1 The roots of organic agriculture

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when all agriculture was organic. Since the discovery, development, and availability of antibiotics, pesticides, and fertilizers in the 1940s, these new materials/resources became commonplace in agriculture and livestock production. American organic farming has roots in the humus-farming movement of the 1920s-1950s. Humus is the dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays without the assistance of commercial synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. This occurs in farms that include livestock, food crops, feed crops, and green manures (Coffey & Baier, 2012).

The 1960s through the 1980s saw the growth of organic agriculture as public concern over pesticides grew. During this time, third-party organic certifiers carried out independent assessments to verify compliance but had an inconsistent set of standards. This changed in 1990 when the U.S. Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act. Then, in 1992, the National Organic Program (NOP), a USDA federal regulatory program that develops and enforces national standards for organic agricultural products sold in the U.S., was established. They also created an advisory board – the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which makes recommendations to the NOP on new regulations and standards. In 2002 the NOP started to accredit certifiers.