By Michelle Menken, Organic Services Manager
This has been a busy year for us. We still have a few files to get out to inspectors. We are working with a couple of new inspectors, so we hope next year we will have enough inspectors to get the work out earlier in the year. We have hired new staff here as well and have worked hard to get them trained. They may be doing some inspections for us next year.
Everyone is now working on final reviews and certificates. We have more than 260 certificates done, which means we have a lot left to complete. The certificates this year are being generated out of the USDA’s Organic Integrity Database (OID). They look very different from our old certificates. The list of organic products will be printed on the reverse side, as will the Canadian Equivalency statement. All certifiers will be required to use the OID to generate certificates starting next year. If you need a Letter of Good Standing to make a sale, please contact us.
The conference season will be beginning soon. We will be at the Minnesota Organic Conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota, January 11–12, 2024. We will have a booth at the Northern Plains Sustainable Ag conference January 25–27, 2024, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and then we will have a booth at the Marbleseed Organic Farm Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin, February 22–24, 2024. Please stop by our booths and meet our new staff members.
We will be mailing out calendars and information about some rule changes soon.