I’m not inclined to use inflammatory headlines, but this is really ruffling my feathers. On December 18th the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its intention to withdraw the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices (OLPP) final rule. This action defies the very process Congress mandated for the organic seal. It represents a full assault on the integrity of the organic label. Continue reading “Trump Administration Runs Afoul on the Organic Animal Welfare Rule”
Tag: National Organic Standard Board
NOSB Fails to Prohibit Hydroponic and Container Growing in Organic Standards
The NOSB meeting opened with the standard introductions and agency updates. There was a palpable tension as the soil and the soilless camps huddled in separate groups outside. The topic looming large and passionately at this meeting is whether to prohibit various modes of growing outside the soil—organic hydroponics. Continue reading “NOSB Fails to Prohibit Hydroponic and Container Growing in Organic Standards”
2017 Fall NOSB Meeting, trick or a treat?
The fall edition of this year’s NOSB meeting will be held in Jacksonville Florida, just in time for a few goblins to come groping for organic candy. We engage in this magic twice a year to give voice to the issues and engage in the rulemaking process in a transparent and diverse manner. We summon up communal consensus with a brew of public comment and a pinch of participation. Will this Halloween NOSB invoke solidarity or discord? I plan to be there to report on all the tricks performed and any special treats offered up. Continue reading “2017 Fall NOSB Meeting, trick or a treat?”
Pancakes and Bacon: The NOSB Meeting is just Around the Corner
In just over a month, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will convene in Jacksonville, Florida, October 31st– November 2nd. These meetings are held in different far-flung agricultural areas for a reason – so organic stakeholders can participate. The meetings are sometimes witnessed with emotion, passion and even poetry. There are also hours of laborious grindings filled with technical terms and regulatory jargon, interspersed with Roberts Rules of Order. Why put yourself through hours of dogmatic drudgery and sometimes controversy? Because the organic regulations are a mutable set of protocols that can change with a vote of this board.
If you don’t show up, the products you eat or sell or the way you farm could be in jeopardy. Continue reading “Pancakes and Bacon: The NOSB Meeting is just Around the Corner”
The Issues Riddling Organic Will Set the Stage for the 2018 Farm Bill
It was a rollicking time for organic in D.C. last week.The Senate AG Committee held a hearing on global & local markets, specialty crops, and organics as they relate to the next Farm Bill. Chairman Pat Roberts gave a hi-five to organic farmers acknowledging that “they are responding to a market signal and increasing their margins.” He also attached some scorn to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) by stating “… it seems that uncertainty and dysfunction have overtaken the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and the regulations associated with the National Organic Program (NOP).”
What do these seemingly diverging messages from the Chairman of the House Ag Committee mean for organic in the next Farm Bill? For answers, you must understand some of the issues currently vexing the organic seal. Continue reading “The Issues Riddling Organic Will Set the Stage for the 2018 Farm Bill”