The U.S. Department of Agriculture will publish a final rule in the Federal Register June 7 that revises the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations to comply with the final court order in the Harvey v. Johanns lawsuit and implement the 2005 amendments to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (the Act or OFPA).

The final rule revises the NOP regulations to clarify that non-organically produced products listed in section 205.606 of the regulations may be used as ingredients in or on processed products labeled as “organic” only when such organic products are not commercially available. The effective date of this final rule revision for section 205.606 is June 9, 2007.   

The final rule also revises section 205.236 of the NOP regulations to eliminate what is commonly known as the “80/20” feed provision, and no milk may be labeled as organic and enter the stream of commerce after June 9, 2007, as a result of the 80/20 feed provision.  Thereafter, transitioning dairy producers will no longer be able to use 20 percent non-organic feed during the first nine months of whole herd conversion from conventional to organic production.

The final rule further addresses dairy herd conversion by allowing crops and forage from land, included in the organic dairy system plan, of a dairy farm that is in its third year of organic management to be fed to the converting animals.  The effective date of this revision is June 7, 2006, the date of the final rule’s publication in the Federal Register.

Many commenters asked USDA to address the current two-track system for converting dairy replacement animals.  USDA intends to engage in further rulemaking to address this issue.

Link to Federal Register, June 7, 2006
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/06-5203.pdf