Steve Ela Testifies Before Congress

Steve Ela, who leads NOC’s work with the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), testified on December 6 during a Senate Ag Committee Farm Bill hearing on research. Steve described the value of taking a system-based approach to solving multiple challenges in food & ag. Steve said, "By approaching our problem-solving from a systems perspective we are getting multiple benefits at once, rather than solving problems one by one." 

Steve did a fantastic job representing organic agriculture and describing how organic research benefits all farmers at the hearing. You can read Steve’s full testimony and watch a video of the Senate hearing here. 

You can also read the Organic Farming Research Foundation’s blog post about Steve’s testimony.

As Congress turns to the Farm Bill in 2023, NOC has released a document highlighting top priority recommendations to advance organic. NOC seeks to significantly increase support for current organic producers and those seeking to transition to organic (including increasing funding for organic research), and to advance organic integrity.

Read more about these top priority recommendations here.