Page 61 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Seed Regulation in the US

increase in organic seed usage per year as a method to drive organic seed

usage. However, some certiiers, such as Maine Organic Farming and Gardening

Association (MOFGA), acknowledged that in practice a measured increase in

seed usage per year was a commonly used technique to monitor organic seed

usage improvements, and to ensure that ‘organic seed usage would come to

fruition’ (MOFGA interview, 2007).

The irst formal quantiication in US of organic seed usage by organic growers,

reported in the State of Organic Seed (SOS) report published by the Organic

Seed Alliance (Dillon and Hubbard, 2011) recorded that 60% of the growers

surveyed had indicated that their organic certiier had requested that the grower

make greater eforts to source organic seed. It further reported that certiiers

were enforcing the use of the organic seed rule with increasing stringency and

that sanctions had increased in the three years prior to the report’s publication.

Examples of this enforcement were noted in 2010 when the irst certiication

suspensions were enforced on two growers for use of chemically treated seed

and lack of demonstrated attempt to source organic seed (USDA NOP Adverse

Action List, January 2011).

What is at stake for organic growers?

The interviews with organic growers (n=40) revealed that their main concern in

relation to the organic seed rule was their perception that there was a limited

quantity and diversity of quality organic seed varieties available in the marketplace.

Production in the organic sector is spread across diverse agro-ecosystems, serving

a diversity of markets and evolving enterprises. The range stretches from small-

scale diversiied growers who, according to the interview respondents, require a

wide varietal assortment to satisfy customers in local and niche markets, to large

scale commercial growers who require large quantities of a more narrow but

modern seed assortment to meet the needs of highly competitive commercial

retailers serving markets spread across a large geographic area. Growers at both

ends of the spectrum expressed a concern that the enforcement of the organic

seed regulation could limit their choice of varieties, thereby forcing them to use

varieties not appropriate for their farming system or markets, or to use seed of

potentially lower quality, at a higher price. The ACA (and individual certiiers) have

reported that their clients (i.e. growers) have had poor experiences with organic

seed due to seed quality issues of low or poor germination or low yield (ACA, 2008).

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