Protected Harvest

Protected Harvest is a non-profit organization that describes itself as "independently certifies farmers' use of stringent environmental growing standards."

Rebranding Chemical Based Agriculture as Sustainable
After the launch of the program, author Paul Hawken wrote a letter of protest to Protected Harvest. "I am sorry, but there are terms that accurately describe what you are attempting to do, but to take sustainable as a label term for foods grown with herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and soil fumigants is a travesty. You have no right to cherry pick the language in order to sell this program. Who did you consult? Did you check in with the tens of thousands of other NGOs in North America and the world who have tried to make the word meaningful? The standards you propose are good management practices-for chemical farmers. Any farmer using pesticides would benefit from them. Three cheers for good agricultural practices but thumbs down on the deceptive labeling and branding," he wrote. 

Board of Directors

 * Cynthia Barstow, Adjunct Faculty - Food Marketing University of Massachusetts
 * Jason Clay, Vice President Center for Conservation Innovation WWF
 * Randy Duckworth, Board President and General Counsel, Principal, Grapeview Market Development
 * Scott Faber, Attorney, Environmental Defense
 * Charles Mellinger Technical Director Glades Crop Care, Inc.
 * Cliff Ohmart, Board Secretary, Director of Integrated Farming and Research, Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission, California
 * Erik Olson, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
 * Blair Richardson, President, California Tree Fruit Agreement
 * Jeff Wyman Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Contact details
Protected Harvest 1211 Brunswick Court, Arnold, Maryland 21012 Email: info AT protectedharvest.org Web: http://www.protectedharvest.org/

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Kai Robertson