U.S. National Organic Program to be Revamped

"In February, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced organizational and structural changes for the National Organic Program (NOP) after five-plus years. "The NOP has been experiencing growing pains along with the organic industry," said Lloyd Day, administrator of AMS, which oversees the NOP, "and this new year brings an opportunity to make changes in the Program to keep up with growth in the organic industry."

The NOP is reorganizing into three branches: Standards Development & Review; Accreditation, Auditing & Training; and Compliance & Enforcement. Deputy Administrator for Transportation & Marketing Programs Barbara Robinson will assume overall leadership for the NOP in addition to her other duties, while Mark Bradley will assume leadership for the Accreditation, Auditing & Training Branch, and Richard Mathews will head up the Standards Development & Review Branch. No decision has been made for leadership of Compliance & Enforcement at this time."

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