At the General Assembly in South
Korea this October 3–5, 2011, a new
International Federation of Organic
Agricultural Movements (IFOAM)
World Board will be elected. Election
to the World Board means a challenging opportunity to work for the further development of the worldwide
organic movement.
IFOAM recently released a list of
candidates for the ten-person Board.
While six current Board members
have declared their intent to seek re-election, there are another seven new
candidates letting their names stand
for election to the World Board.
IFOAM Board
President Katherine
DiMatteo has announced that she
will not seek re-election to the Board
and will finish her
term as president
after the elections. “The past five
years on the IFOAM World Board to
advance organic agriculture through
a broad, inclusive advocacy agenda
has been an enriching experience,”
says DiMatteo. “The insights gained
from collaborating with passionate,
diverse individuals from every corner
of the world have been invaluable to
me as an individual and for my continuing work within the organic community.”
IFOAM Board Elections This Fall:
DiMatteo Not Seeking Re-Election, Canada’s OTA ED Announces Candidacy
was a strong advocate for a bilateral agreement of organic equivalency between
Canada and the United States. (For more information on this, see the article by
Holmes on page 22.)
As the only candidate from North America (up to the June 24th print date), he
says that he “hopes to balance the needs of all regions of the world while ensuring the concerns of the organic sector in North America are still heard in the
important projects and discussions IFOAM carries out.”
Among the can-
didates seeking
seats on the Board
is Matthew Holmes,
executive director
of the Canada Or-
ganic Trade Associa-
tion (COTA) and
current Ambassador to IFOAM’s proj-
ect, Global Organic Market Access
(GOMA). As the industry and federal
government moved to create Canada’s
Organic Regulations in 2009, Holmes
