“Real Organic Project”: Assuring Consumers Their Food Comes From The Soil

Fifteen farmers and scientists from around the U.S. who are determined to stick to “the true spirit of the organic movement” recently met to create new standards for organic certification. The current USDA organic label certifies that fruits, vegetables, and meats have been grown without synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers, and without genetic engineering. The new, still unnamed, labels would tell whether the produce was grown in soil – rather than in water – and meat and dairy products came from animals that had been pastured. The new label is being created by the Real Organic Project, which says it is not abandoning the USDA’s National Organic Program, but merely supplementing it. The new standards will be tested on 20 to 60 farms this summer. [Image Credit: © Real Organic Project]