Organic Integrity from Farm to Table Consumers Trust the Organic Label
Announcement
June 29, 2016
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) is pleased to share a new set of Sound and Sensible resources. We would also like to encourage participation in the Organic Certifier Survey conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and to highlight market trends for organic specialty crops.
New Sound and Sensible Resources Available
AMS is making organic certification more accessible, attainable, and affordable for all operations through its Sound and Sensible Certification initiative. As part of this initiative, the AMS National Organic Program partnered with several members of the organic community to develop resource guides, videos, and other tools that help farmers and businesses better understand the organic option.
Today, we published a series of new resource documents. Together, these documents provide a framework that an organic certifier could use to design and build a uniform and easy-to-use organic certification system.
The AMS National Organic Program continues to encourage certifiers to participate in the ongoing Organic Certifier Survey, conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). This initiative is collecting data from organic certifiers about organic production for calendar years 2014 and 2015.
AMS anticipates that the Organic Integrity Database (INTEGRITY) will ultimately become the tool by which certifiers can report these data, streamlining data collection and reporting. INTEGRITY was built to include all the data fields covered by the NASS survey to facilitate this future transition, so if you have your data in a form that works for INTEGRITY, it can support NASS needs too!
AMS Highlights Market Trends in Organic Specialty Crops
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Specialty Crops Market News recently published the National Specialty Crops Organic Summary. Published daily, this report provides organic price information at terminal markets, shipping points, and retail advertised prices throughout the U.S. The report highlights prices for 133 organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other specialty crops as well as movement data including domestic shipment volumes and import information.
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) facilitates the competitive and efficient marketing of agricultural products. Through its National Organic Program, AMS facilitates trade and ensures the integrity of organic agricultural products by consistently implementing organic standards and enforcing compliance with the regulations throughout the world.
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The USDA Organic Insider informs the organic community on a wide range of functions, including regulatory updates, requests for public comments, and USDA programs and services.
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