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OPN sat down with Lynn to discuss her years of experience, service and her opinions on the future of organic.
Lynn Coody. Photo credit: Chris Roddy of Oregon Tilth
OPN Connect: You’ve been in the organic industry for some time. Share your background and experience in the organic fresh produce arena.
LC: I started my organic career in 1974 as an apprentice on an organic farm on New Brunswick Canada. I moved to Oregon’s Willamette Valley in 1975 after researching locations that looked promising for organic farming. I was also interested in working on a master’s degree at University of Oregon in systematic ecology and biology.
After 13 years of farming I started my consulting business. I was involved with leadership in The Tilth Association. My experience as a farmer and consultant eventually led to a job with Organically Grown Company, where I managed the technical assistance program for their farmers.
In 1989, I coauthored a comprehensive organic law for Oregon. As a result, I was tapped to provide technical expertise in drafting OFPA.
Along the way I was a founding member of Oregon Tilth, OMRI, and Oregon Organic Coalition and served on IFOAM’s Standards Committee.
OPN Connect: You are now working with a group called the Organic Produce Wholesalers Coalition (OPWC). Tell us about that group, the services you provide and why it is needed for the industry.
LC: OPWC is a group of seven organic produce wholesalers who work together on a range of issues such as technical, business, verification, and policy. I work as a policy analyst for the group and provide technical advice when they have questions about specific horticultural and regulatory issues.
My main job is managing the process of developing the comments that OPWC submits for every NOSB meeting. We discuss materials, standards, and policy issues and everyone expresses their opinion, which is important as we only submit comments on issues on which all members have consensus.
My goals are to extract the issues from the NOSB’s docket that I think will be of interest to the produce trade and to provide detailed information to the NOSB to explain the impacts on the wholesale fresh produce trade.
One of our methods in doing this is to reach out to our growers who supply us. We often represent grower’s positions, verbatim, in our comments. We want to let the NOSB know what produce growers think as it can be very difficult for them to sit down and write comments in April and November when they are so busy.
Lynn Coody & Melody Meyer
OPN Connect: What are the biggest opportunities the future holds for organic?
LC: There are many opportunities for the organic label and its productions systems to shine in the future!
I believe organic farming makes important contributions that help with the challenges of producing food in the face of climate change. Practices like increasing organic matter to buffer the soil from drought, cover crops holding and retaining nutrients, and increased diversity of plantings can help buffer problems caused by variable weather.
I have also seen that organic producers have always had an incredible spirit of experimentation and willingness to take a step forward to find new solutions. Personally, I like to take a multi-pronged approach to progress, working on policy, research, and technical solutions at the same time.
OPN Connect: If you were the Queen of Organic what changes you would like to see to improve the industry?
The current business and social environment we work in has changed significantly since the time when we wrote OFPA and developed the main body of organic regulations. I would like to see more reflection on regulations and production systems that respond to these new conditions. One way to start on this would be holding forums to bring together people of differing opinions who are committed to work constructively to solve the problems now before us.
I miss the feeling of people pulling together to build organic the systems needed to continue to evolve and move forward. If I had an organic queen’s tiara, I would ask that everyone who supports or benefits from organic systems think about offering skills, expertise, time, and financial support to bolster organic infrastructure and the support systems.
