A working group, ISO/TC 34/WG 12, has been formed to undertake development of ISO 22006 Quality management systems − Guidance on the application of ISO 9001:2000 for crop production for crop farmers.

With input and support from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), The Terrus Group, Pioneer, BASF, John Deere, Iowa/Illinois Corn Growers and other interested parties, it will need strong end-customer, consumer and/or consumer advocacy group backing for the supply chain acceptance needed to drive subsequent ISO 9001:2000 crop farm registrations.

At the heart of initiatives like this may be the growing concerns for food safety and traceability considering recent events:

•  Mad Cow Disease scares in the US that now affect US beef exporters

•  StarLink corn - a genetically engineered corn containing a plant pesticide, Cry9C − a suspected food Allergen − that was approved by the EPA for animal feed and industrial uses that found its way into the human food supply.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already released a list of tortillas, shells, tostadas, and chips for recall.  For more information, or if you are a concerned consumer, you may want to visit:

 www.organicconsumers.org/starlink.htm

It is noteworthy that several seed manufacturers, crop farmers, grain elevators and feed mills have been proactive and have already achieved registration to ISO 9001:2000  –  read how ISO 9000 benefited a leading agricultural seed researcher and producer.

ISO 14001