For decades, CCOF has helped farmers access the knowledge, technical assistance, and community support they need to grow organically. Through CCOF and the CCOF Foundation’s education programs and extensive library of online and in-person resources, farmers can find practical information on everything from crop insurance and tree crop harvest techniques to Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations and organic dairy.
That work continues and deepens through the CCOF Foundation, where our Organic Transition programs help farmers navigate one of the most challenging stages of becoming certified organic: the three-year transition period.
The Foundation’s approach combines direct financial assistance, technical assistance, mentorship, and community resources to help farmers manage the risks of transition and ultimately go and stay organic. This model has also helped inform state and federal efforts, including the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Organic Transition Partnership Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program.
Since the CCOF Foundation began providing grants specifically for organic transition in 2022, an anonymous donor has provided more than $50,000 per year to help sustain this work. We are grateful that this donor has chosen to continue their support in 2026!
To date, the CCOF Foundation has awarded more than $2.3 million to 175 farmers transitioning to organic—and delivered more than 1,300 hours of one-on-one assistance from our Technical Specialists to farmers across our network. Since 2014, we have awarded over $8.1 million in direct farmer and student funding and more than $10 million to our partner organizations, provided thousands of organic professionals with hundreds of professional development opportunities through CCOF Foundation, led and supported events, workshops, field days, and facilitated and supported the matching of nearly 100 farmer mentors with hundreds of farmer mentees. To date, our efforts have supported the transition of over 495,000 acres to organic.
That support has a direct impact on farmers like Mai-Nadine Nguyen, a first-generation farmer and climate scientist who is transitioning 50 acres of wheat and rye into organic production. Nguyen is building a farm without inherited land or generational wealth, and the Organic Transition grant will help cover costs including farm compost development, cover cropping, seed saving, and grain storage and milling.
“This grant is instrumental to a first-generation farmer because I am creating a farm without generational wealth or land.”
Nguyen’s story illustrates why transition support matters. Financial assistance, paired with practical technical support, can give farmers the resources they need to invest in their land and move toward organic certification.
We are deeply grateful to the farmers, donors, partners, educators, and mentors who are building the future of organic agriculture together. And to our anonymous donor: thank you for continuing to invest in farmers and in the future of organic. Learn more and get involved at www.ccof.org/foundation.
