The nation’s preeminent organic industry watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, sent a letter today to the White House, and to USDA Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack, requesting a change in leadership at the regulator’s National Organic Program (NOP).  A radical shift in the unique public-private governance in the organic sector, established by Congress in 1990, has created deep fissures within the organic community and, more recently, resulted in 15 organic stakeholders, including Cornucopia, suing the USDA.

Previous administrations faced plenty of criticism from organic advocates.  However, during the Clinton and Bush years, USDA officials were universally viewed as respecting the purview of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).  This 15-member, multi-stakeholder body was established by Congress to review all synthetic/non-organic ingredients and materials used in organic farming and food production.  Congress also mandated that the USDA Secretary seek the counsel of the NOSB on all aspects of implementing the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA).

“Although the USDA ignored some of the NOSB recommendations in the past, until recently they never went 180 degrees in the opposite direction in deference to the preferences of powerful corporate interests,” said Kevin Engelbert, a former NOSB member from Nichols, New York.  “And they never reversed the 23-year tradition of allowing the NOSB the autonomy to create their own procedure manual, set their own agenda and create their own workplan.”

The Cornucopia Institute, established in 2004, with 10,000 members, is thought to represent more certified organic farmers than any other organization in the nation.  Mr. Engelbert and his family were the first certified organic dairy farmers in the United States.

In 2009, President Obama and Mr. Vilsack were universally praised for their choice of appointing Miles McEvoy, a former organic official with the state of Washington, to lead the NOP.  Yet, after an extended honeymoon, public sentiment has taken a decisive turn toward disappointment and controversy in recent years, brought to a head by several unilateral decisions made by the USDA without collaborating, as had been the custom, with the NOSB.