The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based business association that focuses on the organic business community in North America.
OTA's mission is to promote ethical consumerism by promoting and protecting the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public, and the economy.
Creating a definition required synergy between science and consumer behaviors.
Agencies typically lobbied by the OTA include the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, and the Food & Drug Administration.
[6] The OTA Rider attached to the Agriculture Appropriations Act, which the USDA approved and passed before Congress in 2006, opened the door for non-organic, non-agricultural, and synthetic additives in food products bearing the "organic" label.