OTA Receives USDA Foreign Agricultural Service Funding

Posted - October 15, 2008

$750,000 over 3 years to Analyze Barriers to US Organic Exports

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has approved $750,000 in funding over 3 years to the Organic Trade Association in partnership with Sustainable Strategies for projects that analyze technical barriers for the export of US organic products.

“This funding will go a long way towards understanding the hurdles that impede the trade of organic products and finding solutions to opening trade options for US organic producers,” said David Gagnon, OTA’s Chief Operating Officer and OTA leader on US organic export projects.

OTA member Sustainable Strategies: Advisors in Food and Agriculture will conduct comparative GAP analyses and overviews of international markets. (Comparative GAP analyses are detailed, side-by-side comparisons of US organic standards with the standards of other countries.) Each analysis will identify barriers to exporting US organic products to specific markets.

In their project proposal to the USDA, the partners emphasized that US organic producers are disadvantaged because while various foreign nations, certifiers and producers enjoy full access to the US market, US organic producers have no reciprocal access – an inherently uneven playing field.

“As organic production and trade expand around the world, requests from countries for recognition and equivalence of standards grow, as does the need to compare standards,” said Kelly Strzelecki, agricultural economist with the Processed Products and Technical Regulations Division in the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. OTA’s previous work on trade policy and side-by-side comparisons of organic standards has provided the USDA with vital information, she said.

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the membership-based business association for organic agriculture and products in North America.