Organic Community Meets in Milwaukee for the Pre-NOSB & NOSB Spring Meeting

On Sunday, April 28, over 80 organic community leaders, including farmers, members of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), staff from advocacy organizations, USDA officials, certification agencies, researchers and university professors - gathered at the Historic Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee in advance of the Spring 2024 National Organic Standards Board Meeting.

The day-long Pre-NOSB meeting included:

NOSB Update: a review of NOSB meeting topics from NOC’s perspective, including:

Steve Ela, NOC’s NOSB Specialist, reviews the NOSB meeting topics from NOC’s perspective.

  • Compost – should synthetic compostable packaging be allowed as a compost feedstock? (Here’s why we are strongly opposed!)

  • Synthetic Inert Ingredients in Organic Pesticides – these materials must undergo review to ensure that carcinogens and endocrine disrupters are not being used!

  • The need to prioritize equity at the NOSB level

  • Petitions and sunset materials

  • Supporting organic seed use

  • The transparency and thoroughness allowed by the new Technical Review template

An incredible panel of local farmers, shared their stories, marketing strategies, and the most pressing challenges they want the organic community to address. We are so grateful for their expertise, thoughts, and willingness to share. Thank you to:

Farmer panel, facilitated by Harriet Behar (Organic Farmers Association), and Alice Runde (National Organic Coalition). From L to R: Harriet Behar, Robert and Darlene Coehoorn, Liz Lyon, Rami Aburomia, Martice Scales

From L to R: Liz Lyon, Rami Aburomia, Harriet Behar, Martice Scales, John Wepking, and Dan Cornelius

Leah Lawson (Organic Farming Research Foundation) and Charlotte Vallaeys (General Mills), introduced the conversation on “Organic is Regenerative”.

A discussion on “Organic is Regenerative”: although the term ‘regenerative’ has gained widespread traction among farmers and the food industry, definitions of the term vary widely. Organic farmers have long been engaged in systems-based regenerative approaches, yet organic is often overlooked in the conversation about climate solutions. Leah Lawson, Partnerships & Development Director at the Organic Farming Research Foundation, and Charlotte Vallaeys, Organic Expert at General Mills, shared a newly launched messaging toolkit, some key messages and strategies, then meeting participants discussed what messages needed to be communicated more effectively to demonstrate the value of organic as a regenerative system, and who/how it should be communicated with.






A DC Policy Update, where Steve Etka, NOC’s Policy Director, provided an update on the status of the next Farm Bill, NOC’s priorities and important marker bills, Appropriations Priorities, and NOC’s rulemaking priorities now that the three major rules the organic community has been advocating for are final.

Dr. Jenny Tucker answered questions about the National Organic Program.

A Q&A with Jenny Tucker, Deputy Director of the National Organic Program. Dr. Tucker thoroughly and honestly answered questions on the NOSB support and processes, implementation of the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) rule, the Omnibus Nitrogen Rule and other rulemaking priorities, addressing pesticide contamination in organic foods, and more. We are grateful Dr. Tucker and her team were able to participate in our meeting.





We ended the day with an organic reception catered by a local caterer, Beans and Barley.

Thank you to the meeting co-sponsors that made this meeting possible!


Meeting Resources & Information are available here.


PS - consider joining us on October 21, 2024 in Portland, Oregon, for the Fall 2024 Pre-NOSB and NOSB meetings!

Alice Runde