There will soon be an increased onus on organic growers to find and use certified organic seed.
It has always been an encouraged practice but it is about to become a rule enshrined in Canada’s new regulation, scheduled to come into force June 30.
“That will help create more of a demand for organic seed whenever it is available,” said Christina Keys, organic standards communications officer with Canadian Organic Growers.
Organic seed is often not available in the variety and quality that farmers are looking for.
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Because of this, Canada’s national standard, like many other standards, includes a clause that gives farmers an out.
They can use untreated, non-GM conventional seed if the variety they are looking for is not available in their area or is too expensive to source.
But there is a growing international sentiment that distance and cost are not acceptable excuses for using conventional seed, said Jim McCullagh, executive director of the Centre for Systems Integration, an organic certification body and a division of the Canadian Seed Institute.
“If there is certified seed someplace, you have to make an effort to bring that certified seed in,” he said.
CSI has received “clear direction” from the United States and the European Union that distance and price will no longer be a determining factor when assessing seed availability.
The EU has established a European seed database that its growers must consult when looking for seed. For instance, if a grower in southern France needs organic timothy and the only available vendor is in Denmark, then he must purchase that vendor’s seed, said McCullagh.
Keys agreed that there is a general movement toward stricter enforcement of the buy organic seed regulation but she noted that while there has been talk about getting rid of the commercially unavailable clause in the U.S. standard, they are nowhere near doing it.
She said as long as a producer makes a reasonable effort, by making three or four phone calls to local seed companies, that should be good enough to satisfy most certification bodies. Keys doesn’t agree that distance and cost will no longer be valid excuses.
“That’s not my impression.”
That raises another issue. Each certifying body will have its own interpretation of the seed availability issue and a plethora of other clauses contained in the new regulation and national standard.
The Organic Federation of Canada and the Canadian Organic Office are forming an interpretation committee to assist certification bodies in applying the new national regulation evenly and fairly across the country.
Canadian Organic Growers will also make a guidance document available within the next two weeks that interprets what is contained in the national standard.
Those two initiatives should help ensure that growers and certifiers all across Canada are subject to the same set of rules.
There will also be some assistance for growers pertaining to the seed availability regulation.
CSI is in the process of putting up a free service on its website to connect growers with vendors.
The certifier expects its growers to consult that list when searching for seed. It will also help growers identify to what standard the seed they are seeking has been certified because the first preference is for them to purchase seed certified to the Canadian standard.
Producers will still be allowed to make a presentation to their certification body that certain available varieties of organic seed are not suitable to their area. That is one argument to which CSI will be sympathetic.
“The organic system shouldn’t be forcing farmers into poor agricultural production practices,” said McCullagh.
Keys hopes the seed availability regulation will eventually lead to a greater supply of certified organic seed.
“Maybe five years from now there won’t be as many farmers having to turn towards the commercially unavailable clause,” she said.