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Apr 13, 2017
Blake Akers is working on an alternative to the organic certification, USDA Organic, offered by the federal government. Not long ago, we had Grace Gershuny on our show who played a major part in the creation of the standards we follow today.
The two are somewhat in separate camps. Grace is greatly invested in a standard and certification for organics set by the government, while Blake wants to see that farmers self-regulate and that consumers enforce the standards by voting with their dollars and by making their opinion known.
In the end, the really agree on many things. For example:
- Both feel very strongly that the soil is the key to producing good, organic food and for that matter, to producing food - period.
- Both are deeply concerned that we are losing topsoil at an alarming rate.
- Both want to see regeneration rather than sustainability.
- Both want to see that farmers are able to make an income during the transition to being completely organic.
And there are many points where the disagree.
Part of our mission for this podcast Is to bring to you different world views and methods.
Blake Akers on Agritrue:
Agritrue is an online directory and certification site for beyond organic producers.
Agritrue wants to be there for start-ups and small businesses. They are offering an alternative to the USDA certification, and are at the same time more rigorous in certain aspects.
Why is it more rigorous?
You have to have a soil management system in place to become Agritrue certified. The goal is to keep the soil from eroding and to become better and better. This ensures maximum nutrition in the food and also builds topsoil on our planet.
Soil is important for the health of the plants and consequently for the health of the people.
A few highlights from the interview:
If you want to sell vegetarian fed eggs, do not apply. Why is that?
Allowing GMO feed for livestock. Why and for how long?
A transition period.
Regenerative Agriculture.
The goal is to build trust with the consumer base.
The hope is to achieve name recognition on the level with USDA organic.
Blake owns a software company which developed the online tools.
Agritrue is in partnership with Permaethos - an organization dedicated to education.The idea originated with Jack Spirko from the Survival Podcast.
Did you see the video of shrimp in China getting prepped to be exported to the US? Neither the film crew nor the workers knew the ingredients of the substance that was injected into the shrimp to make them weigh more.
Value added products are okay to produce. A person could buy cucumbers to make pickles and sell the pickles via Agritrue - as long as the cucumbers were grown in accordance with the standards.
Agritrue: http://agritrue.com/
Agritrue on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBnivmgDboA
Permaethos: https://permaethos.com/
Sustainable Living Podcast: http://www.sustainablelivingpodcast.com/
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