AB 541 Assembly Agriculture Committee, Sacramento, CA CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars was one of three to testify at the hearing. AB 541 was tabled in a hearing of the Assembly Agriculture Committee after passing out of the Judiciary Committee two weeks prior. AB 541 is still alive and will be heard again in January, 2008. Our deepest thanks to those who worked tirelessly on this bill in addition to CCOF: the Center for Food Safety, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Assemblymember Huffman and staff, and many, many more. Background information can be found at www.gepolicyalliance.org.
AB 541 Assembly Judiciary Committee Hearing, Sacramento, CA , CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars was one of two to testify at the hearing. AB 541, known as the Food and Farm Protection Act, was created by the GE Policy Project. AB 541 aims to protect California’s farmers from GE contamination, liability, and financial losses that result from GE contamination. AB 541 passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and moved to the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
CCOF’s Mendocino Chapter Dissolves
2006
Victory! SB 1056 Fails to Pass California Senate
SB 1056 was introduced in late 2006 in response to the passage of county and city bans on genetically engineered (GE) crops. CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars spent numerous hours strategizing with allies, writing opposition letters, recruiting farmers to speak to elected officials, and pounding the halls of the Capitol to discuss the bill with (sometimes uninformed) Senators and their staff. CCOF also sent an email Action Alert to over 6,000 subscribers in hopes of generating attention, advocacy, and opposition to this bill. Although SB 1056 did get painfully close to passage, in the end it failed to make it out of committee in the California Senate and died with the close of the legislative year on August 31, 2006
Victory! CCOF Advocates to Keep Santa Cruz County GE-Free!On June 20, 2006, Santa Cruz County Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt a precautionary moratorium on growing genetically engineered crops in the county.
CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars attended the meetings and read the CCOF position which strongly supported the GE Moratorium for Santa Cruz County. CCOF also sent additional Action Alerts to our membership asking them to participate in the public meetings, and to call, email, and write the Board of Supervisors in support of the GE Moratorium. The lack of opposition to the ordinance prompted Supervisor Mark Stone to remark that opposition to GE crops “appears not to be controversial in Santa Cruz.”
CCOF Foundation’s Going Organic Project’s numerous meetings, OSP training sessions, and workshops, have had hundreds of attendants come to their events in order to learn more about organic certification and production. Learn more about Going Organic...
CCOF’s North Coast Chapter Dissolves
CCOF Defends Organic Agriculture during E.Coli Outbreak
In the midst of the tragedy and chaos surrounding the E.Coli spinach outbreak of 2006, CCOF stepped in to clear the air around the widespread misinformation and unjust blaming of organic agriculture practices.
CCOF’s 1st Annual Organic Beer and Wine Tasting Event in , San Francisco
CCOF hosted our first ever Organic Beer and Wine Tasting Event at the beautiful Ferry Plaza farmers market in San Francisco, where fifteen CCOF certified vintners and brewers offered samples to patrons. Attendees also took part in the CCOF silent auction fundraiser, bidding on items donated from tasting event vendors and other various businesses that support CCOF and organics.
Californians for a GE-Free Agriculture (CGFA) fought the biotech industry head on. CGFA, a coalition of organizations, including CCOF, won a hard-fought battle to overturn the State’s decision to allow the planting of pharmaceutical rice (with human genes) in California.
CCOF elected its first woman to the position of Board
Chairperson—Vanessa Bogenholm of VB Farms in Watsonville, California.
2002
Governor Gray Davis signed into law the California
Organic Products Act (COPA) of 2003. Beginning January 1, 2003,
all products sold in California with less than 70% organic ingredients are
not allowed to use the word “organic” on the front panel. However,
later in 2003, the State Assembly repealed the non-food provision of the
COPA.
CCOF Split into two separate entities: CCOF, Inc., and CCOF, LLC, after the implementation of federal organic certification standards under the National Organic Program
2001
The CCOF Foundation was formed to obtain grants that
would help educate the public and conventional farmers about the benefits
of organic food and farming.
Ukiah Brewing Company—CCOF
certified—became the first certified organic brew pub in the United
States.
Brian Leahy is named as CCOF’s third Executive
Director.
The USDA determined that certifying organizations, now quasi “agents”
of the USDA issuing a government license, must be free from conflict of
interest to assure consumers that products are truly organic according
to the NOP rule. This meant that CCOF certified members could no longer
oversee the same certification program that certifies their own businesses.
CCOF was forced to restructure or face non-accreditation by the USDA.
After several proposals and much negotiation, success was finally achieved
in the formation of a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), separate from
the member-directed CCOF, Inc., the politically active trade association.
Non-certified members of the organic community now direct CCOF
Certification Services, LLC, while CCOF, Inc. still retains control of
the name, seal and budget.
New Leaf Community Markets in Felton and Boulder Creek, California—CCOF
certified—become the first certified organic retailers in the United
States.
1997
CCOF helped launch the Organic Materials Review Institute
(OMRI). Started as a joint materials review/testing program with
Oregon Tilth (OTCO) in the late 1980s, it soon became expensive to operate.
The two certifiers felt that in order to make the program more legitimate
and self-sustaining, it needed to become entirely independent. Today, OMRI
is the primary organic materials review clearinghouse for the nation.
The first draft of the National Organic Program (NOP) was released.
To a shocked organic community, the “big three”—irradiation,
genetically modified organisms, and sewage sludge—were subtly incorporated
into the rule. Nearly 280,000 people nationwide wrote letters, emails
and faxes to contest the inclusion of the “big three” in the
organic standards, and their actions paid off. This issue generated
more comments than any other issue in the history of the USDA.
1994
The first commercialized genetically engineered (GE) food
crop—the FlavrSavr tomato—was introduced to the American public.
It was a spectacular failure.
Recognizing that the processed food category made up half of the organic
food industry, CCOF reached out to processors by creating its own organic
processor standards. CCOF processor membership jumped from five to 19
in one year. This prompted the creation of a new Processor/Handler
Chapter of CCOF.
CCOF became accredited with the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) to further serve CCOF members.
1992
For a time, OFRF served CCOF’s funding needs, but after
directing nearly $100,000 to CCOF’s education programs, the separate
OFRF board felt that the organization could better serve the organic community
by hiring its own Executive Director and turning its attention toward the
national front. Bob Scowcroft, Executive Director of CCOF, was selected
as the new ED for OFRF and held both positions for six months while CCOF
searched for his successor.
Diane Bowen was hired as CCOF’s new Executive Director.
California Governor George Deukmejian signed the
California Organic Foods Act (COFA) of 1990, closing a 20-month
marathon effort by CCOF. Third-party certification was still voluntary under
the new law. CCOF’s standards were used as the foundation for the
COFA.
The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) was completed as part
of the Farm Bill.
CCOF total operations increased 38% in the last year. Total acreage increased
67%.
CCOF founded the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)
to fund the educational objectives of CCOF and on-farm research of organic
growing practices. Today, OFRF is widely recognized as a leader in the
worldwide organic community, having awarded more than $1 million to organic
farming research and public education projects since 1990.
1989
All agricultural practices came into question in the spring
when CBS 60 Minutes aired a story titled Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in
our Children’s Food. This prompted the infamous “Alar
scare.” Two weeks later, cyanide was purposed to have been
found in Chilean grapes imported into the United States. Newsweek and Time
magazines asked, “Is our food save? Who can you trust?” Meryl
Streep, Hollywood spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council,
appeared on the Donahue show supporting local farms and organic foods as
a viable agriculture model that Americans could trust. For weeks
following the 60 Minutes story, the phones at CCOF rang off the hook. Calls
numbered around 150 per day with reporters, retailers and consumers all
wanting to know where they could get organically grown food.
1988
CCOF pursued an investigation, in cooperation with
the California Department of Health Services, of Pacific Organics, a distributor
that had been selling conventionally-grown carrots as organic.
In the statewide newsletter, Scowcroft wrote, “I believe that others
looking back at the history of organic agriculture will treat the Pacific
Organics case and CCOF’s role in it as an historic event. Not only
did we expose the faulty labeling practices of this company in particular,
but the resulting publicity made the State enforce the law and put into
place programs to institutionalize that enforcement in the future.”
CCOF published the first edition of the CCOF
Certification Handbook and Materials List and the first Farm Inspection
Manual, as well as the first series of Farm Inspector Trainings.
The Desert Valleys Chapter is formed.
CCOF’s first Executive Director, Bob Scowcroft, was hired.
1986
Inland, Kern, San Luis Obispo and Sierra Gold Chapters
are created.
1985
The Humboldt-Siskiyou Chapter is formed.
Mark Lipson is hired as CCOF’s first staff member.
The first CCOF office space is 80 square feet in downtown Santa Cruz.
1984
Fresno-Tulare, South Coast, and Pacific Southwest
Chapters were established.
Yolo, Big Valley, and North Valley Chapters were
formed.
1981
The Mendocino Chapter became the third chapter
in CCOF.
1979
The California Organic Food Act of 1979 was signed
into law. While it was a state-mandated local program, there was
no budgetary appropriation given to the law for enforcement. Any infractions
would have to be taken up in the courts by organizations like CCOF.
1977
The newly-created North Coast Chapter was
made up of 16 CCOF members.
1975
CCOF operations were run out of then-President Barney
Bricmont’s Santa Cruz home; his dining room was the office, with
the dining table acting as the desk.
CCOF’s first chapter, the Central Coast chapter, was formed
by Santa Cruz County members.
1973
CCOF was formed with 54 grower members.
CCOF’s first newsletter, The California Certified
Organic Farmer, was published.
