Due a recent decision over at the USDA’s National Organic Program, organic coffee, in the U.S. at least, may be a thing of the past. I wrote about this decision on Salon and did not shout it out to Gristies right away (mea culpa), but I am now.
The USDA decision, which affects the way small farmer cooperatives in the Third World are certified, will also dry up supplies of organic cocoa and curtail bananas. So eat your organic Dagoba bars now while they’re still available.
It doesn’t look like there’s a solution right away, though a friend over at PCC — in Grist’s backyard of Seattle — tells me the solution might be to build certification organizations in local markets. In the meantime, however, certifiers, coffee farmers and NGOs that work in the Third World are perplexed and upset.
I’ll be updating over at Chews Wise blog and post any big moves here.
