ORGANIC HOTSPOTS Organic Agriculture Cultivating Rural Communities + CCOF Annual Meeting and Conference this February Enhancing Biodiversity Through Organic Rice Farming CCOF-certified Farmers Host Legislative Farm Tour www.ccof.org Winter 2018 TO YOUR Family owned and operated, TRUE Organic Products, Inc. is the industry leader in organic fertilizers. Our products start with the highest quality ingredients, hand-selected to make the best fertilizer. At TRUE, we strive to manufacture the safest and most effective fertilizers for current and future generations. ® CERTIFIED CCOF, Inc. Board of Directors Phil LaRocca, Chair, LaRocca Vineyards; Malcolm Ricci, Vice Chair, Bolthouse Farms; Vernon Peterson, Treasurer, Abundant Harvest Organics; Thaddeus Barsotti, Secretary, Capay Organic and Farm Fresh to You; Karen Organic Archipley, Archi’s Acres; Grant Brians, Heirloom Organic Gardens; Andrea Davis-Cetina, Quarter Acre Farm; Rich Ferreira, Side Hill Citrus; Allen Harthorn, Harpos Organics; Eduardo Morales, Promotora Agrícola El Toro; Brad Samuelson, Corigin; Renee Thresher, Lundberg Family Farms; Jutta Thoerner, Manzanita Manor Organics; Ted Vivatson, Eel River Brewing CCOF Certification Services, LLC Management Committee Brad Samuelson, Chair, Corigin; Cathy Calfo, CCOF, Inc.; Jenneke de Jong, Bonanza View Dairy; Charles Fowler, Fowler Ranch (retired); Paul Frey, Frey Vineyards Ltd. CCOF Foundation Trustees Allen Harthorn, Chair, Harpos Organics; Lee Altier, Ph.D., CSU Chico College of Agriculture; Karen Archipley, Archi’s Acres; Phil LaRocca, LaRocca Vineyards; Malcolm Ricci, Bolthouse Farms Magazine Production EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Rachel Witte EDITOR Laura Mathias ART DIRECTION/DESIGN Sarah Watters PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Lourdes Garcia Certified Organic magazine is published quarterly by CCOF and serves CCOF’s diverse membership base and others in the organic community, including Organic Hotspots—Organic Agriculture consumers and affiliated businesses. Letters to the publisher should be sent 24 to [email protected]. CCOF reserves the right to edit or omit submissions Cultivating Rural Communities and letters received. For more information, contact CCOF, Inc. at [email protected]. Organic advocates are excited about the hotspots research because it helps make a compelling case for organic Advertising agriculture as an effective tool for economic development. For over 40 years, CCOF has been a trusted source of information on organic farming and food production. Our information resources include full-color publications and online media targeted to all segments of the organic sector throughout the United States and beyond. For more information, visit www.ccof.org/advertise or contact [email protected]. Departments MAGAZINE AD DISCLAIMER CCOF appreciates the gracious support of advertisers who make this 05 First Words 33 Organic Advocacy publication possible. However, paid advertisements featured in this From CCOF’s Executive Director/CEO Supporting organic interests magazine have been provided by the advertising company and do not necessarily reflect a certification status of the company or products 07 In the News 37 OTA Update advertised. CCOF does not endorse or guarantee the quality or approved Organic making headlines OTA’s report from the Capitol status of any materials, products, or services. Please direct questions 11 Member News 41 Certification News regarding authenticity of advertised products and services to the advertiser. CCOF reserves the right to refuse advertisements deemed inappropriate. Members doing great things Keeping you compliant 15 Foundation Programs 45 Member Listings For every pound of paper used to print this edition CCOF Foundation at work New CCOF members of Certified Organic, an equivalent number of trees are planted through Trees for the Future, an 21 Chapter Update 45 Advertisers Index organization dedicated to planting trees with rural Staying active with your chapter Find our partners’ ads communities in the developing world, enabling them to restore their environment, grow more food, and build a sustainable future. Our American-made paper contains post-consumer recycled material. www.ccof.org 3 ISSN 1940-8870 © CCOF 2017 YOUR ALARM CLOCK HAS FEATHERS. YOUR COMMUTE IS IN ACRES and your second car is a tractor. You are an American farmer and there’s a whole world out there depending on what you do. And we’re here to help you do it. WE ARE FARM CREDIT — a nationwide network of customer-owned associations supporting rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. FarmCreditAlliance.com • (855) 611-4110 toll free 4 American www.ccof.org AgCredit | CoBank | Farm Credit West | Fresno Madera Farm Credit | Golden State Farm Credit first WORDS Making the Case for Organic The study “Economic Impact of Organic Agriculture Hotspots The study is a perfect jumping off place for the CCOF in the United States” sets the stage for CCOF’s annual meeting Foundation’s newest initiative, the Roadmap to an Organic and educational conference in Sacramento on February 22- California. This project will highlight the benefits of organic 23, 2018. The study names 43 out of California’s 58 counties production and develop broadly supported, bipartisan as organic hotspots, meaning that organic activity in those strategies for advancing organic agriculture to benefit counties resulted in increased median household income and producers and communities. lower poverty rates. The opportunity for organic agriculture to revitalize rural communities is an exciting revelation. The two-year project will evaluate ways to strengthen market opportunities for California-grown organic crops and These findings underscore a passion that conference keynote products, promote a regulatory framework that incentivizes speaker Glenda Humiston, University of California vice organic farming, support the next generation of producers president for agriculture and natural resources, has carried and transition land to organic production, and maximize throughout her career. Humiston, as former undersecretary the benefits of organic farming systems to disadvantaged for natural resources and environment and later as USDA’s communities, with the result of increasing the amount of land rural development director for California, has continually in California that is farmed organically. sought to enhance farmers’ economic opportunities and to bridge urban-rural divides. Now, more than ever before, policymakers need broadly supported, bipartisan strategies to address the nation’s social, The conference will bring findings from the hotspot study economic, and environmental challenges. Certified organic to life, featuring panels and talks that will explore the food production has a proven track record of deterring the impact of organic on communities and the role of educational use of toxic pesticides and promoting healthy, carbon-storing institutions in creating organic hotspots. Individual producers soils while also driving strong economic returns for rural and will share their business stories, hotspot study author Dr. socially disadvantaged communities. Edward Jaenicke will discuss his research, and a legislative panel will explore bipartisan solutions to help organic grow. It’s time to make the case for organic. As Ellen Vessels writes in this issue’s feature article, “We already know that organic farming methods protect ecosystems, build soil health, and provide quality, healthful food products.” The hotspot study now tells us that specific economic benefits are also attributed to the expansion of organic agriculture. Cathy Calfo CCOF Executive Director/CEO Issue Contributors Organic Hotspots—Organic Agriculture Cultivating Rural Communities, Page 24 Ellen Vessels is a freelance writer and copy editor with a passion for environmental issues, the outdoors, and social justice. She is a staff writer covering small business news and generational marketing for TheAmericanGenius.com and real estate trends for TheRealDaily.com. She has written for outdoor magazines and environmental nonprofits, and formerly served as a project manager for Florida Organic Growers. Vessels works and lives at a sustainability education nonprofit and intentional community in Tennessee where she and her fellow land mates maintain an organic garden and orchard, and a small herd of dairy goats. When she’s not writing, Vessels performs original music and puppet shows. A sampling of her writing can be found at clippings.me/EllenVessels. www.ccof.org 5 6 www.ccof.org in the NEWS While soybeans were the primary crop affected by the drift, Soybean Crops damage was also caused to other crops, including tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, and organic vegetables, and to vineyards, residential gardens, trees, and shrubs. “It is not Across United often that we hear about impacts of this magnitude,” said Rick P. States Impacted Keigwin Jr., the director of the EPA’s pesticide program. New application instructions have been signed off on by the by Drift three companies that sell the problematic dicamba formulations: Monsanto, BASF, and DuPont. Going forward, application of A weed killer called dicamba has wreaked havoc on soybean crops dicamba is prohibited when winds are greater than 10 miles per across the United States due to herbicide drift. The herbicide is hour, and farmers will have to do additional cleaning on tanks used on genetically modified soybean and cotton crops that are that store the herbicide. grown from seed and tolerant to weed killers.