National Organic Standards

Harold Austin, Director of Orchard Admin for Zirkle Fruit and a member of the National Organics Standards Board recently spent some time discussing how the NOSB has been working to help organics grow.

AUSTIN: Most of you know the 1990 Congress passed the Organics Food Production Act. This created the national organic program to oversee the organic rules regulations. Also to see that OFPA was being addressed too. It also created the NOSB. Our purpose is as a federal advisory board is to advise the USDA on what inputs should be allowed or prohibited from use on the national list for organic farming or processing.

Austin says that if a material is organic by nature it doesn't have to be on the list.

AUSTIN: If it's synthetic or if it's a synthetic or non-organic agricultural material it has to be on the national list if it's going to be used. We also make recommendations to the secretary or his duly appointed representative which is Miles McEvoy in this case. For other issues such as organic pet food standards, aquaculture standards, animal welfare or inspector qualifications or guidance just to name a few things that we work on.

He says a big improvement for the industry this year was a new way of communication via webinar.

AUSTIN: I can't stress the importance of that new tool. We may not have the ability or the time to travel clear across the country to go to the spring or fall meeting to give oral testimony but we can all take 45 minutes out of our day, even if we're in the middle of harvest, if the materials are important to what we do for our handling or our crop production, hearing your voice to the 15 members of this board - I can't stress the importance of that enough.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.