Organic Crop Improvement Association

O.C.I.A logo.

The Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) is a member-owned, non-profit organization, which provides research, education and certification services to organic growers, processors and handlers around the world. OCIA certifies and verifies farm, livestock, processor/handlers, broker-traders, Community Grower Groups (CGGs), and Private Labels to various programs.^[1]

Bilingual organic certification seal.

With its headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, OCIA has regional and chapter offices in Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Japan, Guatemala, Peru and the U.S. OCIA was founded in 1985 (incorporated in 1988) in Albany, New York by a group of farmers, modelled on the "crop improvement associations" that came out of the Dust Bowl era. These associations started as informal meetings where farmers could discuss and ask advice about their land. In the 1970s as the organic movement developed, "organic" crop improvement associations were formed. An international organization, OCIA continues to have a local approach with the organization largely being made up of local "chapters." The organization has members primarily in Canada and the U.S. until a group of Peruvian farmers joined the organization in 1988. Expansion throughout Latin America continued, and now OCIA has members across the world.

Controversies

OCIA was banned from operating in China in 2010 by the USDA after it reportedly used employees of a Chinese government agency to inspect state-controlled farms and food processing facilities, which constituted a conflict of interest. In China, OCIA had joined forces with the Organic Food Development Corporation, an agency affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. The association kept a small staff — one or three people in Nanjing — while inspectors from the Chinese agency went out to farms and factories. Their findings were translated into English and sent to OCIA headquarters in Nebraska, where staff members reviewed the material and made the final decisions on certification. ^[2]

External links

• Organic Crop Improvement Association

Notes and references

1. OCIA certifies operations to the OCIA International Certification Standard, USDA National Organic Program (NOP), Canada Organic Regime (COR), European Union Equivalent Standards (EU), Japanese Organic Agricultural Standards (JAS) and Quebec Organic Reference Standards (Quebec). OCIA verifies to JAS, the US-Canada Organic Equivalence Arrangement, Bio-Suisse, Swiss Ordinance of Organic Farming, UTZ Certified, Smithsonian Bird Friendly and Shade-Grown Coffee (part of the OCIA International Certification Standard.)
2. "U.S. Drops Inspector of Food in China". Retrieved 3 February 2014.