BREAKING NEWS - Organic Wins in Omnibus Spending Bill

Fiscal Year 2021 Agriculture Spending Bill & COVID-19 Relief Package Boost

Funding and Support for Organic Agriculture

Congress has passed a massive year-end spending bill that will fund regular government activities, including U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs, for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The package includes several significant wins for organic, including a $2 million boost in annual funding for the National Organic Program (NOP), which is charged with ensuring that the USDA organic standards are enforced in a uniform way around the globe and investigating complaints of fraud.

The $1.4 trillion “omnibus” appropriations bill is accompanied by an additional $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. Both parts of the legislative package include priorities endorsed and requested by the National Organic Coalition (NOC) in our FY 2021 appropriations priorities and pandemic relief priorities.

Though the legislation contains a suite of programs that will address the needs of organic operations and strengthen enforcement, the legislation fails to fix the Organic Certification Cost Share funding shortfall after USDA wrongly slashed the program in August of 2020.

 

“The National Organic Coalition would like to thank Congressional leaders for allocating resources to strengthen organic enforcement, crack down on fraud, boost organic research, and expand organic data collection,” said Abby Youngblood, Executive Director at the National Organic Coalition. “We are deeply discouraged, however, that funding to restore organic certification cost share program is absent from the bill. Organic operations are working extraordinarily hard to stay afloat and provide their communities with nutritious food during the pandemic, despite disrupted markets, labor challenges, and added costs to ensure the safety of farm workers and community members. We will continue to call on USDA and Congress to fully restore this essential program.”

Wins in FY 2021 Appropriations Bill

The FY 2021 Omnibus Appropriations bill includes the following wins for organic farms and food systems:

  • $18 million in funding for the USDA National Organic Program (NOP): the bill includes a $2 million increase in funding over the FY 2020 level, as requested by NOC. This represents an on-going commitment from Congress to provide necessary resources to the NOP to address enforcement issues and to update and improve the organic standards. Consumer trust in the organic seal depends on USDA’s ability to keep up with growth in the organic marketplace, to stamp out fraudulent organic imports, and to ensure that all operations play by the same rules.

  • Dairy Enforcement & Certifier Consistency: the bill reiterates the need to level the playing field for organic dairy producers by resolving inconsistencies related to the transition of livestock to organic dairy (‘Origin of Livestock’) and dry matter intake during the grazing season. The bill directs AMS to “continue to conduct critical risk-based oversight, particularly for large, complex dairy operations.”

  • Organic data collection: the bill provides $500,000 for the Organic Data Initiative and requires that certifiers report acreage data by organic crop and location in order to calculate organic acreage and yields to better detect and prevent fraud in the organic marketplace.

  • Organic and sustainable agriculture research program funding increases: the bill provides $1 million increase for the Organic Transition Program (a boost to $7 million in funding annually) and a $3 million increase in the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program (a boost to $40 million in funding annually). NOC had requested funding increases for these critical research programs to help farms meet future challenges, including climate change adaptation and mitigation. The bill also includes language to encourage USDA to increase the number of organic research projects funded through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, USDA’s flagship agricultural research program, and through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

  • Funding for Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers- NOC has advocated for increased funding for the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO) program. The Omnibus bill includes $5 million for the FOTO program to train new farmers to start successful businesses and to provide grants to nonprofits and institutions working with farmers of color and military veterans.

  • Seeds and Breeds – the bill calls on USDA to expand funding for the development of plant varieties that are adapted to changing climates and other regional-specific conditions. NOC has been a lead advocate on these and related issues through its “Seeds and Breeds” Project.

While the bill fails to provide funding to fix the organic certification cost share funding shortfall, the bill directs the USDA to submit a report to Congress on how it will resolve the accounting problems at USDA’s Farm Service Agency that led to a significant funding shortfall and USDA’s decision to slash the program.

Wins in COVID-19 Relief Package

The legislation includes a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that has been attached to the omnibus spending legislation. NOC is pleased that Congress has included the following funding items that we requested to address the needs of farmers, communities, and businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic:

  • $11 billion in extra assistance for farmers impact by the pandemic, including additional funding for some crops under the existing Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), and funding for loans and grants to businesses, producers, and farmers markets. The bill directs USDA to take into account price differentiation factors (i.e. specialized varieties, local markets, and certified organic) for each commodity when making payments.

  • $285 billion in funding for forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for farmers and small businesses impacted by the pandemic. A provision is also included to clarify that expenses paid using PPP loan funds are deductible. 

  • $13 billion in additional funding for USDA nutrition programs, including a provision to increase the monthly SNAP benefit level by 15% and funds for expanding the SNAP online purchasing program, including for farmers markets and direct market farmers.

  • $100 million to support local farmers, farmers markets, and value-added production for farmers and outlets who are impacted by COVID-19 market disruptions through the Local Agriculture Market Program.

  • $75 million to the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach (FOTO) Program to support financial advice and technical assistance for beginning, socially disadvantaged, and veteran farmers and ranchers.

NOC would like to thank Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Senator Leahy (D-VT), Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Hoeven (R-ND) and Ranking Member Merkley (D-OR), Appropriations Committee Member Senator Collins (R-ME), House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bishop (D-GA) and Ranking Member Fortenberry (R-NE), Subcommittee Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and House Appropriations Committee member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for their leadership in securing these key wins for organic farmers, consumers, and businesses.  We also want to thank House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs and Ranking Members Peterson (D-MN), Conaway (R-TX), Roberts (R-KS) and Stabenow (D-MI) for their roles in getting the key pandemic response provisions across the finish line.

 

 

Abby Youngblood