Santa Cruz, California and
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
July 21, 2005The Rodale
Institute’s New Farm Guide to
U.S. Organic Certifiers and the
Organic Farming Research
Foundation (OFRF) today announced the
New Farm Guide to
U.S. Organic Certifiers, an online resource where farmers
can find comprehensive profiles of participating organic
certifiers, including fee structures, available services and
geographic areas served. It is the only qualitative organic
certifier guide available.
Access the guide at
www.newfarm.org/ocdbt/press.
Featured is information on a wide variety of characteristics of
certifiers accredited by the USDA National Organic Program
(NOP). Farmers can browse all certifiers, compare the full
profiles of two certifiers or search by criteria such as farm
size and type of operations certified.
“A farmer can click on ‘livestock’ and ‘Ohio,’ and instantly see
all the listed certifiers that will serve that type of operation
in that state,” said Greg Bowman, on-line editor at NewFarm.org.
The guide is a collaborative effort of OFRF and The Rodale
Institute® (TRI) through its outreach website, NewFarm.org.
Institute staff developed an online survey that OFRF used to
actively collect data from certifiers. TRI followed up to create
the user-friendly database for the certifier descriptions.
“OFRF had published a more limited directory for years, and this
was a big leap forward. The Rodale Institute’s NewFarm.org has
on-line publishing skills to greatly enhance this service to
farmers, and we’re very pleased with the results,” said Erica
Walz, OFRF Communications Projects Manager.
As part of its commitment to expanding “farmer-to-farmer
know-how,” the website created the interactive “Certification
Forum” where farmers can post exchanges and ask questions on
their experiences with a certifier or the certification process.
Already, 65 certifiers have created profiles out of a total of
99 certifiers currently accredited by the USDA to work in the
U.S. New certifiers are welcome to add their profiles, and
participating certifiers may update their agency’s listing at
any time.
The U.S. Guide to Organic Certifiers can also be accessed
from the OFRF website at
www.ofrf.org
The Rodale Institute is a
world-leading, not-for-profit educational and research
organization dedicated to regenerative and organic agriculture.
The Institute has worked globally for 56 years to achieve a
regenerative food system that renews environmental and human
health, bringing to life the philosophy that "Healthy Soil =
Healthy Food = Healthy People®."
The Organic Farming Research Foundation was founded in 1990 to
foster the improvement and widespread adoption of organic
farming practices. OFRF’s mission is to sponsor research related
to organic farming; to disseminate research results to organic
farmers and to growers interested in adopting organic production
systems; and to educate the public and decision makers about
organic farming issues. |
