WASHINGTON — The US Department of Agriculture is investing $300 million in the Organic Transition Initiative, the Department announced Aug. 22. The new program offers producers organic transition assistance, direct assistance and market development support.
“Farmers face challenging technical, cultural, and market shifts while transitioning to organic production, and even during the first years after successful organic certification,” said Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture for the USDA. “Through this multi-phased, multi-agency initiative, we are expanding USDA’s support of organic farmers to help them with every step of their transition as they work to become certified and secure markets for their products.”
Since 2008, there has been a 71% decrease in the number of farms actively transitioning to organic production. Part of the decrease may be the result of the organic certification process, a three-year period where…
