Five of the most respected and influential, veteran Certified Organic farmers in the nation have sent the CEO of Whole Foods Market a letter calling the company's new "Responsibly Grown" produce marketing scheme "onerous and expensive" and stating that it devalues the Certified Organic label. They express concern that the giant retailer is setting aside decades of partnership with farmers in building the organic movement to pursue an ill-advised, self-serving marketing program.

One of the signatories, Tom Willey, of T&D Willey Farms, located in Madera, California, is a longtime Whole Foods supplier. "Intending to create a value-added image for the conventional produce on their shelves, Whole Foods is undermining the work my family and I have done, along with so many others in the organic farming movement, to create a Certified Organic 'gold standard' in terms of safe food production," Willey said.

While devising a new labeling program that identifies fruits and vegetables as "Good," "Better," and "Best," Whole Foods is asking the growers to pay for participating in the retailer's verification program.

Another signatory to the letter, Jim Crawford, founder of New Morning Farm in Hustontown, Pennsylvania, said numerous growers reported that their cost to comply with Whole Foods' new program ranges from $5,000 to $20,000. This cost, and the added labor to administer the program, could be impossible for some smaller and new-entry farmers to absorb," stated Crawford.

"I call this marketing model 'Robin Hood in reverse'," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute. "In an effort to enhance their image, they are asking modestly scaled family farmers to pick up the tab for a program whose benefits will almost exclusively accrue to the corporation," Kastel stated.

One of the most objectionable elements of the "Responsibly Grown" program, for farmers, is the company's alleged attempt to devalue the importance of the Certified Organic label in terms of customer perception.

Under the Whole Foods program, conventionally grown produce, treated with toxic agrochemicals, can be rated higher than Certified Organic produce, which is grown under strict, legally enforced compliance overseen by the USDA.

"Here is a business that touts their status as being the nation's first national Certified Organic grocery chain," Cornucopia's Kastel explained. "In their marketing materials and signage they are constantly promoting their dedication to organic agriculture. But when you shop at their stores, you might notice that a high percentage of their offerings are not actually organic. Now the 'Responsibly Grown' program is attempting to put some of this conventional food on a pedestal higher than organic," Kastel lamented.

Tom Willey, who farms year-round in California's San Joaquin Valley, added, "If Whole Foods truly is committed to the values they expound, nothing in their stores should be rated 'Better' or 'Best' unless it first passes muster under the strict regulations Congress designated when they passed the Organic Foods Production Act."

To read the entire article, click here.