The industry proposal for a checkoff program to support organic food and products is moving so slowly at USDA that the Obama administration will probably leave office before producers vote on it. The Organic Trade Association submitted its proposal in May 2015 and as recently as this summer hoped for a referendum this year to establish the producer-funded research and promotion program.
Other issues affecting the industry, such as regulations on humane treatment of food animals on organic farms, seem to have more momentum for completion in the final three months of the Obama era than the checkoff. The No Organic Checkoff Coalition has challenged whether organic farmers back the proposal, expected to generate $30 million a year. There was speculation the USDA is punting the question to the incoming administration.
“USDA is still conducting its internal review of the proposals against the requirements for a complete proposal,” said a spokesman for USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, which oversees checkoff programs. “The goal is to complete our internal review as soon as possible.”
The review is among the first of a dozen steps leading to an operational checkoff program. When the internal review is complete, USDA could publish the proposal in the Federal Register, followed by a 60-day comment period. After reviewing the comments, USDA’s next step, assuming it concludes the checkoff has merit and meets legislative intent, would be to publish the final version of the proposal and schedule a referendum. Those steps could easily consume the remaining days of the Obama administration if USDA began action today.
An OTA spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment on prospects for the checkoff. It would be the first checkoff based on a mode of production rather than on a product, such as cotton, milk or beef. The 2014 farm law included a provision allowing the organic industry to seek a checkoff.
Sales of organic products, especially organic dairy, fruits and vegetables, are soaring. The OTA says the checkoff will help domestic production meet the seemingly insatiable demand. Opponents say the checkoff would lead to squabbling over a pot of money that would be too small to help the dozens of organic products that are being produced.
The Federal Trade Commission called a roundtable discussion today to discuss consumer perceptions of non-food products that are marketed as being organic. OTA chief executive Laura Batcha said consumers believe that non-food products “should be regulated in the same manner” as organic food. USDA oversees organic food but the National Organic Program has no authority over non-food products such as detergents and cosmetics.
For details about the roundtable, including a link to a webcast, click here. The session was to begin at 9 a.m. ET.
The OTA home page for the checkoff is available here.