Shook Attorney Co-Authors ABA Article on ANSI Draft National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Of Counsel Jim Andreasen has co-authored an article providing an update on the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI’s) draft national standard for sustainable agriculture. The article appears in the January 2010 issue of the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) Agricultural Management Committee Newsletter. This committee is part of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources.

The article outlines the draft standard’s development to date and the potential impact it could have once finalized. According to the article, the draft “as initially proposed would promote a non-GMO [genetically modified organism], organic, and fair trade (i.e., fair labor) standard for agriculture that exceeds nearly all existing organic and nonorganic practices in U.S. agriculture.” The draft has undergone a number of changes, including a narrowing of its scope, since its introduction, and the committee working to develop it has expanded to include some industry interests.

The article also discusses the appeals that various interested stakeholders have filed, mostly challenging the composition of the standards development committee, and reports that the draft will be further refined in March 2010 during a meeting at the University of Arkansas. ANSI standards, once finalized, have the potential to be adopted as international standards under the International Organization for
Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland. They are also often adopted by federal and state regulators in this country.