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You can take action and make your voice heard at the local, state and federal levels. Sign up for action alerts to receive CCOF's latest action alert in your inbox and stay up to date on current issues. (This link will allow you to sign up for CCOF E-Newsletters, That way, you won't be overrun with email alerts.)
CCOF helps you take action about issues important to organic. Be sure to visit this page often, as the California Legislature and the US Congress grapple with important policy issues. CCOF posts new action alerts as needed.
Hot Issues:
CCOF Sponsors California Legislation -- CCOF is working with Assemblymember Anna Maria Caballero (Democrat, Salinas, CA) , the author of AB 577, legislation that adds an accredited certifier to the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (COPAC) . This committee currently is comprised of 6 producers and 3 alternates; 1 wholesale distribute and one alternate; 2 technical representatives and 2 alternates; 1 environmental representative and one alternate; 2 processor representatives and 2 alternates; 2 consumer representatives and 2 alternates; and 1 retail representative. For years, the lack of an accredited certifier on COPAC has frustrated CCOF and others, requiring certifiers to be especially vigilant in monitoring COPAC's efforts on behalf of the organic industry in California and having to help COPAC understand the nature of organic production and processing, as well as the complex job of certification. We are extremely grateful to Assemblymember Caballero for her interest in our industry and willingness to help us with this legislative request.
Farm Bill - Sign Up For Programs Now!
USDA encourages all farmers -- organic and otherwise -- to go into the nearest NRCS office to sign up for a variety of Farm Bill programs, even though 2008 programs are fully committed. The timing of some NRCS programs, such as organic conversion, with the timing of rule making for the programs, made some of them difficult to access in a timely way, late last fall. But for 2010, farmers can get a head start by signing up now, so that they are ready to work with their local NRCS office when the money is available, to implement on the ground programs that are so beneficial to us all. For background information and additional resources, contact Claudia Reid, CCOF's policy director.
LBAM
CCOF remains active on the LBAM issue. Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy and Program Director, represented CCOF members at a stakeholders' meeting in Sonoma County, hosted by Assemblymember Noreen Evans, in late February. The purpose of this meeting was for the Assemblymember to hear from her farming and residential constituents about their concerns regarding the presence of LBAM, the California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA) eradication program, and the use of pheromone treatments and other pest management tools. CCOF also recently signed a collaborative letter to US Secretary Vilsack, US Department of Agriculture, regarding downgrading the pest classification of LBAM. And we continue to encourage our members and other producers to refer to our Organic Management of Light Brown Apple Moth for an integrated approach to managing this pest.
For more information on the CDFA LBAM eradication program contact Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director.
CCOF Supports OTA in Battle to Protect Organic Labeling
A state-by-state campaign has been launched by American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology (AFACT) to deny organic farmers and producers the right to use absentee claims such as “pesticide or antibiotic free” on product labeling. AFACT insists absentee labels are misleading to consumers. The campaign represents an unprecedented threat to the organic sector that proudly promotes its products as being made without the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, antibiotics, growth hormones, and genetic engineering.
In 2007, AFACT successfully urged the Ohio Department of Agriculture to impose strict rules preventing labeling that tells consumers whether milk comes from cows treated with growth hormones. In June 2008, The Organic Trade Association (OTA) filed a legal complaint against the Ohio Department of Agriculture, after a series of legal hearings at which the OTA testified failed to make the Department change their position. OTA helped win a similar challenge in Pennsylvania in 2007, but restrictions being implemented in Ohio are now being considered in other states such as Indiana, Utah Missouri and Kansas, so the battle rages on.
CCOF is supporting OTA in their efforts to fight these potential restrictions on organic across the country.
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