House Farm Bill Fails to Address the Needs of the Growing Organic Sector
On May 17, G.T. Thompson, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, released proposed legislative text for the House Farm Bill. On Thursday, May 23, the bill will go to ‘markup’, during which the House Agriculture Committee will debate this massive 954-page draft legislation and consider amendments to the bill. You can watch the House markup live here.
NOC appreciates that the House Farm Bill continues support for several critically important organic programs, including funding for the National Organic Program, the agency that oversees the growing organic sector, the Organic Certification Cost Share Program, and the flagship organic research program (OREI). Unfortunately, the bill assumes a stagnant organic sector, rather than providing the necessary resources to keep pace with the growing organic food and farming sector.
For example, nearly 1,000 companies became certified as organic in just the first four months of this year due to new requirements in the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule that went into effect in March. And the cost of organic certification has risen more than 85% since 2012 and continues to rise. NOC is deeply disappointed that the House Farm Bill:
Caps funding for the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) at $24 million annually and does not increase the funding level over the life of the Farm Bill. The NOP currently oversees more than 46,000 operations in more than 100 countries around the world and the sector continues to grow. Additional resources are essential to adequately enforce organic regulations and to tackle fraud in organic supply chains. The Farm Bill should provide stepped up funding for the NOP over the life of the Farm Bill.
Provides only $8 million annually for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program. That funding level is not even enough to fully fund the program in 2024, and the cost of the program is expected to continue to rise over the next five year as more operations participate in organic certification and the cost of organic certification continues to go up. The Farm Bill should provide funds as needed to adequately cover the cost of this critically important program.
Fails to invest in the growth of USDA’s organic research ecosystem. Although this bill maintains level funding for USDA's flagship research program, OREI, it does not reflect the growth of the organic market since 2018 and the challenges all farmers face. Organic research benefits all farmers, conventional research does not benefit organic producers. Level funding fails to provide farmers with the tools to create thriving businesses in the face of changing weather patterns and shifting markets. The Farm Bill should ensure that organic research keeps pace with the growing organic sector, and this falls short.
Does not require timely action by USDA to implement organic regulations. NOC and partners supported the introduction of a bipartisan bill, the Continuous Improvement and Accountability in Organic Act, to strengthen organic integrity and make regular updates to the organic standards. The House bill does not include these provisions. The Farm Bill should adopt CIAO – H.R. 5973 to create transparency and timeliness in organic rulemaking.
While the Senate Farm Bill framework introduced by Chairwoman Stabenow includes several elements of the newly launched USDA Organic Transition Initiative, the House bill does not include these same provisions. The House bill does not fund organic market development, nor does it fund USDA partnerships with nonprofits to help farmers transition to organic agriculture. The Farm Bill should include provisions laid out in the Opportunities in Organic and Organic Market Development Acts.
Does not adequately address racial justice and land access challenges. The National Young Farmers Coalition has opposed the bill, and states that the bill “misses a rare opportunity to meaningfully address the challenges facing the new generation of U.S. farmers and ranchers.” The Farm Bill should include the provisions in the Justice for Black Farmers and Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Acts.
Overall, this bill does not adequately address the needs of the growing organic sector.
The bill does include several positive provisions including:
Organic Data Initiative: The bill increases mandatory funding for the Organic Data Initiative from $5 million to $10 million.
Organic Dairy: The bill includes language requiring USDA to collect, analyze and publish segregated organic dairy data. The bill will require USDA to collect and publish cost-of-production data for organic milk, feedstuff prices, and other production-related costs and to establish an “Organic All Milk Price Survey” to collect and report data about organic milk prices.
Conservation Programs: The bill increases the payment limit for farmers who take part in the EQIP Organic Initiative (a conservation program run by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service). The payment limit would be $200,000 over a five-year period, rather than the current limit of $140,000. Although this is good progress, NOC is seeking payment limit equity with the overall EQIP program, which provides a payment limit of $450,000 over a five-year period.
Seeds and Breeds: The bill includes language to incentivize the development of cultivars and animal breeds that are regionally adapted using conventional breeding methods to address farmers' unique soils, farming systems, market needs, and changing climates. While this is a positive step forward, the NOC had asked for USDA to dedicate $75 million annually for this work, which is not included in the House bill.
Several key partners to the National Organic Coalition, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, have opposed the bill because it will:
Restrict future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan (which determines benefit levels for SNAP program participants),
Restrict to how the USDA uses Commodity Credit Corporation funds, and
Rescind all available Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding, reallocating it to conservation programs without the original climate change mitigation requirements.
NOC is asking that organic community members push Congress to provide more support organic in the Farm Bill. Contact your Representative to let them know that organic agriculture deserves a fair share of investments in the Farm Bill.
In the days ahead, NOC will continue to track Farm Bill reauthorization. Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.