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If they are held to a standard, it's better than none at all. It was a bit tongue in cheek of a comment though.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/organic-standards

>>but if you actually trust/believe that farmers don't cheat during facility inspections, I don't know what to tell you. Every USDA organic farm I've ever had an inside track on is guilty, and that's quite a few

This is how half the country feels about election officials.

The people who feel that way about election officials have missed the forest for the trees. The US is a one party state, elections don't matter because the runners are decided by those with the capital to finance them

Both parties are captured by corporate interests

Do the inspections not involve going out to the fields and testing crops/soil?

According to this pdf[1] they may take soil or tissue samples, but primarily the inspection leans on self-reporting. I’d wager that the (3rd party) inspector is mostly checking that you are following your Organic System Plan. There is also nothing stopping the certifier from sending out a separate consultant the week before to make sure their customer has all their ducks in a row. I know thats a thing for ISO certificates.

Fwiw, most regulatory agencies I’m familiar with in the US rely heavily on self-reporting.

[1] https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Guide%20t...