Australia: OFA welcomes government support of the organic sector

The Gillard Government will be funding 33,000 AUS$ to Standards Australia to support the Australia Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products. “The OFA initiated the Australia Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Products to ensure credibility of organic products,” Andre Leu, Chair of the Organic Federation of Australia, says. “We are very pleased that the Gillard Government has agreed to fund the ongoing maintenance of this standard. As the peak industry body for the Australian organic and biodynamic sector, the Organic Federation of Australia has spent four years working in partnership with the government and the Australian organic and biodynamic sector on this project."
 
"An Australian Standard will provide the organic industry with a uniform national benchmark for the production and the marketing of organic produce on the domestic market. This standard can be used by government agencies to ensure compliance against misleading and deceptive practices for organic products sold on the domestic market including imported products," according to Mr Leu. “The OFA welcomes the comments by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, supporting this standard.” 
 
 “Having developed the standards for organic and biodynamic products in 2009, it is vital that these remain up-to-date,” says Mr Burke. “The adoption of a single national standard for organic produce will provide greater certainty and credibility for industry and consumers and will be a major step forward in the industry’s development. A broad range of organic industry stakeholders were involved in the development of the standard, including organic producers, retailers, consumer groups, certifiers, processors and government agencies. I encourage producers, certifiers and retailers to adopt this standard.”

OFA