permaculture

[lizacker@vt.edu (Elizabeth Ackermann)]

Greetings all,

Came across this today at the USDA site and thought y'all might want to
know about it.
______________________________________


USDA ANNOUNCES PUBLIC MEETINGS ON PROPOSED NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 1998--The U.S. Department of Agriculture today
announced a series of four public
meetings in Iowa, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington state to provide an
opportunity for organic food
producers, processors, marketers, the scientific community, and consumers
to discuss the department's
proposed rule for a National Organic Program.

When the proposed organic rule was announced last December, the
Administration clearly defined it as the
starting point for public debate on national standards for organic food and
farming, said Michael V. Dunn,
assistant secretary for marketing and regulatory programs. "Already, we've
received about 2,100 comments
from the public regarding the proposed rule," he said. "These four public
meetings will provide USDA with
further input in order to fine tune the proposed rule."

The proposed organic rule was published in the Dec. 16, 1997, Federal
Register. It addressed the methods,
practices and substances used in producing and handling organic crops and
livestock and their processed
products and the requirements for mandatory certification of organic
operations.

"The meetings being announced today will provide an opportunity for USDA to
present an overview of the
proposed rule, respond to questions and obtain public comments," said
Enrique Fiqueroa, administrator of
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

All meetings will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are scheduled as follows:

Feb.12, The Meeting Place Conference Center, 2100 Northland Drive, Austin,
Texas Feb. 18, Iowa State
University, Iowa State Center, Scheman Building, Benton Auditorium, Suite
4, Ames, Iowa. Feb. 26, Seattle
Center, 305 Harrison St., Seattle, Wash. March 5, Rutgers University,
Rutgers Student Center, 126 College
Ave., New Brunswick, N.J.

Those wishing to present oral comments should call Karen Thomas at (202)
720-3252, or send an e-mail
message to the National Organic Program webmaster through the NOP home page
located at
"http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop";. Comments will be limited to 5 minutes.

For more information, write to Michael Hankin, National Organic Program,
Rm. 2945 South Building, USDA,
AMS, Transportation and Marketing, P.O. Box 96456, Washington, DC
20090-6456, or call (202) 720-3252,
or FAX (202) 690-3924. A notice of the meetings will be published in the
Feb. 2 Federal Register.

*******************************************************************
Liz Ackermann
Program Support Technician (WebWeaver)
Program Development Office, Research and Graduate Studies
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
lizacker@vt.edu         Phone: (540) 231-2455