Recently, the Cornucopia Institute has issued a white paper on Wal-Mart’s entry into the organic marketplace. The paper accuses the retail behemoth of undercutting the true meaning of the organic label. The charges focus on Wal-Mart’s penchant for industrial producers, which has carried over in their attempt to bring organic products into their inventory. According to the Institute, Walmart is “poised to drive down the price of organic food in the marketplace by inventing a ‘new’ organic-food from corporate agribusiness, factory farms, and cheap imports of questionable quality.”

The Institute elaborates on its claims, stating that Horizon Organic, Wal-Mart’s primary provider of organic dairy products, is guilty of confining its milk cows in “feedlot-like conditions”, not providing the cows with the necessary pasture.

According to Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for the Institute, imports from China corrupt the spirit and meaning of the organic label: “food shipped around the world, burning fossil fuels and undercutting our domestic farmers, does not meet the consumer’s traditional definition of what is truly organic,”

The first thing that comes to my mind when I read these accusations…Where are the inspectors in all of this? If the Cornucopia Institute believes that Horizon Organic and Chinese producers are not in compliance with the USDA regulations, then why are organic inspectors failing to provide this detailed information in their inspection reports? And, in case the inspectors actually are providing this information, then why are the Certification Agencies granting the organic certificate to non-compliant farms?

Lest we advocates of organics forget, the farmer is first and foremost the guarantor and guardian of the organic standard. The inspector’s role is to observe and report on the farmer’s strict (or not so strict) compliance with the National Organics Program regulations.

Unfortunately for Mark Kastel (and those us who agree with his sentiments), the regulations are silent on miles travelled or fossil fuels burned in the processing, packaging, and transportation of the final product. So while we may wring our hands at the shortcomings of the organic regulations, often times gross violations of the organic mindset must be tolerated simply because they are fully compliant with the labelling regulations.

Wal-Mart’s entry into organics may well bring to fruition the accusations of many that government involvement in regulating the organic movement was undertaken solely for the benefit of big business. But this new phase in the battle for sustainable, clean food may be the catalyst required to galvanize the organics community to take the leap and move beyond organics.