The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted on its website that the spring meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), originally planned for April 29–May 1 in Tempe, Arizona—is being rescheduled.
Since the USDA began regulating organic certification, NOSB meetings have been the primary public forum for organic farmers, processors, and other industry players to engage with the board, which is responsible for evaluating and voting on updates to the regulations. The meetings happen twice a year. Since 2010, only one meeting, in 2013, was cancelled.
In response to questions as to why the meeting was cancelled or when it might happen, a USDA spokesperson said it is being rescheduled “for a time frame that will provide the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) with sufficient time to brief Secretary Rollins about the role of the NOSB and other AMS federal advisory committees.”
The rescheduling sparked concern among organic advocates since the agency has been making cuts and pausing funding to other farm programs that prioritize climate and environmental aims. The news also comes at a time when organic farmers and advocates have been fighting to restore organic programs including federal help with the cost of certification that Congress left out of the recent farm bill extension.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a staunch proponent of organic agriculture. At HHS, he does not have jurisdiction over the organic program, but Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has pledged to work closely with him. (Link to this post.)
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