Florida Certified Organic Growers

[1] Headquartered in Gainesville, Florida, FOG began as community farmers joining together to promote and ensure quality organic food and farming practices.

[4] More recently, FOG has expanded its interests to include teaching and research projects oriented towards sharing knowledge and resources to create a healthy and just food system.

[4] As of 2001, FOG's Quality Certification Services can USDA certify farming, wildcrafting, livestock, processing, packing and handling operations.

EBT, or Electronic Benefit Transfer, cards are given by the government to members of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for the purpose of purchasing food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Before the launch of FOG's EBT Project, there were not many places in Alachua county for people with these federal food benefits to purchase groceries besides standard supermarkets.

FOG wanted to implement a method for those with food assistance to purchase fresh, local merchandise at Alachua county farmers' markets.

Allowing families the means to become more self-sufficient and supplement their food supplies upholds FOG's effort towards social justice, as inequity often parallels nutritional disparities.

[13] The Neighborhood Nutrition Network is a nationally acknowledged food program that created gardens with student participation at three low income schools.

[17] To promote the project, FOG administers technical assistance and certification to qualifying farms and gives training to other certifiers, enabling them to verify deserving businesses.

[20] FOG's main research was a 2009 to 2011 project entitled "Organic Perspectives: Understanding the Views of Florida Consumers, Specialty Crop Farmers and Retailers.

"[citation needed] The report aimed at unveiling the most pervasive market influences on organic production as opposed to conventional methods, emphasizing attitudes and the consumer component.