Strengthening Organic Enforcement Training Resources Available Online
Consumer confidence in the USDA organic seal has fueled industry growth and market expansion. Our job at the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) is to make sure the rules protect the organic market as it grows. As part of our continuous improvement of the organic standards, we published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) final rule to continue to improve market protections – we are working every day to make it harder to cheat the system and to stop bad actors before they can hurt the market.
SOE protects the integrity of the organic supply chain and builds consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations. To help organic certifiers and operations comply with the rule, NOP has published a new SOE reference resource online.
Topics in the “SOE Primers” include:
- Who Needs to Be Certified?
- Improving Traceability and Preventing Organic Fraud
- Import Certificates
- Certificates of Organic Operation and the Organic Integrity Database
- On-Site Inspections, and Continuation of Certification
- Nonretail Labeling and Calculating Percent Organic
- Personnel Training and Qualifications
- Compliance, Mediation, and Appeals
- Producer Groups, Satellite Offices, and Equivalency
These online resources also provide a quick guide to changes in the code of federal regulations (CFR) references resulting from SOE.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Webinar on Practical Conservation Tillage for
Organic Cropping Systems
July 17, 2023 at 1:00 pm Eastern
The National Organic Standards require certified organic producers to implement tillage and cultivation practices that “maintain or improve the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soil and minimize soil erosion.” While continuous no-till may be impractical for organic production of annual vegetable or field crops, innovative farmers and researchers have developed many tools and strategies to reduce tillage intensity and to minimize the adverse soil impacts of field operations in organic systems.
Join USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for a webinar sharing farmer stories of innovative tillage practices that improve soil health and provide an overview of research documenting practical reduced-tillage strategies that protect soil health while sustaining satisfactory organic crop yields.
|
