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OPN Connect Newsletter 92 · November 29, 2018

Jennifer Tucker on "Safeguarding the Organic Brand"


Jennifer Tucker, deputy administrator of the National Organic Program (NOP), will be a panelist at the OGS educational session “Safeguarding the Organic Brand”. OPN had the chance to get a preview of her thoughts about maintaining organic integrity as well as what the future holds for the organic label.


Jennifer Tucker, National Organic Program

OPN Connect: From your perspective as Deputy Administrator of the NOP what are our biggest challenges when it comes to enforcement and fraud?

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JT: Protecting the integrity of the USDA organic seal is the National Organic Program’s top priority. We will not allow bad actors to undermine the work and livelihood of the thousands of organic farmers who are following the rules every single day.

We are focused on four key areas over the coming year. First, we are strengthening organic control systems, leading to trusted people, processes, and rules. Second, we are building systems to provide farm-to-market traceability, so people can trust supply chain integrity worldwide. Third, we continue to engage in fair and focused enforcement to maintain a level playing field for all. And, we will continue to engage organic farmers and other stakeholders by ensuring transparency, supporting the national organic standards and collaborating with the organic community. 

OPN Connect: What is the NOP currently doing from a policy perspective?

JT: USDA is currently drafting a proposed rule called Strengthening Organic Enforcement. The proposed rule will be grounded in the program’s experience administering the program, investigating complaints, and accrediting and auditing certifiers. The draft rule incorporates a lot of stakeholder feedback and National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommendations.

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The proposed changes include certification requirements for some currently excluded organizations such as brokers, traders and distributors. The rule will increase reporting frequency and data collection about certified farms and businesses from certifiers. For example, certifiers will report acreage to the Organic Integrity Database which the NOP intends to use to create an annual acreage report, which will be a valuable resource to the industry. It would also require a standard organic certificate that expires each year and would clarify other labeling and accreditation/certification requirements. 

We expect to publish a proposed rule in 2019, which will open a formal public comment period. A final rule will then be developed based on the comments.

OPN Connect: You gave a presentation on Blockchain recently at Expo East. Can you tell us more about the technology and its potential for organic?

JT: The organic market continues to grow worldwide, providing new export and import opportunities for organic farms and businesses. There has been significant discussion in the U.S. about the need for an international system to improve our ability to conduct global mass balance calculations of organic products, and to ensure the traceability and oversight of organic supply chains. USDA is currently considering foundational needs for a global organic oversight system. Blockchain is one technology that may be able to support these needs. 

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The ultimate goal is to develop technologies that would allow organic certifiers to approve transactions along an organic supply chain, enabling them to conduct mass balance checks and to detect fraudulent activity. A comprehensive system would allow government oversight bodies to audit across supply chains, fulfilling the goal of tracing product from farm to market and back.

Our goal is not to replace existing systems that are working. We are interested in an inter-connected network, where data can be exchanged between different government oversight systems and existing corporate supply chain systems.

OPN Connect: How can our readers be more involved in what the NOP is doing to safeguard the organic brand?

JT: We all have a role in protecting the organic seal. You can engage in the National Organic Program’s work by providing public comments to the National Organic Standards Board and on proposed rules when they are published. Subscribe to the Organic Insider to keep in touch with our work.

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