BROADCASTER ARCHIVES

National Organic Action Plan Summit
By Harriet Behar

This article was first printed in the May/June 2009 issue of the Organic Broadcaster, published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.

As successful organic farmers know, planning is an important part of the process of farming.  Following this lead, over 80 people from all corners of the United States came together in February of this year to develop a National Organic Action Plan (NOAP) for our country.  Non-governmental organizations, farmers, government agencies, processors, certifiers and others interested in creating governmental policies that enhance and expand organic agriculture discussed a wide variety of topics at this NOAP summit over the two day period immediately preceding the 2009 MOSES Organic Farming Conference.

This NOAP summit was the culmination of five years of listening sessions held around the U.S., where participants brainstormed wide-ranging ideas that could be used to continue the growth and acceptance of organic agriculture.  Borrowing on the successful national action plans found in countries around the world, organic activists here decided that we could no longer wait for our government to initiate this plan, and decided to set an agenda for the next 5 to 20 years.  This NOAP is a living document and will be continually improved to meet the changing landscape as time progresses. This framework represents the current vision of a diverse group of participants, detailing which direction we should be heading and benchmarks to track our progress at the federal, state and local levels.

Starting with the many ideas put forth by the regional listening sessions, participants at this summit reviewed and refined these action items and prioritized them by importance, capacity to be implemented, which entity would perform these items and when they could practically be done.  Participants worked both in small groups as well as in sessions which included the entire group, giving everyone the opportunity to have input into all categories of interest as well as to help “word-smith” the action items within their specific area.

Eight categories included environment, health, social and cultural change, research, education, organic integrity, marketplace and transition and incentives, and were the focus of various breakout groups.  Six major themes emerged during the summit:

1. Reclaim the broader mission of organic in U.S. food and agricultural policy from its focus on the marketplace to include goals that include public good, social change, public health and environmental protection.
2. Ensure access to healthy organic food for all U.S. income levels.
3. Ensure organic integrity with continued organic quality improvement.
4. Foster the ability of farmers and farm workers to have a fair marketplace for their production and labor.
5. Maximize U.S. organic production to meet domestic demand and for each state to maximize its potential to meet in-state demand for organic food.
6. Increase organic research.

An over-riding sentiment of the participants was the recognition that organic agriculture should be seen in the broad context, for its potential to lessen global climate change, to grow nutritionally dense foods at the same time as improving soil and water quality for future generations, and provide wide ranging benefits for all sectors of society as well as much needed rural development.   Spending the time to do this long-range planning was a worthwhile and stimulating activity, giving the organic community a good starting point for political and social action in the coming years.

The National Organic Action Plan pre and post summit information can be found at the National Organic Coalition website, www.nationalorganiccoalition.org.  MOSES is a member of this coalition, working to provide organic farmers and processors a positive policy atmosphere to improve and expand their capabilities and knowledge.

Harriet Behar is the MOSES Outreach Specialist. She was an organic inspector and inspector trainer for many years and has an organic bedding plant and vegetable operation with her husband in Southwest WI.