After over a year of continuous work by OFRF, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Organic Trade Association, the National Organic Coalition and other allies, the 2008 Farm Bill holds a number of significant provisions to advance organic farming and the supply of organic foods. Here is a brief summary of the major provisions related to organic agriculture:

Organic Research and Extension. $78 Million in mandatory funding is allocated to the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), USDA's main competitive grants program for organic studies. This funding is spread out over four years (FYs 09-12), and represents a five-fold increase over the 2002 bill. There is also authority for additional discretionary annual appropriations up to $25 Million per year. This program is OFRF's top priority in the bill.

Organic Market Data Collection. $5 Million in new mandatory funding over the life of the bill is assigned to collection and analysis of economic information for organic agriculture. Authority is given for additional discretionary annual appropriations up to $5 Million per year. The 2002 provision for organic data collection had no mandatory funding at all.

Certification Cost-Share. Cost-share payments for organic producers and handlers are renewed and funding over the life of the bill is increased to $22 Million (up from $5 Million in the 2002 law). A maximum of $750 per year (increased from $500) is available to any certified producer or handler, to reimburse up to 75% of annual certification costs. This provision was important for many smaller organic farms and processors.

Crop Insurance Fairness. The final bill requires USDA to develop improvements in crop insurance policies for organic producers. Although the 5% premium surcharge for organic farmers will not immediately be removed, the review of the necessity of the surcharge that is required to be conducted in the provision, will likely result in a reduction or elimination of the surcharge. In addition, the provision changes the practice of paying organic farmers at the conventional rather than the organic rate should they experience a crop loss, by requiring the development and implementation of options for organic payouts, with the goal of offering the payout for all organic crops within five years as sufficient data becomes available. organic payout prices when an organic crop loss occurs and directs USDA to complete a review of crop insurance underwriting for organic producers. The review is intended to determine the necessity of current procedures requiring a 5% premium surcharge for organic producers. This provision changes the practice of paying organic farmers at the conventional rather than the organic rate should they experience a crop loss but falls short of our goals to directly eliminate the organic surcharge. However, it will force the issues to be confronted as the studies are conducted and presented in coming years.

Organic Conversion Assistance. A new provision to support the transition to organic production is included as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Transition to organic is included as a new qualifying purpose for receiving EQIP payments. Support payments may be up to $20,000 per year, but no more than $80,000 over six years. Support is also available for technical assistance in making the transition, within the general technical assistance system of the USDA's conservation programs.

Conservation Stewardship Program. Formerly the Conservation Security Program, CSP receives a large increase in mandatory funding, making it a truly national program to reward stewardship performance. The new bill includes a provision streamlining coordination between CSP and the National Organic Program. This "cross-walk" provision is intended to make it much easier and simpler for organic producers to qualify for CSP and be rewarded for the conservation benefits of their organic system.

National Organic Program Funding. The final bill provides new discretionary appropriations authority for the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) that regulates organic standards and certification. Under-funding of this program has been a severe problem as the organic sector has grown so rapidly in recent years. The bill urges the administration and Congressional appropriators to increase NOP funding to $5 Million now (currently at $3.1 Million), rising to $11 Million by 2012.

Pesticide "Non-discrimination" Amendment. The final version of the bill removes an amendment from the House bill that would have prevented USDA from "discriminating" against any specific pesticides in providing conservation program benefits to farmers. We were concerned that this provision would have hampered USDA from supporting organic transition and other pesticide reduction strategies. The legal language was removed, marking an important win for the organic and environmental communities. The non-binding, narrative staff report that accompanies the bill still contains similar language, but this is of much less consequence.