Despite an economic downturn in 2009, CCOF experienced an 8% growth in both the number of certified operations and in total acreage. Certified operations went from 2,007 to 2,168, while acreage increased from 558,137 to 603,545. Much of the increase in acreage came from raisin grapes with 45.4% growth, and nuts with 18.8% growth. Increases are attributed to producers’ commitment to organic farming as a means to protect their soil fertility and to secure crop yields on which their livelihoods depend.
Environmental Awards for Organic Sector Give CCOF Much to Celebrate this Earth Day
During Earth Day, CCOF was hopeful about the future of organics thanks to many environmental awards given to the organic sector. CCOF certified Panorama Meats, Inc. received the National Stewardship award at the 2010 Cattle Industry Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas. CCOF certified Fetzer Vineyards was recognized for the 13th year by the Waste Reduction Award Program (WRAP) for reducing landfill waste by 96% and saving 2,173 tons of glass by using lightweight bottles in 2009. CCOF certified Benziger Family Winery created an almost closed-loop water system for irrigation. CCOF lifetime supporting business member UNFI was awarded the Nutrition Business Journal's Environment and Sustainability Award of 2009 on March 2, 2010. These exciting awards recognize the commitment CCOF members have to continually redefine the role organic food plays in environmental stewardship.
CCOF Welcomes National Organic Standards Board to California
The all-volunteer NOSB, which meets every six months, is responsible for evaluating, discussing, and recommending standards improvements to the National Organic Program (NOP). The spring 2010 meeting was held in California for the first time in 10 years at the Heidrick Ag History Center in Woodland on April 26-29. CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars gave the opening welcome remark at the start of the public comments day on April 27. CCOF certified members John Foster of Earthbound Farm and Joe Dickson of Whole Foods Market are among new NOSB members who took their seats for the first time.
Pasture Rule Update
After years in the making, with inputs from interested parties and over 26,000 comments, the National Organic Program (NOP) finally published the "Pasture Rule" on February 12, 2010. The final version has the support of the three regional Organic Dairy Producers Associations and has received an overall positive response from the organic community. The new rule went into effect on June 17, 2010, with verification of full compliance required by June 17, 2011.CCOF analyzed, interpreted, and made comments on the new rule to help producers get a better understanding of the changes. Information and resources can found at www.ccof.org/pasturerule.php.
CCOF Launches a Facebook Fan Page
In early December 2010, CCOF officially joined the social network with a Facebook fan page. Facebook users who visit the CCOF page can learn about CCOF, member news, upcoming organic events, and more. Facebook is a new arena for CCOF, with possibilities of spreading the good word of organics and the CCOF name as well as engaging in bi-directional communication with the organic community. Support organic farmers and "like" CCOF on Facebook!
In January, CCOF launched a new Organic Liquid Fertilizer Policy. The policy aimed to ensure that fertilizer companies undergo third party inspections or face prohibition of their products and outlined a timeline for implementation and compliance by late 2009. In addition, CCOF launched a Fertilizer Sampling Initiative to test a variety of liquid fertilizers in the marketplace and to provide supplemental information on this new Liquid Fertilizer Approval policy. The new policy and sampling initiative were enacted in response to alleged fraudulent activities related to the suspected addition of synthetic nitrogen to organic liquid fertilizer products that gained substantial media attention.
CCOF Testifies at Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture
Jake Lewin, CCOF Chief Certification Officer, testified before the newly-named California Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture in February. Lewin spoke of CCOF’s role in and response to the high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer issues.
With the success of the Annual CCOF Organic Beer, Wine & Spirits Tasting held at the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace, CCOF teamed up with the Pruneyard Shopping Center to host its first-ever Organic Beer and Wine Tasting event in Campbell, California, on June 12, 2009. Event goers had the opportunity to sample a wide assortment of organic beer and wine and chatted directly with winemakers and brewers. In addition to sampling organic beverages, attendees participated in a Silent Auction fundraiser for prizes donated by vendors including winery tours, and bottles of their best wines.
In June of 2009, CCOF earned the Monterey Bay Area Business Program’s Green Business Certification. The program recognizes and promotes businesses that volunteer to operate in a more environmentally responsible way. Award recipients must meet program standards for conserving resources, preventing pollution, and minimizing waste. CCOF strives to conduct business in a way that “carefully stewards and sustains the planet’s precious resources,” stated Peggy Miars, Executive Director.
In July of 2009, after a year of development, the Canadian government finalized its new set of standards regulating products sold as “organic” in Canada. CCOF proactively introduced certification equivalency to the Canadian Organic Standards for all certified members as a part of the existing Global Market Access (GMA) program. CCOF successfully passed the Canadian accreditation audit and continues to closely monitor changing international regulations to ensure CCOF members had access to the Canadian market.
On July 15th, 2010, all 273 of the Whole Foods Market stores in the U.S. obtained organic retailer certification. In November 2008, the USDA National Organic Program declared that retailers seeking organic certification must undergo inspections at each individual store. Nonetheless, Whole Foods Market opted for organic certification from CCOF to ensure the integrity of their organic supply chain. “This was our largest retail certification to date, and we’re pleased that we were able to deliver the rigorous service and support necessary to certify Whole Foods Market’s 273 U.S. stores,” said Peggy Miars, CCOF Executive Director.
Despite an economic downturn in 2009, CCOF experienced an 8% growth in both the number of certified operations and in total acreage. Certified operations went from 2,007 to 2,168, while acreage increased from 558,137 to 603,545. Much of the increase in acreage came from raisin grapes with 45.4% growth, and nuts with 18.8% growth. Increases are attributed to producers’ commitment to organic farming as a means to protect their soil fertility and to secure crop yields on which their livelihoods depend.
CCOF reached a major milestone when it surpassed a half million certified organic acres in early March. By the end of 2008, CCOF grew by 11% and surpassed the 2,000 mark for the total number of operations certified.
CCOF streamlined our certification process by introducing 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 a variety of e-forms that vastly improve the efficiency of CCOF staff in responding to member requests.
CCOF announced the appointment of its first full-time Policy Director in the organization’s 35-year history, marking yet another landmark in the growth of the organization and demonstrating CCOF’s continued commitment to lead the organic movement through the advocacy for governmental policies that protect and encourage organic agriculture.
The 2008 Farm Bill showed a steady rise in the number of programs for organic agriculture as well as an increase in research, education and extension funding and financial support for various aspects of organic production. CCOF continued to lead the organic movement through advocacy for governmental policies that protect and encourage organic agriculture.
Working to Reform the California State Organic Program
Based on feedback from CCOF members, CCOF took the lead and submitted an official complaint to the National Organic Program (NOP) outlining problems with the California State Organic Program (SOP), including the program’s failure to investigate complaints and follow up on appeals as well as the implementation of a newly introduced spot inspection program. Following CCOF’s submission, the NOP recommended that the SOP halt the spot inspection program immediately and the California Department of Food and Agriculture developed a Technical Planning Committee aimed to review and improve the SOP.
In September, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the first bill protecting farmers against lawsuits linked to genetically engineered (GE) crops. CCOF Executive Director Peggy Miars testified in front of California legislators in 2007 and worked diligently our partner organizations in the lobbying coalition, The Genetic Engineering Policy Project, participating in numerous public hearings, attending open forums and writing letters to elected officials. CCOF is delighted by this landmark piece of legislation that protects California's farmers from liability and financial losses that result from GE contamination. The bill also establishes a mandatory crop sampling protocol to level the playing field when biotech companies investigate alleged patent or contract violations.
With the growth in organics CCOF expanded too and with 24 – full-time employees was forced to move from a 3200 square foot Victorian that had served as the organizations headquarters for 11 years to a more modern 6647 square foot office space at 2155 Delaware Avenue, Santa Cruz.
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.
