OEFFA and OEFFA Certification Board Meetings 10 October 2010 ...

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All growers listed in the table have received a notice of non-renewal letter, which gives them the
opportunity to renew within 30 days or surrender their certificate.
As of Oct 4:
‣ 150 growers have received their certificates and decision letters
‣ 45 more certificates (totaling 195) have been issued for growers, but they have not yet been mailed
out (waiting letters)
‣ 71 applications have been completed through inspection and are waiting for post-review/decision
‣ 172 applications are with inspectors
‣ 122 are still incomplete/non-compliant (Remember that some applications get hung up in the pipeline as we
wait for additional information from our client.)
‣ 5 handler applications and zero grower applications are waiting for pre-review
Livestock Pasture Rule
Paul has held a number of trainings on the Livestock Pasture Rule via conference call. His impression, and
that of our inspectors, is that most people are handling the new rule and the documentation it requires well.
We may do some in-person trainings, in collaboration with Organic Valley, with Amish communities
targeted as high priority. These would happen after the first of the new year.
News from the NOP: Pesticide Residue Testing!
I reported last time that we’d received word from the NOP that we will be required to collect samples of
edible plant parts and submit these to a USDA lab for testing for pesticide residues. We’ve received
additional word that this is being postponed, but we will probably want to assume that this will be a
requirement in 2011 and budget for it accordingly.
Staffing
Kelli Natale, who joined our staff as a Certification Program Assistant in June, is settling in well. Michelle
Gregg-Skinner gave notice – her final day of work with OEFFA was Sept. 10 th . Lexie and I are in process
of reviewing applications for Michelle’s replacement and interviewing them. We hope to have the new
person on-board asap.
NOP Visit
In early August I had a call from an administrator in the NOP (“ not a compliance or regulatory phone call,”
he quickly assured me). Miles McEvoy and two other NOP representatives decided that they needed to take
a field trip to see how things are playing out on the ground and decided that their first trip would be to
Ohio. They asked us to arrange several farm visits, focusing on livestock. Their visit was August 18 th , and
most of our certification staff was able to accompany them.
While they really were interested in the on-farm implementation of NOP regulations, they also used this as
an opportunity to informally assess our program, and provide feedback to us. They were pleased with our
implementation of the Livestock Pasture Rule and the overall quality of our review process, but noted that
we need to work on our timeliness. They plan to submit a visit assessment to us in the upcoming weeks
(again, this will not be regulatory in nature nor affect our accreditation/compliance).
See attached report (and future newsletter article) by Kate Schmidt.