WASHINGTON — Define "sustainable farming."
Lawyers, farmers, environmentalists and government officials have been arguing about that for decades.
Now, efforts are under way internationally and in the United States to establish standards for sustainable agriculture that could have a real impact on the bottom lines of both farmers and agribusinesses.
The initiatives are intended to develop rules for certifying foods and biofuels as "sustainable."
So far, the rules look good for big biotech companies such as Monsanto and DuPont. The standards being developed don't rule out genetically engineered seeds and could discourage the use of pesticides that farmers don't need with the biotech soybeans and corn popular in the U.S. and South America.
Both the international and U.S. standard-setting bodies reached key milestones recently.
A group called the Round Table on Responsible Soy reached agreement on a set of standards covering treatment of workers as well as rules protecting water and soil quality, preventing greenhouse gas emissions and banning dangerous farm chemicals.
The standards are to be field tested over the coming year. Once finalized, they could be used to certify soybean oil used for biodiesel in the European Union, which is moving toward environmental certifications for biofuels.
U.S. farmers didn't take part in writing the standards, but they could benefit from them. Jason Clay, who has followed the round table's work as director of market transformation for the World Wildlife Fund, said the standards could restrict soybean production and increase prices for the crop.
The standards will discourage deforestation in places such as Brazil and "reduce the biological impacts from producing soy," Clay said. "Increasingly people are going to have to actually comply with this to get access to markets."
The U.S. initiative isn't as far along, but the standards it produces will cover all crops, not just soybeans.
The standards are being developed under auspices of the American National Standards Institute, a private group that accredits standards for a wide array of products, including baby cribs, bicycle helmets and lawn mowers.
The institute commissioned the Wisconsin-based Leonardo Academy to develop standards for sustainable agriculture. Initially, the group started with a draft set of rules similar to those for organic crops. Federal organic standards bar the use of genetically engineered seeds and synthetic pesticides.
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But farm groups attacked the draft rules — the American Soybean Association said only 0.2 percent of the U.S. soybean crop would have qualified as "sustainable" — and the Bush administration tried to get the standards institute to take the job away from the Leonardo Academy. The institute rejected the administration's appeal, but in any case the academy's standards committee decided to scrap the draft rules and "start over with a clean slate," said Leonardo's Amanda Raster, who is overseeing the project.
The 58-member committee, which includes representatives of farmers, environmental groups and the food industry, agreed to set performance-based standards, rather than specify what technology or methods farmers could use. Such standards would probably include requirements that farms improve soil and water quality, for example.
Conventional farmers will like the way the initiative is headed.
The committee "realized that any technology that increases sustainability should have a seat at the table," said Tom Redick, a lawyer who is following the initiative for soybean growers.
But will the standards wind up making any difference in how farmers farm?
Suzy Friedman, a committee member who represents the Environmental Defense Fund, said it is far too soon to tell. If the standards are too strong, few farms will try to get certified, she said. But if the rules are too weak, they won't change farming practices.
The target date for completing the standards isn't until 2012. That leaves plenty of time to keep debating what sustainable agriculture means.
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