organic production

Farmers of the Real Organic Project met with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week, discussing what the group calls the “organic problem.” The meeting followed a letter sent to Vilsack last month signed by 43 former members of the National Organic Standards board. The fa ...

Last week, Mexico agreed to extend the deadline for U.S. organic exports to be certified to its Organic Products Law. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with his counterpart, and they agreed to extend the compliance deadline to December 31, 2021 ...

Late last week, a host of lawmakers including central Washington’s Dan Newhouse and western Oregon’s Peter DeFazio introduction legislation they say will improve the federal process for the oversight of organic standards. Supporters says the Continuous Improvement and Accountability in Organic Standards Act will establish a new framework for advancing organic standards, improving oversight and e

The Organic Trade Association and the National Organic Coalition recently sent industry recommendations to President-elect Joe Biden's transition team. In a letter to the transition team, the groups say, "here are several overarching issues that need to be addressed early in your Administration to put organic agriculture back on safe footing after the challenges of the past four years ... Re

The USDA has proposed a rule that supporters say would strengthen the Agricultural Marketing Service’s oversite of Organic products and what can be included in the National Organic Program. Rob Larew, President of the National Farmers Union said over the last several years, millions of dollars of non-organic products have been intentionally mislabeled in the NOP and sold as organic. Thi ... Read

On Wednesday, Representative Dan Newhouse joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers sending a letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue expressing concerns with changes announced to the Organic Certification Cost Share Program. The issue, the announcement earlier this month that for Fiscal Year 2020 OCCSP funding would be reduced ...

Organic food sales rose 5% year over year in 2019, coming in at $50 billion. The Organic Trade Association said the first quarter of 2020 saw organic food sales continue to rise dramatically. Food Business News said if that trend continues, the industry should see another year of record growth ...

The quickly-growing organic market in Taiwan is poised to grow even faster. Late last week, the U.S. and Taiwan reached an organic equivalence arrangement to enable increased trade between the two regions. Taiwan is already the fifth-largest export market for U ...

Not only is the number of organic acreage increasing nationwide, but the sales of those organic products continue to move higher as well. "Fruits and vegetables, I mean these numbers, even after years of growth, we're still seeing between the last two censuses; 2012 and our most recent numbers in 2017; the sector doubling to over $3 billion ...

In an effort to learn about the challenges organic farmers and ranchers face, two national surveys are being conducted. One focuses on certified organic producers, while the other takes a look at those transitioning to organic certification ...