, they benefit from it as much as anybody else."
McClung and others, however, said the money contributed by organic handlers represented a small percentage of their total budget. The California Almond Board, for example, has a $20 million annual budget, and will lose perhaps $50,000 of that when the organic exemption goes through, said Ned Ryan, the board's chairman.
The Agriculture Department estimates that the change would affect only about 84 sellers, at an average savings of $3,600. Even some in the organic food industry say the change will be largely symbolic, another sign of recognition for an industry that only in 2002 became subject to national standards and labeling.
"We actually now are a different commodity, and it's important we start seeing organic milk is not regular milk. It's a separate legal identity, it has separate programs and separate everything," said George Siemon, chief executive of the Organic Valley farm cooperative in Wisconsin."So to me, in part, this is following that recognition that organic is a different commodity and it needs to be recognized in all government programs as a different program."
The Sowden brothers have more tangible concerns, too. "We would prefer to channel those funds as we see fit," Buzz Sowden said.
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