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Moratorium sought in action on organics

Farmers should be left alone until after the provincial election, an advocate says
Nicholas Read Vancouver Sun
A moratorium should be imposed to prevent marketing boards taking any action against organic farmers until after the provincial election, says a spokesman for a group representing farmers and consumers.

"There has to be a cooling-off period," says Herb Barbolet, executive director of FarmFolk/CityFolk.

"It's unfortunate that the election is going to come right in the middle of this [dispute], because there needs to be a moratorium on any action by the marketing boards until a new agriculture minister is in place who can discuss rationally what has taken place."

Barbolet says that unless there is a cooling-off period, some farms may close, affecting the province's supply of organic meat, eggs and milk.

Andy Dolberg, secretary manager of the B.C. Council of Marketing Boards, says that unless organic farmers join the boards, the province's supply management system will fall apart, and that would threaten the entire B.C. agriculture industry.

"If you lose the marketing structure ... you will have much more corporate production than you do now, and British Columbians wouldn't have any idea where their food comes from," he says.

Consequently, he says boards have no choice but to take action against farmers who object to it.

Barbolet and Dolberg were commenting after The Vancouver Sun reported Monday that three Fraser Valley organic farmers say their operations are threatened with closure by the province's marketing boards.

Egg farmer Fred Reid, his brother Brad, a chicken farmer, and turkey farmers Shelley and Leo Deschamp have all been threatened by marketing boards for failing to acquire quota from their respective marketing boards.

Barbolet said other marketing boards are looking at their situation to see how far they can go. "Any of the other marketing boards that have the power could come in and pressure the organic producers in the same way," he said.

Quota is a licence farmers must buy -- often at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars -- in order to produce food in B.C. The system is administered by a network of marketing boards that want all farmers, large and small, to be part of what they call the "supply management system."

Barbolet says quotas are legal entities in B.C., and unless solutions can be reached with organic farmers outside the quota system, "the marketing boards have an obligation to take action."

He hopes that doesn't happen.

However, he says that right now there is such a gulf between some organic producers and marketing boards, that "there's a real possibility that we'll see organic farms shut down by marketing boards."

At issue is what some organic farmers say is their right to market a product that is intrinsically different from conventionally grown food.

Reid's chickens, for example, are free-range, meaning that they are raised outside.

They are also not fed or treated with any chemicals, hormones or antibiotics.

The B.C. Egg Marketing Board wants Reid to pay $74,000 in what it says are unpaid dues.

Reid objects because he says his eggs are different, and he doesn't want any of the money consumers pay for them to go toward supporting a system he believes is wrong.

Linda Edwards, president of the Certified Organic Associations of B.C., said a "sober second look" is needed to determine if it's worthwhile, or even possible, for organics to be taken over by regulated management.