authorizes a National Organic Program (NOP) to be administered by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
The regulations under the OFPA are intended to set uniform minimum standards for organic production.
The act calls for the establishment of a 15-member National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to "assist in the development of standards for substances to be used in organic production" (i.e., the National List) and to "provide recommendations to the Secretary regarding implementation" of the act.
Beginning in FY1994, Congress appropriated funds for AMS's National Organic Program activities at about $500,000 annually.
The OFPA stipulates that the costs of the program, once fully operational, will be paid for entirely by fees collected from producers, certifying agents, and handlers.
Because of the heavy response to the proposal, USDA extended the comment period from mid-March through the end of April 1998.
The Organic System Plan requires detailed growing, handling and materials procedures and at least five years of records.
Annual on-site inspections confirm production operations and fees are collected to pay for the certification program.
[3] For this to happen, processors, labelers and packagers of these organic products must be responsible for following regulations that keep the integrity of the food they deal with.
[2] Congress passed the Act in response to requests and petitions from several organic industries and National Environmental groups.
It is important to track the roots of the Act, and give credit to and empower those who gave light to organic farming.
The International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture's (IASA) President Terry Gips attended the NCAMP conference and understood the correlation between organic farming and the environment.