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Organic & Biodiversity News

Photos courtesy USFWS & Taylor F. Lockwood

Biodiversity Conservation and the Organic Rule

The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) rule mandates that organic farmers conserve biodiversity. Specifically, they are required to maintain or improve soil, water, wetlands, woodlands and wildlife. The NOP formally acknowledged the importance of biodiversity conservation within organic agriculture in 2005 when the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) adopted questions related to biodiversity into their model Organic System Plan (OSP). At that time, some certifiers began using questions from the model OSP or ones they had developed independently. While these steps represent considerable progress, a number of inspectors have yet to check for biodiversity compliance as part of the inspection process.

Supporting evidence for the benefits of biodiversity conservation to farms and their surrounding ecosystems is plentiful. Patches of native vegetation on farms, whether conserved on road edges, in tracts too marginal for good yields, in riparian forests or wetland areas, helps to capture excess nitrogen before it off-gases or pollutes our waterways, filters pathogens like E. coli to make our food safer, slows water down for better groundwater recharge, and provides food, cover and corridors for wildlife. Farms that preserve or plant native species that flower throughout the growing season benefit from native bees, which augment honeybee pollination and in some cases surpass it. Economic values can be realized, when habitat is present for beneficial insects, rodent-eating predators, and insectivorous birds and bats.

Good News! The Organic Program Votes in Favor of
Biodiversity Conservation

In May 2009, the NOSB adopted recommendations that build on their earlier decisions favoring biodiversity. They include that:

1) Biodiversity be considered when reviewing materials for use on organic farms,
2) Biodiversity conservation be more fully developed and implemented in the Organic System Plan (OSP) by:

a) Producers outlining their strategy for biodiversity conservation in their OSP,
b) Inspectors being trained in biodiversity conservation,
c) Certifiers verifying producer’s efforts to address the NOP's requirements for biodiversity, and
d) NOP emphasizing biodiversity conservation in its trainings and revising its checklist used to audit certifiers so that questions about the NOP's biodiversity standards are in every audit.

Wild Farm Alliance believes it is critical for all players within organic agriculture, including farmers, inspectors, certifiers, the NOSB and the NOP, to do their part in ensuring that biodiversity conservation is fully developed and implemented. Many organic farmers have already implemented practices that conserve biodiversity as the NOP Rule intended, which is undoubtedly saving a large number of individual species and supporting ecological functions that reduce the impacts of global warming, water pollution, and the pollination crisis. Following the recent approval of this comprehensive recommendation, the advantages of biodiversity conservation within the organic community and their respective ecosystems stand to become more widespread. In addition, certifiers and inspectors will be better equipped to address the intent of the Rule and assist farmers in benefiting from all that nature provides.

National Organic Standards Board Incorporates Biodiversity Conservation

Until recently, the organic community has had no common understanding of what the National Organic Program's biodiversity requirements mean. With the help of the Wild Farm Alliance and others, the National Organic Standards Board approved biodiversity conservation additions into their Organic System Plan Template in August 2005.

The Wild Farm Alliance has biodiversity guides available for farmers and certifiers which lay out a range of farm management possibilities for a variety of situations that maintain and enhance biodiversity at the farm level and contribute to biodiversity conservation outside of farm borders at the regional or watershed level. Download summary,

complete farmer guide, complete certifier guide, or

contact us, if you would like to receive a hard copy of one or both of the guides.

Biodiversity Compliance Assessment for Organic Systems

The Preamble to the National Organic Program rule states "Compliance with the requirements to conserve biodiversity requires that a producer incorporate practices in his or her organic system plan that are beneficial to biodiversity on his or her operation." This document was created to assist farmers and certifiers in assessing compliance. A quick one-page overview examines the most problematic biodiversity issues, while the rest of the document provides a slate of beneficial practices that comply with the rule. Download Biodiversity Compliance Assessment in Organic Agricultural Systems.