Australia has the most organic farmland in the world, but producers say current labelling laws mislead consumers and are crushing trust in the industry. A proposed law change being pushed by the Coalition will define the word 'organic' weeding out producers who falsely label their produce as organic.
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00:00These cauliflowers are certified organic, free of chemicals and ethically sourced.
00:13Cut from the stem at this organic farm in South Australia's Murraylands, which is fighting
00:17for stricter labelling laws in Australia.
00:20It's a very uneven playing field.
00:24A lack of national regulation around the word organic is leaving producers and consumers
00:29high and dry.
00:30I mean the fact that it isn't regulated definitely does allow for other producers to greenwash.
00:36There is a loophole which a small number of unscrupulous operators do use to put the word
00:41organic on the packaging when not all of the ingredients are organic.
00:47And with five organic certification bodies in Australia, it's a complex market shoppers
00:52have to navigate.
00:53From a consumer perspective, the onus really falls on them to check the label and know
00:58what to look for in order to be 100% sure that what they're buying is fully organic
01:03and certified.
01:04Australia has the most organic land in the world, but farmers are fighting to legislate
01:10the organic industry, which some say would benefit consumers.
01:15I think definitely it will clear up any waters that perhaps are muddied that consumers don't
01:19understand and they realise they can buy it in confidence and know that it's actually
01:23a certified organic produce.
01:26Australia is the last developed country in the OECD without a legal definition for the
01:31word organic, making exports costly, requiring farmers to prove their credentials to each
01:38individual country.
01:40The proposed National Organic Standard Bill aims to introduce a single certification standard
01:46recognised internationally that all Australian producers would follow.
01:51Export is a really important part of our future.
01:55So this really would be, I think, quite a bit of a game changer for us.
02:00The coalition introduced the bill to Parliament, but it's now the subject of a Senate inquiry.
02:06I think Australian consumers are getting done over by foreign imports who can have less
02:11than 2% of their ingredients as organics and put an organics ticker on it.
02:16The Agriculture Department told the inquiry the cost of regulating the industry would
02:21outweigh the benefits and disproportionately affect smaller organic producers.
02:27The federal government says it will consider the proposed bill and the Senate inquiry findings
02:33set to be tabled at the end of the month.