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Basics of Organic Certification & Standards for Extension Agents

A foundational guide for Extension Agents and Technical Service Providers (TSPs).

This factsheet provides a concise overview of the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) regulations, designed to help you effectively support farmers navigating organic certification and the 36-month transition period.

What’s Covered:

  • The Certification Roadmap: A step-by-step breakdown from developing an Organic Systems Plan (OSP) to the final on-site inspection.
  • Recordkeeping Essentials: A checklist of mandatory logs, including field history, seed sources, and soil amendments.
  • Crop & Land Standards: Rules on buffer zones, crop rotations, and OMRI-approved materials.
  • Livestock & Pasture: Requirements for organic management timelines, grazing (DMI), and animal welfare.
screenshot of the front page of a factsheet titled "Organic 101 for Extension Agents and TSPs - Basics of Organic Certification and Standards"
By |2026-02-26T09:44:40-05:00February 18th, 2026|Certification & Compliance, Resource|
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2024 Research Summary on Conservation Benefits of Organic Management

This document provides a summary of the latest organic agriculture research across a variety of topics, meant to provide NRCS staff, organic producers, and other interested parties with in-depth educational information on the conservation benefits of organic management.

This research summary was produced with support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) under Cooperative Agreement No. FBC24CPT0013867. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USDA-NRCS.

By |2026-03-02T12:16:34-05:00January 15th, 2026|Climate Change, Resource|
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2025 Research Summary on Conservation Benefits of Organic Management

This report provides a summary of the latest organic agriculture research (as of 2025) across a variety of topics, meant to provide NRCS staff, organic producers, and other interested parties with in-depth educational information on the conservation benefits of organic management.

This research summary was produced with support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) under Cooperative Agreement No. FBC24CPT0013867. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USDA-NRCS.

By |2026-03-02T12:16:49-05:00January 15th, 2026|Climate Change, Resource|
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Adding the “O”: Farmer Perspectives and Experiences Transitioning to Organic in the Northwest

Farmers transitioning to organic production face unique challenges that require technical assistance on a wide range of production and non-production issues. During the transition period, farmers must consider financially viable strategies for the three-year transition period, how to restore soil health while learning to manage weeds without herbicides, acquiring new equipment and infrastructure needed for organic production, and navigating NOP-related paperwork during the last year of transition and first year of certification. This webinar features three farmers who have worked through these issues and share their experiences and thoughts for demystifying some of the challenges they faced in the process. In this session, we feature three farmers in the Northwest who have built resilience and a dynamic organic system:

  • Lynn Schaal, Life Springs Farm in Idaho
  • Tracey Dion, Yellowstone River Farms in Montana
  • Aaron Flansburg, Flansburg Farm in Washington

About the Seeds of Success Series

OFRF has partnered with the Organic Farmers Association (OFA) and National Organic Coalition (NOC) to lead a series of virtual farmer-to-farmer networking sessions. These facilitated events will be engaging opportunities for farmers to share their challenges and successes, and will be accompanied with relevant resources you can use.

To learn more about these and other events from OFRF, visit: https://ofrf.org/events/. Funding for this series is provided by a cooperative agreement between OFRF and USDA-NIFA to highlight research investments made through both the OREI and ORG grant programs.

By |2026-03-02T12:28:14-05:00January 15th, 2026|Certification & Compliance, Resource|
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Building Successful Farmer-Researcher Collaboration

Farmers and ranchers are natural researchers, regularly using trial-and-error to address on-farm questions and challenges. Research shows that farmers greatly benefit when they lead on-farm research trials.

Programs like the OFRF’s Farmer-Led Trials and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education’s Farmer-Rancher Grant put farmers in the driver’s seat, allowing them to conceive and carry out research on their farms.

For research involving farmers and University scientists, successful collaborations between farmers and researchers can greatly enhance results. However, these collaborations take time to build. Read our report on for lessons learned from organic farmers and researchers about how to form these effective collaborations.

Front cover of seeds of success resource
By |2025-12-19T12:51:02-05:00December 19th, 2025|On-Farm Research, Resource|
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An Organic Approach to Increasing Resilience

Few farmers need official reports to tell them that “increasing weather volatility” and climate change threaten their livelihoods and the resilience of their farming and ranching operations. With historic droughts, wildfires, flooding, and hurricanes in recent years, more farms are facing variable yields, crop losses, increased weed, pest, and disease pressures, and intensifying soil degradation, erosion, and compaction.

By utilizing organic and sustainable practices to build soil health, farmers and ranchers can improve their resilience and reduce risk as our climate changes. While practices can vary depending on your operation, establishing optimum soil organic matter (SOM) and biological
activity will help your operation through the difficult times to come.

By |2026-01-16T11:26:29-05:00December 18th, 2025|Climate Change, Cover Crops & Crop Rotation, Insects & Diseases, Livestock, On-Farm Research, Plant Breeding & Variety Selection, Resource, Soil Health|
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Crop-Livestock Integration Panel with Organic Farmers

Are you an organic farmer that is interested in using your livestock in your crop rotation? Are you wondering how others have overcome some of the complexities of integrating your farm system? Would you like to hear directly from farmers who have experience in this topic? If so, then this webinar is for you.

This Seeds of Success farmer-to-farmer networking session was an engaging opportunity where farmers came together to ask questions and share their lived experience in integrating crops and livestock in their production systems.

This session features three farmers that have built resilience and a dynamic organic system:

OFRF has partnered with the Organic Farmers Association (OFA) and National Organic Coalition (NOC) to lead a series of virtual farmer-to-farmer networking sessions. These facilitated events will be engaging opportunities for farmers to share their challenges and successes, and will be accompanied with relevant resources you can use.

Funding for this series is provided by a cooperative agreement between OFRF and USDA- NIFA to highlight research investments made through both OREI and ORG grant programs.

Seeds of Success Webinar Crop and Livestock Integration
By |2025-12-15T14:48:08-05:00December 15th, 2025|Cover Crops & Crop Rotation, Crop Livestock Integration, Livestock, Resource, Soil Health|
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Infrastructure and Crop-Livestock Integration

In OFRF’s 2022 National Organic Research Agenda (NORA), organic farmers and ranchers across North America shared a common concern about the lack of technical assistance and educational resources available for Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems (ICLS). Integrating crops and livestock results in numerous benefits, however the process can also lead to increased complexity, especially for farmers who must adhere to National Organic Program rules and regulations.

This series of resources focused on Crop-Livestock Integration is informed by interviews with four highly-experienced organic producers that shared their challenges, successes, and advice for others interested in integrating livestock and crops on their organic farms.

Infrastructure for integrating animal and crop systems includes animal housing, watering systems, and fencing. Learn how farmers develop infrastructure that match the type and age of animal, are highly movable, and are adapted to soil and climate conditions.

Infrastructure for Crop Livestock Integration report cover
By |2026-01-28T14:24:47-05:00December 15th, 2025|Cover Crops & Crop Rotation, Crop Livestock Integration, FAFO Crop-Livestock Farmers, Livestock, Resource, Water Management & Irrigation|
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