News
USDA Builds Pandemic Support for Certified Organic and Transitioning Operations
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will provide pandemic assistance to cover certification and education expenses to agricultural producers who are certified organic or transitioning to organic. USDA will make $20 million available through the...
Farm to Food Bank Funding in 2022
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced the award of more than $7.5 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Farm to Food Bank Project funding to 29 states and territories that administer The...
New Full-Length Course on Organic Seed Search
The National Organic Program (NOP) has just announced a new course in the Organic Integrity Learning Center. Sourcing organic seed and planting stock is a key requirement of organic certification. This course provides best practices for addressing some of the most...
USDA Introduces New Insurance Policy for Farmers Who Sell Locally
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rolling out a new insurance option specifically for agricultural producers with small farms who sell locally. The new Micro Farm policy simplifies record keeping and covers post-production costs like washing and value-added...
Insurance for Specialty Crops and Organic Producers
Organic and aquaculture producers can soon benefit from updates to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) plan. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is revising the plan of insurance to make it more flexible and...
USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification
Organic producers and handlers can now apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds to assist with the cost of receiving or maintaining organic certification. Applications for the Organic Certification Cost Share...
OCIA On-Site Inspections
OCIA has made an adjustment to a policy regarding who must be present for on-site inspections. Some operations employ consultants to assist with their operations, and there have been times where only the consultant has been present for the inspection. Organic...
USDA Amends the National List for Organic Livestock and Handling
The Organic Foods Production Act created the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) as a tool for managing the substances used in organic production over time. In general, natural substances are allowed in organics and synthetic substances...
USDA Announces Additional Aid to Ag Producers and Businesses in Pandemic Assistance for Producers Initiative
Since January, USDA has allocated $11B to producers and food and ag business Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. Earlier this year,...
NOP Origin of Livestock Notice
The AMS National Organic Program (NOP) has announced in a Federal Register Notice the reopening of the public comment period for the Origin of Livestock proposed rule originally published in 2015. The comment period will be open for 60 days: May 12 – July 12, 2021....