Hi John,
I hope that other readers can give you more specific information, but I will share with you what I've learned from my neighbor, the organic vegetable farmer. He is truly an "organic" farmer in every sense of the word, but he has opted to not become "organically certified" because of the tremendous liability involved and of the high cost of ensuring that everything downstream of your product is also organically certified. For instance, to sell a sheep as "organically grown" he says that he would need to ensure that all of its feed is organically grown and that the feed has not had pesticides or herbicides used on it. That can be really hard when you are buying bags of sweet feed or other mixed grains. The penalties for using anything non-organic are very stiff. The liability comes into play if one of your customers ever has a reaction to something in your lamb and can prove it is the result of non-organic contaminants. My neighbor wants nothing to do with the USDA's program.
He has no problem selling his sheep as "all natural, chemical-free, free-range lamb."
Hope this helps a little.
Carol
At 09:50 AM 8/4/2004 -0500, you wrote:
Has anyone out there tried to unravel the USDA National Organic Program rules (to be "certified") to determine specific do's and don'ts????
Carol Elkins Critterhaven Estate Registered Barbados Blackbelly Hair Sheep (no shear, no dock, no fuss) Pueblo, Colorado http://www.critterhaven.biz T-shirts, mugs, caps, and more at the Barbados Blackbelly Online Store http://www.cafepress.com/blackbellysheep
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