19 May “USDA Terminates Organic Rulemaking Proceeding” -Specialty Food News
From Specialty Food News: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture has terminated a rulemaking proceeding that would have been used to establish a national research and promotion program for certified organic products, which was proposed by the Organic Trade Association. The agency is terminating the proceeding based on uncertain industry support for, and outstanding substantive issues with, the proposed program.
OTA proposed the program in 2015, with the purpose of strengthening the position of certified organic products in the marketplace, supporting research to benefit the organic industry, and improving access to information and data across the organic sector. Opponents of the program raised concerns, including how the de minimis level would eliminate a majority of organic farmers from the program; the disproportionate impact on high value commodities as assessments would be tied to sales value; whether organic promotion is possible without being disparaging to other agricultural commodities; voting methodology; financial burden on small entities to comply; and the challenges to tracing imported organic products.”