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Peggy Miars is the Executive Director/CEO of OMRI and the Board President of IFOAM - Organics International. She will be speaking at the upcoming Organic Grower Summit as part of the educational session “Safeguarding the Organic Brand”. OPN talked to her on what OMRI and IFOAM are doing to maintain organic integrity and what the future holds for the the organic brand.
OPN Connect: From your perspective as ED/ CEO of OMRI what are our biggest challenges when it comes to enforcement and fraud?
PM: “The U.S. organic industry was founded on trust – trust between growers who helped each other learn about organic farming, trust between growers who inspected each other’s farms before the National Organic Program (NOP) was established, and trust between growers and the consumers who buy their food. When the NOP was implemented on a national level in 2002, even then trust was a large part of our industry and our movement.
As the organic industry has grown, value chains have lengthened. In the past when farmers primarily sold direct to consumers through farm stands, CSAs and farmers markets, they were able to easily gain trust and confidence through personal interaction.
Today we’re seeing more organic goods traded around the world. The United States has so many organic equivalency arrangements and recognition agreements with other countries that it’s difficult to know where our food is really coming from, which reduces our level of trust.
I believe the biggest challenge to enforcement and fraud is our inability to monitor, track and ensure the integrity of every piece of food that enters our borders. As organic products move from country to country to country, it’s easier for fraudulent actors to get involved as they see a way to make quick money. I’m heartened to know that the NOP is working on solutions to this challenge in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
OPN Connect: How does OMRI play a role in safeguarding the organic brand?
PM: “OMRI was founded by certifiers in 1997 to evaluate input products ---- fertilizers, livestock healthcare products, and other processing aids---- used in the production and handling of organic food and fiber products. OMRI does the difficult job of determining whether an input product is compliant to organic standards, which makes things much easier for both the organic operator and the certifier. When organic certifiers, growers, handlers and consumers consult the OMRI Products List© and the OMRI Canada Products List© they can have confidence in knowing that OMRI has done our diligent work to safeguard the organic brand.”
OPN Connect: What is IFOAM doing to safeguard organic globally?
PM: “The Organic Policy & Guarantee department at IFOAM – Organics International coordinates our work supporting the improvement of organic standards and verification systems. Regulatory frameworks determine how organic products may or may not be traded around the world and therefore have a tremendous impact on organic market development and integrity.
For many years, IFOAM – Organics International has been providing advice to policymakers, national organic movements, NGOs and others on strategies to develop sustainable and credible organic sectors. We maintain an Organic Guarantee System, a global non-profit independent evaluation program. We also provide training and resources on Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) used primarily in developing countries that don’t yet have organic certification programs.
IFOAM has also partnered with bioC to maintain a Global Organic Certification Directory as a service for the benefit of the entire organic sector to track real-time certification of ingredients and products.”
OPN Connect: What do you think the future holds for enforcement and fraud prevention?
PM: “I think that we will see different types of enforcement and fraud prevention as we see various ways to guarantee integrity. In the United States and most developing countries we rely on organic laws, regulations and standards. Those require enforcement from the government or standard owner which is often bureaucratic and slow. In those cases, we will see increased collaboration among government agencies and tightening of requirements for organic imports. In the case of Participatory Guarantee Systems or similar programs in developing countries, the local participants and stakeholders enforce standards in those shorter value chains.
Fraud prevention is difficult because we basically have to think like criminals and be prepared for the worst possible scenario. I recall an OMRI employee attending an inspector training several years ago where an FBI agent gave a presentation about how to ask the right questions to root out fraud. The organic sector has grown up and is now experiencing not only the benefits but the challenges of a maturing industry. I think we could learn from long-standing business sectors that have already faced similar issues around enforcement and fraud.”
