Our 2018 Accomplishments

November 21, 2018 Laura Northey

The year 2018 was a year full of action and variety for the Organic Council of Ontario. We made progress on some key priorities for the organic sector, and we’re excited to watch some of those investments of time and energy mature in the months and years to come!

As a reminder of what we’ve been working on and where we’re headed, here’s a list of our accomplishments for 2018:

We officially launched the Ontario Organic Directory, which lists every certified organic farm or food business in the province, and made it possible for those that are in transition or that support the organic sector to be listed in the directory too.
When legislature was prorogued last spring, we worked with MPPs Peter Tabuns (NDP) and Sylvia Jones (PC) to re-introduce our private member’s bill for organic regulation right away. Now that the next session of legislature is in full swing, we’ve introduced the bill yet again — and this time, it’s sponsored by a member of the governing party, MPP Jim McDonell.
We developed the #ActOnOrganic series of blog posts and postcards to spread the word about the need for organic regulation while clarifying what organic means, and differentiating it from some “organic-adjacent” claims, such as local and grass-fed.
In response to a misleading Toronto Star article about organic milk, we published a public response and shared information to help dispel some of the misinformation.
We held an organic policy forum in conjunction with our AGM, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to learn about and discuss organic issues.
We invited our members to meet with over 20 MPPs at Queen’s Park, to discuss the need for organic legislation in Ontario.
We launched a series of webinars (#YourStandardsYourSay) to help
members and organic stakeholders understand how the revision of the organic standards works, and better understand some of the key issues at play in this revision process.
We launched a provincial organic data initiative to help ensure that producers and governments can make informed decisions regarding organic agriculture.
We explored ways that small organic producers may be better able to affordably access the benefits of Organic Certification, with the implementation of provincial organic legislation.
During the provincial election, we published a report card grading each political party on its organic agriculture support and policies.
We somehow did all of this with a team of only two full-time staff (and a series of incredibly talented students and interns).