Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 9/7/18



The Organic Trade Association announced it will develop a voluntary, industry-invested checkoff program to fund research, promotion and education efforts.

Organic stakeholders across the supply chain will collaborate to design and implement the program, the group said. The group has formed a steering committee to coordinate the process and address governance questions to maximize participation and good decision making, it said. It also aims to bring together multiple private efforts to foster coordinated organic research and promotion.
“There is a critical need to educate consumers about organic, for more technical assistance to help more farmers transition to organic, and to loudly promote the organic brand. Responding to that need, we are launching a two-track effort to develop a voluntary governance approach and to also advance initiatives that will deliver immediate big wins for the organic sector,” Laura Batcha, CEO and executive director for the Organic Trade Association, said in a press release.

The steering committee has established two subcommittees: governance and immediate programming. The governance subcommittee will open a comment period this fall for interested parties to address how to maximize participation in a voluntary program and how to make the best decisions on investments. The immediate programming subcommittee will identify ways to advance organic, and coordinate and fund those programs immediately. The prototype programs will serve as proven projects for investment when a formal voluntary program rolls out.


Members of the governance subcommittee are Batcha, Kim Dietz of J.M. Smucker Co., Marty Mesh of Florida Organic Growers, Perry Clutts of Pleasant View organic dairy farm in Ohio, Melissa Hughes of Organic Valley, Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Organic, Melody Meyer of Source Organic and Grant Lundberg of Lundberg Family Farms.

Programs already under way include a collaboration with Organic Voices on the group’s “It’s Not Complicated” campaign to reduce confusion about organic. Other projects will conduct consumer research on how to reinforce the organic brand, advance research to show the benefits of organic on environmental and human health, and provide funding for more organic extension agents across the country. More details will be provided next week at the Expo East Natural Products Trade Show in Baltimore.

The Organic Trade Association submitted an application to USDA in 2015 to consider implementing an organic check-off program. USDA in 2017 proposed a nationwide organic check-off program but later terminated the rulemaking process.

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