Cornucopia Report: EU Shuts Down Organic Fraud -- Floodgates Open into U.S.

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Jun 19, 2018, 01:49 ET

CORNUCOPIA, Wis., June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Organic industry watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, has released a groundbreaking, comprehensive report chronicling how a small number of multibillion dollar agribusinesses came to dominate the U.S. organic grain industry following systemic failures of the USDA's National Organic Program (USDA-NOP) to curb infiltration of questionable organic grain imports.

Cornucopia's report finds that the U.S. became a dumping ground for imports of fraudulent organic corn, soybeans, and other commodities after the European Union cracked down on abuses originating in former Soviet Bloc countries including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Russia. Imports now make up the majority of feed grains fed to domestic certified organic livestock.

"With industry experts estimating that over 50% of organic corn and 80-90% of soybeans are being imported, there is speculation that if the USDA wakes up to do their job, feed shortages in the organic marketplace could occur," said Mark A. Kastel, Cornucopia's codirector.

Kastel lamented that the USDA had "looked the other way" on documentation concerning fraud from China and Eastern Europe for over a decade. "The timing couldn't be worse. The marketplace will likely create incentives for U.S. farmers to convert more acreage to organic management, but this news is coming too late in the 2018 growing season."

The story unveiled by Cornucopia is one of a U.S. market plagued by feeble, often non-existent, enforcement by federal regulators and organic certifiers, despite repeated calls for stricter oversight and legal reform.

In 2014, the U.S. imported 14,000 metric tons of organic soybeans from Turkey. That number skyrocketed to 165,000 metric tons in 2016. Organic corn imports from Turkey increased more dramatically, going from 15,000 metric tons in 2014 to more than 399,000 by 2016. Based on available data sources, in the year 2015, the U.S. imported over three and half times as much organic corn as the country purportedly produced.

"What we have is a mathematical impossibility," said Anne Ross, primary author of Cornucopia's white paper. "When organic acreage reported for these countries cannot produce the organic grain yields that the U.S. is importing, either the product is fake or the data is so unreliable that the U.S. ought to ban organic shipments from countries where meaningful records on organic production can't be extrapolated."

Interestingly, at least five foreign operations showing affiliations with Turkish grain traders recently surrendered their organic certifications.

More: https://bit.ly/2ynI9gV

CONTACT: Anne Ross, JD, 843-209-1732

SOURCE The Cornucopia Institute