USDA, in a resubmission to the Federal Register, proposed to expand the scope of its Organic Production Survey and to make responses to its questions mandatory. There is a 60-day comment period. USDA says it expects to contact 14,000 operators in January 2015. “The majority of the questions will involve production data (acres planted, acres harvested, quantity harvested, quantity sold, livestock produced and sold, value of sale, etc.), production expenses, and marketing and production practices.” The results would appear in October 2015.
At Civil Eats, Hannah Wallace discusses the choice that faces many shoppers: Should I pay more for food grown by a certified organic producer or pay less for items that might be called “sustainably produced?”