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• 1 2016-08-25T15:08:53-07:00 Student Anonymous 66 Organic Food certification in Spain vs the United States plain 321503 2016-12-05T15:59:01-08:00
  Organic Food certification in Spain vs the United States
  
  
   
  Introduction
  Working in retail, I have met many people with the ideology that organic products are not in any way superior to non-organic. These price shoppers are not only a nightmare, but their lack of perspective and understanding for food ethics and politics is astonishing given the widely available information in this field currently.  Buying products that are certified organic means you are supporting farming methods that work to preserve the natural environment, support biodiversity, support animal welfare and health, and support human health by not using synthetic substances that affect our wellbeing.  Certifying agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in America and the European Union (EU) in Spain,  have guidelines that prevent fraud, provide consistency, and ensure that their ecological principles are being followed. To my surprise, the US actually has a better system for managing and providing assistance to organic farms than the European Union. Why is this? Upon studying abroad in Barcelona Spain this summer (2016) and finding that it was not the foodie’s utopia I had expected it to be, I decided to dig deeper. I found that the edge the US has in this matter is the benefit of a national certifying agent that provides a more simplified structure that is easier for producers and consumers to understand and participate in. In this paper I will be comparing the difference between America’s national certifying agent (the USDA) to the EU which is the closest to representing a national certifying agent in Spain.
   

  Anyone living in the United States should at least recognize the USDA logo when they see it. The USDA logo can be found on a variety of products such as Justin’s peanut butter cups (my favorite), Kettle Chips, and Dr. Brews Kombucha. In order for products like these to be certified organic by the USDA they must follow all USDA regulations  (beginning on page 4), be in compliance with the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List), and must be overseen by a USDA certifying agent (who producers get to choose). Even though some producers may pay several thousand dollars to be certified organic, the benefits to being certified are superb. Being certified, producers get to be apart of a growing market, they are reimbursed up to 75% for their inspection and certification fees, and they qualify for the USDA Certification Cost-Share Program. Unlike the USDA organic website, where finding certification benefits was easy, it was much more difficult to find this information on the European Union Commission website for organic farming. But producers in the EU are given a certain amount of support depending on their member state. It is my understanding that this support is sometimes marketing help, but in 2014 the EU launched its new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) that over the course of six years will transition to greener policies that encourage organic farming. Some of these policies include a 30% direct payment to farmers that have environmentally friendly farming practices with at least 30% of the rural development programs' budget to also be used for supporting organic farming. While it seems that the EU is making significant strides, it is difficult to discern how much of that aid is in effect currently and whether these policies will  be more benefiting to larger farms over smaller operations.
  
  
  
  Equally important to producer benefits are the label standards producers must abide by.  From my research I found that there are three label categories: 100% organic, organic, and “made with organic” which are multi-ingredient products. The USDA standards require that for all categories there must be listed the certified organic ingredients in the information panel as well as provide the name of the certifying agent. The major requirement in the 100% organic category that isn’t required in the others is that all processing aids must be organic.  For substances that are allowed in the “organic” category they must be less than 5% since the USDA standards require products to be at least 95% organic. In the “made with organic” category, these products must be at least 70% certified organic, but therefore cannot have USDA logo anywhere on the label. Since there is no national certifying agent for Spain, products are instead certified by both private,  public, and semi public control bodies that must implement EU policies. For the EU organic logo,  products must be at least 95% certified organic, like the USDA, but unlike the USDA the EU requires the control body number and the area with which the product was farmed to be placed next to the EU logo. Other than these specifications, the EU didn’t list any other label categories (that I could find) and neglected to state whether or not they have any exceptions to these requirements like the USDA which states that organic farmers who sell less than $5,000 are exempt from some of these standards.
  
  
  
  As a consumer, I am deeply reassured that the organic products I purchase are indeed strictly managed and regulated. While researching the standards for organic farming I found that these standards were divided into three major categories : crop, livestock, and handling. When gathering this information it was clear that the USDA has more specific standards and exceptions than the EU and that this information is also much easier to find. Rather than compare these standards in a lengthy paragraph, I thought it easiest to compare them in a table:

   
   

  Standard Type	Category	EU Policies	EU Exceptions	USDA Policies	USDA Exceptions
  Crop	Conversion Period	3 years	No exceptions	3 years	No exceptions
  Crop	GMO’s? (genetically modified organisms)	Not allowed under any circumstances	No exceptions	Not allowed under any circumstances	No exceptions
  Crop	Land practices for managing Soil Fertility and Crop Nutrients	Tillage, cultivation, crop rotations, cover crops, and compost (animal and crop waste)	Not listed	Tillage, cultivation, crop rotations, cover crops, and compost (animal and crop waste)	Synthetic substances that are allowed on the National List and approved by a USDA certifying agent.
  Crop	Management of pests, weeds, and diseases	Management practices that include physical, mechanical, and biological controls	Not listed	Management practices that include physical, mechanical, and biological controls	Synthetic substances may be used when the approved practices aren’t sufficient and only when they are approved for use on the National List.
  Crop	Organic seeds?	Must be used	Not listed	Must be used	If they are available
  Livestock	Animals for slaughter	Slaughter methods designed to be quick and painless	Not listed	Slaughter methods designed to be quick and painless. Animals must be raised organic from the last 3d of gestations.	Not listed
  Livestock	Livestock feed	Must be 100% organic	Non organic feed may be allowed under certain conditions listed in Article 16	Must be 100% organic	Animals may receive allowed vitamins and mineral supplements.
  Livestock	Dairy animals	Not listed	Not listed	Must be managed organically for at least 12 months	No exceptions
  Livestock	Animal health and welfare	Organic practices will keep animal healthy. The use of immunological vet medicine is permitted under certain conditions	If animals are sick antibiotics may be used.	Preventative management practices must be used to keep animals healthy. Treatment cannot be withheld from sick or injured animals (though these animals can’t be sold as organic).	No exceptions
  Livestock	Livestocks access to the outdoors	Must have access to the natural air and light and must be able to go outdoors	Animals may be tethered if is essential for safety, welfare, or veterinary reasons.	Year-round access	Animals may be confined due to  environmental or health considerations
  Livestock	Livestocks access to pasture	Not specified. Though livestock impact on environment must be managed.	None listed	Animals must receive at least 30% of their dry matter intake from pasture	No exceptions
  Livestock	Hormones and Antibiotics	Animals must not be given hormones or antibiotics	If animals are sick antibiotics may be used	Animals must not be given hormones or antibiotics for any reason	No exceptions
  Product Handling	Transportation	Animal welfare must be guaranteed and travel times must be kept as short as possible. Electrical stimulation or allopathic tranquilizers are forbidden.	No exceptions	Not listed	Not listed
  Product Handling	Handlers	Handlers must prevent the commingling of organic with non-organic products and prohibited substances.	No exceptions	Handlers must prevent the commingling of organic with non-organic products and prohibited substances.	No exceptions

  The USDA and the EU are actually very similar when it comes to their standards. They both have the same conversion period, they don’t allow GMOS, and they both have the same policies for product handling.  The biggest differences that I observed were that the USDA often listed very specific standards and whether or not they had exceptions to their standards, whereas the EU sometimes had very vague specifications and only sometimes listed exceptions.  There is a 5% margin for non organic substances or error and I think the EU would do well to list things that qualify in this small margin. One thing that really surprised me was that the EU in its livestock standards allows for antibiotics to be used. I assume that if an animal is treated with antibiotics that it can’t be sold as organic, like the USDA specifies in its animal welfare standards, but the EU does not specifically say that an animal treated with antibiotics can or cannot be sold as organic.  
  
  
  Overall I was surprised by how much more structured the USDA was than the EU.  In the beginning of my research it was my expectation that the United States had standards that were not specific or strictly enforced because of corporate food companies with political influence and their capability to greenwash their products. However, this isn’t at all the case and it seems that Europe is taking steps to replicate the system the US has beginning with the launch of their newer and greener CAPS program.  Hopefully with this new program organic agriculture will continue to grow in Spain and consumer food awareness will also continue to grow. With more certified organic farms and a higher food awareness, we as a society can work toward being sustainable and correct the environmental damage large productions farms have greatly impacted, such as the depletion of biodiversity and the pollution to soils and streams. Be a smart shopper and make the political choice to support certified organic and organic local farms that will bring about more positive change.
  
  
   

  
  References
  2011 CERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCTION SURVEY Iowa [survey]. (2012, October 4). Retrieved from U. S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Iowa Field Office  website:https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Iowa/Publications/Other_Surveys/2012_IA%20 Organic_6_page.pdf
  
  Agricultural and Rural Development Organic Farming. (2016, February 18). Retrieved August 10, 2016, from European Commission website: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/organic/
  
  Baier, A. H. (2012, November). Organic Certification of Farms and Businesses Producing Agricultural Products. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from Lisa Ahramjian website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Guide%20to%20Organic%20Certification_0.pdf
  
  CAN GMOS BE USED IN ORGANIC PRODUCTS? (2013, May). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from National Organic Program | Agricultural Marketing Service website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Can%20GMOs%20be%20Used.pdf
  Gonzalvez, V. (n.d). IFOAM EU GROUP making Europe more organic. Retrieved August 1, 2016, from http://www.ifoam-eu.org/en/spain
  
  LABELING ORGANIC PRODUCTS. (2012, October). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from USDA National Organic Program website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Labeling%20Organic%20Products.pdf
  
  Organic Labeling Requirements. (2016). Retrieved August 10, 2016, from The Public Health and Safety Organization website: http://www.nsf.org/consumer-resources/green-living/organic-certification/organic-labeling-requirements
  
  ORGANIC LIVESTOCK REQUIREMENTS. (2013, July). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from USDA National Organic Program | Agricultural Marketing Service website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Organic%20Livestock%20Requirements.pdf
  
  Organic Production and Handling Standards. (20132015, August). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from National Organic Program | U.S. Department of Agriculture website: http://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Organic%20Production-Handling%20Standards.pdf
  
  SUBSTANCES FOR ORGANIC CROP + LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION. (2013, July). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from USDA National Organic Program | Agricultural Marketing Service website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Allowed-Prohibited%20Substances.pdf
  
  Weiss, B. (2013, March 22). ORGANIC FARMING AND AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN SPAIN. Green European Journal, Retrieved from http://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/organic-farming-and-agricultural-movements-in-spain/
   
  Edited by Laurie Bridges
  (Student author chose to remain anonymous)
  (All artwork original and by the author)