News & Events

We can at last welcome the newest appointees to the National Organic Standards Board. Congratulations and thank you for volunteering the time and expertise over the next five years. We look forward to hearing your perspectives on growing organic with integrity.

This issue brings a new section—Hot Topics! The first expert featured in the Hot Topics section is the newest member of the Wolf & Associates management team, John Foster.

Happy New Year! The darkest days of winter have passed, and we’re looking forward to spring and new beginnings, even if the year has had a bumpy beginning for the organic community.

With the new National Organic Standards Board members set to start their terms January 24 when retiring members’ terms end, we had hoped to be able to congratulate them and welcome them to the Board. The USDA’s appointments, however, have not yet been released. The last time we had a big gap in appointments was when…

With supply and capacity constraints, shifting market demand, and ongoing pandemic uncertainty, the last two years have certainly tested the organic community. For the most part, we have risen to the challenges.

Our Senior Associate John Foster recently attended the Organic Grower Summit, a two-day conference and tradeshow sponsored by the Organic Produce Network and Western Growers…

With the National Organic Standards Board meeting coming right up, we’d like to share some of our key concerns and suggested action steps for the Board.
First, the National List is a toolbox for helping organic production, not a soapbox for individual opinions or misleading information. Let’s encourage more people to go organic, and offer a practical toolbox appropriately limited according to the criteria the community has established. Follow the criteria, and keep increasing or improving the tools available for organic agriculture and production.
Second…

This week is bittersweet because Sandy Mays, our Organic Compliance Services manager, is retiring, plus the disappointing news that the NOSB meeting just shifted from in-person to on-line.
In the meantime, we’ve compiled some industry news for you.

A new report by Chuck Benbrook, and his research partners Susan Kegley, and Brian Baker brings science to bear on what our intuition has been telling us for years—converting more US cropland to organic agriculture will lead to substantial public health gains. Based on their comparisons of pesticide use in organic farms and nearby non-organic farms growing the same crops, the percent cropland that could improve public health through switching to organic is surprisingly small…

US organic product sales hit a new high in 2020 to nearly $62 billion, the largest single-year dollar increase – almost $7 billion – and up 12.4 percent from 2019.

Within the food category, organic meat sales are still disproportionately small as a percentage of total sales, but showed the second-highest growth rate of any organic category, up 24 percent over 2019. Organic meat sales have lagged for decades for several reasons. The most significant obstacle was…

We’re also pleased to see more research coming out that shows the true worth of organic, such as the soil health study from Pasa Sustainable Agriculture. Building healthy soil is a foundation of organic farming, and knowing more about what works helps everyone…

The National Organic Standards Board meeting is coming soon, with its oral comment period full to bursting. For over five years, Wolf & Associates has advocated for professional support for the National Organic Standards Board, and we’re pleased to see it on the agenda.
A refresher on the purpose of the Sunset process would also be appropriate. The goal is not to whittle down the lists, but to ensure farmers have access to the widest possible set of materials that meet the evaluation criteria…

We’re seeing some good news this month as we look forward to the coming spring. The organic sector is demonstrating resilience and growth, especially for produce and dairy. In Washington, the Biden Administration’s climate change mitigation plans may well benefit of organic agriculture and will likely encourage better soil health.
The next National Organic Standards Board meeting is coming up April 28-30, and the agenda is lighter than last fall’s meeting…

NOP should be praised for its thoughtful response to some of the potentially damaging and inappropriate recommendations voted forward at the Fall NOSB meeting. By prioritizing the work that is really important to protecting the health, growth, and integrity of the organic community, the NOP has its act together to align organic principles and standards…

We will soon be putting 2020 in the rear-view mirror and looking to a new year. I am optimistic that we will be putting both the pandemic and the dangerous extreme social and political rhetoric and action behind us and ushering in a new era of progressive headway in sustainable and organic systems.

2020 has been especially dramatic – disruptive for most of the organic industry, yet highlighting our resiliency.

The Holiday season is different this year, with virtual instead of in-person celebrations, and that’s just one change we’ve had to face this year. Although 2020 has brought more uncertainty and turmoil than any year in recent history, we have much to be thankful for. The resilience of the organic food supply and its verification systems were tested and strengthened. We have learned new ways to communicate and stay connected. Furthermore, I believe that we’ll see continuous improvement in organic regulations, from livestock standards to fraud prevention.

Here in Virginia, fall colors are in full swing, and, despite all the unexpected and unprecedented challenges of 2020, we do have much to be grateful for. Our office’s organic demonstration gardens are ready for winter with nitrogen-fixing cover crops. Working from home has boosted my farm harvests and enabled improved fermented food storage. In addition, my farm reminds me of how much organic operators and the public at large are learning about the connections between climate change, carbon collection, and soil care.