Organic Producers Consider National Research, Marketing Board

Organic farmers and producers will be deciding this year if they should create a federally backed marketing board that could help grow the industry.

We’ve all heard the slogans “Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner,” and “Pork: The Other White Meat.” Those campaigns were brought to the public by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the National Pork Board. Beef and pork producers as well as 16 other industries pay into these federal research and promotion programs, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help expand and improve their markets.

A provision in the newest Farm Bill will allow organic producers to have their own research and promotion program.

Laura Batcha is the executive director of the Organic Trade Association. She says throughout the year, she’ll help facilitate an industry-wide conversation on whether this is something that organic producers even want and if they do, how the program will be structured.

Batcha says a program could not only help expand the market for organic products, but could also bring more organic farmers into the industry.

“A program would allow for that because farmers continuing to transition or new farmers coming into agriculture need a lot of technical assistance, information, support to get there, and outreach,” she said.

Batcha says producers can’t meet the growing demand for organic food and a research and promotion program could help close the gap.

The Farm Bill also exempts organic producers from the conventional promotion programs that they were required to pay into previously.