By: Matthew Dillion, Co-CEO and Violet Batcha, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications
With the clock running down on the Farm Bill (set to expire on October 1) and funding for key organic programs missing from the proposed Continuing Resolution to fund the Government through January, the Organic Trade Association (OTA) sent an urgent message to Congress encouraging them to find the funding to safeguard critical organic programs that support hard-working American farmers.
In a letter sent to the House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership today, OTA shared specific concerns about organic programs slated to be orphaned due to the expiring Farm Bill and encouraged the Agriculture Committees to take action to ensure that these programs are continued. A disruption in funding for the voluntary and producer-focused programs for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), the Organic Data Initiative (ODI), Organic Certification Trade and Tracking (OCCT), and the end of authority for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Program (OREI) for any length of time, would be detrimental to organic producers, the trade, and the rural economies in which we operate.
Read more online here: https://ota.com/news-center/organic-industry-urges-congress-fund-critical-usda-programs-amidst-looming-farm-bill
