Opportunity to reveiw new Draft Best Practices for Organic Certification of Farmed Seaweed
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Hello seaweed farming community,
We're reaching out to request your help in reviewing newly developed Draft Best Practices for Organic Certification of Farmed Seaweed.
Here's the background:
The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) currently applies
standards developed for land-based agriculture to certify seaweed farms, which
presents challenges due to the differences between soil and ocean-based
farming. The
National Review and Alignment of Farmed Seaweed Organic Certification Guidelines was launched in January
2024 to develop Best Practices for certifying seaweed farms under the NOP.
These Draft Best Practices aim to align with the Organic Foods Production Act
(OFPA) and ensure consistency with terrestrial farm standards, while being flexible
enough for site-specific variations. They focus on marine crops in natural
bodies of water, excluding freshwater or tank culture. The initiative is
supported by the USDA Transition to Organic
Partnership Program (TOPP). A Certification
Workgroup with input from marine
science and mariculture
experts
led the development of these Draft Best Practices.
Please take a look and use this form to provide your input,
now through September 15. The Certification Workgroup and TOPP will
integrate feedback and release Final Guidelines by Oct 31, 2025.
Thank you,
Evie Witten, Regeneration
North, National Review and Alignment facilitator, on behalf of the
Certification Workgroup:
Chris Grigsby, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
John Welton, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Levi Fredrickson, Oregon Tilth
JJ Mack, Oregon Tilth
Sam Garwin, GreenWave
Ben Bowell, Northwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program
(TOPP)
