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On August 13, in Greenfield, Mass., the USDA's Farm Bill Implementation Team met with several representatives of the organic community, led by the Organic Trade Association (OTA), which arranged the meeting to discuss implementation of organic provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill. Other groups represented at the meeting were the Center for Food Safety, Florida Organic Growers, Food and Water Watch, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), National Organic Coalition, Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), Rodale Institute, and the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. The meeting was co-hosted by Lowell Randel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Congressional Relations, and Floyd Gaibler, Deputy Under Secretary of the Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services (both USDA). Other agencies represented at the meeting were the Agricultural Marketing Service, Agriculture Research Service, National Resources Conservation Service, Risk Management Agency, and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. At the meeting, members of the organic community especially emphasized the implementation of a USDA nationwide support system for conversion to organic agriculture. Participants also stressed the importance of funding the National Organic Program (NOP), providing organic research, production and market data, organic crop insurance, provisions for organic agriculture in conservation programs, and the national cost share certification program.
Mark Lipson, Senior Policy Analyst for the Organic Farming Research Foundation, said " as we shift from legislative advocacy to the hard work of implementation our wins in the Farm Bill must be integrated into each agency's work plan as directed by the USDA leadership, but it won't happen automatically The broader organic community must continue to work together, share the workload, and present a united front." David Gagnon, Interim Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association, said: "This was an historic opportunity to present key information on the significance of these organic provisions to the team charged with developing the rules implementing the Farm Bill."
Although the legislation provides $78 million for organic agriculture research and education - five times what was allocated in the expiring 2002 bill, this is still not a "fair share" of public investment, according to the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). Despite the fact that organic products account for a 4 percent share of the U.S. retail food market, and that there are about 10,000 organic farmers in the United States, only 1 percent of the USDA's research budget is focused on organic agriculture, OFRF said. In May, OFRF Executive Director Bob Scowcroft said: "U.S. producers need far greater science-based information resources than they currently have, in order to support the nation's desire for healthier food and farming systems Matching federal resources to the organic share of the marketplace is the next step, and we will continue working towards that."
Other funding provisions in the bill include $22 million to help farmers with organic certification costs and $5 million for collection of economic data about organic production and markets.
USDA's Farm Bill Implementation Team has 90 days after the June 18 enactment date of the 2008 Farm Bill to devise 70 Farm Bill implementation rules, including the conversion provision.
In related news, OTA will host an educational event, "Growing U.S. Organic Agriculture: Accessing the 2008 Farm Bill," at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business on November 12. Participants at the event will learn how to access the new organic provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill. Attendees will include certifiers, farmers & farm associations, Extension Service agents, land grant colleges, State Departments of Agriculture.
For more information on this event visit www.ota.com, or contact Marissa Potter (mpotter@ota.com).
