Cold Copiers and Hot Phones!

It's a New Year!

Our first CCOF staff meeting of the new year began with sharing personal resolutions and words of wisdom with each other. Our vows to get in better shape, be more present, and take on new challenges match well with CCOF’s organizational goals:

• Provide more personalized certification services (faster, less paper).
• Talk directly to local congressional offices for action on a new U.S. farm bill and investment in organic. While averting the fiscal cliff, Congress eliminated nearly all farm bill support for organic agriculture.
• Remind our friends and neighbors to say “No” to GMOs! Buy Organic. This will help us keep the momentum going following California’s 2012 Right to Know labeling initiative.

 So, looking ahead…

CCOF is the first certifier in North America to provide real-time access to OSPs

You will never again have to call us for a copy of your OSP!

If you do call, it will be easier for you to get a hold of a human being rather than a voice mailbox. Chief Certification Officer Jake Lewin is happy to report that all Organic System Plans (OSPs) have been digitized (scanned) and are available online through MyCCOF. If you don’t have your MyCCOF login yet, don’t waste another minute – get one now.

By making client documents more easily accessible to you and our inspection staff, we now have more people available to take your phone calls. And keeping with our commitment to environmental sustainability, the old binders that stored your OSPs here will be recycled, and going forward, we will save countless reams of paper.

You can visit your congress member, or we’ll try to bring your congress member to you

Plus, instead of only taking farmers to Washington offices, this year CCOF is working with our friends to bring organic farmers to offices in congressional districts. We want members of congress to know that there are thousands of organic farmers in California and across the country who are creating jobs, growing healthy food, and building a more sustainable economy. CCOF Policy Director Brise Tencer is leading our campaign to regain federal support for organic research, data collection, and certification cost share.  She needs you to let her know if you can join her in making a local congressional office visit or if you’re interested in hosting a tour of your farm. Contact Brise.

You Can Say “No” to GMOs! Buy Organic

That’s one of our new bumper stickers, available later this month in the CCOF store. Last year, CCOF supported California’s ballot initiative Proposition 37, the Right to Know, which called for GMO labeling. Results demonstrated that people want to know more about what’s in their food, with millions voting in favor of Proposition 37. Though the initiative didn’t pass, organic producers and supporters can do more to let folks know that buying organic is an important step they can take toward knowing what’s in their food.