Good News for Organic in House Ag Spending Bill

The House Appropriations Committee is slated to take action today (July 9, 2020) to pass the Fiscal Year 2021 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, with good news for organic.

The bill would boost funding for the National Organic Program (NOP) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from $16 million to $18 million annually.  The NOP is responsible for overseeing the growing organic industry, which stands at more than $55 billion in sales annually in the U.S. There are 44,390 organic farms and operations in 149 countries. The NOP is charged with ensuring that the USDA organic standards are enforced in a uniform way around the globe and investigating complaints of fraud. The increase in funding recognizes the need to enhance enforcement procedures to safeguard the integrity of the organic label.

The spending legislation also includes a boost in funding levels for two critical organic and sustainable agriculture research programs: the Organic Transitions Program and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. The House bill would fund the Organic Transitions Program at $7 million in FY2021, a $1 million increase, and would fund the SARE program at $39 million in FY2021, a $2 million increase. These research programs help farms tackle challenges so they can be more productive, climate-friendly, and profitable.

NOC has been pushing for these increases in funding for organic research and enforcement efforts at the NOP. The full details of our appropriations priorities for FY21 are available here.

“The National Organic Coalition applauds the House Appropriations Committee for its leadership in allocating resources to address critical challenges in organic agriculture, including the need to address fraud in the organic sector,” said Abby Youngblood, Executive Director at the National Organic Coalition. “A boost in funding for the National Organic Program, and funding for critical research programs, will level the playing field for organic producers and help farms mitigate and adapt to extreme weather and climate chaos.”

NOC is also pleased that the legislation includes a $5 million for the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program to support the needs of socially disadvantaged, veteran, and beginning farmers and ranchers in the ownership and operation of farms and ranches.

The bill reiterates the need to level the playing field for organic dairy producers by promptly issuing a final regulation on ‘Origin of Livestock’ – the rules for how conventional dairy cows are transitioned into organic herds. FY 2020 appropriations legislation required that the National Organic Program finalize this regulation by June 17, 2020, but the NOP has missed that deadline.

“There have been longstanding abuses within the organic dairy sector. USDA has allowed organic dairy operations to make use of loopholes to continuously bring conventional animals into organic dairy herds,” said Ed Maltby, Executive Director at the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance. “Operations making use of these loopholes have distorted the market for organic milk with rapid expansion of cow numbers and have created an economic disadvantage for organic farmers who play by the rules.”

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.

NOC would like to thank House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bishop (D-GA), Ranking Member Fortenberry (R-NE), and Subcommittee Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME) for their leadership in securing these key wins for organic farmers, consumers, and businesses. 

Today’s action is the first step toward passage and enactment of the final legislation.