a result, demand for organic products will soar, thus encouraging more farmers
to convert to organic production.
Launching a National Organic Plan of Action
Domestic growth of organic production is an important step in Organic 2.0,
and is one of the goals targeted by the National Organic Action Plan (NOAP) report released earlier this year by the National Organic Coalition (NOC), a nongovernmental organization. Based on the input from a diverse group of U.S.
stakeholders, the NOAP calls for the creation of an expanded organic policy
agenda that focuses on the broad social, environmental, and health values that organic agriculture offers U.S citizens. The goal of the NOAP is to establish organic
as the foundation for food and agricultural production systems across the
United States. This will naturally lead to
an increase in domestic supply.
“Most countries throughout the
world—with exception to the United
States—already have government-initi-ated national organic action plans in
place to support the growth of organic
agriculture,” says Liana Hoodes, director
of the NOC. “These plans are developed
by the governments in those countries
because they see the benefits that organic offers to their country from an
overall environmental, health and social
perspective. In contrast, to protect the
interest of conventional agriculture,
USDA originally set up the National Organic Program as a ‘marketing program’
for specialty goods. But the organic
movement is about so much more than just a marketing label, and the government is starting to see the benefits too.”
Putting the Plan into Action. While the NOC will be trying to get the federal
government to back larger national goals outlined in the NOAP, Hoodes says the
organization is also hoping that states, regions, and the marketplace develop their
own organic action plans. NOAP’s specific recommendations concerning expand-
ing organic production call for:
• Doubling the amount of organic products and the number of farms, acreage,
public lands and animals under organic management every five years through
2020
• Expanding local organic seed production capacities, with a benchmark of
meeting 50 percent of all local organic seed needs by 2020
• Increasing local organic production and processing by 50 percent by 2020, by
increasing the infrastructure of organic regional food systems with govern-
ment financial assistance
• Increasing organic supplies to ensure the commercial availability of all agricul-
ture-based organic ingredients contained in processed foods by 2014, includ-
ing minor ingredients, seeds and livestock feed
As the NOAP report points out, organic agriculture provides multiple solu-
tions and benefits. “Its system of production can produce high-yielding crops, en-
hance food security and independence, reduce the adverse impacts of agriculture
“Most countries throughout the world— with exception to the United States—already have government-initi- ated national organic ac- tion plans in place to support the growth of organic agriculture…”
on the environment and climate
change, and contribute to the development of food self-sufficient and sustainable communities. The largely
untapped potential of organic to provide concrete and long-lasting solutions to a variety of persistent
problems has inspired farmers and
non-farmers alike to join grassroots
movements to strengthen the integrity
of organic, grow markets for organic
products, and facilitate universal access
to healthy, organic food,” according to
Hoodes and Michael Sligh, NOC’s legislative director.
NOAP also outlined the following
overarching principles to advance or-
ganic agriculture and trade:
• Maintain and continuously improve
organic quality and integrity
• Increase domestic organic produc-
tion by supporting farm and market
diversity
• Ensure a fair marketplace for small,
medium-sized, and family farmers
and workers
• Maximize organic production po-
tential by increasing the U.S. pro-
duced share of organic products in
the domestic marketplace
• Safeguard the environment and
conserve biodiversity
• Enhance access to healthy, organi-
cally grown, fresh food for people
of all income levels
• Move society towards more socially
just and humane food and agricul-
tural production systems
The full NOAP can be downloaded
at www.nationalorganiccoalition.org.
Gaining Government Support
For widespread growth of organic
and the benefits to society that come
along with it, governmental support is
critical. As mentioned above, the U.S.
government has only recently begun to
acknowledge the multitude of health
and environmental benefits associated
with organic and sustainable methods
of food production. However, the
changes that have come about in the
