A concept more important
than the National Organic Standards

By Malcolm Beck

Being one of the oldest and first organic growers in the central Texas area, I am usually asked my opinion of the National Standards. My first thoughts are “a bunch of bulls--t”. The Federal government spent over ten years, ten's of thousands of dollars and stacks of documents that tell farmers and ranchers what they can't do.

Organics is a positive approach to Agriculture. J.I. Rodale started Organic Gardening & Farming Magazine in 1940, with positive thinking. Rodale was looking for ways to improve the quality of soil and the quality of food. Rodale is considered the father of organics in this country.

Sir Albert Howard, an English soil scientist circa 1930, made and used compost and discovered it's many benefits, especially how it promoted the Mycorrhizae and it's tremendous benefits to plants. Howard is considered the father of organics in England. Albert Howard was Rodale's inspiration and mentor.

When his record books began to show production cost eating up all the profits in the 1970s, Lavoid Laurie, a West Texas cotton farmer, started looking at and studying alternative ways of farming. His low till and other sustainable methods eventually eliminated not only the chemicals he was using but also, the need to irrigate. Lavoid's cotton soon qualified as organically grown. His production cost went down and he got a much higher price for his cotton. Because of positive thinking the profit side of his ledger now looks good. This is a good example of what “sustainable agriculture” means.

Dennis Holbrook, a third generation farmer in the Rio Grande Valley, became an organic vegetable and citrus grower in the early 1980s. Dennis watched the quality of the soil go down and the need for chemicals and irrigation go up. Dennis researched and learned how to make compost and practice better farming techniques. Dennis is now sustainable, successful and respected as a leader in his field because of thinking positively.

There are also sustainable pioneers in ranching. The most notable is an Englishman from Southern Rhodesia by the name of Allan Savory. As a school child in the late 40s he loved the bush. Allan spent much of his early life in the bush and large wild animal environment. But, to his disappointment, Allan watched his beloved environment deteriorate because of poor management.

Allan then dedicated his life to sustainable range management. He eventually moved to this country and studied the deteriorating rangeland of western United States. In his studies he found the answers were simple, almost too simple.

The answers were in animal grazing management. To be able to make his studies and discoveries known He set up The Savory Center for Holistic Management in Albuquerque, NM. In his book, Holistic Management, Allan explains how all of life, regardless of what you do, should be managed using decisions based on the relationships among people, money, and ecosystems.

By studying and following a goal and decision framework that embody all of these relationships there are numerous ranchers that have re-claimed the prairie, increased their stocking rates, increased wildlife and biodiversity, improved animal and plant health, and otherwise and cut the cost of getting an animal from birth to market in half or less. These ranchers are now profitable, sustainable, happy and all willing to share their experiences. Their demonstrations of successful ranching in socially, economically and environmentally restorative ways cannot be denied. Others willing to learn can follow their lead.

The people mentioned above are just a few of many successful organic/sustainable growers. They all loved farming and ranching and had great respect for Nature and became successful by positive thinking. There was no million-dollar stack of documents telling them what they could not do. Focusing on the don'ts and cant's is discouraging, it does little to encourage doing things Nature approves of.

Even though, the standards do little to encourage Sustainable and Organic growing, we do need them and I support them. With the growth in demand for organic produce there will be opportunist. And we can't trust that they all will be ethical. The consumers need protection. For now the standards are the best protection they have.

We find our selves with these negative government rules partly because our agricultural universities got caught up in teaching un-natural and non-sustainable agricultural methods. However, agricultural universities are beginning to show some changes toward a more natural approach. But, in their system the changes are expected to be slow.

However, good research is happening now.

At the Kika de La Garza agricultural research center, in the Rio Grande Valley, there is group of USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists that are dedicated to sustainable/organic research. This is a humble group, they are willing to work with industry and listen to anyone's ideas. Dr. Jerry Quisenberry, the director and leader of that group wishes to share all of their data with all USDA ARS researchers everywhere. This could be very beneficial. The conventional growers could learn more holistic, sustainable and natural methods. With this research the consumers would gain the most -- access to healthier foods and better use of their tax dollars.

Proper government funding to this approach would accomplish many benefits. We all need to make sure that our congressional representatives know of and give full support to Dr. Quisenberry and his team of researchers. These pioneers are all positive thinkers and are a model for all the USDA and agricultural university research.

If we encourage organic and sustainable agriculture in every way we can, dedicated farmers and ranchers could afford to stay on the land and the question of National Organic Standards becomes unimportant. The true safeguards of our food and fiber are growers that think positive, that love and respect Nature and manage their operations holistically.