NOC Members met with 47 Congressional Offices and USDA to discuss organic priorities
Last week, twenty six farmers, scientists, policy advocates and organic company representatives from the National Organic Coalition met in Washington D.C. to advocate for organic agriculture. On March 20, we criss-crossed Capitol Hill, where we met with 47 Congressional Offices, including meetings with Members of Congress (or their staff) who sit on the House and Senate Agriculture Committees - the committees responsible for writing the next Farm Bill.
During visits with congressional offices, we focused on the following organic priorities in the Farm Bill:
Support for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program & Organic Transition - NOC is asking for support for the Opportunities in Organic Act. This bill will increase organic certification cost share reimbursements to $1500 annually per scope and will provide technical support and mentorship to existing and transitioning organic farmers. This program would build on the Organic Transition Initiative launched by USDA in 2022. (By the way - you can use our Action Alert to Ask your Member of Congress to support the Opportunities in Organic Act!)
Regulatory bottlenecks at USDA – NOC has endorsed the Continuous Improvement and Accountability in Organic Act. This bill requires USDA to update the organic standards regularly based on input from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to make it easier to make improvements to the organic standards. We asked Members of Congress to co-sponsor this legislation during our fly-in.
Equity - NOC is advancing Farm Bill policies that address disparities, land loss, and promote equitable access to organic agriculture. See the full list of legislation that NOC has endorsed to promote racial equity in organic agriculture.
Organic Dairy Crisis - Organic dairy farmers across the country are facing severe economic challenges. The Farm Bill should provide long-needed support for the organic dairy market, including investments in regional organic milk processing infrastructure, expanded data collection, publication of data for the organic dairy sector, and recommendations to create an economic safety net program for organic dairy farmers. NOC is urging support for the O DAIRY Act and the Organic Dairy Data Collection Act.
Organic Research - research is key to tackling the many challenges facing organic farmers. NOC is asking for increased funding for organic research, to keep pace with the growing organic sector.
Conservation - Organic operations are required to use climate-smart farming practices, such as cover-cropping and crop rotations. Organic operations create detailed Organic Systems Plans to describe how they will maintain and improve natural resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity on their farms. But many USDA conservation programs are not well tailored or accessible to organic farmers. NOC is requesting organic literacy training for NRCS staff and provisions to increase access to conservation programs for organic operations.
We also talked about our FY 2025 Appropriations Priorities.
Thank you to the Members of Congress and their staff for meeting with us last week! We look forward to building on and developing relationships with the folks making decisions impacting organic agriculture policies. Thank you to the NOC Fly-In participants, new and returning - you made this Fly-In truly impactful by bringing your advocacy and personal stories. NOC is unique in its cross-sector approach: having participants from the entire organic spectrum (farmers, consumers, retailers, policy representatives, environmentalists, researchers, etc.) bring forward common priorities is a true illustration of the strength of the organic movement.
NOC also met with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Jenny Moffitt, where we had a productive conversation about the future of organic agriculture.
We are very grateful to Nature’s Path Organic, who matched our spring fundraiser to help support this Fly-In, and National Co+op Grocers, who helped us raise funds to sponsor farmers to come advocate and share their stories on Capitol Hill.
Follow NOC on social media (Facebook @NationalOrganicCoalition, LinkedIn @National-Organic-Coalition, and Twitter @NationalOrganic) to see updates from last week’s Congressional and USDA meetings.