National Organic Program

If you can find organic certified chamomile seed and then how to grow it and where's the playbook and farmers need that support.

And I feel like we've definitely not been supporting, we as a country, once the National Organic Program went into place, didn't really support organic farmers in an appropriate manner and basically outsourced a lot of organics

internationally.

There's not been an increase of acreage except for, I believe, some animal products like ranches and stuff.

But there's no real official definition yet.

And I say that cautiously because just like organic rules, there is a National Organic Program rule that if you're going to be certified organic, you have to follow that.

And we are at the beginning stages of the regenerative and sustainable.

So right now, it is an individual's personal opinion, in my opinion, on how you want to define that.

What?

That's crazy, isn't

it? Isn't that weird? Because the National Organic Program rule at that time was vegetable farming had to have soil building practices.

There is no soil in agriculture.

Will be spent by twenty thirty-five.

From our veterinary perspective, uh, United States Department of Agriculture, NOAP or National Organic Program, uh, also, uh, obligatory removed any animal, uh, treated with antibiotics, whatever the reason of treatment.

All of that sparked my interest on seeing how probiotics can like affect, uh, or mitigate this crisis.

Depending on my work on probiotics for more than a decade and reading literature in medical research, which reported that the abundance of Bacteroides in the microbiome, uh, harbors the antimicrobial genes, and this can like make the crisis more even larger.

Oregon Tilth is one that comes to mind.

Then the USDA stepped in in 2002 and created the National Organic Program.

So all the certifiers had... their standards had to meet that thresholds established by the National Organic Program, and then you could put the USD Organic logo on your package, right? And that change, that gave-- that was a big deal because, you know, that, that increased the consumer adoption exponentially.

It gave them the trust to say, "Hey, I'm not putting poison into my food." Okay, fast-forward, it's 2026.

I do believe a lot of consumers now kind of are, you know, are second gu- I don't know, they're, the...

So he was actually certified organic.

But in 2002, there was a really big change because that is when the National Organic Program came under USDA jurisdiction.

That is when organic became USDA.

So with it, there was this increase in paperwork, in fees, and administrative requirements.

So there's a few different ways to start it off.

If you just feel really lost in it and you wanna clarify some standards or just talk it through, you can start things off by scheduling a consultation with me, and we'll dive into your operation and find out what points might need to be changed or if you're in line with the standards already.

Once people feel they understand what the standards are, which again, are based on the National Organic Program standards, then they are encouraged to apply.

It's free to apply.

And organic, doing air quotes, organic at the time was not yet regulated.

The National Organic Program wouldn't come until 2001, 2002.

Organic's more of an idea.

In general, all the reporting, all the coverage, everyone we've talked to says that Randy was a likable, charming guy.

Questions need to be answered.

Okay, so have there been any reforms after the constant case? Lynn, what would you have the American government do?

I knew the people that were behind writing the National Organic Program.

There were fights going on for years.