Research Funding for Canada’s Organic Industry
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Organic farming just might be one of the fastest growing trends to hit farming since… well, maybe hand-in-hand with GPS. What originally seemed like a grassroots movement in the face of large-scale industrial farming has quickly become a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.
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In Canada, organic farms made up about 1.5 per cent of all farms back in 2007, and that number’s been growing steadily. But with its growth come questions about its sustainability. The challenge now, say organic farmers, is to make organic farming as much of a mainstay in the industry as conventional farming. Organic farming organizations like the Canadian Organic Growers group are looking at ways to do just that.
With new certification standards in place for organic farms, Canada can now boast that has more than 3,600 certified organic producers growing organic produce on more than 530,000 hectares of Canadian soil. Not only is organic farming better for human health than more conventional methods, it is also the environmentally-friendlier choice, with studies showing that organic farming has less impact on the environment than other methods and, as such, can help to offset the effects of climate change.
However, when it comes to food safety – a hot-button topic in the agriculture industry these days – not a lot of research has been done on how organic produce shapes up. This is one of the areas in which the Canadian Organic Growers group hopes to help strengthen the organic farming industry. The group will undertaking a research project with the help of $50,000 in funding from the federal government. The initiative represents one of the first research projects into the safety of organic food since the Canadian government implemented its new certification standards.
According to the group, government organic standards aren’t necessarily in sync with the safety standards established by the conventional farming industry, and they cite concerns such as procedures for preventing livestock contamination as an example.
And if consumers have any concerns about the safety of organic food, organic producers worry that it will only compound worries that buyers might have about the meaning of different food labels and the higher cost of organic goods.
By funding research into safety standards and regulations, Canada’s organic farmers hope to assure buyers once and for all that organic is the best choice.
