Firedancer Coffee Consultants and organics certification consultancy Wolf & Associates are teaming up to launch two free webinars addressing the sweeping new USDA Organic certification rule, known as Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE).
In January 2023, the USDA published the most significant rules revisions regarding Organic certification and enforcement since the formal launch of the National Organic Program (NOP) in 2000.
Implementation and enforcement of the SOE rule, which checks in at a whopping 80 pages, kicked into effect in March of this year.
Although no high-profile violations have been publicly reported in the U.S. coffee industry to date, the new rule continues to challenge stakeholders throughout the farm-to-roast chain seeking to achieve or maintain USDA Organic certification.
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The new rule was created in part to address challenges associated with the continued growth of the Organic-certified market.
The Organic Trade Association reported in 2022 that total U.S. organic sales grew from $3.4 billion in 1997 to $61.9 billion in 2020.
Numerous market research firms have offered estimates for the value of the Organic-certified roasted coffee market, with most estimates of sales coming in between $8-10 million and growing. (Note: Those estimates refer to roasted coffee sales in the global market. The NOP does not publish specific information regarding the organic-certified coffee market size.)
For its part, Firedancer Coffee Consultants is targeting different industry segments through two upcoming webinars (free with registration). Both are titled, “Exploring the New Rules for Organic Certified Coffees in the Specialty Coffee Industry.”
A Wednesday, August 14, webinar will focus on the needs of coffee roasters, traders and brokers. A Wednesday, Sept. 4 webinar will focus on producers, cooperatives and exporters. Both webinars will be moderated by Firedancer Founder Mike Ebert and will feature Peter Kettler and John Foster of Wolf & Associates.
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