USDA Meets with Organic Leaders to Discuss Farm Bill

"WASHINGTON—Representatives of the organic community met with the USDA Farm Bill Implementation Team on Aug. 11, 2008, to discuss the implementation of organic provisions within the 2008 Farm Bill. The meeting was organized by the Organic Trade Association (OTA), in what David Gagnon, OTA’s interim executive director, called a “historic opportunity to present key information on the significance of these organic provisions to the team charged with developing the rules implementing the Farm Bill.”

The OTA-led group included representatives of the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), the Center for Food Safety's National Organic Coalition, Rodale Institute, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), Food and Water Watch, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and Florida Organic Growers. The meeting was co-hosted by USDA Deputy Under Secretary Floyd Gaibler of the Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services and Lowell Randel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Congressional Relations. Also attending were agency representatives from the Agricultural Marketing Service, National Resources Conservation Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Risk Management Agency, Agriculture Research Service, and the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service."

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