Illuminating interview on organic farming

Poughkeepsie Journal: "Certification is nothing more than giving some sort of proof to the consumer I'm really farming the way I say I am. ... If I can come up with a system that helps you to trust that I'm farming organically, why do I need the government to define that trust?"

Organic guru Ron Khosla gives a fascinating overview of how the system works, and does not work. One festering issue we've talked about before has to do with government regulation, which is degenerating into a system of exceptions that dilutes the entire philosophical underpinnings of organic production. Khosla's lucid proposal (favored by many local farmers I've talked to at farmer's markets in Seattle): Have the farmers regulate each other. They all have much to gain in a system of peer certification.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood

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