You know how excited I am to live a healthier life in 2017! Using organic products is on the top of my priorities list! I have not only switched my meats, produce and household cleaners, but also have been educating myself on how to support the organic initiative in the US.
That’s why I searched for more information which I will be sharing about the GRO Organic Check Off.
Not sure if you know that, The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Jan. 17 announced it is looking for public comments on a proposal for a nationwide research and promotion check-off program for organic.
The Organic Trade Association has led the drive for this check-off because the organic industry is at a critical point, as you may know. The organic check-off will provide research and tools to encourage more farmers to go organic and help all organic farmers be more successful. This may mean implementing new equipment to help in agricultural facilities, for instance, if there is a need for an air compressor, then they may have Compressor Service and Repair solutions at their disposal to help keep on top of their manufacturing needs. It will also educate consumers in a positive way about what that organic seal really means. For our benefit, this proactive program will further the long term success of organic agriculture. Amazing news, don’t you think?
Published in the Federal Register, the proposal estimates the organic check-off, referred to as GRO Organic (Generic Research and Promotion Order for Organic), could raise over $30 million a year to spend on research to make farmers successful, bring technical services to accelerate the adoption of organic practices, and increase consumer education and promotion of the organic brand. Can you imagine that??
To date, nearly 1,400 organic stakeholders publicly support the GRO Organic check-off, with 75 percent of those organic certificate holders being farmers and ranchers.
The check off board has been designed to give organic producers a strong voice. Farmers will hold at least half of the voting seats on the board and be directly elected by producers in their region, which makes this process so fair and unique!
Organic producers and handlers with revenue under $250,000 are exempt from any assessment, but they could voluntarily participate for full voting rights. Giving each farmer the opportunity to have their voice heard and represented.
Program categories are limited to promotion, research, education, and information with lots of common sense prohibitions. An Organic Check off program could fund consumer advertising and education, public relations, programs supporting transition of U.S. land to organic, and agronomic or market research.
If you are as excited as I am, join me to support this great initiative:
Come check it out: HERE
You can quickly and easily comment on the USDA’s Federal Register right from here using the form below:
I can’t wait to hear what you think! I hope you join me to support such an important issue! Eating organic and healthier products should be the main goal for every family, as it will make our lives better. You know, we are what we eat!
Share your thoughts and if you will be supporting this great initiative! As usual, give us a Trendy Shout!
Supporting the organic industry any way that we can is how we will get more things on the market. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Buying more organic is something that I have been trying to do more of this year. This looks so awesome.
What an awesome news! I always choose organic products when available! Organic products have a lot of benefits!
This is such an important issue that needs to be addressed by everyone. Thanks for putting the info out there for consumers!
We grow most of our food on our little farm – organically of course! If I have to buy any produce we buy organic. I think it’s the best way to go
Feeding my family clean, wholesome foods that are free from pesticides and chemicals is extremely important to me. Thanks so much for sharing info on this initiative!
I always try to buy Organic when it is available. We are exposed to so many different chemicals everyday. I have been trying to reduce as many as I can have control over.
This is all new to me however we do buy and grow organic food. It’s so important for our health and well being.
I had not heard of this. We try to go organic as often as possible. This is a great initiative. k
I love this! I try to get only organic foods whenever possible. The more we can support the organic industry, the better.
This is very interesting I have never heard of this so I will be doing my research on this! I think Organic is a great way to go!
We are trying to eat healthier this year too, but I hadn’t heard of this before. What a great initiative! I completely support this!
I try to buy organic, but when the price is triple I find it difficult to justify it, especially when I need to double recipes to feed my kids. I do LOVE farmer’s markets. Our town has one that runs from April to October…I can’t wait.
This is a great initiative! We try to buy most of our produce locally from farms that farm organic in our area. I’ll be signing up!
We try to eat organic whenever it’s possible, but this would certainly make it easier. Thanks for making it so easy to make sure my voice is heard.
I totally support this. I go Organic as often as I can… even down to my beauty products. I want my food to come from nature, not science.
That would be cool is organize was available at more places and at a much more affordable price, I tend to buy organic more often than not.
Totally agree! Organic options should be just as easy to purchase as “regular” food!
Having affordable organic options is very important to me. I am glad there are so many people supporting this. It is a very important issue with all of the illnesses that are going on today. I feel good food is healing.
I can really support organic initiatives. I’ve also switched most of our foods to organic.
This is an initiative that I could really get behind! Thank you for letting us know about it!
This sounds like a wonderful initiative. I have been trying to eat healthier and I have started buying organic foods.
We eat a lot of organic food and clean with all non-toxic products, so this sounds like a pretty interesting initiative to me. I’ll be curious to see the impact it will have.
this is awesome. i try to go organic whenever I can. Sometimes I can’t due to price but i would love all food to be organic.