Got Data and Regs!

"I never had any doubt it was going to come," said Jones, "even though 30 years ago I never dreamed that we'd be where we've come in my lifetime."

Finally, Riddle announced that the National Organic Action Plan (NOAP) established organic as "the foundation for food and agriculture in the United States" after a five-year dialogue with organic stakeholders across the country.

NOAP recommends the adoption of an expanded organic policy agenda to unite people across the country in their efforts to enhance access to organic food for people of all income levels; safeguard the environment and conserve biodiversity; ensure a fair marketplace for small, medium-sized and family farms; and move society towards more socially just and humane food and agriculture production systems, according to the National Organic Coalition (NOC), which organized the dialogue for NOAP.

NOC is a national alliance of organizations working to provide a "Washington voice" for farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, consumers and progressive industry members involved in organic agriculture. The Coalition also believes that organic agricultural policy must encourage continuous quality improvements, sound stewardship and humane practices.

Clearly, the organic movement is here to stay--and grow--even though it now represents less than one percent of the nation's total food production.

Going organic is proving to be a good investment for small and medium-sized farmers--and they are receiving some government protection against Big Agriculture as well.

In a first-time statistical analysis of sales, production, profits, and management, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported that the nation's organic farms and ranches have a higher average sales than U.S. farms overall even though average production expenses were higher.

"This was USDA's first wide-scale survey of organic producers, and it was undertaken in direct response to the growing interest among consumers, farmers, businesses, policymakers and others," said Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. "The information being released today [February 16] will be an important building block for future program and policy development."

Jim Riddle, outreach coordinator at the University of Minnesota, announced the good news at the 21^st Annual Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) conference, held in La Crosse, Wisc., which attracted 2,700 organic farmers, retailers, university researchers, educators and supporters from all over the United States, as well as Armenia, Thailand, Austria, Canada, South Korea and Germany.

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