Farmers Association
Organic Provisions in the 2008 Farm
Bill - provided to HOFA by OFRF
May 20,
2008
After over a year of continuous work by OFRF and our allies,
the 2008 Farm Bill holds a number of significant provisions to advance organic
farming and the supply of organic foods. While we are still preparing a complete
technical digest of all the provisions that relate to organic agriculture, here
is a brief summary of the major provisions related to organic foods and
farming:
●Organic Research and Extension. $78 Million in
mandatory funding is allocated to the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension
Initiative (OREI), USDA’s main competitive grants program for organic studies.
This funding is spread out over four years, ($18 million a year in FY 09 and $20
million a year for each of fiscal years 2010-2012), and represents a five-fold
increase over the 2002 bill. There is also authority for additional
appropriations of up to $25 Million per year. This program was OFRF’s top
priority in the bill. The bill also adds two new purposes to the program: seed
breeding for organic systems, and study of the conservation outcomes of organic
practices.
●Organic Market Data Collection. $5 Million in
first-time mandatory funding over the life of the bill is provided for
collection and analysis of economic information for organic agriculture.
Authority is given for additional appropriations up to $5 Million per year. The
2002 provision for organic data collection had no mandatory funding at
all.
●Certification Cost-Share. Reimbursements for the cost
of organic certification for organic producers and handlers are renewed and
funding over the life of the bill is increased to $22 Million (up from $5
Million in the 2002 law). A maximum of $750 per year (increased from $500) is
available to any certified producer or handler, to reimburse up to 75% of annual
certification costs. This provision is important for many smaller organic farms
and processors.
●Crop Insurance Fairness. The final bill requires USDA
to develop improvements in crop insurance policies for organic producers.
Although the 5% premium surcharge for organic farmers will not immediately be
removed, the review of the necessity of the surcharge that is required to be
conducted in the provision will likely result in a reduction or elimination of
the surcharge. In addition, the provision changes the practice of paying organic
farmers at the conventional rather than the organic rate should they experience
a crop loss by requiring the development and implementation of options for
organic payouts, with the goal of offering the payout for all organic crops
within five years as sufficient data becomes available.
●Organic Conversion Assistance. A new provision to
support the transition to organic production is included as part of the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
Support payments may be up to $20,000 per year, but no more
than $80,000 over six years, excluding any money given for technical assistance.
Support is also available for technical assistance in making the transition,
within the general technical assistance system of the USDA’s conservation
programs.
●Conservation Stewardship Program. Formerly the
Conservation Security Program, CSP receives a large increase in mandatory
funding, making it a truly national program to reward stewardship performance.
The new bill includes a provision streamlining coordination between CSP and the
National Organic Program. This “cross-walk” provision is intended to make it
much easier and simpler for organic producers to qualify for CSP and be rewarded
for the conservation benefits of their organic system.
●National Organic Program funding. The final bill
provides new appropriations authority for the USDA National Organic Program
(NOP), which regulates organic standards and certification. Under-funding of
this program has been a severe problem as the organic sector has grown so
rapidly in recent years. The bill urges the administration and Congressional
appropriators to increase NOP funding to $5 Million now (currently at $3.1
Million), rising to $11 Million by 2012.
●”Pesticide Non-discrimination.” The final version of
the bill removes an amendment from the House bill that would have prevented USDA
from “discriminating” against any specific pesticides in providing conservation
program benefits to farmers. We were concerned that this provision would have
hampered USDA from supporting organic transition and other pesticide reduction
strategies. The legal language was removed, marking an important win for the
organic and environmental communities. The non-binding, narrative staff report
that accompanies the bill still contains similar language, but this is of much
less consequence.
●Conservation loans. USDA’s loan program for the costs
of some conservation improvements will now include a priority for farmers
converting to organic conservation systems.
●Conservation Reserve Program. If a retiring
owner with land enrolled in this program transfers it to a beginning, socially
disadvantaged, or limited resource farmer, the new bill allows for the farmer to
whom the land is being transferred to begin the organic certification process up
to one year before the CRP contract expires.
●Classical Breeding Research. Classical (or
“conventional”, i.e., non-transgenic) plant and animal breeding is added as a
purpose of the major USDA competitive research grants program (renamed as the
“Agriculture and Food Research Initiative”).
THANKS TO OFRF FOR THIS INFORMATION