Page 74 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Chapter 2

2.4.2 Future considerations

Development of an organic seed sector is necessary to support the claims

of organic agriculture and the realization of sustainable food systems. In the

US case, important technical and institutional challenges remain. This study

demonstrates that while access to a diverse assortment of organic varieties in

suicient volume, quality and at a competitive price is a major, shared concern

among a diverse group of stakeholders, their markedly diferent interests in this

objective have not always converged. The impetus to further the development

of a broad assortment of organic varieties and a thriving organic seed market

has stagnated in the absence of regulatory clarity. No individual stakeholder,

organisation or network currently is capable of leading the process towards

regulatory closure.

This study suggests that the priority regulatory areas that need to be addressed

to achieve closure would include: (1) clear, formally endorsed NOP guidance that

communicates detailed criteria for enforcement and an appropriate allocation

of responsibility among stakeholders in the interpretation and enforcement

of the organic seed clause which includes set deadlines, measurable targets

and reporting requirements, (2) modiication and harmonization of the NOP

deinitions of equivalency and commercial availability criteria in order to

enable certiiers to make better decisions regarding exceptions, (3) clarity on

the sector-wide procedures for granting exceptions, and the steps required

to move toward 100% crop-speciic closure (for EU provisions, see Döring et

al., 2012), (4) clarity on NOP-endorsed database requirements, funding and

management, (5) subsidies and grant funding to support capacity-building for

the informal and formal seed sector in organic seed production and breeding

[as Stolze and Lampkin (2009) describe for the EU organic sector as a whole]

and, (6) identiication of an organic seed sector speciic governance body with

authority to inform the NOSB and NOP of the needs of the diverse organic seed

sector stakeholders who are in support of overall sector development and clear

regulatory interpretation.

Further challenges and opportunities lie ahead for the US organic seed sector

in relation to its major organic trade partners. The EU for instance is progressing

toward closing exceptions for use of conventional seed in speciic crops across

its member states, driven by a mix of well-chosen procedural and substantive

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