Know Your Certified Organic Farmer
The National Organic Program (NOP), a division of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, accredits private companies to inspect and certify farmers and food handlers as organic. It also audits and investigates certifiers to stop the improper conveyance of organic certification and farmers and food handlers to prevent them from using the Certified Organic label fraudulently.
In the most recent Quarterly Enforcement Report, the majority of NOP’s oversight work was in the form of cracking down on companies using the word “organic” without authority. In fact, over 62% of its enforcement actions were related false advertising and outright fraud.
Which is all to say, consumers should buy from purveyors they can trust. All of the farmers of GOPA are Certified Organic and must present the certificates so that the cooperative can have them on file. GOPA’s sheller, sheller wagons, blancher, and cold storage space are also Certified Organic.