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2008 Archive
December 23, 2008 -- CCOF Submitted Comments on Proposed NOP Pasture Rules for Livestock
On behalf of our members and the organic community, CCOF submitted comments to the National Organic Program regarding a proposed amendment to livestock regulations. The proposal will affect all organic livestock producers, including dairy producers and organic beef operations, especially regarding access to pasture. CCOF members helped us in crafting a detailed response that asks for regulations that are strong and enforceable and maintain the integrity of organic production. Learn more.
December 16, 2008 -- CCOF sends letter to President Elect Barack Obama
On behalf of CCOF and its members, CCOF Executive Director, Peggy Miars, has written a letter congratulating president-elect Barack Obama and expressing our excitement and hope for the future of organic agriculture in the United States. Read CCOF’s letter to Obama.
December 5-6, 2008 -- Sustainable Agriculture Pest Management Conference
Grower Certification Specialists Amber Pool and April Crittenden, along with Xela Young, Executive Assistant, attended the 7th Sustainable Pest Management Conference where they learned about trends in organic farming practices and soil health from industry experts who presented the latest research and findings in these areas. The training session assisted CCOF staff in keeping up-to-date on the latest findings and research related to pest management. They also had the opportunity to network with CCOF supporting members and sponsors and learn more about their products and services. Learn more about our annual Pest Management Conference.
December 4, 2008 – NOP Pasture Rule Listening Sessions
CCOF staff members Robin Allan, Grower and Livestock Certification Supervisor, and Elizabeth Whitlow, Regional Service Representative (RSR) attended the NOP Pasture Rule listening session as CSU Chico to gather information from the NOP and Livestock producers that will help us our positions and comments on this proposed rule and craft an appropriate response in advance of the December 23, 2008 deadline.
November 17-19 ,2008 – NOSB Meeting, Washington DC.
CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars, Policy Director Claudia Reid and Grower/Livestock Certification Supervisor Robin Allan represented CCOF members at the November meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). During the meeting, CCOF commented on a majority of the agenda items including the 100% organic labeling rule, inert ingredients, organic pet food regulations and petitioned materials.
November 13-14, 2008 – Sustainable Ag Expo
CCOF, for the first time, exhibited at the Central Coast Vineyard Team’s fourth annual Sustainable Ag Expo in Monterey, CA. The expo hosted a variety of speakers and breakout sessions related to sustainability issues in viticulture, invasive pest management, farm worker health, food and water safety in agricultural systems and certification developments. CCOF fielded questions about organic certification and its role in the wider sustainable movement.
October 24, 2008 -- CCOF’s 3rd Annual Beer & Wine Tasting
CCOF was thrilled by the record turnout at our 3rd Annual Beer and Wine Tasting event in San Francisco on October 24, 2008. Amidst the beautiful market setting in the Ferry Building, CCOF certified members shared the best of their organic beer, wine and spirits to over 900 enthusiastic consumers. Many thanks to CCOF certified exhibitors and all the volunteers who made this event such a success! Save the date for next year, October 23, 2009. Find out more.
October 24-28, 2008 – Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit, Orlando FL
CCOF hosted a booth at the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fresh Summit. With companies from all over the United States and Central America, CCOF was pleased to see many of our members at the exhibition and to be able to respond to numerous inquires from conventional producers on how to become certified organic.
October 24, 2008 -- Dixon Ridge Farms Tour -- CCOF certified Dixon Ridge Farms owner Russ Lester hosted California's Secretary of Agriculture AG Kawamura and others to learn about his effort to achieve full energy self-sufficiency by 2012. CCOF Policy Director, Claudia Reid attended and heard Russ describe the pitfalls as well as the victories in this ongoing story.
October 20, 2008 -- California Roundtable and Agriculture and Environment (CRAE)-- CCOF was recently accepted into membership in this renowned organization. CRAE, established in 2004 and funded by the Roots of Change Fund, is an organization of non-profits, government agencies and others who form “an unprecedented collaborative involving leading environmental, agricultural, labor and government organizations in California. The goal of the Roundtable is to promote agriculture that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible. Roundtable participants strive to learn from each other about agricultural, environmental, and regulatory issues, identify common interests, and advocate in support of the group's common goals and principles.” More information about CRAE is available from Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director.
October 17, 2008 -- Soquel High School Presentation -- CCOF interns gave a presentation about organic agriculture and the certification process to Soquel High School's Introduction to Agriculture and Environmental Horticulture classes.
October 16, 2008 -- UC Davis Dean's Advisory Council -- CCOF Policy Director Claudia Reid represented CCOF at the fall meeting of this Advisory Council, which focused on water issues. Four UC academics who participated in the recent Delta Vision Task Force presented their findings to the Council.
October 3 , 2008 -- Cal Poly Organic Industry Summit -- CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars participated in a panel presentation along with Will Daniels of CCOF certified Earthbound Farm, Albert Staus of CCOF certified Straus Family Creamery, and Errol Sober of Amy's Kitchen. Keynote speaker Tim LaSalle, CEO of the Rodale Institute, presented fascinating statistics about organic agriculture. Peggy serves on Cal Poly's Sustainable Ag Resource Consortium Advisory Board.
September 29, 2008 -- CCOF and OTA Government Affairs -- CCOF Policy Director, Claudia Reid, will serve as a forum facilitator for the Organic Trade Association's (OTA) newly named Government Affairs Forum. This forum, formerly called the Farm Bill Forum, is a listserv of interested organizations and individuals that will be examining a range of policy issues that impact organic producers and handlers.
September 11, 2008 -- NRCS Meeting About Farm Bill Implementation -- CCOF along with several other organizations met with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) state office staff to begin discussions about outreach to farmers about new and continuing programs in the 2008 Farm Bill. CCOF will continue to work closely with NRCS to help transitional and organic farmers access the many new millions of dollars that are available for farmers.
September 5, 2008 -- Congressman Cardoza Thanks Farm Bill supporters -- CCOF Policy Director, Claudia Reid, Cindy Lashbrook (Riverdance Farms), John Teixeira (Lone Willow Ranch) and Mark Lipson (Molina Creek Farm) -- all of whom are CCOF certified -- and many other Central Valley representatives attended a lunch sponsored by Congressman Dennis Cardoza, at which time he thanked those in the room for their tireless work on behalf of California's organic farmers and other specialty crop producers in obtaining many benefits in the 2008 Farm Bill.
August 27-28, 2008 -- Canadian Organic Standards Conference Calls -- CCOF hosted two conference calls to assist operations wishing to export products to Canada, or moving products within Canada, to understand the new Canadian Organic Regime (COR) standards that are scheduled to take effect on December 14, 2008.
August 20, 2008 -- Farm, Food Safety, Conservation Network -- CCOF Policy Director, Claudia Reid, represented CCOF at the Farm, Food Safety, Conservation Network (FFSCN) meeting in Salinas. This Monterey Bay region working group's purpose is to facilitate the coordination of related organizations to support the agricultural industry efforts to reduce food safety risks through methods which also minimize or avoid impacts to water quality, wildlife and habitat through education, training, research, communication and outreach.
August 18, 2008 -- Reforming the California State Organic Program -- Based on feedback from CCOF members, as well as our own experiences, CCOF submitted a detailed complaint to the National Organic Program (NOP) outlining problems with the California State Organic Program (SOP), including a newly introduced spot inspection program, and asked they take immediate action to fix the problems. As a result, the NOP recommended that the SOP halt the spot inspection program immediately.
August 4, 2008 -- NRCS STAC -- CCOF Policy Director, Claudia Reid, attended the Natural Resources Conservation Service State Technical Advisory Committee meeting.
July 29, 2008 -- CCOF Streamlines Organic Certification with On-Line Services Suite -- CCOF Certification Services introduced a range of online services for certified clients and applicants. The new digital documentation includes online certification applications, renewals and payment options as well as e-forms covering key areas of certification such as requests to add acreage, review input materials and expedited services.
July 22-24, 2008 -- LBAM Research Conference -- Claudia Reid, Policy Director, and Zea Sonnabend, CCOF Policy Advisor, attended the LBAM Research Conference in Foster City.
July 17-18, 2008 -- Napa Valley Organic Wine Growers Conference -- Elizabeth Whitlow, CCOF Regional Service Representative, gave a keynote presentation on organic certification; how to get started and the pitfalls to avoid. CCOF also had a booth at the event to answer any questions from delegates on how to become certified organic and about organic wine.
July 12 , 2008 -- Doof-a-Palooza at Google Headquarters, Mountain View, CA -- CCOF educated parents and children of all ages from the Bay Area about the benefits of organic at the recent DooF-a-Palooza event at Google headquarters. The event offered children and their favorite adults a unique opportunity to experience a live version of the new PBS DooF, (food spelt backwards), television show and to learn about food through fun interactive events from growers, authors and chefs who shared their knowledge and passion. For more information on DooF.
July 7, 2008 -- Ag Vision --
CCOF responded to the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the State Board of Food and Agriculture requests for public input into a California strategic agricultural vision to be used to guide public policy and investment priorities at the state and national level for the next 20 years and will affect everyone who produces, ships, processes, markets, eats, drinks, or wears California agricultural products.
CCOF members and staff spent several weeks writing our ag vision for 2030, recalling the organization’s long tradition of visioning an alternative agriculture system that is innovative, creative, successful, and based on sound principles. Read CCOF’S AG VISION 2030 response .
We are following up our AG VISION 2030 statement by working collaboratively with other like-minded organizations that also submitted comments to encourage the Department of Food and Agriculture to begin implementing the ideas gleaned from the visioning process now, rather than publishing them in a binder that never gets used.
June 24, 2008 -- IPC Meets AG Kawamura -- CCOF, along with other members of the Invasive Pest Coalition, met with Secretary AG Kawamura to discuss ongoing concerns about the LBAM eradication program.
June 17, 2008 -- Field Day -- CCOF's Policy Director, Claudia Reid, attended the UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems Field Day, featuring research results comparing conventional, sustainable and organic systems for a variety of crops.
June 13, 2008 -- Farmstand Legislation -- CCOF supports Assemblymember Dave Jones' bill, AB 2168, that would allow farmstands to sell fresh produce or eggs or other products made on or near the farm. This bill has much support from CCOF members.
June 11, 2008 -- New Leaf Employee Training -- Katie Peck, CCOF Grower Certification Specialist, spoke at an “Organic 101” employee training session at the recently opened New Leaf Market in Half Moon Bay. The presentation provided employees with background information on CCOF, an outline of the differences between organic and conventional agriculture, and a summary of the type of consumer questions about organic that employees can expect to receive.
June 1, 2008 -- Farm Bill Implementation -- Claudia Reid, Policy Director, attended a meeting hosted by Environmental Defense Fund to begin strategizing on 2008 Farm Bill Implementation.
May 30, 2008 -- Food Safety Roundtable -- Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, attended a meeting sponsored by the California State Grange, that brought together various players in the food safety arena. Also in attendance at this roundtable were three CCOF certified members – John McKeon of Earthbound Farm, Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm and Stephen Bird of Celtic Gardens Organic Farm and Learning Center.
May 20-22, 2008 -- National Organic Standards Board --
CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars, CCOF Handler Certification Supervisor, Jody Bergiel, CCOF Policy Advisor Zea Sonnabend, and Government Affairs Committee member David Will attended the National Organic Standards Board meeting in Washington, DC, in mid-May. Zea presented written comments about the Discussion Document from the Materials Working Group on the Definition of Materials, and all four presented verbal comments about a variety of issues that impact CCOF members.
May 13, 2008 -- Meet and Greet -- Peggy Miars, CCOF Executive Director and Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, met with Congressman Sam Farr's district representative, Alec Arago, to introduce Claudia in her new capacity, discuss food safety and Light Brown Apple Moth issues. The Congressman is quite interested in these two issues, and his staff have offered several useful suggestions for how to continue working together on common areas of concern for our constituents.
May 8, 2008 -- COPAC Meeting -- Jake Lewin, CCOF Certification Services Director, and Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, attended the California Organic Products Advisory Committee meeting in Sacramento. This committee advises the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture on issues relating to organic products. Topics covered at this meeting ranged from fertilizer issues, through investigation results and 2007 Farm Bill status. They also discussed the upcoming NOSB meeting, as well as other issues crucial to the sound running of organic businesses in California. Most attention was paid to a new inspection and audit program that the State Organic Program will begin implementing immediately.
April 30, 2008 -- State Board of Food and Agriculture -- Peggy Miars, CCOF Executive Director, presented public comments on behalf of CCOF to the State Board of Food and Agriculture. The Board is working with the Department of Food and Agriculture to create a visioning process for agriculture in California in the year 2030, and CCOF staff will work closely with our board and commiittee members to write our comments for this process. You can get involved by clicking on this link: CCOF Ag Vision
April 26-29, 2008 – All Things Organic -- CCOF attended All Things Organic in Chicago. The CCOF booth was busy and the CCOF 2008 Organic Directory proved popular with a large numbers of buyers looking to source organic products at the show.
April 21, 2008 – State Organic Program Training -- Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, attended CDFA State Organic Program organic training. This program, which is self-funded, has experienced a significant increase in its funding and will be ramping up its own inspections, with plans to do spot inspections on 100 additional organic registrants in 2008. In addition, they have authorized the County Agricultural Commissioners to do 700+ audits of organic registrants within the next year, and the training contained much useful information about the State Organic Program’s strategy and approach to these inspections and audits.
April 19-26, 2008 – Earth Day Activities - Helping consumers understand just what organic means and why they should purchase organic is a key goal of CCOF promotion activities. With this aim, CCOF took part in four Earth Day Events: at University of California Santa Cruz, in Sacramento, at Hewlett Packard in Cupertino and the last in downtown Santa Cruz.
April 10, 2008 – Dean's Advisory Council -- Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, attended the UC Davis Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). Claudia has served on this council for 2 years and has just been asked to extend her membership by 3 years, as a representative of CCOF. This council meets twice yearly to learn about UC Davis College issues such as budget cuts, research priorities, Cooperative Extension status, etc. This meeting included presentations by the new Vice President for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dan Dooley, by the UC Davis Foods for Health Institute, and by the UC Davis CAES Center for Produce Safety. This venue gives CCOF a great way to connect to some of the research that is being done at UC Davis on timely and important issues.
April 8, 2008 – Sustainable Agriculture Meeting -- CCOF offered its conference room for a meeting of environmental and sustainable agriculture organizations that used to meet routinely, 6 years ago or longer, to talk about “the movement.” This effort was spearheaded by Californians for Pesticide Reform and included participation by Ecological Farming Association, Pesticide Action Network, California Farm Link, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Californians for GE Free, California Coalition for Food and Farming. Also invited were Community Alliance with Family Farmers and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group shared major issues they were all working on and discussed a strategy for meeting frequently to discuss areas of common concern and develop an action plan around sustainable agriculture in California.
April 2 and 3, 2008 LBAM Meetings – Peggy Miars, CCOF Executive Director and Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, along with Paul Underhill, CCOF member of the Government Affairs Committee, met with the Administration, at their request, to discuss CCOF’s revocation of our support for CDFA’s aerial spray plans for LBAM eradication. This effort, contained in a press release dated March 10, 2008, has caused quite a stir, both positively and negatively, and CCOF continues to work with regulators, our colleagues, our members and the public to make our voice heard on behalf of organic. The next day, Claudia Reid met with 14 representatives from the regulatory community, including CDFA, OEHHA, DHS, DPH, DPR and USDA, to talk about a possible role for CCOF in this situation. We are seen by the regulators and by the NGO community as being trustworthy, and we occupy a unique niche that gives us the ability to broker good communication between groups that might not speak directly to each other without a great deal of encouragement and facilitation. For more information on what plans CCOF will implement to continue our efforts to mediate open, transparent communication and action that is the least harmful to crops, consumers and our members, please contact Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, at claudia@ccof.org.
March 21, 2008 – Invasive Pest Coalition -- Peggy Miars, CCOF Executive Director and Claudia Reid, CCOF Policy Director, attended a meeting of the recently formed Invasive Pest Coalition. This organization includes representatives of agricultural commodities that are impacted by invasive pests and diseases and plans to work with enforcement agencies on this serious problem. For now, the group is focusing on LBAM eradication efforts – both the successes and failures – and works to ensure open and inclusive communication and dialogue. Peggy serves on the Coalition’s Communications Committee and Claudia serves on the Coalition’s Legislative Committee.
March 12, 2008 – Assembly Committee on Agriculture -- Informational hearing on LBAM and LGMA. Claudia Reid and Paul Underhill attended this hearing, with Paul testifying on behalf of CCOF. These 2 issues are quite controversial and time consuming, and they are very important to CCOF members and to our consumers. CCOF continues to work with regulators, consumer groups and others to ensure that our food is safe and as free of pests as possible.
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