Organic Industry Resources

Key industry resources such as certifiers, associations and support services can be found on The Organic Pages Online.

To learn more about getting an organic farm or other organic business started, see HowToGoOrganic.com.

In addition, here is a listing of other useful sites:

Agricultural Agencies

• USDA - www.usda.gov Current U.S. Department of Agriculture information, programs and resources
• US National Organic Program - www.ams.usda.gov/nop  USDA’s National Organic Program, which develops and implements national organic standards
• USDA Economic Research Service - www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/Organic/ The Main Source of economic information and research from the USDA. Includes information on certified organic acreage by state
• USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service - www.usda.gov/nass/hometext.htm Agricultural Statistics, vegetable and livestock rankings from USDA
• FAS-Foreign Agricultural Service - USDA - www.fas.usda.gov World production market and trade reports, weekly export sales, trade shows and marketing events.
• Canadian General Standards Board - http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/on_the_net/organic/index-e.html Information on standards development in Canada
  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1183748510661&lang=e Statistics about organic agriculture in Canada
  Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada - http://www.organicagcentre.ca/ Dedicated to enhancing the environmental and social integrity of agriculture through scientific analysis of methods to improve the sustainability of farming.
  
  Fiber
• Fact sheets about Organic Cotton and Cotton and the Environment.
• 2005  Wool and the Environment 
• 2005 Organic Wool Fact Sheet
  
• International Organic Cotton Directory - http://www.organiccottondirectory.net/ An online directory from Pesticide Action Network and Organic Trade Association, this site provides information about farmers, companies and organizations producing and supporting organic cotton.

Market and Trade Information

• Exporter Assistance - www.fas.usda.gov/agx/exporter_assistance.html Key services for U.S. exporters, including Buyer Alerts, Trade Leads, Foreign Buyers List, and U.S. Suppliers List.
• Farmer Direct Marketing - www.ams.usda.gov/directmarketing This service has six commodity divisions – cotton, dairy, fruit and vegetable, livestock and seed, poultry and tobacco. The Agricultural Marketing Service provides standardization, grading and market news service for those commodities, as well as farmers’ market information.
• US Dept. of Commerce - http://trade.gov/about.asp Comprehensive international trade information, market research, world news, job opportunities.

International and Canada

• FAS online http://www.fas.usda.gov/agx/organics/index.html contains the Organic Perspective Newsletter, Organic Resources, USDA Organic Policy and Regulations, Calendar, International Trade Data and related information for the worldwide market for organic food.
• Canadian Organic Growers Inc.- www.cog.ca/index.htm is Canada's national membership-based education and networking organization representing farmers, gardeners and consumers in all provinces.
• Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs - http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/organic/organic.html Information on organic crops, livestock, soil management and more.
• Organic Information Web Site - http://organic.usask.ca/ From the College of Agriculture of the University of Saskatchewan this site contains organic research that is relevant to the prairie region of western Canada. The research presented on this site focuses on both the agronomics and economics of organic farming.
• Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) - www.ifoam.org The International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements site provides news, as well as IFOAM global programs and services, for the organic industry.

Production and General Information

• Agricultural Network Info Center - www.agnic.org A guide to quality agricultural information on the Internet. 
• Appropriate Technology Transfer For Rural Areas - www.attra.org  Provides technical assistance for farmers extension agents, market gardeners, agricultural researchers and other agricultural professionals in all 50 states.
• Ecological Agriculture Projects - http://eap.mcgill.ca/Indices/Organic_agriculture/OAIC.htm General information, especiallay about orgnaic agiruclture in Canada, with detailed links of interest to small and large scale producers and home gardeners.
  National Agricultural Library - www.nal.usda.gov/afsic The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) specializes in locating and accessing information related to alternative cropping systems
• National Integrated Pest Management Plan (National Integrated Pest Management Network) - www.reeusda.gov/nipmn Contacts with state and regional integrated pest management centers information, publications and IPM calendar
• New Farm - http://www.newfarm.org/ Site provided as a resource for organic farmers and gardeners by the Rodale Institute. Includes The New Farm® Organic Price Index™ as well as training materials.
• Organic/Sustainable Agriculture - www.rexp.com/organic.htm Source of audio tapes from agricultural meetings, including those related to organic, biodynamic, co-op and small farm conferences.
• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) - www.sare.org Part of USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, this program funds projects and conducts outreach designed to improve agricultural systems.
• UC Sustainable Ag. Research & Education - http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu University of California sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, providing information about sustainable agriculture