National Organic Program

The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) required that the USDA develop national standards for organic products, and the final rule establishing the NOP was first published in the Federal Register in 2000[1] and is codified in the Code of Federal Regulations at 7 CFR 205.

The National Organic Program grew from fewer than twelve total employees in 2008 to approximately 37 in 2019 and 82 in January 2023.

"[2][3] Under this act, the Secretary of Agriculture promulgated regulations establishing the National Organic Program (NOP) in 2000.

Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the USDA [citation needed] NOP regulations cover in detail all aspects of food production, processing, delivery and retail sale.

Producers with annual sales not exceeding US$5,000 are exempted and do not require certification (however, they must still follow NOP standards, including keeping records and submitting to a production audit if requested, and cannot use the term certified organic).

[7] Under these agreements, USDA-certified organic products do not need to meet a separate set of standards before being exported to the market, and vice versa, as equivalency agreements essentially imply that the two sets of standards are equivalent despite a few small differences and do not require any additional certification for the specific market.

In the regulatory process, hydroponics has been subdivided into the following operations:[8] The topic first came up at a meeting of the NOSB in April, 1995, which briefly stated that "Hydroponic production in soilless media to be labeled organically produced shall be allowed, if all provisions of the OFPA have been met.