It’s never a bad time to tell your elected officials why they should support policies that organic farmers need. They always need to hear from their constituents what is really happening on the ground, especially on organic farms. Talking to your members of Congress – in person if they are at home during a recess, or by email or letter – about what your farm needs reinforces the work of OFA staff who are making the case for organic in DC.

One of the most important things you can talk about is how organic farms are different and the level of USDA regulation (and enforcement) we need to keep the integrity of the organic label as high as possible. If you have experience with the need for better USDA enforcement to prevent fraud, tell them about it. Have examples of why we need to strengthen the rules for transitioning organic livestock, or why USDA should prioritize research on organic methods? They need to hear that too.

Here’s how you can get in touch with your members of Congress:

House of Representatives:

• Go to house.gov
• use the “Find Your Representative” box at the top right
• go to your member’s website
• look for a Contact tab, which will show their phone number and mailing address, as well as a way to email the office.

Senate (don’t forget you have two!):

• Go to senate.gov
• Go to the “Senators” tab
• Use the “Contact” tab in the drop down menu to find the Senators from your state
• The contact page for the full Senate gives you the mailing address and phone number for each Senate office.
• To email a Senate office, click on the address for each office which will have a Contact section you can use.

If you want to learn more, check out a webinar we did on the basics for being an organic advocate.