A welcome reversal.

Byline: The Register-Guard

When organizations that have been calling for her head start saying things like Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman's latest announcement "is great news for the organic food community,' it's time to give her some credit.

Veneman surprised everyone last week, particularly her critics in the organic food industry, by abruptly rescinding four controversial changes in organic food standards made by National Organic Program administrators.

Those changes, which the Agriculture Department called clarifications, had expanded the use of antibiotics in organic dairy cows and pesticides in crops, permitted livestock to eat nonorganic fishmeal and allowed fish, pet food and other products to be labeled organic without third-party certification.

When word of the changes reached farmers and advocates for the $11 billion organic food industry, they went ballistic and barraged the Agriculture Department with criticism that it had undermined public trust in the label "organic." Additional outrage was leveled at administrators of the National Organic Program for sneaking the changes through without consulting their own advisory board, much less anyone in the organic food industry.

Veneman's reversal was an appropriate course correction in an unnecessarily contentious relationship between her department and organic food advocates, who remain critical of staff in the National Organic Program. They accuse program administrators of ignoring input from the National Organic Standards Board and catering to interests that want to boost profits by exploiting loopholes in the evolving standards.

The agriculture secretary should be paying closer attention to those critics. They want the same thing she wants: Shoppers who are confident that food labeled "USDA Organic" has been produced according to exactly the same standards, whether it comes from California or Connecticut. And the organic food producers deserve to have a say in resolving any conflicts that arise in the interpretations of the standards.

A good follow-up to her well-received decision would be for Veneman to insist that National Organic Program administrators take no future actions on standards - including clarifications - without consulting the National Organic Standards Board and the Organic Trade Association.