Yet another example of why ChewsWise is such a terrific source of news and commentary on organic food, farming and related matters. Sam Fromartz actually breaks the story on Salon, but here's the gist:

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly released a ruling that alarmed organic certifiers and groups who work with third-world farmers. The decision tightens organic certification requirements to such a degree that it could sharply curtail the ability of small grower co-ops to produce organic coffee -- not to mention organic bananas, cocoa, sugar and even spices.

The tightening consists of farm-by-farm organic certification inspections replacing a system that allowed multiple farms participating in a co-op system to be certified at once. So inspection costs for small farms in developing countries will increase dramatically, forcing some to drop organic, no doubt, while larger operations that can afford inspections will expand their share of organic.

Not that we couldn't use more vigilance on inspections...

The new USDA certification ruling arose out of a case involving an unnamed Mexican grower group that failed to detect a farmer using a prohibited insecticide and prevent empty fertilizer bags being used for crop storage -- both of which violate USDA organic regulations.

I've had organic farmers here, where the inspection/certfication ratio is considerably higher, tell me they feel there is a double standard that tilts against them versus importers. Of course, domestic conventional growers often raise the same concerns about tighter pesticide rules here versus abroad.

But Fromartz's story emphasizes the viewpoint that the corrective action by USDA's National Organic Program is too severe and too abrupt. A middle ground stance--punishing the violators not the entire system and phasing in higher inspection rates--could have sent the same signal without such wholesale economic damage to small organic farms in the developing world.