"With the advent of industrial farming and the green revolution, organic farming was relegated to the status of "quaint" or "old-fashioned" -- something practiced by hippies on communes, certainly not by serious farmers."

David Suzuki, the famous environmentalist and activist who said the above, would probably agree that Canada's booming organic industry isn't "quaint" or "old-fashioned" any longer. And it'd be pretty hard not to take our estimated $1 billion industry seriously.

Sales have grown about 20 percent annually in North America for several years, making organic foods enticing economically to larger companies that once dismissed them. Dance a jig and everywhere you turn is a Kellogg's or a General Mills behind an organic brand name.

The Canadian government is not one to be left out. Last December, federales announced they're phasing in a national regulatory system for organic food. BC and Quebec already have provincial regulations, while the rest of Canada has used self-governance via independent inspectors and certifying agencies to enforce rather high (but unofficial) standards.

So what are organics? They're foods or ingredients grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, food additives, sewage sludge, genetic modification or food irradiation. Also, organic meat, chicken, eggs and dairy aren't treated with growth hormones or antibiotics. For the next year and a half, a voluntary "Canadian Organic" logo is being phased in for foods that meet these criteria. After that, the logo will be mandatory on certified organic  foods and on processed food packages that contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. If a product has 70 to 95 percent organic ingredients, the specific percentage must be displayed.

The new Canadian organic food regulation system is supposed to increase security, since offenders who falsely claim their products are organic are accountable to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Plus, consumers should be less confused because we can look for a unified logo.

But not everyone thinks more regulations are necessarily a good thing. Some fear that because governmental involvement expands the regulation process, bigger profit-driven companies may eventually dilute our high organic standards.

An unnecessary concern? Perhaps, considering the good intentions of those who've been involved in Canada's process so far-everyone from farmers to manufacturers. But not according to Ronnie Cummins of the US-based Organic Consumers Association (www.organicconsumers.org). Since the United States developed national regulations, the Association's Save Our Standards campaign has monitored potential threats to American
organic integrity. They're currently urging a boycott against US organic milk brands that they claim source their milk from conventional-style factory farm producers who take advantage of a loophole in American organic regulations.

Cummins' advice to Canadians in a recent interview with me was, "Even once you have national standards, vigilance is the watch word." So that's what we'll do. Watch and wait, with a critical eye towards how the complicated regulation process proceeds and is maintained.

The organic industry may not be dominated by "hippies" any longer, but would being dominated by big business be a better option?

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