California Ag Network

Tag: Organic Trade Association

  • Organic Trade Association holds Bold Ideas & Critical Conversations Conference

    The Organic Trade Association promised to look at the world of organic a little differently at its 2019 policy conference, and it kept its word.

    Bold ideas and Critical Conversation

    The association invited other organizations that are working to advance food and farming priorities to share their bold ideas with the organic community. It hosted social influencers from around the country to educate them on the association’s work and the advocacy of its members. And it featured in-depth, no-holds-barred conversations on everything from how to make organic affordable for consumers and still profitable for farmers to the emerging hemp market and the opportunities it offers for organic.

    The 250-plus attendees at the Organic Trade Association’s Bold Ideas + Critical Conversations conference on May 23 represented the diversity of today’s organic sector: organic grain and livestock farmers from Montana, organic fruit and vegetable growers from California and organic dairy producers from the Midwest, national organic brands and small organic businesses, organic certifiers and organic distributors, organic importers and organic exporters, and organic policymakers and organic trendsetters.

     

    “This year’s conference was about new ideas and innovative thinking. Organic has come a long way, but we are dealing with some big challenges, and we are pleased that our conference enabled a frank discussion – and also some brainstorming – on how to keep organic advancing,” said Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. “Now we need to make sure that this constructive conversation and positive action continue.”

     

    Even the venue of the conference – Washington’s historic Union Market — represented organic’s embrace of the future and its respect for the past. Originating as Centre Market over 200 years ago, what is now today’s Union Market was at one time the city’s largest farmers’ market, with hundreds of vendors of produce, meat, eggs and everything in between. After surviving some turbulent times, it is now back on strong footing as a thriving revitalized economic growth center for the community that honors its culinary beginnings and also fosters a diverse culture of sights and sounds.

     

    Collaboration and transparencyCritical Conversations Conference

     

    Making its debut at the conference was Coalition Alley. The Organic Trade Association assembled a broad coalition of partners to connect with the conference attendees about their diverse priorities. What did they have in common? All of the passionate advocates are doing important work to promote the best practices in farming, to educate the public about healthy food and lifestyle choices, and to create sound policy changes to advance agriculture.

     

    Participants in Coalition Alley were American Farmland Trust, Organic Farming Research Foundation, National Farmers Union, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Partnership for a Healthier America, ShiftCon, USDA’s National Organic Program and The Organic Center.

     

    Also marking a first at the annual conference was the Organic Trade Association’s first-ever Influencer Program. Seven widely followed social media influencers were chosen to cover the conference and other activities during Organic Week to get a behind-the-scenes look at organic advocacy in action.

     

    The following of these enthusiastic and committed organic activists on Instagram alone totals some 263,000, but their reach and influence go far beyond that. Being able to experience directly the organic advocacy process in the nation’s capital, and to chronicle that experience to their hundreds of thousands of followers, was an invaluable learning lesson for all involved.

     

    “Organic has nothing to hide,” said Batcha in kicking off the conference. “Organic is fighting for good, we wear the white hats, and we’ve turned back the curtain for the media on our lobbying efforts.”

     

    “We all need to commit to dig in and improve the way the public/private partnership between the government and the organic sector works,” Batcha told attendees. “We need to keep organic advancing … All of agriculture can learn from organic, and everyone could benefit from organic moving forward.”

     

    The impressive list of speakers and leaders at the conference included former Chief Agricultrual Trade Negotiator at the Office of U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Darci Vetter; Rudy Arredondo, President and CEO of the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association; Alice Rolls, President and CEO of Georgia Organics; Jeff Huckaby, President and CEO of Cal-Organic/Grimmway Farms; Gary Hirshberg, Co-founder of Stonyfield Farm; Carla Vernon, President of the Natural & Organic Operating Unit, General Mills; David Wasserman, U.S. House Editor and Senior Election Analayst, The Cook Political Report; Naomi Starkman, Founder and Editor-in-chief of Civil Eats, and many more.

     

  • Major Programs Underway with GRO Organic

    Much can happen in a year, as a major collective effort underway by the organic community is proving. Scores of organic companies and stakeholders have enthusiastically stepped up to invest almost $1.5 million in programs to advance organic food and farming — initiatives to promote organic, educate consumers about organic’s benefits, assist organic farmers and foster critical organic research. And this is just the beginning.

    Less than a year ago, the Organic Trade Association made the pivotal decision to create an innovative check-off-like voluntary program to support the U.S. organic sector. The effort was aptly named GRO Organic (Generate Results and Opportunity for Organic) and since then specific action plans have been put in place to reduce the confusion about organic, to help farmers go organic and stay organic, and to spur research on ways that organic practices can fight climate change.

    “Organic has lots of challenges right now, and I am thrilled and heartened with how the sector has turned these challenges into new opportunities for strategic thinking and real action,” said Laura Batcha, CEO and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. “Organic innovators and industry leaders are investing into their future, and taking proactive steps to ensure that organic continues to flourish.”

    “When we reimagined GRO Organic last year, we got to work immediately to develop diverse and forward-looking programs to not only benefit organic farmers and organic businesses, but to help consumers make the best choices and to encourage more organic research,” said Batcha. “We set measurable and tangible goals for the first two years of GRO Organic, and we’re poised to surpass those goals in the first year.”

    The Organic Trade Association has partnered with Organic Voices, The Organic Center, and 69 (and counting) organic brands, businesses and leaders across the industry to implement programs as prototype working examples that can be expanded into even more ambitious future initiatives.

    The wide-ranging programs focus on four key action plans:

    • Launching a national campaign to reduce consumer confusion about organic
    • Learning what customers are hearing and how it affects their behavior
    • Connecting technical specialists with transitioning and existing organic farmers in every state
    • Researching how organic is part of the solution to soil health and climate change

    An engaging “fishbowl discussion” is being planned for organic stakeholders at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim on Friday, March 8, to provide an update on program specifics from GRO Organic Core Committee members, and to hear from stakeholders spanning the entire organic supply chain about the latest consumer insights, messaging plans and ideas, potential Governance structures and more.

    A national campaign to promote organic

    Organic Voices, led by Stonyfield Co-founder Gary Hirshberg, and the Organic Trade Association have collaborated to fund a two-year nationwide campaign to promote organic. To support the cutting-edge campaign, $1 million has already been raised in the first year (and another $1 million is on target for year two of the campaign with the goal to raise more).

    Organic Voices has been working for over a year to craft a new organic messaging and education campaign to eliminate consumer confusion about organic. Following a two-day retreat in which 20 leading organic firms compared and debated consumer insights, a core group of organic company chief marketing officers have led a rigorous 12-month effort to devise a campaign that hammers home the enormous numbers of chemicals used in conventional food, personal care and textile production, and the fact that all of these are prohibited under the USDA Organic seal. The key consumer message is: “Skip all the chemicals and just go with organic.”

    The campaign will extend to multiple mediums but with a heavy emphasis on social media. Attendees of Expo West will be briefed on the Organic Voices 2019 campaign in partnership with GRO Organic on Thursday, March 7.

    “The Organic Voices messaging effort will help to erase consumer confusion and make clear exactly why organic is one of the very best and most practical steps one can take to promote preventive health,” said Hirshberg. “This campaign comes at a critical time for organic, and all of us in the organic community need to step up and pool our resources to promote organic.”

    Learning what motivates today’s organic customer

    The American organic sector is now a $50 billion industry, and its growth isn’t showing any signs of stopping. Consumers of all ages, all income levels, and of all demographics are buying organic. And they’re hearing and learning about organic from a wide variety of sources.

    The Organic Trade Association is collaborating in a six-phase research project to better understand what drives a consumer to choose organic, what messages penetrate deeper than others, and what attributes of organic are the most valued by today’s diverse organic customers.

    After interviewing dozens of consumers, industry professionals, and thought leaders, the research project is now entering phase three. Up next is a review and distillation of the information gleaned from the consumer and professional interviews, and the building and shaping of a communications “toolkit” for organic businesses (and available to all) based on findings from the research. Projected date for conclusion of the project: summer 2019.

    Helping farmers go organic and stay organic

    The hard reality for organic farmers – and farmers who want to go organic – is that the network of agronomists and technical service providers is often just not there to support growers through transition to organic and beyond. The ultimate goal of GRO Organic is to connect technical specialists with existing and transitioning organic farmers in every state, and year one of GRO has made an important first step towards that goal.

    With the support of GRO and the generosity of a cornerstone donation from Clif Bar, a “train the trainer” program will be launched this spring in the Midwest. The pilot initiative will train agricultural professionals working with organic or transitioning farmers. Called the Organic Agronomy Training Series (OATS), three OATS regions have been established in nine states: Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. During spring/summer 2019, each region will deliver a training suited to their growers, their environment, and their crop calendar. The pilot program was designed to be relatively narrow in focus the first year to successfully test a concept that can be expanded across a variety of organic crop systems throughout the country.

    “The goal of OATS is to create a knowledgeable support network for organic farmers and those transitioning to organic, lowering many of the barriers to organic transition and promoting organic as an opportunity worth exploring,” said Anders Gurda, Senior Manager-Agronomy Solutions for Pipeline Foods, which is spearheading a broad coalition to implement the pilot training sessions.

    Also getting underway through GRO is a special assessment of the organic technical assistance field. This will enable GRO to design an informed investment strategy for its technical assistance projects, and to identify programs that can be scaled up to include different regions and crops.

    Researching how organic can help fight climate change

    The food system is in a dangerous predicament – it’s a significant contributor to one of its own biggest threats – climate change. That’s where organic comes in. Organic farming can be part of the climate change solution because it does not rely on fossil-fuel intensive synthetic inputs, and it uses farming techniques that sequester carbon in the soil.

    Supported by GRO Organic, The Organic Center has put together a package of immediate-action research projects for 2019. A research project with the University of Maryland is already underway to review the science that evaluates organic methods for building soil health and to provide farmers with actionable recommendations for best management practices. Another project with the University of Maryland will investigate the impact of organic farming on carbon sequestration. A research study with the University of California, Berkeley, will quantify how environmentally friendly practices can impact a farmer’s economic bottom line.

    “Our package of projects combines soil and climate issues with farmer benefits to move the needle toward a more sustainable climate,” said Dr. Jessica Shade, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center. “We need to act now to fight against climate change, and organic should have a major role in that battle.”

    GRO Organic expected to keep GROing

    In kicking off GRO Organic, the Organic Trade Association launched a companion effort to develop a voluntary governance approach for long-term sustainability of the GRO effort.

    Last November, the Organic Trade Association opened a six-month period for interested parties to weigh in and answer key questions on how GRO Organic should be shaped. The call for Big Ideas is open through April 30.

    “We want everyone to know that GRO Organic is live, and it’s investing in programs,” said Organic Trade Association’s Batcha. “These aren’t pie-in-the-sky ideas. Thanks to the support of our organic innovators and leaders, these are now real on-the-ground projects that will make a difference for organic. Through GRO Organic, organic stakeholders can invest in their future and keep organic thriving and moving forward.”

    “We thank all of the GRO Organic investors for stepping up and making a real difference. We know the numbers will continue to GRO!” said Batcha.

    For more information on how to invest in GRO Organic, contact Cassandra Christine at the Organic Trade Association.

  • Organic Farmers Enroute to D.C. to Meet New Lawmakers

    Farm Bill implementation high on list for Organic Trade Association fly-in

    Twenty-two farmer members of the Organic Trade Association’s Farmers Advisory Council, a national coalition of organic farmers and organic farming organizations representing nearly 8,000 organic farms, will come to Washington on Feb. 5 and 6 to meet with new and incumbent members of Congress, to familiarize the freshmen lawmakers with organic and to discuss the implementation of the organic provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill.

    Coordinated by the Organic Trade Association’s Farmers Advisory Council, the event will bring in farmers from 11 states stretching from California to Maryland, from Texas to Minnesota. The diverse group includes dairy farmers, grain and specialty crop growers, egg and livestock producers. The Farmers Advisory Council represents over 8,000 certified organic farmers nationwide.

    “The 116th Congress has 101 new members of the House and 10 new Senators, and many of these new lawmakers aren’t familiar with organic,” said Laura Batcha, Executive Director and CEO of the Organic Trade Association. “It’s important that we help our members get connected to these freshmen Congressional members so they can educate the new policy makers about the benefits of organic agriculture, the unique challenges that organic producers and businesses face, and the importance of federal policies that advance American organic agriculture and the organic sector.”

    Batcha said implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill will be a key discussion point. “The Organic Trade Association and its members worked hard to get top organic priorities included in the Farm Bill, and now we want to ensure that this bill – and all of its gains for organic – is implemented in a timely manner.”

    In addition to scheduled meetings with over 40 lawmakers and national agricultural organizations, the group will host an Organic farmer roundtable for congressional staff on important organic issues. The roundtable will include a moderated discussion with a panel of farmer members who were featured in the recent National Geographic article “We don’t have enough organic farms. Why not?”. They will expand on the themes highlighted in the article and lead a conversation about overcoming challenges of organic transition and closing the gap between consumer demand and domestic acreage.

    The member organizations of the Farmers Advisory Council include California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), Georgia Organics, Organic Egg Farmers of America, Montana Organic Association, Oregon Tilth Certified Organic, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative, Pennsylvania Certified Organic, Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance and Tilth Alliance of Washington.