NOC Applauds Secretary Vilsack for Providing Additional Organic Cost Share Assistance
Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced plans to provide up to $20 million in additional organic certification cost share assistance as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. This additional funding is a much-needed boost for organic producers after the previous Administration, in the midst of the pandemic, cut organic certification cost share funding part-way through the 2020 growing season due to accounting errors and mismanagement of the program at USDA. Organic operations had been depending on cost share reimbursements for annual organic certification fees and were shocked by the unexpected cuts during the pandemic.
“This is a big win for organic operations and the organic community,” said Abby Youngblood, Executive Director at the National Organic Coalition (NOC). “Throughout the pandemic, organic farms contributed to a resilient food system by supplying communities with nutritious food, while navigating loss of markets, labor shortages, and increased costs due to modifications to keep workers and customers safe. Cost share assistance provides critical support to organic farms, which use environmentally friendly practices and make positive contributions to our regional economies.”
NOC applauds USDA and Congressional allies who have advocated for additional funding to make up for organic certification cost share funding shortfalls.
Today’s announcement came in the form of a press release issued by USDA describing plans to use pandemic assistance to “serve as a bridge from disruptions associated with the pandemic to longer-term investments to help build back a better food system.” The additional organic certification cost share funding will also include assistance for producers who are transitioning to organic.
“Providing additional cost share funding was on the short list of requests made by NOC to the incoming Biden-Harris Administration for early action, because the unwarranted cuts made by the previous Administration were so harmful to organic operations nationwide, particularly small-and-medium scale farms,” said Steve Etka, Policy Director at the National Organic Coalition. “We’re thrilled by this action and also hope that Secretary Vilsack will move swiftly to complete unfinished regulations that have languished at USDA. This is another top priority for organic stakeholders.”
The organic certification cost share program is especially important for small to mid-sized organic farms, underserved farmers, and those who are just starting out with organic certification. Cost share assistance provides operations with a partial reimbursement of annual organic certification fees, which makes organic certification more accessible to producers for whom certification might otherwise be out of reach.
On April 2, 2020, the National Organic Coalition co-led a letter with the Organic Farmers Association and the Organic Farming Research Foundation recommending measures that should be taken by USDA to address pandemic-related harms to organic farms, businesses, and consumers. Increasing organic certification cost share assistance and streamlining the program was one of many recommendations we included to support organic operations during the pandemic. Unfortunately, instead of increasing and simplifying the reimbursements under the program, the previous Administration did the opposite.
Secretary Vilsack’s announcement today is a much-appreciated resolution to a problem that should have never existed.
NOC has outlined our top priorities to advance organic in 2021 in a letter sent in November of 2020 to the incoming Biden-Harris Administration. In addition to providing additional funding for the certification cost share program, NOC is urging that USDA move to immediately finalize the Strengthening Organic Enforcement & Origin of Livestock rules, and to reinstate the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule. All three of these organic rules are critical to the protecting the integrity of the USDA organic seal.