The National Organic Coalition (NOC) is partnering with the Organic Farmers Association (OFA), and Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), to host a series of virtual farmer-to-farmer networking sessions, Seeds of Success. These facilitated events will be interactive, informal spaces for farmers to share their challenges and successes, and will give farmers an opportunity to have open conversations on topics most relevant to them.
Join in at 1 pm ET on January 30, 2024 for the second session of the series, Demystifying the National Organic Standards Board: What it is, how it works, and how it impacts your farm!
This will be a 90-minute interactive networking session for organic and transitioning farmers, to explain and demystify the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Panelists will explain the role of the NOSB in shaping organic standards and allowed materials, the process the Board uses to make decisions, and explain how your comments can make a difference in Board decisions. Your input matters! The NOSB makes decisions that determine what you can and can’t do on your farm – we’ll explain how to provide input to the Board in a meaningful way, answer your questions, and share ideas about how to lift up farmer voices in the NOSB process.
Panelists:
- Steve Ela, Former NOSB Chair, NOC NOSB Specialist, Organic Producer at Ela Family Farms
- Harriet Behar, Former NOSB Chair, NOC Advisor, OFA Farmer Services Consultant, and Organic Producer at Sweet Springs Farm
- Amy Bruch, Current NOSB Vice Chair and Organic Producer at Cyclone Farms
This project is supported through the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).
