REGINA (Staff) – The Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) may change the way inspections are conducted.
Will Oddie of Regina, president of OCIA in Saskatchewan, says the organization is considering the use of contracted inspectors or staff members. Right now, the members use inspectors from an approved list.
Oddie said delegates to the recent OCIA administrative council meeting in Regina discussed the change because of the international implications.
In North America, the Independent Organization of Inspectors could quite capably handle the inspection, Oddie said.
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“But we’re an international organization and there are very competent people doing inspections in other parts of the world” who may not be on the list, he said.
Oddie said there is always a question surrounding the use of third party independent inspectors.
“We’ve allowed members to choose inspectors from the list, but not the same one for three years in a row,” he said. There is the possibility of abuse when members choose an inspector with whom they have “a good arrangement,” he said.
OCIA has more than 5,000 members with more than one million certified acres on four continents.
