The National Organic Cost Share Program pays part of the ever-rising certification costs for organic farmers. Congress authorized these payments last year, but the money has not been delivered. Without this reimbursement, many small organic farms cannot afford to remain certified. Raise your voice with us and our colleagues...
Farmer Chris Damewood will never forget the evening during the pandemic when a panicked stranger knocked on his door asking how soon he could get meat from Ayrshire Farm. Damewood’s response: Your local food system isn’t going anywhere. Ayrshire is a fulcrum of that food system. The 800-acre farm...
In honor of National Co-op Month, we’re shining a light on Equal Exchange, a worker-owned business that has been building long-term, economically just partnerships with small-scale organic farmer cooperatives around the world for the past four decades. The organization was founded to create an alternative trade model that puts power...
VIROQUA — Sept. 15, 2025 — The Cornucopia Institute, a national nonprofit watchdog, is celebrating National Organic Month by joining “We the Soil,” a campaign that offers a tangible way to support a more hopeful food future. “Farmers are the caretakers of our soil, our food, and our future,”...
By Kestrel Burcham, JD, Policy Director The organic and environmental conservation communities have lost one of our leaders and great advisors: Dr. Barry Flamm passed away recently at 91 years old. Barry was a wonderful friend and ally in Cornucopia’s work to protect organic integrity – and he knew...
After serious concern that the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) wouldn’t be meeting at all in the spring, board members gathered online in April 2025. Each biannual NOSB meeting is announced in the Federal Register, which publishes proposed and final changes to rules and regulations and invites public comments...
When you have the opportunity to talk to someone as wise and honest as Joan Dye Gussow, you try your best to stretch out the time. Joan, the matriarch of the organic, locavore, and small-farm movement who died this month at age 96, sustained us with her words. The...
Join our Executive Director Melody Morrell at Organicology on March 12-14, 2025 in Portland, Oregon, along with contributors, advocates and change-makers from across the organic trade to revolutionize food, agriculture and economic models for the better. Organicology brings together people from all corners of the organic world to foster...
Eleven states’ attorneys general filed a petition with the US Environmental Protection Agency to limit state and local government authority to warn of pesticide hazards and issue product label restrictions. This petition would make it illegal for states and local governments to consider research and data on human health...
Many of the best brands in the marketplace belong to community-scale farms that have chosen to invest in the organic label. And eaters rely on this label for the cleanest and most nutritious food. Unfortunately, crucial and hard-won improvements to USDA organic integrity are now at risk! We implore...
Late 2024 brought rumblings about a recall of organic carrots. The story behind this story requires a nuanced examination of the forces at play in our food system. Together, Grimmway and Bolthouse sell 60-80% of the carrots in the US, both organic and chemically grown. Because they supply so many carrots across...
Erewhon, a certified organic retailer in Southern California known for its careful curation of organic food, is hitching its brand to The Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Scorecards. The retailer is in the process of changing its sourcing guidelines for organic chicken eggs; going forward, it will allow only egg brands...
The Cornucopia Institute, through research and investigations on agriculture and food issues, provides needed information to family farmers, consumers and other stakeholders in the good food movement and to the media.
