Dong Shicheng / from Honey Ranch to Nakazaki District, has become a key case of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act. Can organic agriculture be protected?

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(Wen / Dong Shijie, Vice Dean of School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, ZTE University, CEO of Organic Agriculture Promotion Center)

In recent months, two land expropriation disputes related to organic farms have attracted attention. One is the land competition between the Honey Ranch in Tainan and the Green Energy Industrial Park of the Tainan Municipal Government, and the other is the Qiaotou Science Park planned by the Kaohsiung Municipal Government opposite the Nakasaki Organic Agriculture Zone in Kaohsiung. What the two incidents have in common is that the local government and organic farmers are on the opposite side of the interests, fighting for the legal right to use public land, and the landlords are both Taiwan Sugar Company.

In the process, the opposing sides of the two debates have argued vigorously, and at present there seems to be no absolute winner. The debate has also entered the legal attack and defense based on laws and regulations, and the law most frequently cited by both sides is the Law on the Promotion of Organic Agriculture, but because both sides inevitably take what they need and insist on their respective expressions, sometimes it will inevitably be reduced to the dilemma of taking meaning out of context or misinterpreting the meaning of the law. Coupled with the partial interpretation and misunderstanding of the definition of organic agriculture by a small number of unreasonable people, it not only manipulates the fuzzy focus of "true and false organic", but also undermines the positive value of the passage of the Promotion Law.

With this article, the author tries to clarify the misinterpretation of organic laws and regulations in the recent debate, and also provides personal opinions on how to solve the deadlock. It is hoped that the conflict will be turned into an opportunity to create a possible win-win situation, and the biggest beneficiaries will be the environment and the future of the next generation.

In the face of the crisis, the ranch team set up special notice boards to declare the field of organic agriculture. Shoot Lin Jiyangyi and get the verification of organic transition period, that is, it is in line with the facts of organic farm management.

In the case of Honey Farm, two recent incidents have attracted attention by citing the Organic Agriculture Promotion Law. One is an official document sent to the ranch by the Economic Development Bureau of the Tainan Municipal Government. The content specifically mentions that "since April 108, your farm has leased the land of Taiwan Sugar Hong Kong Farm to grow organic crops, and so far it has only been certified in the period of organic transformation, according to the Organic Agriculture Promotion Law passed in May 107." The land has not been organically certified, which is obviously not in line with the facts. ... ".

In short, the Tainan municipal government believes that although the Honey Ranch has been verified in the organic transition period, according to the Organic Agriculture Promotion Law, it does not have the fact of organic farm management. This argument actually runs counter to the provisions of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Law, and it can even be said to contravene the norms of the Law.

The law on the promotion of organic agriculture can be broadly classified as a basic law, with the exception of the first two provisions stating the purpose and the competent authority, the elements that are in line with organic agriculture are listed in Article 3. Article 3 of the Act lists a total of 11 elements and definitions related to organic agriculture, and it is obvious that "verification is the most important procedure in organic agricultural certification", which is also common to organic legislation all over the world.

The eleventh paragraph states that verification refers to the process in which the verification institution and the agricultural product operator agree by private law contract to examine whether the production, processing, repackaging and circulation of specific agricultural products are in conformity with the provisions of this Law. Therefore, the verification process is basically aimed at agricultural products, and paragraph 6 of this provision also states that "agricultural products in an organic transition period refers to the process of production, processing, repackaging and circulation of agricultural products during the period of transformation into organic agricultural products." it meets the verification criteria set by the central competent authority and has been verified to be qualified in accordance with the provisions of this Law. "

Therefore, according to the connotation of Article 3, it is clearly pointed out that all agricultural products, all those who have passed the verification criteria set by the law, can be regarded as products produced by organic agriculture in a broad sense. Therefore, since agricultural products in the organic transition period should be verified on the basis of the existing verification criteria of organic agricultural products, of course they are included in the category of organic.

In addition, Article 4, paragraph 2, of the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act also mentions that "organic agriculture to be promoted by the competent authority in the preceding paragraph includes friendly environmental farming that has not been verified by Article 3, paragraph 11." It can be seen that this law recognizes two kinds of organic agriculture, one is verified, the other is unproven (that is, friendly farming), so there is no doubt that the certified agricultural products in the period of organic transition are classified as organic products.