Revised: 4/23/2016 - subject to change

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National Organic Standards Board Meeting Agenda

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC - Blue Room

April 25-27, 2016

 Schedule at a Glance:

Tuesday

April 19

Monday 

April 25

Tuesday

April 26

Wednesday

April 27

MORNING

- Call to Order/Intros/DC

 Welcome/Secretary’s 

 Report 

- NOP Report 

- NOSB Report

- Materials Update

- Hydroponics Task Force 

 update 

- Public Comments 

- Public Comments 

 Continued

- CACS

- Handling 

 Subcommittee 

- Crops 

 Subcommittee 

AFTERNOON

Public 

comment 

webinar

1 – 4pm ET

- Public Comments 

 Continued

- Group Photo

- Panel: Emerging 

 Techniques in 

 Agricultural 

 Biotechnology

- Materials 

 Subcommittee

- Livestock 

 Subcommittee

- Policy Dev 

 Subcomm 

- Deferred proposals/Final 

 votes 

- Work Agendas 

- Appointment Letters & 

 Certificates Presentations 

- Other Business/Closing 

 Remarks 

Face-to-Face Meeting Format

 The Designated Federal Officer calls the meeting to order and adjourns the meeting. The NOSB Chair chairs the 

meeting. 

 The USDA and National Organic Program (NOP) provide the NOSB with updates, and an overview of petitioned 

substances, sunset materials, and technical reports. 

 The Board hears public comments, which are grouped by topic when possible, to facilitate review. 

 NOSB members present Subcommittee proposals, reports and discussion documents, and discuss public comment,

prior to voting on proposals. Final votes may be deferred to the last day of the meeting if more deliberation is 

needed. NOTE: Agenda items may be withdrawn or votes postponed at the discretion of the Board.

 There will be two 15-minute breaks (mid-morning & mid-afternoon) and a 75-minute lunch break mid-day.

Public Comments (Written and Oral) 

 All persons are encouraged to provide written comments via Regulations.gov.

 All persons wishing to provide oral comments are asked to sign up in advance. Instructions are available at 

www.ams.usda.gov/NOSBMeetings. There are two (2) opportunities to provide oral comments to the Board: One

webinar and one face-to-face meeting. Walk-in comment slots may become available on a first come-first served 

basis at the meeting, if the schedule allows.

 Each person may sign up for only one speaking slot. Commenters will be allowed either a 4-minute time slot during

the webinar, or a 3-minute time slot at the face-to-face meeting. Each commenter must state his/her name and 

affiliation for the record at the beginning of their comment.
 Revised: 4/23/2016 - subject to change

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TUESDAY

APRIL 1

9, 201

6

1:00 - 4:00 

PM

Public comment webinar

See the NOSB webpage for login information and instructions 

www.ams.usda.gov/NOSBMeetings.

Comments from the webinar will be available in the meeting transcripts ~ 3 weeks after the 

close of the face-to-face meeting.

MONDAY APRIL 25, 201

6

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

9:00 AM Call to order, Agenda overview

Miles McEvoy, AMS Deputy Administrator

Introductions

Tracy Favre, Chairperson 

Secretary’s report, acceptance of October 2015 Meeting Summary as official record

Lisa de Lima, Secretary

Welcome to DC

Elanor Starmer, AMS Administrator

USDA Organic Working Group update

Betsy Rakola, AMS Organic Policy Advisor

9:30 AM National Organic Program report

Miles McEvoy, Deputy Administrator, National Organic Program (NOP)

10:30 AM NOSB report

Tracy Favre, NOSB Chairperson

10:45 AM National Organic Program - Materials update/Summary of new and outstanding petitions

Dr. Lisa M. Brines, NOP National List Manager 

11:00 AM BREAK (15 min)

11:15 AM Hydroponics Task Force update 

Dr. Stacy Tollefson, University of Arizona and 

Dr. John Biernbaum, Michigan State University

12:00 PM Public comments (Continued from April 19 Webinar)

12:45 PM LUNCH (75 min)

2:00 PM Public comments (Continued) 

~4:00 PM BREAK (15 min)

6:00 PM RECESS
 Revised: 4/23/2016 - subject to change

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TUESDAY APRIL 26, 2016

8:30 AM Public comments

10:15 AM BREAK (15 min)

10:30 AM Public comments continued

12:00 PM LUNCH (75 min)

1:15 PM Panel: Emerging Techniques in Agricultural Biotechnology

 Dr. David Gould (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements) (IFOAM))

 Dr. Michael Hansen (Consumers Union)

 Dr. Ralph Scorza (USDA-Agricultural Research Service)

 Dr. William Tracy (University Wisconsin-Madison)

2:45 PM BREAK (15 min)

3:00 PM Materials Subcommittee

Lisa de Lima, Chairperson

Topics: 

 Proposal: Excluded methods terminology

 Discussion document: Excluded methods terminology

 Discussion document: Seed purity - next steps

Subcommittee discusses proposals as needed

Board votes if ready

4:00 PM Livestock Subcommittee 

Ashley Swaffar, Chairperson

Topics

Proposal: Hypochlorous acid - petitioned

Proposal: Annotation changes for lidocaine and procaine

Proposal: Annotation change for parasiticides

Subcommittee discusses proposals as needed

Board votes if ready

5:00 PM Policy Development Subcommittee 

Tom Chapman, Chairperson

Topics:

 Proposal: Policy and procedure manual (PPM) revisions

 Discussion document: Sunset timeline reorganization

Subcommittee discusses proposals as needed

Board votes if ready

5:45 PM RECESS
 Revised: 4/23/2016 - subject to change

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 27, 2016

8:30 AM Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification Subcommittee (CACS) 

Carmela Beck, Chairperson

Topics:

 Verbal Update: Assessment of soil conservation practices

8:45 AM Handling Subcommittee

Harold Austin, Chairperson

Topics:

2018 Sunset Materials

Agar-agar

Animal enzymes

Calcium sulfate-mined

Carrageenan

Glucono delta-lactone

Tartaric acid

Cellulose

Potassium hydroxide

Silicon dioxide

Colors: Beta-carotene extract 

Proposal: Sodium & Potassium lactate - petitioned

Proposal: Oat beta-glucan - petitioned

Proposal: Hypochlorous acid - petitioned

Proposal: Sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) - petitioned

Proposal: Ancillary substances

Discussion document: Nutrient vitamins and minerals - annotation change

Subcommittee discusses proposals as needed

Board votes if ready

10:30 AM BREAK (15 min)

10:45 AM Handling Subcommittee continued
 Revised: 4/23/2016 - subject to change

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WEDNESDAY APRIL 27, 2016

11:45 AM Crops Subcommittee 

Zea Sonnabend, Chairperson

Topics:

2018 Sunset Substances

Copper sulfate 

Ozone gas

Peracetic acid

EPA List 3 - Inerts of unknown toxicity

Calcium chloride

Proposal: Ash from manure burning - petitioned

Proposal: Squid and squid byproducts - petitioned

Proposal: Hypochlorous acid - petitioned

Proposal: Soy wax - petitioned

Discussion document: Prohibition of nonyl phenol ethoxylates (NPEs) in inerts

annotation change

Verbal update: Inerts Working Group

Subcommittee discusses proposals as needed

Board votes if ready

12:30 PM LUNCH (75 min)

1:45 PM Crops Subcommittee continued

3:00 PM BREAK (15 min)

3:15 PM Deferred proposals/Final votes

4:15 PM Subcommittee work agendas

4:30 PM Presentation of appointment letters and certificates for incoming members

4:45 PM Other business and closing remarks

5:00 PM ADJOURN