Page 54 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Chapter 2

an equivalent organically produced or untreated variety is not commercially

available.”

205.2 Commercially available – the ability to obtain a production input in an

appropriate form, quality, or quantity to fulil an essential function in a system

of organic production or handling, as determined by the certifying agent in the

course of reviewing the organic plan.”

The regulation did not provide protocols or allocation of roles or responsibilities

for the interpretation of equivalent and commercially available seed. The

subsequent steps taken in the oicial process are inventoried in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Summary timeline of key events and decision points in the interpretation of the USDA NOP
Organic Seed Regulation 1990-present

Timeline
Position Change
Intended Impact/Function

November 28, 1990 OFPA signed into law as Title 21 of the 1990 US Organic Agriculture Law
Farm Bill

December 22, 2000 USDA NOP published in the Federal Register
Proposed US Organic

Agriculture Rule

March 7, 2001 Commercial Availability: Docket Number Deinition of Commercial
TMD-00-02-FR
Availability

October 22, 2002 USDA NOP Final Rule implemented
Approved US Organic
Agriculture Standard

August 17, 2005 NOSB to NOP Recommendation: Organic Seed Guidance

Commercial Availability of Organic Seed
Document Version 1

November 30, 2007
NOSB to NOP Recommendation: Further Organic Seed Guidance
Guidance on the Establishment of Document Version 2
Commercial Availability Criteria

April 3, 2008
NOSB JC & CAC Recommendation: Further Organic Seed Guidance

Guidance on Commercial Availability of Document Version 3
Organic Seed

September 22, 2008
NOSB JC & CAC Recommendation: Further Organic Seed Guidance
Guidance on Commercial Availability of Document Version 4

Organic Seed

November 19, 2008
Formal Recommendation by the NOSB to Submitted Organic Seed
the NOP: Commercial Availability of Organic Guidance Document to NOP
Seeds

June 6, 2011
NOP Guidelines Released for Public Comment
NOP Organic Seed Guidance
Released for Public
Comment

NOP Guidance: Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and March 4, 2013
NOP Final Organic Seed

Planting Stock in Organic Crop Production
Guidance

Sources: USDA AMS, 2002; USDA NOSB 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008a; b; c; USDA NOP 2011, 2013

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