Friday, February 17th workshop title: Connecting Field Crop Production and Marketing. Presenters were Steve Boyda and Oren Holle from OFARM. Saturday, February 18th – Farmer panel on soil health for grain producers. This event was an opportunity for OFARM to get better acquainted with OEFFA members including the Organic Grain Growers Committee. Dave Shively is the Chair of the committee.
Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society (NPSAS) Winter Converence
OFARM sponsored the 2023 NPSAS Winter Conference, January 26-28 (Thursday-Saturday), held at the Holiday Inn, Fargo ND. Will Ortman staffed the OFARM booth. Unfortunately, the weather was cold, windy, and some new snow on Thursday. In 2024, the NPSAS Winter Conference will be held in Aberdeen SD.
Winter Conferences Where OFARM Participated 2022-2023
2023 January 26 - 28 - OGRAIN Conference, U of WI, Madison WI. OFARM sponsored the conference.
At the OGRAIN Conference this past weekend, at a workshop titled "Updates on Organic Grain Markets", Mike Schulist presented on behalf of OFARM and NFOrganics.
Mike Schulist, Harry Bennett, and Bob Stuczynski staffed the OFARM booth.
Saturday afternoon was a keynote, "Everyone Has a Role to Fulfill" by Carmen Fernholz.
2023 January 20 & 21 - Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) Conference at Iowa State University, Ames IA. OFARM sponsored the conference. Mike Schulist staffed the OFARM booth.
2023 January 5 & 6 - MN Organic Conference in St. Cloud MN. OFARM sponsored the conference. Panel of presenters: Mike Schulist and Kevin Edberg-Gaining Market Power and Competitive Advantage through Cooperatives. Carmen Fernholz was a keynote. Mike Schulist and Paul Drake staffed the OFARM booth.
2022 December 7 - 9 — Montana Organic Conference in Billings MT. Mike Schulist attended and staffed a booth for NFOrganics.
2022 November 20 & 21 - Iowa Organic Conference at University of Iowa, Ames IA: OFARM sponsored the conference. Mike Schulist attended and staffed the OFARM booth.
OFARM 2021 Annual Meeting Summary
February 15, 2021
To: Members of OFARM
From: Bob Keatley, Secretary
OFARM Executive Board of Directors
Organic Grain Marketing was Focus of OFARM 2021 Annual Meeting
On February 10 and 11, from 0900 to 1200 each day, Organic Farmer’s Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM) held its annual meeting. Normally the meeting is held in conjunction with the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) conference in La Crosse, WI, but due to Covid-19 this year was held via Zoom.
OFARM is the umbrella organization that is comprised of three member cooperatives, Central Plains Organic Farmers (CPOF), Midwest Organic Farmers Cooperative (MOFC), and National Farmers Organics (NFO). Its purpose is to provide a platform for sharing market information to obtain the best price possible for our member’s organic grain.
On February 10 the first one and half hours were used to conduct the business portion of the meeting where we reviewed the past year’s activities and had reports from the three member coops. Despite the terrible low grain prices, we have been experiencing, I am happy to report that all three coops are in good financial condition with steady or growing membership.
We reviewed the policies that specify how the three coops will continue to collaborate and coordinate grain sales and how those activities are funded. We also discussed and updated our official OFARM position regarding our opposition to any attempt to allow any form of GMO’s in organic grain production. A copy of that policy paper is available on our web site.
The last one and half hours we discussed how best to grow the organization, either by adding new coops under the OFARM umbrella or by increasing the size of our existing coops or both. It is our firm belief that with more farmers marketing their grain with us, i.e., the more bushels we bring to the marketplace, the better chance to negotiate a higher price for all those bushels.
On February 11 we had several guest speakers who addressed the current state of the organic industry and the challenges we face in the future. The first speaker was David Glasgow, Associate Deputy Administrator of the National Organic Program (NOP) at the USDA. We have developed a particularly good relationship with David over the last several years and he has been very willing to update us on the activities going on within the NOP. It is simply a fact that as the organic industry grew over the last 20 years, the NOP had not. It was underfunded and understaffed. That has changed in the last few years through efforts of organizations like OFARM. As a result, they have grown from a staff of 9 to 63 and counting with a budget of $18,000,000. One of the many projects they are working on is the Strengthening of Organic Enforcement (SOE) rule. This is a large rule and is currently being reviewed. It is meant to provide stricter interpretation and enforcement of the organic rules. It is an attempt to eliminate some of the bad actors within the organic industry.
Our second speaker was Abby Youngblood, Executive Director of the National Organic Coalition (NOC) of which OFARM is an affiliate member. NOC is a lobbying group comprised of various elements within the organic industry from grocery stores to farmers and everything in between. We have worked closely with them in the past on issues regarding various organic grain production methods. They are currently trying to educate Congressional members about the importance of crop rotations, cover crops and how that might impact climate change.
Our last speaker was Patty Lovera, Policy Director for the Organic Farmers Association (OFA). They represent all types of farmers from vegetable growers, to cattle and poultry, to corn and soybeans. We have also worked with them on issues that directly affect grain producers. They are currently focusing on informing Congressional members about issues like origin of livestock, pasture rules and cost share reimbursement. Through our collaboration with these organizations and others we can call attention to issues that directly affect our member’s ability to grow organic grain and get paid a fair price for their efforts.
In closing, we as the Executive Board of Directors, ask you to help us grow the OFARM umbrella, either by encouraging other farmers to join one of our existing coops or through the formation of new coops we could add to the OFARM family. Cooperative marketing is a proven strategy. The more bushels we control, the more influence we have on the price!
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas our contact information is available on our web site at www.ofarm.org. Email to: ofarm.2005@gmail.com
USDA National Organic Program (NOP) www.ams.usda.gov/Organic
National Organic Coalition (NOC) www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org
Organic Farmers Association (OFA) www.organicfarmersassociation.org
Organics Needs to Build Soil, Market Cooperatively to Beat Conventional Mindset
Organics Needs to Build Soil, Market Cooperatively to Beat Conventional Mindset
By Oren Holle & Carmen Fernholz of OFARM (Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing). Reprinted from MOSES
Organic Broadcaster, Nov/Dec 2020. www.moses.org
As the organic movement established a firm foothold in the 1980s and 90s, hardly anyone envisioned that CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations) and hydroponic systems of production would forge their way into organic production. These industrial model production structures have convinced the National Organic Program (NOP) and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) of their legitimacy as fully compliant organic operations even as they operate within a basic conventional structure.
Now the conventional farming mindset is encroaching on organic grain production. With the current low prices for conventional grains, improved engineering of farm equipment, and agronomic data and research of nearly four decades of organic production practices, organic grain farming is fast becoming a viable option for non-organic farmers on larger and larger tracts of land. It appears this trend will continue even if nonorganic prices improve at some time in the future.
There are more subtle conventional practices emerging in organic production, too. Farmers who choose to transition today often do so with a conventional approach, thinking—as they have been trained to do—in terms of purchased inputs to enhance productivity and assist with correcting soil deficiencies. They are not creating an environmentally sustainable production system based on robust soil-building rotations and use of nutrient-rich cover crops—the foundations of organic farming. Even some long-established organic producers are succumbing to this same mentality of enhancing short-term yield potential while maximizing their land base to produce higher income-generating crops with shorter rotations.
Operations with huge land bases are entering the arena as well, often backed by investment firms, with a mentality of short-term economic profitability overshadowing the basic premises of an organic production system based on rebuilding soil within the framework of environmental responsibility.
In a direct throwback to conventional agriculture, the most damaging action taking place in all of this is that organic farmers, far too frequently, are approaching the organic market as individuals. In the early days of organic grain marketing, this approach had fewer consequences because demand for organic grains from buyers, processors, and consumers easily maintained the balance of supply and demand in favor of farmers. Domestic organic acreage was limited, and sourcing internationally was not yet an alternative. Startup companies were the only game in town and consumer interest was just beginning to develop. As the organic food system continues to mature, the influence of larger companies is becoming visible. These companies are using their experience and size to source raw product internationally, with their presence in countries across the globe. This entry of transnational companies into the organic food system is swiftly taking ownership of the market pricing environment. All of these factors simply mean that organic food production has matured to a level where it is no longer a niche market or a specialty enterprise. It is a food production system that is worldwide and, as such, feeds its production into an international arena of commerce and trade. Organic agriculture now sits at the table with all other segments of agriculture and food production.
In light of this inevitable growth and evolution of the organic food sector, for many organic farmers, an instinctive first reaction seems to be one of fear along with abandonment of production and marketing discipline. Too many farmers may be willing to compromise organic principles for personal gain and forsake responsibility for protecting prices. Almost on cue, a significant number of farmers begin to abandon any thought of a managed production inventory and revert to the survival mentality of thinking they can produce their way out of sagging grain prices. They opt for more simplified rotations that focus on short-term gross income rather than long-term profitability; profitability based on sweat equity rather than capital investment.
A significant number of farmers surrender their pricing responsibility to a brokerage firm or a board of trade type of public auction. Or, as individual farmers, they approach this now well-established international market arena with the misguided idea that they can go “toe to toe” as equal players and come out on top, all the while losing sight of their obligations to protect their enterprise investments by resigning any market decision-making opportunities or assistance to their individual time allotment or skills in price discovery.
The devastating consequence of this “go-it-alone” approach to marketing is that they are becoming the victims of the age-old conventional mindset of the rugged individual, which by its very nature means pitting oneself against fellow organic farmers in a survival-of-the-fittest approach to farming and, more specifically, to marketing.
The endgame for our domestic organic grain production will be that organic farmers will no longer have the voice they once had in seeking the prices they enjoyed a mere five years ago. Individual volumes as well as singular voices will shrink and will continue to do so unless these voices begin to speak in terms of cooperative action. As Alice Walker, an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist has stated: “The most common way a people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Broker or Organic Grain Marketer
Differentiating between a grain broker and a grain marketing agent is where it begins. It begins here because it is an admission that while grain marketing is simple, it is just not easy. A broker is an independent buyer who is dependent on getting product at a low enough price to make a profit at resale, yet competitive enough to grow a business. A broker can also be a person employed by a company. So, it would be a logical conclusion that a broker’s price offer will be the lowest possible price offer a farmer is willing to accept.
A marketing agent, on the other hand, is a person hired to assist in marketing a farmer’s grain. Through the structure of a marketing group, a farmer pays this person to provide a service. The marketing agent is working solely for the farmer’s best interests. Consequently, the better the marketer performs, the more income both farmer and marketer will enjoy.
A marketer is a personal source for price discovery. A marketer is in the market 24/7 talking to buyers, talking to other farmers, learning about crop and weather conditions, and most importantly finding out firsthand what buyers are looking for today and into the future. This is called robust price discovery. A good marketer is experienced in logistics and all of its complexities.
A good marketer is learning which buyers are low bidders and which are higher bidders. A good marketer is also aware which buyers support the added value for domestically grown grains and the benefit such a relationship can bring to the table. A good marketer is ever aware of which buyers are sound financially and which are questionable in their performance. A good marketer provides all of this information, which a farmer can utilize to make a sound decision regarding potential sales or contracts. And finally, the good marketer assures the contract terms, in addition to price, are producer friendly.
Finding a respectable price with a place to deliver can be a challenge. Every farmer has had grain quality issues from time to time. Nearly every longstanding organic farmer has experienced a rejected load. When that happens, it can be difficult to know if the rejection is legitimate. And, finding a place for the grain without having to pay the freight back home can be difficult. Here again is where a good marketer does the heavy lifting.
Marketing Organic Grain
Intelligent marketing, we have come to understand, is knowing one’s limited skills in price discovery and being wise enough to hire the expertise of professionals to assist with one’s marketing plans.
It is a fact that farmers bond quite closely to the grain in the bin simply because of all the time and sweat they have invested in getting it there. It is their livelihood. However, its market value is not dependent on this bonding or emotional connection. Buyers only see bushels to buy to make their own product. Consumers only experience the satisfaction of having good quality food on the table. So, what is the value of your grain?
Setting that value is probably one of the greatest advantages of having a marketing agent. As an individual in the market, the decibel level of a farmer’s voice will be in direct relation to the volume of bushels that farmer has to offer. So, combining those bushels with other organic farmers’ bushels logically raises the marketing decibels for all. Turning up the volume can be accomplished by engaging a good, honest grain marketer to represent more farmers and more bushels. This approach to the organic grain market, including structure and previously referenced attributes of good marketers, already exists. It is the Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM).
OFARM’s cooperative information and inventory sharing significantly increase the negotiating position for the farmer in the person of the marketer. This group of collaborating marketers at the negotiating table becomes the farmer’s voice as well as the voice of hundreds of other organic farmers. The often-unrealized benefit of this structure is the simple fact that the more farmers and inventory represented by these marketers the louder and stronger becomes their voice and position in negotiating a price.
But this service certainly is not without some investment. Here again, as a participant in a marketing coop, the farmer sets the level of cost for this service. The farmer determines the salary for the marketer because the farmer, with full expectation of satisfactory service, is the one providing the marketer’s paycheck. The success of any cooperative entity is totally dependent upon the loyalty of its patrons.
OFARM marketing agents guided by the directives of their respective coop boards of directors and participating farmer members approach the organic markets with this set of goals in mind.
1. Organic prices must reflect the production costs of healthy, wholesome food in an environmentally responsible manner.
2. Organic prices must reflect an income that provides for support of the social and economic viability of the community.
3. Organic prices must account for full recovery of all inputs including those unique to the production, handling, and marketing of organic grains.
4. Organic prices must reflect a return on investment that provides for the acquisition and ownership of land and the related infrastructure required of an organic food system.
5. Organic prices must reflect a return to labor and management and provide family income at levels that allow for the full involvement of all participants in the production unit.
6. Organic prices must reflect income that allows for the education, training and transitioning to future generations of organic farmers.
The definitive purpose for OFARM is to assure that the determination of our economic destinies as organic farmers and the destinies of future generations of organic farmers will be and continue to be the direct results of the decisions its members make each day as they, through their marketing agents, approach the market together.
Oren Holle is president of the Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM); Carmen Fernholz is vice president
OFARM Organic Market Update: OFARM continues to fight organic fraud
As we close out 2018 and look to 2019, some organic updates:
Organic Grain Fraud continues, but perhaps two small rays of hope.
The organic fraud saga perpetrated on U.S. organic grain producers continues, but there are some rays of hope as we close out 2018 and look to 2019.
Last February, OFARM received word of a potential questionable shipment of organic grain originating in Turkey and to be unloaded in Stockton, CA. OFARM filed a formal complaint with USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP). Subsequently, after several weeks of legal wrangling, the cargo departed and was sent to England where it was reportedly unloaded.
In the aftermath, the reported certifier, EcoCert SA reached a settlement with USDA . French based EcoCocert certifies operations in 26 countries, and certifies 2,000 operations under the NOP’s organic standards. The company expanded its presence in the U.S. organic market in 2010 after it acquired Indiana Certified Organic LLC, one of the first certification agencies accredited by the NOP, and established Ecocert ICO LLC, based in Plainfied, Indiana. USDA’s NOP delivered a mere slap on the wrist in its settlement over the Stockton shipment which included a fine of $5,000 for selling products as “certified” while suspended. (Sustainable Food News, Nov. 26, 2018)
When NOP was asked about the owners of the cargo involved, they had no comment due to the case still being investigated.
Basically, this amounts to a slap on the wrist. The NOP often opts for settlements as an easy way out of long court battles and legal wrangling.
In September 2018, two ships were unloaded with organic grain in the Port of New Orleans. A number of questions arose about the cargoes and NOP. One was that at least one of the cargoes originated in Serbia. Reports about Serbian agriculture from the Serbian government itself are that most Serbian farms are 12-20 acres in size and a majority of the “organic” corn is fed to livestock in the country. The corn was loaded on a ships in a Romanian port. One of the ships with a reported mere 40,000 bushels then sailed to a Russian port on the Black Sea, finished loading and then sailed on to New Orleans. Cargoes of organic grain generally range from about 450,000 to 490,000 bushels of grain. Further reports from individuals on the ground in Romania who talked to sources familiar with the situation was that some of the corn actually was snuck in to be loaded from Ukraine.
Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture information notes that the country has limited organic corn production with about 440 certified organic farms, 80% who sell their production of berries, fruits and other products into the EU. Ukraine organic corruption has been on the table since the import fraud crisis began in 2015.
To add further suspicion, the reported owners of the cargoes were the same Turkish company cited in the EcoCert case above. OFARM filed formal complaints with the NOP and basically received the third degree questioning why these shipments were suspicious. Adding further questions about the NOP’s willingness to take things seriously, was a previous exchange with NOP officials and OFARM about exactly how much organic corn produced with integrity is actually grown in Russia. The answer was less then reassuring with the response that USDA doesn’t know and they are trying to ascertain that.
The two New Orleans ships unloaded to barges and were last reported sailing up the Mississippi River. There is no sign of the NOP even bothering to investigate. Reports are that some of the grain was loaded to rail cars and sent to the West Coast to avoid the scrutiny organic shipments have been receiving in Stockton, CA.
Another breach of organic integrity right here at home. In September, three Nebraska grain producers were cited as part of Federal Court proceedings in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in an on-going scam selling conventional grain as organic. While an additional party was only cited by its initials, “J.S.” in the court filings, it would appear to be the company, Jericho Solutions whose main office is in Chillicothe, Missouri. The court filings cite the scam as beginning in 2010 and continuing through at least 2017. Further research shows that Jericho Solutions was cited in an instance in 2007 for loads of suspect soybeans shipped to Nevada Soy that tested 20% GMO contamination. When caught, the company quickly replaced the beans. However, it is hard to imagine GMO levels that high in soybeans happening by accident since they are self-pollinating.
Information surrounding this case does not indicate whether it was the NOP and certifiers who actually caught this 7-year running fraud case or some other agency stumbled on the information such as the IRS. In either case, it apparently takes at least 7 years for the Keystone Cops in some cases for the NOP to get up to speed.
Now for some positive news:
OFARM has had a conversation with one leading organic grain company in the Midwest and a report of another small one on the West Coast who are no longer willing to import high risk fraudulent imported grains and are only sourcing U.S. grown.
Secondly the Farm Bill if passed as proposed by Congress in its Lame Duck session did contain more funding and authority for the NOP with regard to policing fraudulent imports.
OFARM now has a logo that will be attached by the member coops to Bills of Lading, TC’s and other official business documents to assure potential buyers that OFARM member coop producers’ grain is produced in the U.S. You may see something similar to the logo below in black and white. If you do your own TC’s contact your member coop to find out how you can also use it.
Going to the market with good planning and hiring a good marketing agent will take you a long ways towards more dollars for your operation in 2019.
OFARM member cooperative contacts:
Central Plains Organic Producers
Martin Eddy- 785.829.7771
Harry Bennet -785.466.1728
Adam Ptachek-785.342.0096
NFOrganics
Mike Schulist- 715.496.3956
Midwest Organic Farmers Cooperative
Merle Kramer- 734.649.7172
If you know of someone, farmer, consumer or group who would willingly contribute to help OFARM in its fight for fairness, profitability and organic integrity, refer them to the OFARM website at www.ofarm.coop and click on the upper right hand corner icon “DONATE” to make a donation for this purpose. We thank you in advance.
Our good friend Harriet Behar, who was formerly with MOSES and now is an Outreach Specialist for OGRAIN, Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems Program University of Wisconsin-Madison was recently elected National Organic Standards Board chair. We look forward to working with her as we move forward in the coming year.
Congratulations to De Etta Bilek who was elected to the Organic Farmers Asssociation Policy Committee and to John Mesko, MOSES executive director who was recently elected to the position of advisor to the Organic Farmers Association (OFA) Governing Council.
Upcoming dates:
OFARM annual meeting- February 19-21, Courtyard by Marriott, LaCrosse, WI
Plan to also attend the MOSES conference next door at the LaCrosse Convention Center, Feb. 21-23, 2019.
National Farmers Union - Growing for the Future Online Conference - Dec 3-6
Save the date! Growing for the Future, a unique online, interactive virtual conference focused on beginning farmer and rancher issues, will be held December 3-6. The conference includes farmer-to-farmer webinars, live Q&A sessions, a discussion board, a resource center, and giveaways and prizes!
Experts, educators, and agricultural leaders will lead sessions on a wide variety of topics, including cooperative development, drought management, food safety, and farm technology.
Learn more and register for free: https://nfu.org/growing-for-the-future/
Comments to the Upcoming National Organic Standards Board and National Organic Program
October 24-26, 2018
St. Paul, Minnesota
On behalf of the Organic Farmers’ Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM, Inc.)
OFARM first raised the issue of organic imports and fraud in 2015. It is now almost three years since we began focusing on protecting U.S. organic grain producers’ markets and organic integrity. So, what has changed?
At that time the response from the NOP was basically that the paper work was all in order and there was no problem. It was only after the Washington Post article in May 2017 where Investigative Reporter Peter Whoriskey blew the lid off organic grain fraud that OFARM was taken seriously. Prior to that time, our farmers knew what the problem was. The last entity to admit there might be a problem was the National Organic Program.
Since that time the NOP and NOSB have had several events such as a panel discussion last fall with agencies involved and in Spring, 2017, a panel, including corrective actions which I participated in.
The NOP has issued several memo’s or guidance documents over the past two years about imported products.
Again, the general attitude has been that quote, “The system is working.” There is always a report at the NOSB meetings by the NOP about the number of revoked certificates, surrenders and fines levied.
What hasn’t changed is the number of suspected shipments of potentially fraudulent grain. The NOP has sometimes pointed to reduced shipments from suspected countries of origin but has provided no positive proof that paper memos and the appearance of enforcement is working. The shipment reductions may in fact be due to crop production variations and time of the marketing year.
As recently as the first week of September 2018 and September 25, OFARM filed complaints over two bulk shiploads of supposed organic grain arriving in the Port of New Orleans. Both shipments (MV Carolina Bolton and MV Oceanus) listed Serbia as a country of origin with loading out of a Romanian port. One of the ships with 1000 MT of supposed organic corn left Romania, traveled to a Russian port on the Black Sea to finish loading its cargo then proceeding to New Orleans. This is following reports OFARM has received of shifting to other ports than Turkey to hide under grains coming out of the EU. On the U.S. side, OFARM received reports that the shippers involved in previous questionable organic imports were switching away from the Port of Stockton, CA because shipments there were coming under too much scrutiny.
When an NOP employee was asked how much organic corn is grown in Russia, the response was they didn’t know because reliable information is so hard to acquire. NOP’s response to OFARM’s complaint was to ask us to reveal our confidential sources and what made us think the shipments from Serbia through Romania with further loading in Russia was suspect. A little math shows the numbers don’t add up.
The average farm size in Serbia is 12-20 acres and over 50% of the corn grown is fed to livestock domestically. In 2015, there were 334 supposed certified organic farms. (Organic Agriculture in Serbia at a Glance, 2017.) There was one large farm appearing in the USDA’s Integrity Database in 2018 which could account for one shipment of 7500 MT of organic corn which arrived in the U.S. in June and July. It does not account for the other two shiploads of grain originating, at least in part in Serbia.
In summary, OFARM has had to work with organic grain producers to develop the means to insure the integrity of the crops they produce because farmers have found out they cannot depend on the USDA and NOP to protect them.
My statement to the NOSB and NOP in November, 2016 still stands over 2 years later. “The result of this has the potential to set back the U.S. organic market due to lack of consumer confidence in USDA’s “organic” seal and creating an environment with even more reliance on imports of organic corn and soybeans because the market signals to producers are to produce less, not more. Unless immediate steps are taken by the NOP to strengthen organic import protocols to be equivalent to what U.S. producers and the industry face here, in the EU and Canada, this stands to be a major economic train wreck setting back the growth of the industry for years to come. (Statement to the NOSB, St. Louis, MO. November 16, 2016)”
The cost to U.S. organic grain producers now totals almost $500 million with not much end in sight to the current situation.
After three years, what has changed? Not much. People intending to cheat the system because of over $4 million profits per shipload versus an $11000 fine or about 2 cents a bushel if caught could care less about memos and “all the paper work is in order.”
The NOP is still trying to push most of the blame for the situation on certifiers. And to a degree certifiers and inspectors have also not done due diligence on these large shipments of grain.
NOP has more authority than it apparently has the will to use. It is also apparent that the NOP does not have the institutional fortitude or will to stand up to organic fraud. Secondly, there is no question the NOP is vastly out-numbered and needs additional resources. OFARM has worked with a lot of other to procure additional resources and authority. We cannot correct an institutional laxness to protect organic integrity.
The Organic Farmers’ Agency for Relationship Marketing, Inc. (OFARM) is incorporated in the State of Minnesota as a cooperative marketing-agency-in-common. OFARM has six organic grain and livestock marketing cooperatives as members. OFARM represents organic producers in 19 states from Montana to Texas and Louisiana to Kentucky, Michigan and states in between. USDA has cited OFARM as the largest farmer-controlled block of organic grain in North America (Rural Cooperatives, January-February 2012)
Sincerely,
OFARM Executive Director
*John Bobbe, is OFARM’s Executive Director. He holds a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. John is the author of “Marketing Organic Grain, A Farmers Guide.” (Levins Publishing, December, 2015)
USDA Extends Deadline for “Product of U.S.A.” Comment Period
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2018
USDA Extends Deadline for “Product of U.S.A.” Comment Period
Washington, D.C. — Citing “significant interest from stakeholders,” the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) approved a request from the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) and American Grassfed Association (AGA) to extend the public comment period for the groups’ petition to stop imported meat from being mislabeled “Product of U.S.A.” The new deadline for comments is Sept. 17, 2018.
The OCM and AGA joint petition, filed on June 12, 2018, would restore the original FSIS handbook definition of “Product of U.S.A.,” which was based on the origin of the ingredients being labeled. Sometime between April 1985 and August 2005 the ingredient-based standard was repealed by FSIS and replaced with an undefined processing standard. Following the repeal of mandatory Country of Origin Labeling in 2015, global meatpacking corporations began abusing the label by misbranding meat and meat products from foreign countries as “Product of U.S.A.” after moving them through USDA-inspected processing plants.
The proposed policy change has received almost exclusively positive comments from a wide-ranging base of nearly 2,000 farm and food stakeholders. Supportive comments were submitted by farm organizations including National Farmers Union, National Family Farm Coalition, and U.S. Cattlemen’s Association; more than 50 members of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, including Farm Aid and Union of Concerned Scientists; policy and community organizations, including theInstitute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Western Organization of Resource Councils; United Food and Commercial Workers, a leading labor organization; The Humane Society of the United States, a leading animal welfare organization, and businesses including Natural Grocers and Strauss Brands. Comments submitted by individual farmers and consumers have been overwhelmingly positive. In the minority are a couple of organizations whose representation and interests lie with multinational meatpacking corporations that profit from the deceptive standard.
In a video posted on OCM’s Facebook page, consumers’ outrage over the misbranding of the origin of meat is clear as grocery shoppers are told the “Product of U.S.A.” label does not mean the meat products actually originate from the U.S.A.
OCM encourages everyone to lift their voices and file comments before the September 17, 2018 deadline.
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Organization for Competitive Markets is a national membership-based research and advocacy organization working for open and competitive markets and fair trade in America’s food and agricultural sectors.
Media Contact:
Angela Huffman
(614) 390-7552
ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com
The Organic Farmers' Agency for Relationship Marketing, Inc. (OFARM) supports the Organization for Competitive Markets position on restoring the original definition of "Product of the USA" by USDA. Consumers identify with products legitimately produced and grown in the USA and have a right to truth in labeling.
OFARM is a farmer cooperative incorporated in the State of Minnesota as a cooperative marketing-agency-in-common with five organic farmer cooperatives as members in 19 states from Montana to Texas and Louisiana to Kentucky, Ohio and states in between. Our organic livestock producers are directly impacted by the "Product of the USA" definition correctly applied and used for their customers.
Information on Proposed Tariff Damage Payments to Farmers
What you should know about the proposed $12B payments to farmers for economic harm caused by President Trump imposing tariffs on imports and responding countries imposition of reciprocal tariffs.
This is the link with information provided to me by Dr. Jennifer Tucker, USDA Deputy Administrator for the National Organic Program.
https://www.thefencepost.com/news/usda-announces-12-billion-trade-mitigation-plan-for-ag-producers/
The article notes that Labor Day will remain the potential date for the kick-off of these programs – so I imagine more information will become available as that date approaches.
It should be noted that Secretary Sonny Purdue has stated that this will not fully compensate farmers for injury.
How this will impact organic producers and what the payment rates might be remains to be seen. FSA will be taking the lead on this so it would be good for you to contact your local FSA office and let them know you want to be informed about this program and how it impacts you as an organic producer.
Nothing is certain yet other than the announcement. One stumbling block could be that the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules are such that a country causing a "trade war" cannot use subsidies to its producers which these payments would be viewed as. If this plays out, nothing is certain.
We will continue to provide you with updated information as we receive it.