National Organic Standards Board

Crops Subcommittee Proposal

Strengthening the Organic Seed Guidance

August 15, 2017

Introduction

Seed is much more than just an input. It is the fundamental starting point for transforming agriculture 

through nutritious ecologically grown food, feed and fiber, especially when coupled with the principles 

behind organic production of building healthy soils, using non-toxic inputs, and stewarding natural 

resources and the environment. As the foundation for organic farming systems, seed deserves continuous 

attention, from protecting its genetic resources, to preventing contamination, to building a strong organic 

seed sector which can supply the needs of a diverse and resilient agriculture.

The organic community has repeatedly noted that progress towards full adoption of organically grown seed 

in organic systems is too slow. While organic seed availability continues to improve, there has been 

inconsistent progress in the proportion of organic seed in use by many growers. The state of the organic 

seed industry has changed since the first circulation of the 2011 NOP draft guidance, with further evolution 

since 2013 when the final guidance became official. The final guidance does not reflect the progress that 

has been made in the organic seed sector since the regulations and the 20051 and 20082 NOSB 

recommendations were written.

Therefore, the NOSB started soliciting public comment in 2016 on ways the organic seed guidance could 

and should be strengthened in order to achieve full compliance with the statements in the federal rule in 

§205.204 (a). This proposal addresses the main points brought up during both the public comment periods 

and the NOSB discussions of this and related topics.

Background

The NOSB has worked on organic seed policies since its formation in 1992. This has enabled an organic seed 

industry to rise to fill the need for high quality organic seed since the USDA organic rule was implemented 

in 2002. After the NOSB made additional recommendations on the need for guidance on how the organic 

seed requirements should be explained and enforced, the NOP published the Guidance on Seeds, Annual 

Seedlings, and Planting Stock in Organic Crop Production in 2013 (NOP 5029). The guidance adopted many 

of the NOSB recommendations but not all of them, and many stakeholders felt the guidance was not strong 

or specific enough to make sure that multiple benefits provided by organic seed were fully embraced on 

organic farms. Organic seed producers incorporate characteristics that are needed in organic farming 

systems and are not always present in nonorganic seed varieties. Organic seed breeders do not breed 

seeds with a “one size fits all” outlook, instead they include regional adaptions that provide more resilience 

for organic producers. 

Since the mid-2000s, genetically engineered seeds have led to contamination of the seed supply, and 

organic seed companies are struggling to stay viable when the adoption of organic seed is not growing at 

the same rate as the organic products market. Therefore it seems like a good time for the NOSB to re-visit 

the important topic of organic seed.

 

1

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/NOP%20Rec%20Commercial%20Availability%20of%20Organic

%20Seed.pdf

2

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/NOP%20Final%20Rec%20Seed%20Commercial%20Availability.p

df

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 51/175
Relevant Areas of the Rule and Guidance

From the USDA organic regulations: 

§205.2 Terms defined

Practice standard. The guidelines and requirements through which a production or handling 

operation implements a required component of its production or handling organic system plan (OSP). 

A practice standard includes a series of allowed and prohibited actions, materials, and conditions to 

establish a minimum level performance for planning, conducting, and maintaining a function, such as 

livestock health care or facility pest management, essential to an organic operation.

§205.201 Organic production and handling system plan.

(a) The producer or handler of a production or handling operation, except as exempt or excluded 

under §205.101, intending to sell, label, or represent agricultural products as “100 percent organic,” 

“organic,” or “made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s))” must develop an organic 

production or handling system plan that is agreed to by the producer or handler and an accredited 

certifying agent. An organic system plan must meet the requirements set forth in this section for 

organic production or handling. An organic production or handling system plan must include:

.....

(5) A description of the management practices and physical barriers established to prevent 

commingling of organic and nonorganic products on a split operation and to prevent contact of 

organic production and handling operations and products with prohibited substances; and

(6) Additional information deemed necessary by the certifying agent to evaluate compliance with the 

regulations.

§205.204 Seeds and planting stock practice standard.

(a) The producer must use organically grown seeds, annual seedlings, and planting 

stock: Except, That,

(1) Nonorganically produced, untreated seeds and planting stock may be used to produce an 

organic crop when an equivalent organically produced variety is not commercially 

available: Except, That, organically produced seed must be used for the production of edible sprouts;

Excerpts from the Guidance on Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and Planting Stock in Organic Crop Production 

published March 4, 2013 (NOP 5029).

4. Policy 

Producers should develop and follow procedures for procuring organic seeds, annual seedlings, and 

planting stock and maintain adequate records as evidence of these practices in their organic system 

plan (OSP). 

4.1 Sourcing of Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and Planting Stock 

4.1.3 The following considerations could be acceptable to justify use of non-organic seeds and 

planting stock as not commercially available. These considerations must be described by 

the operation in their organic system plan (OSP), pursuant to § 205.201(a)(2), and approved 

by the certifying agent. 

a. Form Considerations: Examples of forms may include, but are not limited to, treated or nontreated seeds or planting stock, use of pelleted seed... 

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 52/175
b. Quality Considerations: Examples may include, but are not limited to, germination rate of the 

seed; presence of weed seeds in the seed mix; shelf life and stability of the seeds; 

and disease and pest resistance. 

c. Quantity Considerations: Producers may provide evidence that quantities are not available in 

sufficiently large or small amounts given the scale of the operation. 

4.2 Recordkeeping for Organic Producers 

4.2.1 The following records should be maintained by organic producers: 

a. A list of all seed and planting stock, indicating any non-organic seeds or stock used, and the 

justification for their use including lack of equivalent variety, form, quality or quantity 

considerations. Records describing on-farm trials of organic seed and planting stock can be 

used to demonstrate lack of equivalent varieties for site specific conditions. 

b. The search and procurement methods used to source organic seed and planting stock varieties, 

including: 

1. Evidence of efforts made to source organic seed, including documentation of contact 

with three or more seed or planting stock sources to ascertain the availability of 

equivalent organic seed or planting stock. Sources should include companies that 

offer organic seeds and planting stock. 

4.4 Role of Certifying Agents 

4.4.1 Certifying agents must verify the procedures that certified operations utilize to obtain and 

plant organic varieties suitable for their operations as part of their annual review of the 

OSP. 

...... 

4.4.3 Certifying agents shall verify the commercial availability requirements on an annual basis, in 

their review of the OSP, pursuant to§ 205.402(a)(1). 

4.4.4 Certifying agents should review an operation’s progress in obtaining organic seeds, planting

stock and transplants by comparing current source information to previous years. 

Discussion

This discussion will be framed around each major point brought up in public comment and NOSB 

deliberations, with a resulting proposal based on how and where “The Guidance on Seeds.....” (NOP 5029 

for reference purposes) should be improved. Also discussed briefly will be if a rule change might be 

appropriate to consider for some of these issues.

A. Crops at risk from GMO contamination might need to be acknowledged, emphasized and have 

additional requirements for sourcing seeds.

The NOSB has worked for almost four years on trying to assure seed purity for at-risk crops but has not yet 

come to a recommendation that can be implemented within the NOP. Each time this subject is raised, 

growers, handlers, accredited certifying agents (ACAs), and the public all indicate that there needs to be 

more incentive for seed companies to develop organic seed, keep it protected from contamination, and 

require growers to use it consistently. The fact that the NOP 5029 guidance does not even mention this 

subject is of concern to many stakeholders.

Commenters provided good suggestions about strengthening the guidance itself, and we heard from 

certifiers that better guidance and training for ACAs on non-GMO status verification as well as what level of 

contamination would lead to a non-compliance for seed, is needed. This issue is important and the NOSB 

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 53/175
will continue the conversation in a future discussion document, planned for fall 2017, which will address 

seed purity from excluded methods. 

For this discussion document, we are looking in a more general way of several possible places where seed 

purity from excluded methods could be brought up in the structure of NOP 5029.

i. In the introduction to section 4. 

a. Policy- In addition to the procedures mentioned for procuring organic seeds and 

documenting them, procedures for preventing and avoiding contamination of at-risk crop 

seed could be mentioned. This could then lead into specific sub-sections in 4.1, 4.2, and 4.4 

about how to do this. This is supported by the language in §205.201 (a)(5) that states that 

an OSP must describe prevention from contamination. As of the writing of this discussion 

document (winter 2017) the at-risk crops would be: corn, soybeans, canola, alfalfa, beets, 

chard, cotton, rice, and summer squash. More at-risk crops can be added to the NOP 

guidance document if they become commercially available in the marketplace.

ii. 4.1.2 could have the additional clause about excluded methods, "Certified operations may use 

non-organic seed and planting stock only if equivalent organically-produced varieties of organic 

seeds and planting stock are not commercially available, and the conventional replacement variety 

can be documented as being produced without the use of Excluded Methods. (Language in italics is 

proposed new language). 

iii. An alternative idea to this specific addition in number ii would be to add a section 4.1.7 which 

specifies that non-organic seed must be produced without excluded methods. While both these 

ideas are good, the first one of amending 4.1.2 is cleaner and where the authors are leaning at this 

time. 

iv. Contamination level can be a valid reason not to use organic seed if an operation is testing seed. 

We would hope that organic seed tests lower in GMOs but without a threshold or testing program 

in place there is no assurance of that. Therefore 4.1.3 could have part d. which states that 

contamination level is a valid reason to choose non-organic seed: d. Contamination from GMO 

Consideration: non-organic seed can be used if organic seed cannot be sourced because of GMO 

contamination.

v. Section 4.2 on recordkeeping could be strengthened in several ways. 4.2.1 (b1) indicates that a 

minimum of three seed sources should be contacted and documented. Several commenters 

believed the search for at-risk crops should be raised to five sources, with a stronger emphasis on 

the last sentence that the sources used should be companies that offer organic seeds. The NOSB 

CS agrees with this suggestion. See below for language.

Certifying agents (ACAs) have the ability under the NOP rule §205.201(a)(6) Organic

production and handling system plan, to require: 

"Additional information deemed necessary by the certifying agent to evaluate 

compliance with the regulations." 

vi. With this in mind, section 4.4.1 could be amended to not only obtain organic varieties but to avoid 

contamination for seeds at-risk of GMO contamination. An appropriate addition to 4.4 of NOP 

5029 could be to add 4.4.5 : Certifying agents review prevention measures taken to avoid 

contamination from seed of at-risk of GMO contamination crops:

4.4.5 Certifying agents should review the prevention measures taken to avoid 

contamination for seed of at-risk crops. 

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 54/175
The NOSB has already passed a comprehensive set of GMO prevention strategies that 

includes a section on seed, so it would be appropriate and logical to have ACAs verify those 

actions in the context of the seed guidance.

B. Organic seed usage as an Organic System Plan "goal"

The way that §205.201 (Organic system plan) is written in the regulations mandates the OSP meets the 

requirements of the section on organic production and must include descriptions of practices currently in 

use and records kept. It does not say anything about goals or future practices planned. That being said, part 

of compliance with the regulations includes §205.204 seed and planting stock. If the practices currently 

used are not sufficient to result in using organically grown seed or determining that such seed is not 

available, the certifying agent may require additional information deemed necessary (§205.201(a)(6)).

It seems reasonable for ACAs and their inspectors to request seed lists on non-organic varieties used by 

producers along with reasons for using those varieties over organically available versions of that crop type. 

Since producers often use dozens if not hundreds of seed varieties, having complete documentation in the 

OSP on each of them is neither sound nor sensible. Having inspectors look at this information on-site is 

more appropriate. The OSP is an appropriate vehicle for producers to indicate the practices they use to 

source seed, the measures they take to avoid contamination, and the reasons why they need to use nonorganic seed that is in compliance with the "equivalent variety" clause. The ACA must then evaluate if those 

efforts are sufficient and if they are not then the ACA can issue a path towards a correction. However this is 

different than an "OSP goal". Therefore the NOSB is not choosing to act on this particular point in this way.

C. Continuous improvement 

Almost every commenter wanted to have the concept of continuous improvement incorporated into the 

NOP 5029 guidance. However much of the discussion section above about OSP goals applies here. Nowhere 

in the NOP regulations are there statements that mandate improvement: not in ingredient selection for 

processed foods, choices of materials on the National List, or livestock management. Yet this has 

philosophically been one of the core values of the organic movement. 

The seed portion of the rule is a "practice standard" and the definition of this term in §205.2 above is that it 

is a minimum level performance. Yet the minimum level of performance should be to use organic seed. 

Therefore if a producer has not reached that level of performance the ACA may require additional 

conditions to establish that performance.

That leaves the NOSB with two possible avenues to make a recommendation: seeking a rule change to the 

seed practice standard §205.204 to require a demonstrable improvement over time until 100% organic 

seed use is achieved, or to work at strengthening the guidance NOP 5029 in ways that are consistent with 

the existing rule. These are not mutually exclusive; while waiting for a proposed rule change, the guidance 

could be strengthened as well. The issue becomes whether the NOSB should propose a rule change or not.

The simplest approach to a rule change might be to add a subsection to §205.204(a)(1) so it reads (new 

language in underlined italics) 

§205.204 Seeds and planting stock practice standard.

(a) The producer must use organically grown seeds, annual seedlings, and planting stock: Except, That,

(1) Nonorganically produced, untreated seeds and planting stock may be used to produce an organic 

crop when an equivalent organically produced variety is not commercially available: Except, That, 

organically produced seed must be used for the production of edible sprouts;

(i) Improvement in sourcing and use of organic seed and planting stock must be demonstrated every 

year until full compliance with (a) is achieved. 

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 55/175
If this were adopted then the guidance could specify what sufficient improvement would be, either as 

percent increase in acreage per year planted to organic seed, increased sourcing efforts, etc.

D. Documentation of quality, quantity and equivalent variety

Working within the existing meaning of a practice standard still leaves room for increased efforts on the 

part of producers to source organic seed and increased consistency by ACAs as they evaluate compliance.

ACAs in particular noted that they did not have enough enforcement tools to use in situations where there 

is not much improvement from year to year in the amount of organic seed used on a specific operation. We 

believe it is reasonable for ACAs to ask for improvement in compliance over time and to impose increased 

efforts to achieve compliance if progress is too slow.

Some possible changes include:

i. 4.1.3 is considered too vague. It was frequently pointed out that one reference to the OSP for

describing the considerations leading to use of non-organic seed is not being diligently enforced by 

ACAs. Commenters requested not just explanations of what form, quality and quantity meant, but 

more explicit guidance on what would not be allowed. It is not totally clear to the CS what could be 

added here except to the section on quantity. In this case it would be appropriate for the OSP to 

state what quantity of a variety is needed and the seed search to document what quantity was or 

was not available. For large operations with many seed varieties used, a few major ones could be 

represented in the OSP in this way, while others evaluated during inspections. It is not clear that 

this needs new language however, or is already covered in other sections, so no proposal is made 

for this section.

ii. §4.2.1 is the main section that could be strengthened according to most commenters. This is also 

the area where enforcement is very inconsistent. Some specifics include:

Justification for use of varieties needs to be specific to each variety on the list and which 

issue (form, quality, quantity, or equivalence) is the problem. This must be done in a 

consistent enough manner that an ACA can look for increasing the level of compliance over 

time. We suggest adding a sentence in this area:

a. 4.2.1(a). A list of all seed and planting stock, indicating any non-organic seeds or stock used, 

and the justification for their use including lack of equivalent variety, form, quality or 

quantity considerations. Justification for use of varieties needs to be specific to each variety 

on the list and which issue (form, quality, quantity, or equivalence) is the reason. Records 

describing on-farm trials of organic seed and planting stock can be used to demonstrate 

lack of equivalent varieties for site specific conditions.

iii. A better description is needed for the role of variety trials. ACAs felt that they could not mandate or 

even suggest them, yet they are one of the best ways to truly determine equivalence and quality of 

other organic varieties. Many growers perform variety trails, but documenting them has been a 

problem for both producers and ACAs. We suggest that this does not truly belong in the 

recordkeeping section because it is a production practice and therefore we are suggesting adding it 

as §4.1.2(c):

§4.1.2(c) On-farm variety trials of organic seed may be used by producers to evaluate equivalency 

and quality of varieties that are available as organic seed. Trials are encouraged and records should 

be kept of results to show inspectors but they are not mandatory. 

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 56/175
iv. 4.2.1(b) generates much discussion because of the three sources requirement. While this is the 

cornerstone of what ACAs require of producers, it is very prescriptive about the number, but not 

prescriptive enough about the quality of information that is received. Some companies just issue 

the same form letter every year without indicating which specific varieties they were referring to, 

while some growers use seed brokers and they simply say they checked their sources but don't 

name them. The most common suggestion to change this was to require five sources, with other 

ideas being to limit the number of years that three sources could be used as an excuse for not using 

organic seed, or to require more or different sources when improvement is not seen over time.

v. The CS agrees that checking more than three sources makes sense especially for at-risk crops. Most 

of these crops have had more development in the supply of organic seed than the vegetable 

industry. Trying to set a limit of three years on compliance is not feasible for inspectors or ACAs to 

monitor. We feel that a better approach is to aim for better compliance from both the producers 

and the seed companies and brokers who are the sources. Things like not checking the same three 

sources every year, specifying that brokers have to name the places they looked in their letters, and 

making seed sources prove that they carry organic seed are some examples. We have chosen not to 

be prescriptive about acreage or number of varieties planted because flexibility is needed for a 

great variety of cropping systems and markets, and because we do not want to inadvertently lead 

to a reduction of the genetic diversity in or crop choices. However we feel that ACAs can use 

benchmarks in improvement as a tool to verify compliance.

vi. A proposed revision of §4.2.1(b)(1) (changes in underlined italics):

1. Evidence of efforts made to source organic seed, including 

a. documentation of contact with three or more seed or planting stock sources to ascertain 

the availability of equivalent organic seed or planting stock. Five sources must be contacted 

for seed of at-risk crops.

b. Sources should include companies that offer organic seeds and planting stock. Such 

sources should provide evidence of their organic certification (if relevant), ability to source 

organic seed, and specific varieties sourced every year. 

c. Failure to demonstrate improvement in sourcing organic seed over time may result in 

additional seed sources being required or additional steps taken to procure organic seed.

vii. It is clear from public comment and from the report given during the Fall 2016 meeting on the State 

of Organic Seed report, that the organic seed requirements are not being enforced equally among 

all certifiers and upon all scales of operations. The conclusion from this is that the Role of Certifying 

Agents, as described in section 4.4 of NOP 5029, is not doing a complete job or is not being 

followed carefully enough. Much of this issue is training for ACAs rather than changing section 4.4, 

but if it were possible to put some specific language about what constitutes non-compliance, the 

ACAs would really appreciate it.

viii. §4.4.4 is the statement that justifies asking for progress in obtaining organic seeds compared to 

previous years and this is interpreted as meaning that improvement is required. Inserting language 

parallel to what we are suggesting in §4.2.1(b)(1)(iii) is one way to strengthen it:

4.4.4 Certifying agents should review an operation’s progress in obtaining organic seeds, planting 

stock and transplants by comparing current source information to previous years

a. If sufficient progress is not demonstrated a certifying agent may ask for a corrective 

action plan and require additional seed sources be researched, encourage variety trials, or require 

additional steps to procure organic seed.

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 57/175
b. Non-compliances should be issued for repeated lack of progress in sourcing and using 

commercially available organic seed over time.

E. Handlers supplying seed to contract growers 

This issue was included in the 2008 NOSB recommendation on organic seed but not adopted by the NOP 

with the following comment (NOP 5029-1): 

Handlers Purchasing Seed for Contracted Growers. Several commenters stated that 7 CFR 

§ 205.204 applies to handlers purchasing seed for contractual growing purposes, and that language 

should be included in the guidance emphasize this. However, this guidance is applicable to crop 

producers subject to requirements of § 205.204, and handlers are not typically certified as crop 

producers subject to this requirement. All growers must meet the same standard and use organic 

seeds unless they can demonstrate that organic seeds are not commercially available. All producers 

must provide the necessary documentation regarding lack of commercial availability of organic 

seeds to justify use of non-organic seed or planting stock. Contracted growers should inform their 

buyers of the need to use organic seeds unless they are not commercially available.

It has been very clear that this has turned into a loophole where contract producers are not pressuring their 

buyers enough and buyers are not held accountable for promoting and requiring the use of organic seed 

when contracting with crop producers. The NOSB believes that the guidance could explicitly contain a 

statement similar to the last sentence above, and this would support both growers and certifiers to put 

more pressure on buyers who may require a specific variety be grown to fulfill a contract for organic crops. 

Also when appropriate, it should state in the grower's OSP the handler is sourcing or requiring a specific 

seed. This would then trigger inspectors and ACAs to require documentation illustrating organic seed 

sourcing and trialing would have been done. Many buyers work with specific seed sources and those 

sources could be encouraged to develop organic seed offerings, or equivalent organic varieties.

Therefore we are proposing addition of §4.2.1 (b) (3) (in underlined italics):

4.2.1 The following records should be maintained by organic producers: 

3. If seed sourcing is carried out or mandated by the buyer of a contracted crop, the producer must 

keep records of the buyer's documentation on attempting to source organic seed as part of the 

producer's own Organic System Plan. Such documentation must be comparable to that required of a 

producer who sources their own seed.

F. Organic Seed Finder

In order for producers to find organic seed, there needs to be a more comprehensive and accessible 

clearing house for listing the availability of seed varieties serving crop, vegetable and livestock producers. 

While we have a website www.organicseedfinder.org, managed by the Association of Official Seed 

Certifying Agencies (AOSCA), there is a cost for companies to list their available organic varieties, which 

leads to less than optimal use of this resource. There are other options that could be considered, such as 

having certifiers provide organic seed availability of their certified clients, in such as way so to include this 

information in a separate field in the National Organic Program Organic Integrity Database. Operators 

could then search that field for a specific variety of organic seed, and all certified operations who carry that 

seed would then be found. 

Another option is for the National Organic Program to provide some funds to an entity to manage an 

organic seed variety availability database, which could provide more in-depth information than the Organic 

Integrity Database. A more in-depth listing would cover varietal characteristics, to aid seed purchasers in 

determining if there are organic equivalent varieties to the nonorganic seeds they are currently purchasing 

and planting.

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 58/175
One public commenter discussed the direction specific countries in the European Union have taken in 

promoting more organic seed use on organic operations. These countries no longer allow the use of 

nonorganic seed in certain crops that have been determined to have sufficient quantity of organic seed for 

that crop. This is not the direction the NOSB crops subcommittee is suggesting, but it is interesting to see 

how other certifying bodies are addressing this issue. Our preference would be to provide more consistent 

and accessible information on the availability of equivalent organic seed varieties.

G. Accredited Organic Certifier and Organic Inspector Training

NOP guidance 5029 states:

4.4.6 Certifiers are responsible for training their reviewers and inspectors on what protocols and 

documentation would constitute acceptable compliance in meeting commercial availability 

requirements when reviewing the organic seed mandate. 

While it is beyond the scope of this discussion document to start development of possible trainings that 

would aid consistency in verifying commercial availability of organic seed at on-site inspections and 

certification review, this is still an important topic that must be addressed in some future activity or 

discussion document. Numerous public comments were received from both the certification community as 

well as other stakeholders, stating more training is needed for certification personnel who are reviewing 

use of organic seed. Each certifier and inspector has their own approach on how to verify compliance to 

the various requirements surrounding the use of organic seed. The entire organic community could benefit 

from a more consistent and comprehensive approach, so all understand what is expected and how best to 

meet the requirements. 

The Accredited Certifiers Association, as well as the International Organic Inspectors Association both hold 

trainings tailored for their audiences, at a minimum once per year, providing venues for the dissemination 

of information once a curriculum has been developed.

The NOSB would be willing to work with these groups, within the Certification, Accreditation and 

Compliance Subcommittee structure to develop the requirements that should be met as part of a 

comprehensive training on organic seed use and determination of commercial availability. ACA and IOIA, as 

well as other stakeholders should provide us with feedback if they feel this approach is acceptable, or if 

there are other methods for achieving this goal of consistent implementation of the organic seed search 

and use requirement.

Proposals (all proposed text is in underlined italics)

1. To amend the National Organic Regulations §205.204 Organic seed and planting stock practice 

standard as follows:

(a) The producer must use organically grown seeds, annual seedlings, and planting stock: Except, That,

(1) Nonorganically produced, untreated seeds and planting stock may be used to produce an organic 

crop when an equivalent organically produced variety is not commercially available: Except, That, 

organically produced seed must be used for the production of edible sprouts;

(i) Improvement in sourcing and use of organic seed must be demonstrated every year until full 

compliance with (a) is achieved. 

2. Changes to NOP 5029 Guidance (Section 4)

The Guidance for Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and Planting Stock in Organic Crop Production should be 

amended as follows:

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 59/175
4. Policy

Producers should develop and follow procedures for procuring organic seeds, annual seedlings, and 

planting stock and maintain adequate records as evidence of these practices in their organic system plan 

(OSP). Producers must also provide clear documentation regarding the inputs and materials used during 

crop production (as required at § 205.201(a)(2)). Producers must prevent and avoid contamination from 

excluded methods in seed of at-risk crops. (corn, soybeans, canola, alfalfa, beets, chard, cotton, rice and 

summer squash). Certifying agents must assess procedures and documentation of certified production and 

handling operations as they source seeds, annual seedlings, and planting stock on an annual basis. Each of 

these concepts is described in more detail below. 

4.1 Sourcing of Seeds, Annual Seedlings, and Planting Stock

4.1.2 Certified operations may use non-organic seed and planting stock only if equivalent organicallyproduced varieties of organic seeds and planting stock are not commercially available, and the conventional 

replacement variety can be documented as being produced without the use of Excluded Methods.

§4.1.2(c) On-farm variety trials of organic seed may be used by producers to evaluate equivalency 

and quality of varieties that are available as organic seed. Trials are encouraged and records should 

be kept of results to show inspectors, but they are not mandatory. 

4.1.3 The following considerations could be acceptable to justify use of non-organic seeds.....

d. Contamination from GMO Consideration: non-organic seed can be used if organic seed cannot be 

sourced because of GMO contamination

4.2 Recordkeeping for Organic Producers

4.2.1 The following records should be maintained by organic producers: 

a. A list of all seed and planting stock, indicating any non-organic seeds or stock used, and the 

justification for their use including lack of equivalent variety, form, quality or quantity 

considerations. Justification for use of varieties needs to be specific to each variety on the list and 

which issue (form, quality, quantity, or equivalence) is the reason. Records describing on-farm trials 

of organic seed and planting stock can be used to demonstrate lack of equivalent varieties for site 

specific conditions.

b. The search and procurement methods used to source organic seed and planting stock varieties, 

including:

1. Evidence of efforts made to source organic seed, including 

i. documentation of contact with three or more seed or planting stock sources to ascertain 

the availability of equivalent organic seed or planting stock. Five sources must be contacted

for seed of at-risk crops.

ii. Sources should include companies that offer organic seeds and planting stock. Such 

sources should provide evidence of their organic certification (if relevant), ability to source 

organic seed, and specific varieties sourced every year.

iii. Failure to demonstrate improvement in sourcing organic seed over time may result in 

additional seed sources being required or additional steps taken to procure organic seed.

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 60/175
3. If seed sourcing is carried out or mandated by the buyer of a contracted crop, the producer must

keep records of the buyer's documentation on attempting to source organic seed as part of the 

producer's own Organic System Plan. Such documentation must be comparable to that required of a 

producer who sources their own seed.

4.4 Role of Certifying Agents

4.4.4 Certifying agents should review an operation’s progress in obtaining organic seeds, planting stock and 

transplants by comparing current source information to previous years

a. If sufficient progress is not demonstrated a certifying agent may ask for a corrective action plan

and require additional seed sources be researched, encourage variety trials, or require additional 

steps to procure organic seed.

b. Non-compliances should be issued for repeated lack of progress in sourcing organic seed over

time.

4.4.5 Certifying agents should review the prevention measures taken to avoid contamination for seed of atrisk crops. 

Subcommittee Vote:

Motion to accept all additions as described in the proposal section above, to both the National Organic 

Program Regulation and the National Organic Program 5029 Guidance.

Motion by: Harriet Behar

Seconded by: Emily Oakley

Yes: 8 No: 0 Abstain: 0 Absent: 1 Recuse: 0 

Approved by Francis Thicke, Subcommittee Chair, to transmit to NOSB, August 29, 2017

NOSB October 2017 proposals and discussion documents 61/175