Schumer: get tough on ag imports

HEUVELTON — Calling himself “the Brooklyn farmer,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., visited an organic farm here Thursday to call for stricter regulations on agricultural goods that come in from China.

Brian K. Bennett, the owner of Bittersweet Farm and an advocate of locally grown food, was vocal about his own ideas.

Mr. Bennett disagreed with Sen. Schumer’s take on organic foods, at one point interrupting the speech, saying, “I don’t agree. We need to buy local, stay local.”

“Do you want to open up, Mr. Bennett?” Sen. Schumer asked as he prepared to address the crowd, standing before a storage shed of ripe red tomatoes and other vegetables. “You’re not shy.”

At the heart of Mr. Bennett’s disagreement with Sen. Schumer was a lack of emphasis on encouraging local produce.

The goods that Mr. Bennett sells at the GreenMarket in Ogdensburg and at the farmers market in Canton are far superior to an ear of corn that’s wrapped in cellophane and has made a 1,000-mile trip on a truck, Mr. Bennett said, even if that ear of corn is organic.

“This is as fresh as it gets,” Mr. Bennett said, cupping several still-warm, just-laid eggs.

The idea behind organic is sound, Mr. Bennett said. No pesticides or growth hormones. His small farm is certified organic.

But, he said, “There are too many loopholes that have allowed corporate agriculture companies to become organic.”

Mr. Bennett told Sen. Schumer his ideas for Farm for America, a program similar to Teach for America. Young, environmentally conscious people would work for a year on a small farm using methods that are easy on the earth and good for the consumer.

“And you’d pay them?” Sen. Schumer asked.

“I was hoping you’d pay them,” Mr. Bennett responded.

Mr. Bennett does something similar at his farm, where students from St. Lawrence University, Canton, volunteer their time to weed, feed the animals and plant seeds.

A handful of young women who help were on hand for Sen. Schumer’s remarks.

“I think the point of locally grown products needed to be emphasized more, instead of foreign regulations,” said Hanne W. Bailey, a sophomore at SLU.

Sen. Schumer said he was most concerned with recent reports of goods that are U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved as organic, but do not actually meet any organic requirements.

The Global Post and Public Radio International reported earlier this year on widespread violations. One Chinese grocery chain official told the Global Post that only about 30 percent of Chinese goods with an organic label actually were produced with the proper methods the USDA outlined.

Mr. Schumer noted the organic food industry continues to expand. It now represents 3 percent of total food sales in the country, according to industry statistics.

Chinese goods that are fraudulently labeled organic would undermine that burgeoning business, and something needs to be done, Sen. Schumer said.

“We need more cops on the beat,” he said.

Organic farming could be particularly lucrative for St. Lawrence County. Sen. Schumer got a taste of what organic farms such as Bittersweet can produce without pesticides or other methods that are harmful to the environment.

He stood in the doorway of one of the greenhouses on the Bennett property, complimenting the freshness of the basil and asking about the arugula.

He took a bite of a pea shoot from a small batch grown in a plastic container in the greenhouse.

“It’s good,” Sen. Schumer said. “You could grow it in Brooklyn.”