Congress recently named farm bill conferees to start the final step in re-authorizing farm programs.  Naming conferees was required to start official discussions between the House and Senate to iron out the differences between the two farm bills proposals.  The Senate farm bill contains many of the Organic Farmers Association’s top priorities.

This is a critical time in the final steps of reauthorizing programs important to you, our members, and the whole organic community.  We need you to reach out to your elected officials to remind, and to explain, the importance of our policy priorities.

Agriculture Committee members need to hear from YOU!

Call 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator or Representative’s office.

Please call both Senate offices & your Congressperson.  Ask to speak to their Agricultural Legislative Assistant.

Talking Points:

·       Introduce yourself, your organic farm or business, and include your location.

·       Ask your Senator or Representative to reach out to Conferees to include in the final conference committee bill:

·    The Organic Farmer and Consumer Protection Act as included in both bills, which improves the oversight of global organic trade, creates a level playing field for American organic farmers, and establishes a better system to ensure the integrity of organic import supply chain. Our policy poll shows 100% of our members support this effort;

·       Increased funding for organic research, as written in the Senate bill:  The Organic Extension and Research Initiative with full funding of $50 million by 2023. Again, our policy poll shows 97% of our members support this effort.

·       Re-authorizing the Cost-Share Program and providing $11.5 million of mandatory funding which is the Senate language, 89% of our membership support this position. and

·       No changes to the operation of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).  Our members see the board working as the industry intents and the organic market is growing. 93% of our members are asking OFA to work to keep NOSB operating as it is. This requires eliminating changes to the NOSB in both bills.  It’s not broken=don’t fix it!

Please let Organic Farmers Association know the results of your conversation by sending us a short email to: mark@organicfarmersassociation.org.

We appreciate your help at this critical time in the Farm Bill’s development.

We will continue to keep you in the loop.  Please keep an eye on your inbox the first week of September as we will update you on the conference committee process. Since current farm programs expire the September 30, 2018, we expect to have another need for OFA member outreach to keep the pressure on conferees to honor organic farmers’ priorities.