California Ag Network

Tag: The Organic Center

  • Organic Trade Association, The Organic Center Awarded $4.4 Million Market Development Grant

    The Organic Trade Association (OTA) and The Organic Center are pleased to be the recipients of $2.2 million in Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) matching funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand organic markets through consumer education and promotion.  The funds provided by USDA match those provided by the OTA, The Organic Center and Organic Voices for a three-year project totaling $4.4 million.

    The joint project by the trade association and The Organic Center is designed to stimulate the demand for and increase the sales of organic products by promoting the science-backed benefits of USDA certified organic products and farming to consumers. The project will be done in collaboration with Organic Voices and an Industry Advisory Committee.

    “We thank USDA for making this project possible with this important funding. Consumers lack information about all that the USDA Organic label stands for and all the benefits it delivers for human health, the environment, and businesses,” said OTA co-CEO Tom Chapman. “Our project aims to increase the consumption of organic by giving consumers access to more credible information about what organic production and processing means, and the advantages it provides.”

    “We want to educate people about the difference organic makes, and inspire them to choose organic,” said Dr. Amber Sciligo, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center. “This project will highlight organics’ ability to protect natural resources, sequester carbon and regenerate soil health, while also providing nutritional benefits and protecting us from synthetic pesticides, preservatives, antibiotics and more. The more educated consumers are about organic, the more likely they will seek out that Organic label.”

    The project will develop fresh creative content on the regulatory and science-based environmental, animal and human benefits of organic, focusing on targeted information to motivate consumers to purchase organic products, prioritizing organic dairy, grain and fiber. A full-scale integrated marketing campaign will be launched, and particular focus will be made to ensure that the promotion reaches beyond mainstream organic markets into regions and communities where organic production is not prevalent.

    The project will culminate with a final comprehensive report on effective organic consumer marketing strategies, content, and messaging which will be shared with the entire organic industry through the distribution of printed copies of the report, and availability through social media channels.

    “The longevity of this project will extend far beyond its 3-year timeframe,” said OTA co-CEO Matthew Dillon. “The creation of valuable educational content and marketing resources will continue to benefit organic producers and brands, while the consumer promotion and education campaign will yield a lasting impact by expanding the community of informed organic consumers to create a growing and stable market for organic.”

    The Organic Market Development Grant Program is part of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative, a $300-million initiative launched in 2022, to help existing organic farmers and those transitioning to organic production and processing.

    About the Organic Trade Association

    The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America. OTA is the leading voice for the organic trade in the United States, representing more than 500 organic businesses across 50 states and 9,500 farmers through its Farmers Advisory Council. Its members include growers, shippers, processors, certifiers, farmers’ associations, distributors, importers, exporters, consultants, retailers and others. OTA’s Board of Directors is democratically elected by its members. OTA’s mission is to promote and protect ORGANIC with a unifying voice that serves and engages its diverse members from farm to marketplace.

    About The Organic Center

    The Organic Center is a nonprofit research and education organization whose mission is to convene credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental impacts of organic food and farming and to communicate the findings to the public. The Center works to fill critical industry knowledge gaps by managing research projects and providing tools and training to help organic farmers and businesses thrive. Its research projects focus on climate change mitigation and environmental health, human health, and building tools and solutions to support organic operations. The Center operates under the administrative auspices of the Organic Trade Association.

    About Organic Voices

    Organic Voices is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help consumers better appreciate and eliminate confusion about all the benefits of Organic. It is dedicated to educating consumers about the significance of the USDA Organic seal, ROC certification, and GOTS certification through its Only Organic campaign. It creates compelling educational content tailored to inform and engage consumers, using multiple online channels to reach new audiences through large-scale consumer-facing campaigns. Partnering with brands, retailers, farmers, and consumers, Organic Voices strives to amplify the message of the benefits of organic and establish a unified voice throughout the organic industry.

  • “Organic Night Out” Puts Spotlight on Organic Trend-Setters, Groundbreakers

    The best of organic – from innovative entrepreneurs and established organic brands to cutting-edge organic research and visionary scientists – will be honored next month at organic’s premier event at the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, California.

    Hosted by The Organic Center and Organic Voices, “An Organic Night Out: Honoring the Year’s Best in Organic” on March 13 will recognize and celebrate the success of organic brands and companies in communicating the impact of organic to consumers, as well as showcase the latest organic research being conducted by The Organic Center and its partner scientists.

    The honorees at the first-ever “Organic Oscars” – all nominated and chosen by their peers – will reflect the huge diversity of today’s organic sector. Over 70 organic companies have nominated more than a hundred organic businesses and champions: organic farmers of all sizes producing everything from dairy products to wine; organic makers of meats, chocolate, spices, coffee and more; and organic entrepreneurs marketing dog treats, vitamins, baby blankets and mattresses! Groundbreaking organic research will be honored with an Excellence Award going to the most impactful organic research of the year.

    Awards will be given in eight categories: Best New Organic Food/Beverage Product; Best New Organic Non-food Product; Best Organic Messaging: Better for the Planet, People or Animals; Best Organic PR or Social Media Activation; Best Retailer Organic Activation; Most Impactful Organic Research Result or Finding; Emerging Organic Entrepreneur of the Year and Organic Company of the Year.

    Award-winning actress, philanthropist, and co-founder of the organic, next-generation children’s nutrition company Once Upon a Farm, Jennifer Garner, will emcee the awards ceremony with organic visionary, advocate, and co-founder of the world’s largest organic dairy company Stonyfield Farm, Gary Hirshberg.

    “The organic community is so excited to be recognizing these incredible organic game changers,” said Hirshberg. “The response from the organic industry to celebrate and honor the work of their peers truly demonstrates the creativity, generosity and dedication of our sector to create a greener and healthier future for our planet.”

    Celebrating the Science Behind Organic  

    “To grow the organic industry and its positive impact on people and the planet, we all must understand the value of organic and the holistic benefits when we buy products carrying the USDA Organic seal. This event will showcase the brilliant science that demonstrates those benefits and helps organic farmers succeed,” said Dr. Amber Sciligo, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center. “The celebration of leaders in the organic industry, in combination with the spotlight on the latest organic research, promises a meaningful and unforgettable evening.”

    The evening will feature an interactive science fair demonstrating research being conducted by The Organic Center and other scientists. Attendees will see first-hand the real benefits organic practices have on crop production and the health of our planet and people. Displays will show how organic farming protects the health of our pollinators with a live bee observation hive, how choosing organic cotton is good for our environment, how the organic industry is leading the charge to tackle the devastating citrus greening disease without the use of toxic chemicals, and how organic farming helps protects consumers against contamination of pesticides, antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones in their milk and dairy products. To learn even more about the many benefits of organic, attendees can spin the Organic Wheel of Sustainability.

    An eye-catching installation at the science fair by artist Cynthia Minet will remind attendees of the copious amounts of plastic used and wasted across the food chain and the need to dramatically reduce its production. The Organic Center has partnered with stakeholders across the industry to tackle the use of plastic in agriculture products. In 2023, The Center’s signature conference event, “Organic Confluences,” focused on reducing plastic across the organic supply chain. The activating message symbolized so effectively by Minet’s installation is at the heart of the work The Organic Center will continue throughout 2024 in an effort to provide tools and solutions for the organic industry to reduce their reliance on plastic.

    Bringing together hundreds of organic visionaries, activists and businesses, the occasion is the single biggest fundraising event for The Organic Center and Organic Voices, both nonprofit organizations that work on important research, education and communication with the organic industry and with consumers.

    Sponsorship opportunities for this incredible evening are still open. Join the list of organic brands and champions who are making this event possible: Alexandre Family Ecodairy Farms, Amy’s Kitchen, Back to the Roots, Cal-Organic, Ciranda, Daves Killer Bread, Driscoll’s, Egg Innovations, Environmental Working Group, Forager Project, Gallant, General Mills, Global Organics, Handsome Brook Farms, Harmless Harvest, Independent Natural Food Retailers Association, Just Ice Tea, National Co+op Grocers (NCG), Nature’s Path, Naturepedic Organic Mattresses, New Hope, Once upon a Farm, Orgain, Organic Valley, Pete & Gerry’s, SPINS, Stonyfield, Taste For Life Publications, Thrive Market, Tradin Organic, Traditional Medicinals, True Organic Products, Inc., Uncle Matt’s Organic, Vivify Specialty Ingredients, WearPACT and Whole Foods Markets.

    For sponsorship opportunities, contact Cassandra Christine (cchristine@ota.com)

    About The Organic Center

     The Organic Center‘s mission is to convene credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental impacts of organic food and farming and to communicate the findings to the public. The Center is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) research and education organization operating under the administrative auspices of the Organic Trade Association.

    About Organic Voices

    Organic Voices is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help consumers better appreciate and eliminate confusion about all the benefits of Organic. It is dedicated to educating consumers about the significance of the USDA Organic seal, ROC certification, and GOTS certification through its Only Organic campaign. It creates compelling educational content tailored to inform and engage consumers, using multiple online channels to reach new audiences through large-scale consumer-facing campaigns. Partnering with brands, retailers, farmers, and consumers, Organic Voices strives to amplify the message of the benefits of organic and establish a unified voice throughout the organic industry.

  • Organic Center Awarded Nearly $900,000 in Research Grants, Including Study of Orchard Grazing Benefits

    The Organic Center is thrilled to announce it is the recipient of almost $900,000 in federal funds through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) research program. The funds will enable The Organic Center to collaborate in four new important OREI research grant projects.

    The projects announced by USDA will address a host of vital and diverse challenges facing today’s organic agriculture, including how to ensure food safety in organic production systems; the exploration of organic farming methods that increase resilience to climate change and also help fight pests; the benefits and challenges of livestock grazing in orchards; and ways to expand organic cotton production in the United States.

    USDA awarded a total of more than $50 million in grants for 24 OREI projects and for 8 Organic Transitions Program (ORG) projects. ORG helps existing and transitioning organic livestock and crop producers adopt organic practices.

    The OREI awards totaled a little over $43 million in funding. OREI helps support wide-ranging research projects that specifically address the most critical issues impacting organic growers. The 2018 Farm Bill approved increasing funding for OREI to $50 million per year by 2023, thus establishing permanent funding for the program.

    “Our mission is to strengthen and advance organic farming through science-based research, and this unprecedented level of funding from USDA will do much to help us achieve our goal,” said Dr. Amber Sciligo, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center (TOC). “We are extremely honored to be partnering with esteemed research institutions, universities, and non-profits in these projects, and to support the growth, expansion and continued improvement of organic.”

    What the projects are  

    Developing Risk-assessment, Educational, and Communication Tools to Lower Food Safety Barriers for Organic Specialty Crop Growers.

    Food safety is of paramount importance for every organic grower, but organic producers face unique challenges in trying to meet both National Organic Program standards and multiple food safety requirements. The Center’s biggest single award of almost $635,000 is for collaboration in a project led by the University of Rhode Island to equip organic growers and industry stakeholders – organic technical assistance/trainers/certifiers and food safety auditors/inspectors – with science-based tools and training to enable them to comply simultaneously with organic agriculture rules and food safety requirements. A key function of The Organic Center will be to host 10 regional, in-person workshops with farmers, organic inspectors and certifiers and food safety auditors and inspectors to help the organic experts understand the biggest food safety rules challenges and to educate the food safety specialists on organic practices, particularly those that may conflict with food safety rules.

    Expanding Resilient Climate and Pest Protection Systems for Diversified Organic Specialty Crop Producers.

    Dealing with insect pests, weeds and severe weather are challenges for every farmer, and even more so for organic producers who do not use chemical pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. Organic vegetable growers are especially susceptible to invasive insects and weeds and the vagaries of today’s climate. The Organic Center has been awarded $101,000 to work with the University of Kentucky and the non-profit organization Organic Voices to help advance the awareness and most effective use of mesotunnel protection systems – fine-mesh netting barriers secured over specialty crops – that have been proven to provide a dual purpose protection system for organic vegetable producers, including small-scale farmers, homesteaders, and gardeners.

    Influence of Orchard Grazing on Soil Health and Pest Control While Mitigating Food Safety Risk.  

    The benefits of grazing sheep or other livestock to help convert cover crops to manure are becoming more well known, and interest in grazing livestock on cover crops in nut orchards has shown a steady increase in recent years. However, there are concerns about food-borne pathogens and food safety with this practice. The Organic Center, with a $75,000 award, will collaborate with the University of California at Davis to help design and coordinate an integrated research-extension approach to assess the benefits of livestock grazing on cover crops on bacterial populations, soil health, pest control and economic outcomes, with the goal to enhance the value of cover crops while limiting food safety risks in organic orchards in two distinct nut orchard regions in California.

    Expanding Organic Cotton Production in the US Cotton Belt Through Research and Outreach on Organic, Regenerative Practices.  

    The organic cotton sector in the U.S. is currently a $2 billion industry and is poised for rapid growth, fueled by consumer demands and growing interest among leading textile industry players to include organic cotton in their product portfolios. But organic cotton acreage in the United States remains small, and the need to increase domestic cotton production is critical. The Organic Center has been awarded almost $60,000 to work with Texas A&M University to help implement a coordinated research, extension and education program to promote and expand organic cotton production in the U.S. Cotton Belt.

    “The OREI program provides the most important pool of funds to advance our work at The Organic Center,” said The Organic Center’s Sciligo. “While this pot of funding has seen tremendous growth through the implementation of the last farm bill, future bills need to continue to increase the funding dedicated to organic research. We have come a long way in the past few decades, but with the increased demand for organic in the marketplace and the initiation of several USDA programs aimed at significantly increasing organic transition, the need for current organic research is unprecedented.”

    About The Organic Center

    The Organic Center’s mission is to convene credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental impacts of organic food and farming and to communicate the findings to the public. The Center is an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) research and education organization operating under the administrative auspices of the Organic Trade Association.

  • The Organic Center Digs into AgTech for Organic

    The Organic Center is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service; California State University, Fresno; and Purdue University on a free virtual conference series and hackathon examining technology to address complex issues for organic agriculture.

    Because organic farmers are prohibited from using common conventional materials such as most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, the tools available for them to tackle common agricultural challenges are limited.  Agricultural technology (AgTech), however, could provide new opportunities to develop sustainable, organic-compliant methods for addressing these barriers. But before that can happen, the lack of communication and scarcity of organic AgTech collaborations must be overcome to remove what is often a disconnect between technology and the needs of organic producers.

    Organic farming is made up of a diversity of operations. This raises such issues as accessibility of technology for small- and low-income farms, equity around tech use and adoption, and inclusion of marginalized farming communities in the development of AgTech.

    ”There are a number of innovative technologies being developed that are or could be leveraged by the organic sector,” said Jessica Shade, Director of Science Programs for The Organic Center. “However, the uniqueness of organic has created certain challenges to more organic farmers using ag technology. This series will address these issues.”

    The first conference of the series, titled “Organic Confluences Conference: Connecting Organic and AgTech” takes place on Thursday, December 2, and will highlight the potential for technology to support the organic sector, including a panel of organic farmers talking about their experiences and needs for technology and a panel of AgTech community members discussing the intersection of their work with organic.
     
    The second conference, titled “Organic Confluences Conference: Equity and Access in AgTech” taking place Thursday Feb 10, 2022, will examine potential pitfalls concerning equity in AgTech, opportunities for small-farm AgTech access, historical and current examples of AgTech exacerbating the pre-existing structures of racism in the food system, and methods for analyzing AgTech’s fit within organic ideals.

    To apply the information shared at these conferences, The Organic Center will host a hackathon in collaboration with the Gathering for Open Ag Technology (GOAT) on Feb 24-26, 2022. This event will engage the community in collaborative computer programming focused on open-source solutions to the challenges faced by organic farmers.

    To register or find out more information about these events, visit https://www.organic-center.org/AgTech

  • Effective Non-chemical Soil Fumigants for Organic Production

    The Organic Center — Soil fumigants that fight soil-borne diseases and ensure crop production continue to be banned to protect the health and safety of rural communities. Organic farmers and conventional farmers who can no longer use these chemical tools need effective alternatives to protect their yields. A recent study published in the journal Agronomy(link is external) demonstrates that a non-chemical alternative can be effective and affordable if farmers receive a high enough price for their crops. Until 2016, Methyl Bromide had been used in California for decades as a soil fumigant to disinfest soils of devastating diseases before planting high-value crops such as strawberries. Methyl Bromide was never permitted for use in organic farming, and its recent ban due to public health safety concerns also left conventional farmers without an important disease control tool. The ban has prompted much research into alternatives to chemical soil fumigants such as steam, solarization, and anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) using rice bran or mustard seed meal. While many studies are optimizing the effectiveness of these strategies, a missing key component is the consideration of the economic cost of these alternatives. This study took a comprehensive approach, and measured the effectiveness and affordability of two alternative management strategies to chemical soil disinfestation for strawberries produced under conventional and organic management.

    The results show that organic-approved methods of soil disinfestation (steam and steam plus mustard seed meal) resulted in better yields compared to the control for both conventional and organic systems. And when the cost of treatment is considered, along with yield and crop value, organic far out-competes conventional management. In this study, organic yields were greater than conventional, which helped better cover the high cost of soil treatment. The higher price premium earned for organic strawberries even further enhanced the affordability of the soil treatment for organic management. This study shows that a non-chemical method of managing devastating soil diseases is effective and affordable, but only if the farmer receives a high enough price to cover the added expense. This study brings up an important consideration: when we ask farmers to use practices that benefit not just their own production, but also their surrounding environment which improves public and environmental health of rural communities, it’s clear that the farmers need financial assistance to make the safer choice.