An incident involving a shipment of Canadian organic grain bound for
Holland has left the shipper sickened and government officials
bewildered.
A container of organic fenugreek that left Canada in early August has
reportedly been refused by the Dutch government and is now sitting at a
port in Antwerp.
The company shipping the fenugreek is a new outfit out of Regina called
Farmers Direct, which markets grain on behalf of a farmer co-operative.
The 18-tonne load in question was the company’s inaugural shipment and
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was worth $55,000.
Everything was going as planned until the buyer sent a fax on Aug. 15
saying the Dutch ministry of agriculture is no longer issuing import
licences for organic product certified by North American control bodies.
“This is not a nice situation because we cannot then import the goods
as organic,” said the overseas buyer.
Farmers Direct owner Jason Freeman thinks the Dutch government stance
stems from confusion over recently released American National Organic
Program standards.
“They are wondering if Canadian and American organic products still
comply with European regulations.”
If it’s true that the Dutch government has taken this unusual step, it
“would really suck,” said Freeman.
“If the Dutch are doing this, I’m sure the Germans and the French and
everyone else is doing this too.”
Agriculture Canada’s national organic specialist has received no
indication from European Union countries that they are turning away
Canadian product and would be shocked if that is the case.
“We need to sort that thing out. If it’s an official position from an
EU country, well, this is really surprising because we weren’t notified
of that,” said Gilbert Parent.
Canada is developing agreements with the European Union, Japan and the
United States to get them to recognize and accept its standards and
accreditation body. A new national organic standard is in the works and
could be approved by the Standards Council of Canada by early November.
That will go a long way toward getting Canada on the EU’s coveted third
party list. Countries that are not on that list by Dec. 31, 2005, will
not be able to export organic product to the EU.
In the meantime, certification bodies around the world have access to
that market as long as they comply with the local requirements of the
export destination. That’s why this fax from the Netherlands confuses
Parent.
“I think it’s a mistake.”
If it is not a mistake, he wonders if Freeman’s company failed to meet
some of Holland’s export requirements.
But a senior trade policy analyst with Agriculture Canada has had a
look at the circumstances surrounding the fenugreek shipment and says
everything was in order.
“His company has done everything that needs to be done to be able to
export over there. He has the appropriate certification,” said
Marie-France Huot.
She will be contacting the Canadian embassy in Germany to sort the
problem out this week.
“I hope it’s just a misunderstanding.”
So does Freeman.
Right now his options are to ship the container back to Canada, get the
product recertified in Holland or hope the mess gets resolved.
“I’ve got no clout with the minister of agriculture in Holland, so
hopefully (our) counterparts in Ottawa can at least get some
clarification about what’s going on – give me some instructions about
what I have to do to get this shipment through.”
