California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is a

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

(USDA)-accredited organic certifying agency and trade association, located in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. Formed in 1973, CCOF was the first

organic certification Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products.Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic pr ...

entity in the United States. CCOF includes three legally distinct entities.Our Structure
California Certified Organic Farmers CCOF, Inc. is governed by a board of directors, and provides infrastructure for the certification, advocacy, and Foundation programs, and also supports a regional chapter system for its members. CCOF Certification Services, LLC, governed by the

LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

management committee, is a USDA

National Organic Program The National Organic Program (NOP) is the federal regulatory framework in the United States, United States of America governing organic food. It is also the name of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service ...

(NOP)-accredited organic certification agency. The CCOF Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that includes educational programs, grants for students and teachers,

consumer education Consumer education is the preparation of an individual to be capable of making informed decisions when it comes to purchasing products in a consumer culture. It generally covers various consumer goods and services, prices, what the consumer can ...

campaigns, and hardship assistance for organic farmers. CCOF Certification Services, LLC offers organic certification to the USDA NOP standards to farms, livestock operations, processors, private labelers, brokers and retailers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The sunflower in the logo for CCOF was hand drawn, in pen and ink, by Molly Greenham when she was a student at UC Berkeley in the late 80s. In 2012, a merger between

Oregon Tilth Oregon Tilth is an American nonprofit membership organization advocating organic food and farming, based in Corvallis, Oregon. Oregon Tilth's purpose is to educate gardeners, farmers, legislators, and the general public about sustainable growing ...

and CCOF was proposed. In October 2012, the merger was called off after the proposal failed to achieve the two-thirds vote necessary from Oregon Tilth members.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://ccof.org Organic food certification organizations Organizations based in California Agriculture in California Agricultural marketing organizations Santa Cruz, California 1973 establishments in California Product certification Organic farming in the United States Organizations established in 1973 Agricultural marketing in the United States

See also

References

External links