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Response times may be slow due to the wildfires affecting Santa Cruz County and Covid-19. Organic compliance deadlines and inspections will be delayed for businesses affected by these crises. Read the latest updates on the Northern California wildfires, and visit our Covid-19 webpage to find pandemic-specific information »
Los tiempos de respuesta serán lentos debido a los incendios forestales afectando al condado de Santa Cruz y COVID-19. Los plazos de cumplimiento orgánico y las inspecciones se retrasarán para los negocios afectados por estas crisis. Lea las últimas actualizaciones sobre los incendios forestales del norte de California y visite nuestra página web de Covid-19 para encontrar información específica a la pandemia »
Written by Jessy Beckett Parr
on Monday, March 30, 2020
on CCOF, crisis resilience, directory, general organic, services
With the advent of shelter-in-place orders across the United States, many may be looking for new ways to access fresh produce. CCOF’s online member directory allows you to search for organic farmers in your area. CCOF members are hard at work this spring, planting and harvesting healthy organic produce. Many are needing to change their business plans on the fly to adapt to the changes in the restaurant supply chain. We encourage you to search our online database by city; zip code; or sales method, including Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for home delivery or pick-up of farm-fresh...
Written by Jacob Guth
on Monday, November 25, 2019
on CCOF, education, events, international, organic market, services
Register now for the GLOBALG.A.P. IHT, Capacity Building, and Farm Assurer Workshop-HPSS, hosted at the CCOF office in Santa Cruz, California on December 17-19, 2019. CCOF is hosting the GLOBALG.A.P. experts for an in-depth review of the Harmonized Produce Safety Standard (HPSS), with two days of classroom education and one day of on-farm mock inspection using the HPSS. Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to advance your Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) skills with the GLOBALG.A.P. IHT, Capacity Building and Farm Assurer Workshop-HPSS. Learn everything about the GLOBALG.A.P. System and...
Written by Jacob Guth
on Tuesday, November 12, 2019
on CCOF, education, events, international, organic market, services
Register now for the GLOBALG.A.P. IHT, Capacity Building, and Farm Assurer Workshop-HPSS, hosted at the CCOF office in Santa Cruz, California on December 17-19, 2019. CCOF is hosting the GLOBALG.A.P. experts for an in-depth review of the Harmonized Produce Safety Standard (HPSS), with two days of classroom education and one day of on-farm mock inspection using the HPSS. Don’t miss this valuable opportunity to advance your Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) skills with the GLOBALG.A.P. IHT, Capacity Building and Farm Assurer Workshop-HPSS. Learn everything about the GLOBALG.A.P. System and...
Written by Meaghan Donovan
on Monday, September 16, 2019
on CCOF Foundation, education, food safety, general organic, services
Is your produce farm subject to a Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) inspection, but you aren’t quite sure what to expect? Do you have questions about FSMA compliance, but don’t know who to ask? Join the CCOF Foundation, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and Community Alliance with Family Farmers and the Farmers Guild (CAFF/FG) on September 24 for a webinar that reviews how the FSMA Produce Safety Rule inspection process works in California, as well as shares FSMA resources for organic produce growers. CDFA has started its FSMA inspections of produce farms. Produce...
Written by Guest Blogger
on Monday, June 11, 2018
on CCOF, directory, general organic, marketing, services
Wondering if there are any organic farms near you? Want to find out who is growing a specific crop or making a specific product? We have a tool for that!
Our online Organic Directory is a great resource for finding organic businesses by location, specific organic crops or products, and services for organic businesses. Visit the Organic Directory and fill in your search criteria on the left, then browse all the CCOF-certified organic businesses who meet that criteria to find what you need.
You can also purchase a printed copy of the Organic Directory & Resource Guide, which is a...
Written by Guest Blogger
on Monday, September 19, 2016
on CCOF, events, services
This year, at the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) Expo East kick-off dinner and awards event on September 21, the entire meal will be verified organic by CCOF. OTA “strives to always offer organic food at our events,” but decided to take it a step further this year. CCOF worked with them to implement a verification process to ensure their organic menu is compliant with national standards.
So what does it mean to be “Verified Organic?” The meal will be verified organic by CCOF. Suppliers, ingredients, and recipes are being vetted to ensure organic status. Dinner menus and event signage have...
Written by Laura Mathias
on Friday, September 2, 2016
on handler, services
The organic market is expanding at a rapid rate and buyers demand more organic than can be supplied domestically. Major retailers such as Costco, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market have been increasing stock of organic goods and opening doors for food companies nationally. California sets the standard for domestic organic production and sales for organic processed products–according to a recent 2016 California Organic Products Advisory Committee (COPAC) report, California’s annual gross organic sales revenue increased 180 percent over the last five years.1 Some of the biggest areas of growth in...
Written by Sarah Watters
on Monday, June 1, 2015
on certification process, get certification help, help and tips, services
We are excited to announce significant improvements to two helpful areas of the CCOF website: Forms & Documents and Certification Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). These sections are designed to help make the certification process simple and are now more user-friendly than ever before!
Forms & Documents is a great resource for certified members looking for record-keeping worksheets, certification forms, helpful flyers, and more. Need to add acreage, facilities, materials, or products? Want to expedite your certification or transfer a parcel? Looking for information on cost share or...
Written by Jake Lewin
on Friday, January 3, 2014
on certification process, food safety, materials and inputs, MyCCOF, services
Our efforts to reduce paperwork, simplify certification, and provide benefits to our members continue in 2014! We are pleased to present three important new tools built to meet your needs: our new online Materials Search, expansion of MyCCOF: Supplier Management, and field-level food safety certification.
MyCCOF: Materials Search – Viva La Revolution!
The CCOF materials revolution continues in January 2014 with a bold new offering free for all CCOF certified members.
After changing how materials are managed and providing better, faster reviews, we have taken the next step. All CCOF internally...
Written by Robin Allan Foster
on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
on food safety, services
Food safety continues to be a hot topic for consumers and producers alike. The passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and recent release of the proposed FSMA rules by the FDA raise important questions to CCOF members. While FSMA provides a structure for a new system of food safety verification, the entrance of the federal government into the fray has created additional questions about how the program will be implemented.
Many farmers and processors are already being asked to be certified to one of the existing third party food safety standards by their retail buyers...
Written by Jake Lewin
on Thursday, February 21, 2013
on inspection, MyCCOF, services
On January 28, CCOF Certification Services achieved a huge milestone by tripling our front line phone service. As we’ve reported previously and talked about in the CCOF blog, CCOF has digitized about 1 million pages of our client files. This means that we are no longer making copies of files for inspectors and your OSP is available in real-time online. The time, energy, and postage we’re saving from no longer building physical inspection packages are now directed towards three additional staff members available to answer your incoming phone calls. These staff members are trained to help you,...
Written by Cathy Calfo
on Thursday, January 10, 2013
on advocacy, genetic engineering, services
It's a New Year!
Our first CCOF staff meeting of the new year began with sharing personal resolutions and words of wisdom with each other. Our vows to get in better shape, be more present, and take on new challenges match well with CCOF’s organizational goals:
Provide more personalized certification services (faster, less paper).
Talk directly to local congressional offices for action on a new U.S. farm bill and investment in organic. While averting the fiscal cliff, Congress eliminated nearly all farm bill support for organic agriculture.
Remind our friends and neighbors to say “No” to...
Written by Jake Lewin
on Monday, November 12, 2012
on livestock, materials and inputs, services
From livestock to residues, unannounced inspections, and materials, CCOF is always trying to stay ahead of the curve.
Have you heard about our Livestock Unannounced Compliance Initiative? The “LUCI” program was launched the 2008. This innovative program is leading U.S. organic certifiers in their approach to organic dairy inspections. In fact, the National Organic Program liked it so much that they asked CCOF to write about it for the April/May 2011 National Organic Program newsletter; check out page five.
The LUCI program affirms the value of organic integrity initiatives and has taught us...
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