Note: Committee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for addition to or 

removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program (NOP) policy or 

regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of substances used in 

organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Committee Meeting

Friday, January 20, 2012, 12 p.m. ET

Attending: Katrina Heinze (Outgoing Materials Chair), Barry Flamm (New Chairperson & Outgoing 

PDC Chair), John Foster (New Handling Chair & Outgoing Crops Chair), Joe Dickson (Outgoing ViceChairperson & CACC Chair), Tracy Miedema (Outgoing Chairperson), Jay Feldman (New Crops Chair), 

Mac Stone (New Vice-Chairperson), Jennifer Taylor (New Materials Chair), and Colehour Bondera 

(New PDC Chair); Absent: Steve DeMuri (Outgoing Handling Chair) and Wendy Fulwider (Secretary & 

Livestock Chair) New Members: Harold Austin Staff: Miles McEvoy and Lorraine Coke

Agenda

• Call to Order – Barry Flamm

• Secretary’s report – Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's report – Barry Flamm

-Tribute to members leaving the Board

-Welcome to new members: mentoring, orientation, and FACA training

-Committee chair and member assignments

-Comments on the next EC call and the coming year

• Outgoing Remarks – Tracy Miedema

• Exec Director update – Lorraine Coke

• Discussion of proposed meeting minutes process

• Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

• Committee Reports (5-mins per committee)

• Materials 

• Livestock 

• CACC 

• Crops 

• Policy 

• Handling 

• Other business 

Mac - announcement
Page 2 of 3

Discussion

• Call to Order – Tracy Miedema called the meeting to order

Outgoing words/thoughts

• Chair’s Report

-Farewell to parting members – Katrina, Steve, Tracy and Tina

-Welcome to new members – mentors, new member orientation, FACA training

-Inerts working group/task force – possible to retain Jeff Moyer as member of this task force? 

-Makes more sense to keep standing Board members on this working group. It is possible to seek 

advice/input from old Board members. 

-Would like to discuss ideas and comments regarding structure of future Board meetings

-will provide outline prior to next EC call for committee to discuss

-Committee work plans should be available at next EC call for discussion

• Exec Director update 

• Discussion of proposed meeting minutes process

• Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

Milestone Deadline

Spring 2012 Agenda Finalized Friday, March 23, 2012

Committee Proposals Due Monday, April 2, 2012

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 21 – 24, 2012

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

Methionine proposed rule should be out shortly – will outline the reduction in the amounts of 

methionine allowed in poultry operations (should be published within next few days/weeks)

• 205.101(b) proposed rec from NOSB – issued as draft guidance – should be out soon for public 

comments

• NOP representatives, including the Deputy Administrator, will travel to San Antonio, Texas to 

conduct annual auditor training with the AMS Livestock and seed Grading and Verification Auditors 

(January 22), conduct certifier training with accredited certifiers (January 23), and attend the annual 

conference/training hosted by the Accredited Certifiers Association, Inc. (ACA) and the National 

Association of State Organic Programs (NASOP) (January 23–25). 

• The NOSB final recommendations from Savannah should be up soon, NOP response will be issued 

after review and approval by department.

• The NOP sought legal advice from the Office of General Council (OGC) regarding the NOP’s ability

to accredit material review organizations. OGC stated that the NOP does not have authority under 

the current statute to accredit these types of organizations.

• Committee Reports (5-mins per committee)

• Materials - Katrina

Transition in process. Jennifer and Katrina are working to ensure relevant docs and 

roles/responsibilities are transferred as smoothly as possible. On last Materials call 

there was an overview of work plan. Want to be sure that new/continuing members 

are all caught up and aware of ongoing activities. Aquaculture will be an ongoing 
Page 3 of 3

project for this committee. 

• Livestock – Mac

The two topics on last week’s call were methionine and GMO vaccines, reviewing 

the TRs on these

• Handling – John 

List of materials is lengthy, but prioritization of sunset 2013 items and petitioned 

materials will be focus. Not all of the materials have been assigned. The number of 

materials to review will be very challenging to complete by next meeting. Also, 

consideration of “other ingredients” will be a high priority on the work plan. The 

next call will be on January 31.

• CACC – Joe 

Work plan as discussed in Savannah. The committee has not met recently, but will 

have meeting in coming weeks. Will keep moving forward with work items.

• Policy – Barry 

On last call the committee discussed work plan and schedule for coming work. Top 

of list is to develop rec for public comment procedures. Also, the conflict of interest 

rec will be another priority. The Board’s ethic rules will also be reviewed as a 

possible work plan item. Material formulation and production aids. May need 

further guidance on how correspondence from public is reviewed. The new 

member guide may need to be reviewed/updated.

• Crops – John 

Met on Tuesday and looked at list of items on work plan. Also looked at materials 

summary. Materials petitioned as inerts will be kept on hiatus. The rest of materials 

were reviewed – sunset items and petitioned items will be priority. Brief discussion 

on other topics that may be added to work plan. The next call will be on January 

31.

• Other business

Mac – was not reappointed by the newly elected Ag Commissioner and no longer has his 

position with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Concerned that he will not be able to adequately 

represent the certifiers’ perspective if he is not associated with a certification agency. Mac may resign 

from the board though he is exploring options for working for other certifiers.

• Adjourn – Barry 
Note: Committee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for addition to or 

removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program (NOP) policy or 

regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of substances used in 

organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Committee Meeting

Friday, February 10, 2012, 12 p.m. ET

Attending: Barry Flamm (Chairperson), John Foster (Handling Chair), , Jay Feldman (Crops Chair), 

Mac Stone (Vice-Chairperson), Jennifer Taylor (Materials Chair), Wendy Fulwider (Secretary &

Livestock Chair), Joe Dickson (CACC Chair), and Colehour Bondera (PDC Chair);

Absent: none

Staff: Miles McEvoy and Lorraine Coke

Agenda

• Call to Order – Barry Flamm

• Secretary’s report – Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's report – Barry Flamm

-New Member Orientation

-GE ad hoc committee

• Exec Director update – Lorraine Coke

-Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

-Update

-Discussion of NOSB Meeting Redesign

• Committee Reports (5-mins per committee)

• Materials 

• Livestock 

• CACC 

• Crops 

• Policy 

• Handling 

• Other business 

• Adjourn 
Page 2 of 5

Discussion

• Call to Order – Barry called the meeting to order

• Secretary’s Report – Wendy

-review and approve minutes from 01/20/2012 meeting

-minutes approved & will be posted to website soon

• Chair’s Report – Barry 

-New member orientation went well, new members asked good questions, still need FACA and 

Ethics training, also materials training (how to review petitions, TRs, checklists, etc.)

*Materials committee may revisit design of material checklist

-Not new to the EC, but the issue of forming an ad hoc committee for some concerns of the Board 

(specifically GE or GMO-related issues). The PPM allows for the formation of ad hoc committees by 

the Board. These issues span all committees of Board. Proposing that each committee appoint 1 

person to this ad hoc committee. The goal is to address the most pressing issues and in short term 

get a discussion item on agenda for spring. Also get list of individual issues that committees need to 

address regarding this issue. Barry would like each Committee Chair to appoint a person (they can 

nominate themselves). Should take into consideration the NOP’s guidance on GMOs. 

Questions: Ad hoc committee would look at NOPs policies on GMOs? >Answer: yes, the 

committee would review that, but also other issues.

The Board should clarify the role of this committee and this should happen early on in the 

process. This is a huge topic area. There are some areas that are relevant to the program, but 

many issues that are not. Part of the discussion/role of committee would determine the relevant 

areas to organic production. Hope to develop realistic and constructive suggestions for the 

NOP.

• Exec Director update 

• Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

Milestone Deadline

Spring 2012 Agenda Finalized Friday, March 23, 2012

Committee Proposals Due Monday, April 2, 2012

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 21 – 24, 2012

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

• Update regarding Mac’s role with a different ACA, not determined at this time. Mac will continue 

to participate on the ACA listserve.

• Number of proposed rulemaking documents out for public comment at this time. NOP 

asked livestock to postpone review of Methionine until fall 2012 meeting.

• Program is making progress in appeals and closing complaints. Closed almost 100 

complaints in the past 3 months. New Compliance Director, Matthew Michael (from FSIS) 

will start on Monday February 13. 

• Meeting redesign proposal: premeeting – the idea is for the committee to provide their 

proposals. More time for Board to provide summary, give overview of public comments, etc. Idea 
Page 3 of 5

to look forward to whole year’s worth of Board work. Propose a calendar to the EC for fall meeting. 

Meeting set-up: NOP would sit with Board (separate table, but at front of room). Show that the 

NOP and NOSB are in this together. The advisory Board Specialist (Executive Director) would sit 

at separate table to run presentations and public comment.

Presentation of TRs/petitions – this is generally presented very differently based on which NOSB 

member is presentation. Idea to have National List Coordinator present this information in a more 

uniform manner. 

Public comments would be broken up based on committee: all comments for their items would be 

heard at one time.

Expert panels: it was nice to have experts/members of the public brought up for additional 

questions. It would be good to have diversity of opinions on tough topics. The committee could 

choose someone from the majority/minority opinion and the NOP could try to provide an academic 

perspective. Good way to deepen the discussion on difficult items. 

Formal recommendations – finalized during meeting so they can be posted immediately. Concern 

about dociuments being changed from time of vote to the final recommendation submittal. Want to 

work to prevent this.

Idea to have each committee finalize and vote before it moves on to next committee. 

Day 1: series of committee meetings – committees would meet, discuss public comments, present 

recommendations to Board, then opening remarks.

Day 2: committees put out proposals, receive public comments by committee (how long would this 

be), vote on each of committees’ recommendations (then that committee’s work/business is done)

Questions/Additional Comments:

How would this work with public comment? Some commenters have comments that apply to 

multiple committees. 

First day: giving an hour to each committee – need to consider ad hoc committees/special 

committees, important to have designated time for each committee

Like idea that discussion/committee group has time to meet and discuss (1st day schedule)

Good idea to finish recommendations at meeting and submit on the spot

Good idea to have NOP sit with NOSB – communicates right message to Board and public

Not sure on finishing votes before moving on to next committee

Should still schedule for four full days until certain that this schedule works

Important not to reduce public’s time – public comments (keep full 4 days)

Could day 1 scheduling allow for non-committee members to participate in ALL committee 

discussions?

Suggestion to rotate committees (in terms of their order during the meeting)

Could way to constructively deal with the flow of the meeting – might be better to have time 

between final recommendations and final vote of committees (post-meeting discussion are often 

helpful)

Supportive of idea to schedule public comments by committee

Concept of adding expert panels would bring a good/well-rounded perspective

Significant issue related to members serving on different committees – all members need to listen 

to all committees’ presentations of proposals

Important to include public comments from people that are presenting on non-agenda topics

Committees need to have opportunity to interact in public context – maybe additional time for 

committees to meet

1st Day – review of written public comments and proposals is good idea, but important to consider 

oral public comments too and revise/edit proposals based on the oral public comments received

Suggestion that there may be need to include additional meeting

On first day – idea of public meeting is good, but this is first time that committee meets to 

incorporate public comments into proposal. Wondering how this type of structure would contribute 

to open discussion

Support idea of NOP and NOSB sitting together, but wondering whether this is in line with FACA.
Page 4 of 5

Would commenters that are commenting on different topics have the opportunity to comment 

multiple times?

Concern about not have time to think about issues/process public comments before final vote and 

recommendation – is the timeframe conducive to the further process/conversation.

Topics that are not on the agenda at all – how would the public be able to comment on these?

How to proceed with this?

General support to change things and put together a more definitive agenda for the spring. Would 

incorporate comments into a new proposal – hearing that additional public comment time is 

needed. May need a recess before final vote is taken by committee. Will try to put together a new 

draft and have it ready by next EC call.

• Committee Reports (3-mins per committee)

• Materials – Jennifer

The issues that the committee will address are aquaculture petition for sufficiency –

need to evaluate. Meeting with AWG on March 10. Work to develop research 

priorities recommendation. Series of experts that will be used during calls. Would 

like to reexamine the tabled items

• Livestock – Wendy

If methionine is off agenda for spring, then GMO will get priority. Also 

recommendations on guidance and species specific score cards.

• Handling – John 

Had a couple meetings, some refinements on material recommendations and what 

to prioritize. 5 sunset items were discussed at last meeting. Assignments are 

scheduled for remaining meetings. Moving along on work plan. Other “auxiliary” 

ingredients will be an update at the next meeting, rather than a recommendation. 

Cornucopia request to reconsider the DHA/ARA vote by NOSB.

• CACC – Joe 

Nothing to report at this time. Meeting next week to review work plan and begin 

projects.

• Policy – Colehour

No significant updates since last EC meeting. Work to turn public comment 

guidance into recommendation, turn COI doc into recommendation, to review 

Board ethics rules, look at directions on material formulation and production aids, 

and handling of public communications.

• Crops – Jay

Been talking about ferric phosphate, list 3 inerts in passive pheromone dispensers 

(reviewing TR and possibly add questions), peracetic acid (clearing up issues 

regarding application rates), also possibility on list 4 inert ingredients.

• Other business

-NOP is working with the Crops Committee to set up a external website to allow the sharing of 

documents, this is a pilot project at this phase and is still in development.

-Question regarding “other” ingredients and the NOP’s formal request for the Board to address this 

item – will it be a discussion piece at the spring meeting? This now resides with the Handling 

Committee, but considerations for other committees will be considered. Zea is currently assigned to 
Page 5 of 5

this project and she sits on Crops, Handling, and Materials committees. Not sure that this will be 

discussion document.

• Adjourn – Barry 
Note: Committee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for addition to or 

removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program (NOP) policy or 

regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of substances used in 

organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Committee Meeting

Friday, March 9, 2012, 1 p.m. ET

Attending: Barry Flamm (Chairperson), John Foster (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (Crops Chair), Mac 

Stone (Vice-Chairperson), Jennifer Taylor (Materials Chair), Wendy Fulwider (Secretary & Livestock 

Chair), Joe Dickson (CACC Chair), Zea Sonnabend (GMO Ad-hoc Chair) and Colehour Bondera (PDC 

Chair);

Absent:

Staff: Miles McEvoy and Lorraine Coke

Agenda

• Call to Order – Barry Flamm

• Secretary’s report – Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's report – Barry Flamm

-New Member Orientation

-GE ad hoc committee

• Exec Director update – Lorraine Coke

-Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

-NOP news and Update

-Discussion of NOSB Meeting Redesign

• Committee Reports (5-mins per committee)

• PDC

• CACC

• Materials

• Crops

• Livestock

• Handling

• GMO Ad-hoc

• Other business 

• Adjourn 

Discussion

• Call to Order – Barry called the meeting to order

• Secretary’s Report – none

• Chair’s Report – Barry 

-GMO ad-hoc committee was established with one member from each standing committee

-new member orientation, ethics training and the FACA/FOIA training will take place later today (if 

members have missed these then they should review the presentation materials and send

questions)
Page 2 of 5

-important part of the call today will be the new agenda proposal for the spring 2012 meeting

-Zea is a new/non-voting member of the Executive Committee

• Exec Director update 

• Reminder of spring meeting deadlines:

Milestone Deadline

Spring 2012 Agenda Finalized Friday, March 23, 2012

Committee Proposals Due Monday, April 2, 2012

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 21 – 24, 2012

• NOP update – Miles McEvoy

-new Special Assistant, Michelle Arsenault, to the NOSB starts Monday, March 12

-equivalency arrangement with the EU – a great opportunity for producers in the U.S.

-call on NPR (Diane Riem show) earlier this week with Mark Kastell – an hour of programming with 

a lot of tough questions for the program

-Farm Bill: asking for same budget as 2012 ($7 million) – do not have additional resources that 

were planned before. The NOP has a lot of demands and a limited staff. The NOSB may hear 

-new agenda/redesign concept for the spring 2012 meeting. 3-day meeting format is due to 

budgetary constraints. There are direct costs of housing/hotel/travel and also staff time. Going from 

4 days to 3 days will significantly reduce costs. That is intention of this concept/agenda design.

basic idea is that each committee would have discussion, review and vote on proposals all at 

once (by committee) – if there is need for a break or need more time to work on a proposal, 

then those items could be deferred to the last day of the meeting for final vote. Basic plan is to

have presentation, public comment, and votes for each committee all at one time. 

based the design on Savannah meeting and number of comments received

GMO committee time on agenda (currently and hour) is probably unrealistic because this 

committee will likely receive a lot of comments

meeting could potentially start later in the day on Monday (to accommodate people arriving)

still need clarification on each committees topics/agenda to know the amount of time needed

Questions/feedback from EC members:

Colehour (PDC) – some questions regarding public comments are by topic area – then how would 

the Board enforce (do they need to) a time limit for each commenter?

analyzed comments from Savannah and each commenter were limited to 3 minutes, several 

organizations brought several people to comment (those orgs that are going to comment on 

numerous comments used to have numerous people)

have heard from Board that they would like more comments from public, would want to ensure 

that comments by committee actually pertain to the committee that is presenting

-Reason for moving meeting around country is to ensure participation from consituients all around 

country

-Used Savannah meeting as example for setting up public comment process – concern that the 

NOP should look at multiple meetings for making a design that is more accurate

-The PDC committee has 3-4 agenda items and may need more time than the design allows for

Joe (CACC) – Overall structure of fitting into 3 days seems difficult, but understanding of budget 

issues and willing to accommodate. The times for each committee seem reasonable. The CACC 

will be presenting 3 different topics.

Jennifer (MC) – From the presentation given, it is important to consider to use other meetings 

(besides Savannah) as examples for designing a new agenda.
Page 3 of 5

Jay (CC) – The time between committee presentations and final development of proposals is 

important. The current agenda may not allow for this. 

-Idea for a different “grouping” – 1st day keep the same (but put speaker back in there and cut the 

NOP’s time down to 30 minutes), afternoon of 1st day could be reporting by committees, if time then 

begin public comments

-2nd day could be all public comments and these could be grouped by topic. Often larger 

organizations put their comments together. This could give more time for comments and allow the 

committees additional time for questions. That evening could be for restructuring of proposals.

-3rd day could be more discussion/development of proposals and final vote. This would allow 

additional time in between for NOSB members to meet and discuss topics and formulate changes.

-calculating time/budget – estimates that additional day is approx. $3000

-committee meeting at beginning of NOSB meeting is most constructive – opinion is that the time 

for face time is AFTER public comments

Wendy (LC) – biggest concern is being able to make changes to committee proposals. Overall 

design is improvement from last proposed agenda.

John (HC) – not in favor of making additional Board member time in the evenings to change 

documents. In general, the best work does not come from these “after hours” sessions. 

-Face time is very important for committees/Board members. 

-Suggestion regarding location of the meetings and whether meeting in DC is a better option 

(different costs?). Value to having NOSB members in DC as well. 

-each committee’s time is going to be hard. Will have to figure some of this out by trial. Suggestion 

to look at additional meetings (such as Seattle) for a better gage on times, public comment, etc. 

-some concerns regarding maximum time limit being removed for public comments – concern over 

certain constituencies or certain public interest groups being more dominant over others. 

Uncomfortable with multiple groups being able to speak multiple times, especially with dominant 

voices/groups. Thought that last meeting, with limited time for comments, was good at keeping 

Board members focused.

Zea (GMO Ad-hoc) – looking at the agenda from Savannah meeting as example may not be best 

example. More focus on each committees topics.

-value of committee meeting times is 

-an hour from the NOP is a good presentation amount – the ACAs find this information very useful 

and often it is not enough time

-some limit to the public comment period is necessary

Mac (Vice Chair of EC) – face time with committees is really important.

-the late-night work sessions is not something that should become standard practice

-understand budget constraints, but wondering how much more $ an extra day would be

Barry (Chair) – the idea of meeting with committees before the meeting is a good idea. Liked that 

idea from the original proposal.

-the grouping of committees, comments, etc. is a good idea

-concern over the “unlimited” comments – the existing structure is good, but concern regarding the 

possibility of a dominating group 

Response/summary:

-general concern over the 3 days and that budget concerns seem relatively small

-committee meetings before the full Board gets together could be useful

-if need for adjustment on documents after public comments, then this could happen on a separate 

day

-concern over public comments and the possibility that certain dominant voices might prevail
Page 4 of 5

If started at half-day on Monday and ended on half-day Friday? How does EC feel?

-should possibly consider where the meeting is held (east vs. west) and travel involved

Suggestion to have an additional EC call – to finalize the agenda format before the EC has to 

finalize the agenda for the spring 2012 meeting. Next EC meeting will be Friday, March 23.

• Committee Reports (3-mins per committee)

• GMO Ad-hoc – Zea

Framework of overall work that could be done on GMOs was drafted. At first 

meeting the framework and policy on GMOs (from the NOP) was sent around. 

Hope that different committee members would take the pieces of the framework 

back to their respective committees and discussing (those topics will be addressed 

as necessary). For the spring 2012 meeting the GMO committee is planning to 

draft a letter to the AC21 committee. Another letter, that was not presented at the 

last meeting, but was previously discussed. This letter may be addressed to the 

Secretary (still discussing). Also plan to present a discussion document regarding 

seed purity.

• Policy – Colehour

Working on primary recommendation (Conflict of interest – nearly complete, Public 

Comment – still in development and facing some challenges with the new agenda 

format, 2 discussion documents – one on decisive/indecisive votes and one on 

handling of public communications). All of these are in progress.

• CACC – John (for Joe)

Working on next phase of MROs, processing aides in “100% organic” products

(based on “Argon discussion” from a few meetings ago) and use of food contact 

sanitizers – this lead to discussion of whether “100% organic” claim is necessary at 

all, and monitoring practices and procedures – 205.201(a)(3) and clarifying what 

that means (this is often handled differently by different ACAs). These are a little 

different than the topics that are on the example agenda that was sent around.

• Materials – Jennifer

Working on discussion paper on extractants/solvents, discussion document on 

research priorities, recommendation on “significant residues,” and working with the 

AWG to clarify some issues regarding their previous petitions. Additional experts 

will be invited to participate on calls regarding

• Crops – Jay

Working on list 3 inerts sunset and list 4 inerts proposal. Peracetic acid is still 

unresolved – the program may be able to use the recommendation from 2009. Also 

ferric phosphate.

• Livestock – Wendy

Recommendation on GMO vaccines.

Recommendation on turkey space (missing

Recommendations on guidance for species specific documents.

• Handling – John

Working of 5 sunset 2013 items, votes should be completed. Also working on 
Page 5 of 5

incoming TRs and recommendations regarding petitioned materials. The 

committee will also present an update on “other ingredients” and the status on that.

• Adjourn – Barry adjourned the meeting.
Note: Committee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Committee Meeting

Friday, March 23, 2012, 1 p.m. ET

Attending: Barry Flamm (Chairperson), John Foster (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (Crops 

Chair), Mac Stone (Vice-Chairperson), and Colehour Bondera (PDC Chair); 

Absent: Joe Dickson (CACC Chair), Zea Sonnabend (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Jennifer Taylor 

(Materials Chair), Wendy Fulwider (Secretary & Livestock Chair),

Staff: Miles McEvoy, Michelle Arsenault 

Agenda

• Call to Order - Barry Flamm

• Revised agenda format - Miles McEvoy

• EC member comments

• Revisions and agreement on agenda

• Committee Agenda items presented in this order: ( 5 minutes per committee)

• GMO Ad hoc committee

• CACC

• Materials

• Crops

• Livestock

• Handling

• PDC

• Other business related to the Spring Board Meeting

• Adjourn

Discussion

• Chair called the meeting to order at 1:08pm to discuss and approve the agenda for the

annual NOSB meeting. 

• Revised agenda format - Miles McEvoy

Summarized draft meeting agenda. The agenda was intentionally written so we could adjust 

times based on the number of public comments we receive. 

Miles noted that the Crops committee would prefer to not be first on agenda. He also noted 

that if proposals are not in, they will not be included on agenda. With regard to meeting 

format and public comment blocks: If someone wants to comment on more than one 

committee, they will be scheduled during the committee for which they have the most 

substantive comments and can then comment on the other issues then. The complication 

with that process will be to make sure the comments are received prior to a vote a particular 

topic 
Page 2 of 3

Comments from board about agenda? Barry: Ability to adjust comment time based on the 

number we receive seems reasonable. Mac: Very supportive of allowing committees to meet 

informally on Monday prior to meeting to get organized. Jay: Wanted to know when the 

board would have the opportunity to ask audience members to come up to provide further 

explanation, since it is not explicit on the agenda? It would be up to the chair, and the board 

would like to make sure we have flexibility in schedule to do so. John: Wanted clarification 

about deferred items listed on the agenda on Friday and what happens to the time on Friday 

if we do not come to resolution? Would also like to make sure we communicate to the public 

the new agenda format. John is very supportive of the inclusion of program presentation of 

proposals/petitions and TR, and the mandate to have recommendations before meeting 

ends. Lisa Brines is creating a format for presentations and will share that with committee at 

next EC call. Colehour: The process of having someone comment on more than one item 

seems both positive and negative. Positive in that the public will be able to state all of their 

comments at once, but perhaps logistically this is difficult to schedule. Board wanted to 

know if there will also be a format for public comments? Perhaps this is an item for the 

Policy committee?

Draft agenda for NOSB annual meeting was accepted with no opposition. 

Committee Reports

GMO Ad-hoc (Colehour) - Ad hoc GMO committee will include two agenda items: 

• A letter to Secretary Vilsack, which will be a voting document finalized by 

April 2.

• A presentation about the committee, a statement of its mission and a 

description of some upcoming topics. (15 minutes for the presentation but 

there will be no posted document). 

The seed purity paper will not be sent as discussion doc and will not be put forth for 

public comment. The letter to AC 21 is no longer on agenda.

CACC (John, substituting for Joe) - Two items for agenda: 

• Sanitizers and 100% organic products-discussion item

• material review organizations

 No Discussion doc 204.201(a)(3)

Policy (Colehour) - Four items for agenda: 

• COI

• Procedure for Public Communications with the Board

• Proposal on public comment procedures

• Discussion doc on decisive-indecisive votes on synthetic/non synthetics 

With regard to the decisive-indecisive votes: which should occur first, legal 

review or public comment? Miles will follow up and report back to board about 

the best way forward.

Materials (Barry in lieu of Jennifer) - four agenda items

• Discussion document about Extractants and solvents

• Research Priorities and recommendations

• Significant residues and classification of materials 
Page 3 of 3

• Presentation update on aquaculture

Crops (Jay) (1.5 – 2 hours might be adequate)-One agenda item

• EPA List 3 (Inerts). 

• Update from inerts working group? Should this be at beginning of meeting 

since it’s not exclusive to Crops? Miles agreed the Inerts working group 

could present during Crops’ time. When is inerts working group meeting 

again? Send email 

• No FePO4

Livestock (Wendy) – One agenda item 

• GMO vaccine recommendation.

• Guidance on Scorecards from animal welfare discussion. All of these might 

be in discussion format at this time. Species-specific scorecards, and 

species-specific description docs are supposed to both be on this agenda, 

but committee is unsure at this time if chair is intending on submitting this. 

 Handling (John) -

• 5 Proposals for: choline, curry leaf, inositol, gibberellic acid, and lime leaf. 

There is also a recommendation to refer to lime leaf by its botanical name; 

citrus hystrix. No nucleotides or Taurine. 

• 5 Sunset materials 2013: agar agar, CaSO4, cellulose, carrageenan, 

Glucono delta- lactone. 

• Should we also use the botanical name for curry leaf? 

• Update on ancillary and other ingredients

Other:

If aggressive schedule does not work, do we still expect to end Friday at noon? As per the 

FR we are ending Friday at noon, so we should plan accordingly and try to keep to schedule

Policy committee might need more time (not more than 4 hours). Crops committee might 

need less time, so we have wiggle room. 2.5 for PDC. 6 hours for Handling (although they 

might have extra). Perhaps policy should go on Thursday since Crops doesn’t need extra 

time. A board member asked about an evening group dinner, which is typically set up by 

the secretary. Monday and Thursday are probably not available, so let’s plan for Tuesday. 

NOP will have a workshop on the EU arrangement, perhaps on Monday. 

Fall meeting dates were confirmed as Oct 15-19, 2012. 

Meeting adjourned @ 2:01

Milestone Deadline

Public Comment Period April 9 - May 3, 2012

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 21 – 24, 2012
Note: Committee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered 

for addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic 

Program (NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, 

regulations, and status of substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Committee (EC) Meeting

Friday, April 20, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock 

Chair),

John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), Mac Stone (MS)(ViceChairperson), and Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair); Jennifer Taylor (JT)(Materials Chair), 

Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair), Zea Sonnabend (ZS) (GMO Ad-hoc Chair)

Absent: none

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA), Lisa Brines (LB)

Agenda

• Call to Order - BF

• Secretary's Report - WF

• Chair's Report - BF

o Preparation for Spring meeting

o Beyond Albuquerque

• Advisory Board Specialist (ABS)/Special Assistant to Board (aka ED) update - MA

• NOP update - MM

o NOP news and update

o NOSB fall work plans

o Responses to public requests regarding DHA/ARA

o Substance overview template - LB

• Committee Reports (5 minutes per committee)

o GMO ad hoc Committee (GMO)

o Policy Development Committee (PDC)

o Compliance, Accreditation and Certification (CACC)

o Materials Committee (MC)

o Crops Committee (CC)

o Livestock Committee (LC)

o Handling Committee (HC)

• Unfinished business

• New Business

• Adjourn
Page 2 of 4

Discussion

• Chair called meeting to order

• Secretary’s Report

o Secretary postponed vote on the minutes from March 23rd meeting until the 

members had a chance to review them. Also noted that she will proceed with 

dinner reservations for the NOSB in Albuquerque.

• Chair’s Report

o Preparing for spring meeting: Chair would like to ensure that during the spring 

meeting the motions are written down prior to being made, to avoid confusion 

about what is being voted on. Process will include passing the motions to the 

NOSB Secretary, then to the vice chair, then to Chair. 

o Suggested that cover sheets be completed at meeting, and in advance, for 

efficiency and expediency while voting during the meeting.

o Chair suggested that the mentors/mentees be seated next to each other at the 

meeting

o Beyond Albuquerque: Would like the Board to consider public comments when 

developing future work plans. The chair remarked that the Policy and Procedure 

Manual (PPM) outlines 3 steps for developing a workplan: List issues, prioritize 

issues and set calendar, seek feedback from committees and NOP

• ABS updated members about meeting logistics. JFo will work on a seating chart for the 

NOSB to seat the mentors/mentees next to one another.

• NOP news and updates.

o NOP is continuing to gather information on organic poultry, which includes visits

to farms, and consideration of the economic impact of NOSB recommendations 

from the Savannah, GA meeting. A draft aquaculture interpretation rule should 

come out this year, which would prevent seafood from being labeled organic until 

organic aquaculture standards are in place. NOP has developed an aquaculture 

rule-making team that is developing a proposed rule based on the NOSB 

aquaculture recommendations. 

• NOSB fall work plans: 

o FACA rules mandate that FACA committee agendas be developed by the

agency, in conjunction with the Board. NOP will collaborate with the NOSB to 

develop the agenda and work plan. There are many National List petitions in the 

queue, and it is recommended that Aquaculture be added to the work plan for the 

near future, so standards can move forward. A member asked a question about 

the assignment of aquaculture to the Livestock Committee (LC), instead of the

Materials Committee (MC). NOP thought it would be appropriate for LC because 

that’s where it initiated and because OFPA prescribes it. EC and NOP would like 

to discuss workplan at next EC meeting prior to the Spring Meeting

o A member indicated there are items on the workplan that are new to the 

committees, and items that are in progress that are not included on the list. NOP 

indicated the new items should be included on the workplans, and would discuss 

the missing ones. Committees will address and present to NOP their ideas about 

the workplan prior to the spring meeting. A member suggested that a step in the 

process be added between NOP determining work plans and committees taking 

on agenda items to avoid unnecessary work. Feels that NOP would then have 
Page 3 of 4

the opportunity to provide justification to NOSB about why items are removed 

from or added to the agenda. NOP said that the issue was addressed by the 

Deputy Administrator at previous NOSB meetings and there was no need for a 

discussion document on this topic as decisive votes are clearly outlined in the 

Organic Food Production Act.

• Responses to public requests regarding DHA/ARA

o NOP response is in progress. Cornucopia was informed that they can submit 

comments during open period for rulemaking. The same response was sent to 

NOC, who also sent in comments about DHA/ARA. NOP is exploring the 

possibility of using open dockets for public comment so there is a venue for 

people to submit comments between NOSB meetings.

• Substance overview template 

o List includes petition-related items and sunset materials. NOP intends on using this 

format for presentation at the spring meeting. LB would like feedback from NOSB. A 

member commented on the fact that at past NOSB meetings, the MC presented an 

explanation of the voting process, and asked if they could do that again this year, as 

it was not currently on the agenda. JT will do this presentation at beginning of 

meeting. ABS will adjust spring agenda as needed. 

o NOP asked committees to move forward on some Technical Reports (TRs) because 

contracts are due to expire at end of fiscal year: e.g. nonanoic acid, vinasse.

 

• Committee Reports (5 minutes per committee)

o GMO ad hoc committee -next call is scheduled for April 25th and the committee is

going to discuss the presentation for spring meeting, and the work plan. Chair of the 

GMO committee asked that each of the GMOers to bring GMO issues to other 

committees.

o Policy Development Committee (PDC). Prepping for meeting. On next call will focus 

on workplan. Agrees it would be advantageous to plan a little farther in the future. 

o Compliance, Accreditation and Certification (CACC) - on track with proposals for 

spring meeting. Next call will focus on workplan for after Albuquerque

o Materials (MC) - Prepping for spring Meeting, and still have conference call planned 

with aquaculture group to discuss process and procedures. Will take comments into 

consideration when doing workplan

o Crops Committee (CC) - Proceeding with petitions.

o Livestock Committee- Prepping for meeting and working on petitions and TRs. 

Discussing workplan for fall.

o Handling Committee (HC) - have one call scheduled before spring meeting. 

• Unfinished business-none

• New Business-none

• Meeting adjourned by chair

FUTURE CALLS

May 11, 2012 1pm EDT

June 8, 2012 1pm EDT
Page 4 of 4

Milestone Deadline

Public Comment Period April 9 - May 3, 2012

HC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 4pm

LC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 5pm

MC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 6pm

CC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 7pm

PDC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 8pm

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 22 – 25, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting

Friday, May 11, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock Chair),

John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson), and 

Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair); Jennifer Taylor (JT)(Materials Chair), Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair), 

(GMO Ad-hoc Chair)

Absent: Zea Sonnabend (ZS) 

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA), Lisa Brines (LB), Melissa Bailey (MB)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report- Barry Flamm

• Advisory Board Specialist update - Michelle Arsenault

• NOP news and update- Miles McEvoy

• Subcommittee Reports - focus on issues and discussion of work plans

• GMO Ad hoc Subcommittee- Zea Sonnabend's stand in

• Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification- Joe Dickson

• Materials-Jennifer Taylor

• Crops- Jay Feldman

• Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

• Handling- John Foster

• Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

• Unfinished Business

• New Business

• Adjourn

Discussion

• Chair called meeting to order

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider. Minutes from April 20th meeting were approved with no 

changes. Board dinner plans were confirmed for Tuesday May 22. 

• Chair's Report- Barry Flamm-Looking forward to the meeting and the new format. There was a 

public comment regarding new meeting format – commenter thought it was less transparent. 

This was not a common sentiment.

• Advisory Board Specialist update - Michelle Arsenault-update about meeting logistics, and travel
• NOP news and update- Miles McEvoy-moxydectin and phenbedozol recommendations now 

published. Are being allowed for emergency use. Will give full update at NOSB meeting.

• Subcommittee Reports - focus on issues and discussion of work plans

o GMO Ad hoc Subcommittee – John Foster, standing in for ZS. Workplan includes 

intersection of GMO and Seed purity, feedback to NOP in response to OIG, and plant 

breeding issues. 

o Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification - Joe Dickson. Update for Albuquerque. 

Two agenda items: MRO proposal and Sanitizers discussion document. Received very 

constructive public comments. Fall workplan was sent this morning. Several items

including the 2009 Biodiversity recommendation could use some additional input from 

Subcommittee. NOP indicated that the MRO criteria paper states that some certifying 

organizations are making inconsistent decisions, and NOP would like to be informed if 

that is occurring. With regard to the 100% organic claim, there seems to be confusion 

about what is or isn’t a processing aid and whether or not a sanitizer is a processing aid.

NOP will present info that will clarify this. Currently there’s a policy in the NOP 

Handbook about how certifiers determine the percentage. With regard to retail 

certification, this is important but not an immediate priority. Residue testing: 

Subcommittee could work with program in responding to OIG report. NOP would like 

CACC to respond to the finding in the OIG report about sanitizers for milk trucks.

Biodiversity: NOP asked why the Subcommittee felt it was important to work on this

now and not later. Subcommittee indicated that it had been 4 years since the 

recommendation and would like a status update from NOP. A member asked for clear 

definitions of sanitizer vs. processing aid. NOP will try to articulate this topic.

o Materials – Jennifer Taylor. The Materials Subcommittee has several items that will be 

on spring agenda, including an update on aquaculture, discussion docs on extractants 

and solvents, significant residues and classification of materials. Also a proposal on 

research priorities. Chair sent out workplan, which includes issues of critical concern.

Will provide aquaculture update at meeting. JFe has PowerPoint that includes history of 

NOSB and Aquaculture, which he will send around next week. NOP has memo that is 

almost complete that will help with JFe’s presentation. Will send slides to NOP and 

would like feedback. JFo asked what constitutes “issues of critical concern”. JT indicated 

that the workplan should be more solidified and acknowledged that being responsive 

and flexible is appropriate. A member asked about “exchange ion chromatography” and 

its relationship to organic. NOP (LBrines) indicated that this is a technology that uses 

chemicals to separate mixtures into its component parts. A question was asked about 

whether this was an analytical tool as opposed to production mechanism. NOP feels 

that open-ended items do not need to be on the workplan. Materials Subcommittee 

should develop a proposal for review by EC Subcommittee first, and then add it to

workplan. NOP indicated that it might be better to delay the discussion documents until 

spring 2013. Subcommittee would like a resolution about the Materials Classification 

Policy in order to make a decision about leaving it on or taking it off the workplan: 

addresses extractants and solvents, but not significant residues. NOP indicated that
perhaps defining “significant” isn’t necessary and instead the NOSB can review 

substances on a case by case basis. NOP asked for clarification about some of the other 

items on the workplan in an effort to better support the Subcommittee work. The Chair 

indicated that the task proposed on the workplan for aquaculture was a general item to 

look at petitions that have been presented. BF indicated that LS will be taking 

aquaculture, so it doesn’t seem necessary for the HC to keep this on workplan. 

o Crops - Jay Feldman. List 3 inerts is only item on agenda for spring meeting and all 

commenters agreed with recommendation! There are mostly petitions on workplan: List 

3 Inerts (will add to workplan if it passes), List 4 Inerts (would like proposal for fall 2012 

meeting), Tetracycline, streptomycin (might add them to the workplan so they can be 

proposed by 2013, assuming NOSB gets a petition), Fireblight-would like plenty of time 

to look at petition. ZS-would like to add Rotenone on the prohibited naturals (602) list. 

NOP is concerned that we don’t have the resources to address the inerts usefully. NOP is 

opposed to expiration dates, and cautioned the NOSB to avoid expiration dates 

whenever possible. 

o Livestock - Wendy Fulwider. GMO vaccines proposal is on agenda for spring 2013 

meeting. Chair asked about NOP’s need with regard to GMO Vaccines proposal. NOP 

had asked the board to look at this issue and the resulting proposal is very well thought 

out and complete. NOP indicated that the issue is much more complex than originally 

thought so some additional information is needed, for example with regard to human 

health. NOP would like the NOSB to solicit more comments before making a 

recommendation on this. 

o Handling - John Foster. So far Subcommittee has received several comments clustered 

around a few materials: carrageenan, Gibberellic acid, inositol, and choline. These were 

discussed on a call earlier this week and based on public comment the Subcommittee

would like to revise the language for the carrageenan proposal. Will circulate the new 

revised document to the NOSB prior to the Albuquerque (ABQ) meeting. Essentially the 

new decision is to relist it with CAS #’s. The Subcommittee has 14 items for the fall 

workplan. Will lay out agenda for upcoming meetings including which items will be 

discussed when. It appears the decisions on 606 items (citrus hystrix and curry leaf) are 

based on petitioner’s information alone. Is this sufficient? The alternative is to use the 

“made with organic”. Subcommittee should consider this with regard to 606 materials. 

TRs don’t usually include market data. Is there a resolution to this?

o Policy Development - Colehour Bondera. Recommendations are supported in different 

degrees, and it was requested that some sections be modified. FACA rules potentially 

require modification. Subcommittee will discuss this further and suggest modifications 

to the docs before the fall meeting. Workplan has gotten much more complex. There 

are two additional items that are not currently on the workplan: 1) Policy on tabling of 

items and 2) a two-stage process for TR determination. It’s not clear whether these are 

items for the PDS. A member asked if there needed to be a policy or if it’s NOP’s

responsibility to reintroduce it to the NOSB if something is tabled? Two-stage TR process

would eliminate the need for a TR if it can be determined early that one is not 
necessary. Should this be on workplan for MS or PDS? NOP is unclear about this issue 

and would like to have more discussion before moving forward. The subcommittee has 

included a placeholder for decisive/indecisive determination on the workplan. NOP 

indicated that there is guidance forthcoming. A member asked about forming joint 

Subcommittees, but past NOSB’s have found that formal joint Subcommittees are not 

very productive. NOP indicated that information from our FACA rep will be presented at

the spring meeting. 

• No unfinished business

• No new business

• Meeting adjourned

FUTURE CALLS

June 8, 2012 1pm EDT

Milestone Deadline

Public Comment Period April 9 - May 3, 2012

HC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 4pm

LC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 5pm

MC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 6pm

CC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 7pm

PDC Informal Prep (Albuquerque) May 21 8pm

Spring 2012 NOSB Meeting

 

May 22 – 25, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting

Friday, June 8, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops 

Chair), and Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair); Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair), (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Zea 

Sonnabend (ZS), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (Materials Chair), Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson),

Absent: Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock Chair)

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report- Barry Flamm

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

• NOP news and update- Miles McEvoy

• Discussion of Albuquerque Meeting 

• Reports with focus on work plans 

o GMO - Zea Sonnabend

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

o Crops- Jay Feldman

o Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

o Handling- John Foster

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

o Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification -Joe Dickson

• Unfinished business

• New business

• Adjourn

Discussion

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Secretary absent so no report

o Minutes from May 11 not approved due to secretaries absence

• Chair's Report- Barry Flamm

o Discussed summary comments from spring 2012 NOSB meeting

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

o Update about recommendation posting, update about subcommittee minutes.
• NOP news and update- Miles McEvoy

o Requested clarification about items on which the NOSB would like updates during the 

EC call. 

o Nominations for new NOSB member should be advertised soon. Currently in clearance 

process.

o NIST requirement for peer review - NOP trying to develop system for responding to this. 

The NOSB might fulfill this requirement. 

• Discussion of Albuquerque Meeting 

o JD-clustering of Subcommittee blocks worked well. Additional refinement-having time 

for Subcommittees to discuss before re-voting. Perhaps a solution would be to build in 

recess time between public comment and voting. Flow and structure of meeting was 

good. 

o CBo-Overall meeting went very well. General public comment needs a little refinement. 

Asked about length of time NOP got for presentations vs. how much NOSB got. Would 

have liked more time to discuss things after public comment.

o JFo-Time on Monday in subcommittee meetings was crucial and would like to expand 

those meetings. Would like to get ahead with regard to sunset materials. Thinks now 

would be a great opportunity to do that, since there are no 2014 sunsets. Liked having 

the NOP and NOSB at same table. Update from NOP was helpful for Board and public, 

and would advocate that it continues in the future. The Policy and Procedures Manual 

(PPM), states that comment/Q & A should not exceed 10 minutes. Need to clarify and 

implement.

o JFe-Organization by topic was good. Need to think about how to schedule topics that 

might be more controversial. Would like better collaboration between board and NOP. 

Important that NOSB be informed by NOP on positions, new items, etc. Should not be a 

surprise at meeting. Need to be more thoughtful and uniform about internal process on

presentation of science, and PPM procedures, and have more uniform docs from 

subcommittees.

o JT –agreed with JFe about foundational information. Flow and structure of meeting 

went well. General comments section needs to be changed. Would have liked to have 

more time to discuss between public comment and vote. Would like to expand 

advertising of meetings, so we can bring in more stakeholders. 

o ZS – PROS: Having NOP at table facing audience was an improvement over past years. 

NOP update was valuable. Having comments grouped by topic was helpful except for 

general comments. Lisa Brines talk was useful. BF did a great job as chair. CON: Not 

enough time for questioning of experts. Disagrees with 10 minute limit, but need to be 

able to have time for exchange. Thought disclosure and recusal process was a waste of 

time. If NOP is going to shape the agenda, it needs to be vetted ahead of time in 

Subcommittee. It was not productive to find out at the last minute that the NOP didn’t 

support something the Subcommittee had been working on for a long time.
o MM - Forms for recommendations are not well designed and NOP will work on revising 

them. NOP feedback about spring meeting was sent out this morning. MM thanked

NOSB for hard work and for thoughtful comments about what worked and what didn’t. 

- Letter to Secretary was delivered before AC 21 meeting and he was surprised by it, 

although he should not have been. 

o MS - Has copious notes about meeting. Will synthesize and send to group.

o JFo - With respect to general comments - if a commenter signed up for general 

comments and it’s clear they have a specific issue, is it ok for the chair to ask them to 

come to the specific session instead? ZS indicated that this seemed to be an exception 

and was not the case with most of the speakers. 

• Reports with focus on work plans 

o GMO - Zea Sonnabend

 No meeting since before Albuquerque (ABQ). Scheduled Subcommittee calls for

Thursdays (2nd and 4th) at 2:00 EST. Will be taking up workplan items including 

seed purity, and once OIG report on residue testing is in, might take that issue 

up as well. MBailey will be sitting in on GMO calls. 

 Asked if working group will take over GMO Vaccines issue or if Livestock (LS) will 

continue to work on it with input from working group.

 LS found it difficult to make decisions about GMO vaccines so working group 

was established to provide information that is not accessible to LS

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

 Draft workplan includes research priorities. On next call Subcommittee will look 

at various issues including working with GMO ad hoc Subcommittee. NOP 

wanted further clarification about topics before deciding to add them to work 

plan. Other ongoing tasks: Updating petition and TR process, Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) and petitions, and seeking clarification about ion 

exchange 

o Crops- Jay Feldman

 With regard to workplan, Subcommittee would be able to have a proposal and 

not just a discussion document on inerts for the fall meeting. MM concurred. 

With regard to fireblight issue, Subcommittee could have discussion doc earlier, 

perhaps fall 2012 instead of fall 2013. MM concurred. 

 Rotenone could be moved to fall 2012, as it should be ready. ZS will work on 

this.

 According to NOP (E Brown Rosen) Sulfuric acid may be done by fall 2012. 

 Vinasse-need more guidance, perhaps a truncated TR. 

o Livestock- Joe Dickson substituting for WF –

 Met last week and had good discussion. Ambitious workplan. 9 items: 4 

petitioned materials, 1 discussion doc about Omnivore diets for poultry, 3 

proposals (Nonanoic acid, Pet Food Amino Acids, methionine) and the GMO 

Vaccines update.
 Aquaculture liaison between LS and CS? The crossover topics have been pushed 

back so Subcommittee has time to review them. 

o Handling- John Foster

 Workplan is long. List of 12 or 13 materials (all petitions), no sunsets. All

proposals, one discussion doc. JFo had good conversation with MBailey about 

strategizing how to get all this done before August 20th deadline. Will add 

additional Handling calls. JR had indicated she would like to participate on 

Handling Subcommittee. At a minimum she would like to listen in on calls. JFo 

would like to discuss this offline with Barry.

 Bergamot Bitter Orange issue was on workplan for fall 2012 but has been 

pushed back to 2013 due to request for more info. 

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

 Three proposals that were withdrawn at spring 2012 meeting will be put forth 

as recommendations at Providence meeting once guidance from NOP is 

presented. PPM and ethics rules – fall 2012. New member guide proposal for

spring 2013 deadline is feasible. Threshold (or two stage TR policy)-

Subcommittee wanted to put forth as discussion doc at Fall 2012, and NOP 

listed it as Spring 2013; CBo suggests we keep it on fall meeting schedule 

instead so Subcommittee can get feedback sooner. Also part of process should 

be reviewing TR policy in PPM. New TR policy was sent by NOP but does not

affect the workplan. TR procedure and PPM have been misaligned for a long 

time, and have not been followed by NOP or NOSB, so it seems like a good item 

for the PDC to work on. Contract procedures have been put in place. CBo asked 

if it was possible to update the PPM and the TR procedures separate items 

instead of combining them. NOP indicated that it was possible. A member 

indicated that historically the Materials Subcommittee has handled this issue, 

and wondered why the PDC was reviewing it. The Chair offered that the two 

Subcommittees should work on it together. The member noted that the same 

issue occurred while working on research priorities doc.

 Communication from NOP re: decisive/indecisive – and how this relates to other 

Subcommittee topics. Should this be eliminated from workplan? A member 

suggested that the NOSB needs a broader communication discussion. MM said

that a memo was being drafted and would be sent to the NOSB and PDC soon. 

Would like it on agenda as discussion doc even though MM doesn’t think we 

need a discussion doc when it is regulation. Perhaps the title (decisive vs.

indecisive) is the issue? Perhaps this is really an issue of synthetic vs. 

nonsynthetic). With regard to Materials initiation policy, NOP indicated that the 

Board can initiate review, however the PPM states that only applies to sunset 

and petitions. MM asked that JFe write up a paragraph about this and send it 

around to the group. 

o Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification -Joe Dickson
 Program sent email this morning and has additional suggestions for CACS

workplan. Residue testing and sanitizers for milk trucks will be discussion docs 

for fall 2012. 

• No unfinished business

• No new business

• Meeting adjourned by BF.

FUTURE CALLS

July 13, 2012 1pm EDT

August 10, 2012 1pm EDT

Milestone Deadline

NOP - “Finalize” agenda August 13, 2012 

Fall 2012 proposals due to NOP August 20, 2012

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment August 27, 2012

Public comment closes September 24, 2012

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB October 1, 2012

Fall 2012 NOSB Meeting – Providence, RI October 15-18, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting

Friday, July 13, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson), John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops 

Chair), and Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair); Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair), (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Zea 

Sonnabend (ZS), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (Materials Chair)

Absent: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock Chair)

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Mac Stone

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report- Mac Stone

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

• Summary of Board comments on Albuquerque meeting- Mac Stone 

• NOP news and update - Miles McEvoy

• Discussion of Albuquerque Meeting 

• Subcommittee Reports 

o GMO - Zea Sonnabend

o Crops- Jay Feldman

o Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

o Handling- John Foster

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

o Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification -Joe Dickson

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

• Unfinished business

• New business

• Adjourn

Discussion

• Call to Order- Mac Stone

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

o No secretary’s report in Wendy’s absence. Minutes from May 11, and June 8 not 

approved in secretary’s absence.

• Chair's Report- Mac Stone

o No specific report except to discuss draft agenda. (Reference the list that MS circulated)
• Summary of Board comments from May 2012 (Albuquerque) meeting- Mac Stone

o CBo re: update by NOP at meeting. If we have time constraints then feels we should 

limit the NOPs time not the public comments. A member asked who was responsible for 

making the determination about limiting public comment, and at what point that 

determination would be made. No decision as of yet.

o MS: Would like to include a component in pre-meeting webinar training about how to

facilitate public comment/questioning the commenters. Would like uniformity in flow of 

questions.

o CBo: Suggested distributing copies of Roberts Rules to members, which would also be a 

good topic for webinar. 

o The group indicated that they would like to be able to recall people/experts to clarify or 

answer specific questions. The Board currently has the ability to do this. MM added that 

the members might want to try to identify those people ahead of time. CBo noted that 

the commenters are limited to 10 minutes, and until the PPM is revised we must follow 

the stated process. JFo added that if call backs are not considered public comments, 

then that solves the problem. 

o MM let the group know that we have a mechanism to pay consultants to attend the 

Board meetings.

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

o The current contracts for technical reports expire at the end of the fiscal year (Sept 30), 

so work on all outstanding assigned reports has to be completed by then. This includes 

items that will be on the fall agenda, as well as substances that will be addressed at 

future meetings.

o Lisa is updating some of the TRs

• NOP news and update - Miles McEvoy

• Discussion of Albuquerque Meeting 

• Subcommittee Reports 

o Compliance, Accreditation, and Certification -Joe Dickson

 2 work plan items: diversity and calculating % of organic ingredients. 

o GMO - Zea Sonnabend

 Working on seed purity document with Mark Lipson (OSEC). Mark proposed that 

the GMO subcommittee restructure of paper. Group initiated a long term 

project comparing how other entities look at GMOs 

o Crops- Jay Feldman

 Crops is moving ahead with many topics for fall meeting. Confident that they 

will finish by deadline. (NOP/EPA, ZS and JFe all working on working group 

Inerts). Expect this will come to fruition in 2013. 

o Livestock- Joe Dickson substituting for Wendy Fulwider

 Potentially 6 items for the fall meeting
o Handling- John Foster

 Added additional calls. A little behind schedule but confident they will finish 

before deadline. Nutrient materials are proving to be challenging and are taking 

more time than thought. Jean Richardson has formally joined committee. 

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

 3 proposals for fall meeting

 MS asked about moving ahead with the process to identify COIs. A member 

asked what the PDS was working on with regard to Technical reports.(TRs). The 

PDS is working on a streamlined 2-stage TR process to provide for thresholds. 

JFo asked about The “Ethics” component. CBo indicated that it was integrated

into the COI document instead of being a separate document. 

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

 Holding to workplan as scheduled. Encouraged the EC members to collect info 

about different issues and concerns for the Research Priorities Document. 

Working on other things such as CBI as well. Waiting for advice from program 

about Significant Residues. 

• Unfinished business: Reminder that we will elect new officers at the fall meeting and the 

members should be thinking about this in the coming weeks.

• No new business

• Adjourned

FUTURE CALLS

August 10, 2012 1:00pm EDT

September 14, 2012 1:00pm EDT

October 12, 2012 1:00pm EDT

Milestone Deadline

NOP - “Finalize” tentative agenda August 13, 2012 

Fall 2012 proposals due to NOP August 20, 2012

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment August 27, 2012

Public comment closes September 24, 2012

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB October 1, 2012

Fall 2012 NOSB Meeting – Providence, RI October 15-18, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting

Friday, August 10, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) 

(Secretary & Livestock Chair), John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), and 

Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair); (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Zea Sonnabend (ZS), Jennifer Taylor (JT)

(Materials Chair)

Absent: Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair)

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

• NOP News and update- Miles McEvoy

• SC Reports (5 minutes each). Please focus on your agenda items for the Fall Board Meeting.

• GMO- Zea Sonnabend

• Materials- Jennifer Taylor

• Handling- John Foster

• Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

• Crops- Jay Feldman

• Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

• Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification- Joe Dickson

• Unfinished business

• New Business

• Adjourn

Discussion

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

o Minutes from May, June, July were approved with no changes. 

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm

o Meeting is dedicated to approving draft agenda for meeting, and discussing proposals 

and docs that will be presented. 
o Chair noted that voting at meeting is still listed as segmented during subcommittee 

sessions as opposed to voting on Thursday. 

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

o Updated the members about fall meeting logistics, including prep meeting times, public 

comment period in regulations.gov, (AMS has indicated that they strongly prefer us to 

use regulations.gov, so we will not be able to use Granicus for the Fall Meeting), officer 

elections, and travel guidance. 

o Noted that nominations for the open NOSB environmentalist position have closed. Last

year the appointments were made in December and we are targeting that date for the 

announcement. 

o MA asked the ES which topics they would like NOP to update at the meeting.

• Miles McEvoy updated the ES as to NOP News and update. 

• SC Reports (5 minutes each). 

• GMO- Zea Sonnabend

o Will have one proposal at meeting, which is progressing through the subcommittee. 

• Materials- Jennifer Taylor

o Working with other Subcommittees on the research priorities document. Awaiting other 

Subcommittees submission before they vote on this doc. 

• Handling- John Foster

o Six items are done, the two fibers (Barley Beta and Sugar Beet) and DBDMH may be 

postponed. JFe suggested we invite someone from the American Academy of Pediatrics

to speak about infant formula. NOP is supportive and will seek input from Dr. Anderson

about who to invite.

• Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

o Livestock is moving forward with two proposals, one discussion document, and one

update

• Crops- Jay Feldman

o Crops is waiting for feedback from NOP about two of three items for the fall agenda. 

The group would like clarification from NOP about Biodegradable Plastic Mulch (BPM) 

presentation, as well as input about the Tree Fruit WG. Chair feels that ferric phosphate 

and BPM might elicit many comments. NOP indicated that the program was awaiting 

feedback from OGC but wasn’t confident that they would be able to answer. Suggested 

that the SC work on proposal and then get input from OGC after they vote on it and it 

moves to the next stage. 

• Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

o Very supportive of field trip idea and overall agenda.

o PDS has three proposals. Two are ready and one is still being discussed and nearly 

finished. Also working on discussion document on 2-stage threshold TRs that passed in 

the Subcommittee. It is not clear if this item will be on the fall agenda. NOP is 

supporting it as a proposal not a discussion document at this time. MM will check with 

NOP staff and provide feedback to Colehour. .
• Compliance, Accreditation,& Certification- John Foster in Joe Dickson’s stead

o Two topics for fall meeting: Calculating % of organic ingredients, and a biodiversity 

update. MM noted that he was working with others and made changes to the audit 

criteria which could affect Biodiversity update discussion doc. BF said that those 

changes were already included in the discussion doc.

• Unfinished business

o MA will send MBs spreadsheet to the Subcommittee chairs to make some changes to 

the recommendations from the last two Board meetings, in an attempt to make the 

language more uniform. 

o MM asked for suggestions for topics that he will cover in his NOP update at the meeting. 

• New Business

o CBo asked about the draft agenda and whether or not the feedback from the spring 

meeting in ABQ was addressed. BF and MA noted that many things had been 

incorporated. The group discussed various issues regarding timing on the agenda. MS is 

trying to organize a visit to a shellfish farm and would welcome MMs idea about having 

an aquaculture presentation at this meeting. However, there may not be extra time on 

the agenda for additional presenters, but it’s difficult to schedule until public comments 

are in. ZS added that public comment period for crops is not long enough. 

• Meeting was adjourned by chair.

FUTURE CALLS

September 14, 2012 1:00pm EDT

October 12, 2012 1:00pm EDT

Milestone Deadline

NOP - “Finalize” tentative agenda August 13, 2012 

Fall 2012 proposals due to NOP August 20, 2012

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment August 27, 2012

Public comment closes September 24, 2012

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB October 1, 2012

Fall 2012 NOSB Meeting – Providence, RI October 15-18, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting Notes

Friday, September 14, 2012, 1 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock Chair), Jay 

Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), and Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair), (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Zea Sonnabend 

(ZS), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (Materials Chair)

Absent: Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson), Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC Chair), John Foster (JF) (Handling 

Chair)

Staff: Melissa Bailey (MB)-sitting in for Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

• NOP News and update- Melissa Bailey

• SC Reports (5 minutes each).

o GMO- Zea Sonnabend

o Handling- John Foster

o Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

o Crops- Jay Feldman

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification- Joe Dickson

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

o Unfinished business

o New Business

o Adjourn

 

Discussion

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

o Minutes from August 10, 2012 approved with no changes.

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm

• Advisory Board Specialist update - Michelle Arsenault

o Logistics for fall meeting, travel, meeting materials

• NOP News and update- Melissa Bailey

o The NOP reviewed the notifications that have been sent through the Insider over last 

few weeks including: The Organic Literacy Initiative, updates to program handbook, a 
policy memo about production and certification of aquatic plants for § 601 and 602. (MB 

suggested a separate call to discuss this policy memo), a policy memo for the program 

handbook for placement of “certified organic by” statement, an updated list of certifiers 

which is available on the NOP website, and an update about sodium nitrate.

o The NOP asked for suggestions from the NOSB for topics for Miles McEvoy to address at 

the fall meeting, and asked that they be send to MB by September 21, 2012 

• SC Reports (5 minutes each).

o GMO- Zea Sonnabend: Discussed workplan-The seed purity discussion document will be 

turned into a recommendation, depending on public comment. The group is working on 

clarifying definitions and practices that are considered ‘excluded methods’ in plant 

breeding (working jointly with Crops). For fall 2013: tracing GMOs in input/ingredient 

chains, and will interface with CACS and GMO working group. JT had a suggestion for 

considering excluded methods in the context of sustainability, and the GMO ad hoc 

Subcommittee will discuss this during next call to determine when this will be put forth.

o MB asked that the Subcommittees put together workplans with some of the titles 

flushed out, and noted that items that have a target date will be announced at the fall 

meeting. NOP asked that the Subcommittees submit their workplans by September 26, 

so feedback can be provided by 10/3. 

o Handling- John Foster. Handling has not met to talk about workplan but will work on it 

on the call on September 18.

o Livestock- Chair had to drop off call so no update

o Crops- Jay Feldman-Crops has a list of materials for workplan: Polyoxin d, vinasse, 

vitamins, carbon monoxide gas, and inerts- if the proposal passes in the fall, then Crops 

may begin a test review of inerts. 

o Policy Development - Colehour Bondera. The new workplan depends on the outcome of 

the proposals being discussed at the fall 2012 meeting. Threshold/2-stage TR process 

may be a proposal, Decisive/indecisive votes, material initiation policy (annotation clean 

up). Joint projects include: CBI, TR review process, update of petition process

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification- Joe Dickson-absent. No report

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor. Materials Subcommittee is still developing draft workplan

and will add descriptive information to the items and send to NOP by September 26. 

Several items were carried over from the last meeting: Ion Exchange Chromatography, 

CBI, Update petition process. The Subcommittee is anticipating public comment on the

research priorities proposal.

o Unfinished business – The Materials chair noted that it would make it easier for the 

Materials Subcommittee if all Subcommittees would keep the Research Priorities in 

mind during the year. 

o New Business – JFe asked about the procedure for identifying COIs at the meeting. He 

noted that in the past it was done in public and was moderated by the Chair but the 

procedure seems to have changed and he asked for clarification. 

• Meeting adjourned by chair.
FUTURE CALLS

October 12, 2012 1:00pm EDT

November 9, 2012 1:00pm EDT

December 14, 2012 1:00pm EDT

Milestone Deadline

NOP - “Finalize” tentative agenda August 13, 2012 

Fall 2012 proposals due to NOP August 20, 2012

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment August 27, 2012

Public comment closes September 24, 2012

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB October 1, 2012

Fall 2012 NOSB Meeting – Providence, RI October 15-18, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting Notes

Friday, October 12, 2012, 2:30 pm EDT

Attending: Barry Flamm (BF)(Chairperson), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (Secretary & Livestock Chair), Jay 

Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), and Colehour Bondera (CB)(PDC Chair), (GMO Ad-hoc Chair), Zea Sonnabend 

(ZS), Mac Stone (MS)(Vice-Chairperson), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (Materials Chair), Joe Dickson (JD) (CACC 

Chair)

Absent: John Foster (JF) (Handling Chair)

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order- Barry Flamm

• Secretary's Report- Wendy Fulwider

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm

o Review/discuss Board Meeting Procedures

• Advisory Board Specialist update- Michelle Arsenault

• NOP news and update - Miles McEvoy

• SC Reports (5 minutes each).

o GMO- Zea Sonnabend

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification- Joe Dickson

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor

o Crops- Jay Feldman

o Livestock- Wendy Fulwider

o Handling- John Foster

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera

o Unfinished business

o New Business

o Adjourn

 

Discussion

• Minutes from the September 14, 2012 call approved with no changes

• Summary from spring 2012 meeting was not approved. Group would like to see transcripts 

instead, as this is what they have approved in the past. Transcripts have not been completed, 

but will be posted when done. 

• Chair's Report - Barry Flamm
o Review/discuss Board Meeting Procedures, including public comment schedule and 

summary. The group discussed eliminating the walk-in comments for the general 

comment session.

o With regard to follow up questions, each board member will get to ask one question 

before the same person asks a second. If they have a follow up question, they should 

request to ask it. The chair noted that asking oral commenters to “finish their thought” 

is not a legitimate question. 

o Group needs to anticipate the extra time needed to call experts. It should be the Chair’s

responsibility to decide how much time, or group could vote about this to overrule the 

chair’s decision. 

o The biodegradable mulch proposal is a complex topic and a member feels we need 

enough time to discuss.

o The group discussed the declaration of Conflicts of Interest and how this will be handled 

at the meeting. 

• Advisory Board Specialist updated the group about meeting logistics

• NOP news and update – Miles McEvoy. MM updated the Board about the 10-year anniversary of 

the Organic regulations as well as the procedures for Conflicts of Interest. 

• SC Reports (5 minutes each).

o GMO- Zea Sonnabend. Workplan was accepted and there are no problems

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification- Joe Dickson. Chair feels that there are no 

issues or problems. 

o Materials- Jennifer Taylor. Workplan was adjusted based on feedback from the NOP. 

o Crops- Jay Feldman. The Chair doesn’t anticipate any problems, but there is a lot of 

technical information about the mulch proposal, and it may take some extra time.

o Livestock- Wendy Fulwider. Workplan was accepted as is, except for the animal welfare 

docs. WF would like to get these completed before her tenure is over. 

o Handling- Workplan is in good shape. “Other ingredients” proposal at Providence should 

elicit good conversation. Anticipating questions/answers about infant formula and the 

conversation could impact what the Subcommittee will take to the Board. 

o Policy Development- Colehour Bondera. Unsure about some workplan items that are 

being moved to different Subcommittees. A question arose about decisive/indecisive 

votes, and the group asked about getting this back on the agenda before the workplans 

are finalized on the next ES call. Will follow up with NOP at a later date. 

o Unfinished business- Memo about aquaculture and plants. Members asked for 

clarification about NOP memo and when it is expected which could affect current 

petitions. 

o New Business – Last executive call for the current Chair.

o Adjourn

FUTURE CALLS

November 9, 2012 1:00pm EDT

December 14, 2012 1:00pm EDT
Milestone Deadline

NOP - “Finalize” tentative agenda August 13, 2012 

Fall 2012 proposals due to NOP August 20, 2012

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment August 27, 2012

Public comment closes September 24, 2012

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB October 1, 2012

Fall 2012 NOSB Meeting – Providence, RI October 15-18, 2012
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting Notes

Friday, November 9, 2012, 1:00 pm EST

Attending: Mac Stone (MS)(2013 Chair), John Foster (JFo) (2013 Vice-chair, Handling Chair),

Jay Feldman (JFe)(Crops Chair), and Colehour Bondera (CBo) (PDS Chair), Zea Sonnabend (ZS) (GMO ad 

hoc Chair, 2013 Materials Chair), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (2012 Materials Chair) 

Absent: Barry Flamm (BF) (2012 Chair), Wendy Fulwider (WF) (2012 Secretary & Livestock Chair), Joe 

Dickson (JD) (CACS Chair), Tracy Favre (TF) (2013 Livestock Chair)

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order - MS

• Approval of Notes - WF/CW

• Chair’s Report - MS

o Subcommittee transition

o Policies and Procedures Manual (PPM) Update

o Feedback from fall 2012 meeting

o Holiday call schedule/critical dates

o Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) ad hoc Subcommittee designees

• Advisory Board Specialist (ABS) update - MA

o Action items that result from the ES call

o Revisions to cover sheet and checklist

• NOP news and update - MM

• Subcommittee Reports (5 minutes each)

o GMO ad hoc- ZS

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification (CACS)- JD

o Materials (MS) - JT

o Crops (CS) - JFe

o Livestock (LS) - WF

o Handling (HS) - JFo

o Policy Development (PDS) - CBo

o Additional Items

o Adjourn

 

Discussion

• Minutes from the October 12, 2012 call have not been approved yet

• Chair’s Report - MS
o Subcommittee transitions will take effect immediately. The group discussed the 

proposed rosters for the 2013 Subcommittees, and noted that some of the 

Subcommittees now have an even number. A member asked about the possibility of 

looking at other Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees to see if 

membership numbers are prescribed. (ABS update: FACA expressly does not govern 

subcommittees, so numbers are not prescribed).

o PPM Update - NOP is making administrative updates, and will forward the document to 

ZS and JFo for further input and edits.

o Feedback from fall 2012 meeting -

 Four minute time limit and the speaker timer were very successful. 

 Delaying the voting to the last day was useful and alleviated concerns that votes 

were too rushed. 

 Having outside experts was very useful and positive, and the Board would like to 

do more of that in the future. A member suggested having the experts give 

short statements prior to the Subcommittee session. 

 Process for speakers, and expectations (i.e. will they read prepared remarks?, 

provide answers to questions ahead of time?, etc.) need to be better defined 

next time. 

o Holiday call schedule/critical dates – MA will move the December 25 calls to December

19, and the January 1, 2013 calls to January 9, 2013

o GMO ad hoc Subcommittee designees – Each Subcommittee should designate a 

member to sit on the GMO ad hoc Subcommittee. 

• Advisory Board Specialist update - MA

o Will add action items to the notes that result from the ES call

o Continuing to make revisions to recommendation coversheet and checklist

• NOP news and update - MM

o Residue Rule was recently published in the Federal Register. 

o Sequestration is a possibility, which includes program budget cuts including travel 

budgets for 2013. 

o Classification of Materials draft guidance is in clearance, and may be published by the 

end of the year. 

o The new NOSB appointee may be announced by the end of the calendar year.

o The NOP is preparing for certifier training in Florida in Mid-January. 

o A member asked about the internal clearance process flowchart, to which MM 

responded that it varies depending on the document. For example, classification of 

materials has a limited clearance process, since it is guidance and doesn’t have 

budgetary impact. 

o A member asked about getting Technical Reviews in time for the February 12 deadline, 

and how realistic it is. According to the NOP it will be tight, but the Subcommittees 

could potentially get some of them. 

• Subcommittee Reports (5 minutes each)
o GMO ad hoc - ZS. The Subcommittee hasn’t met yet, as they were waiting for the new 

roster. Jennifer Taylor will take over as chair immediately.

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification (CACS): The new roster has been set and the 

group will be working on various workplan items for spring 2013.

o Materials (MS) – JT: ZS is taking over as chair, and the group has a very full workplan.

o Crops (CS) – JFe: Exhilarating workplan, including aquaculture, inerts, and sunsets. 

Crops also has a re-petition for Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA). The group is looking forward 

to working on the Biodegradable mulch item. 

o Livestock (LS) - WF: MS relayed the group’s plans for gathering information about

aquaculture, and wanted NOP to recognize the efforts of Scott Updike as the technical 

representative.

o Handling (HS) – JFo: HS has laid out workflow from now until the spring meeting 

deadlines. The Subcommittee has many discussion items for the next 5 to 6 meetings.

o Policy Development (PDS) – CBo: Workplan doesn’t include lots of overwhelming items 

but some of the items need clarification. The group will need to reassign some lead 

people based on the new Subcommittee rosters. The Conflict of Interest proposal that 

wasn’t passed at the last meeting will need to be addressed and updated. JFe asked 

about the Public Communications proposal that didn’t pass, but no new information is 

available at this time. MA will follow up with Jennifer Tucker about this component of 

the failed proposal. (ABS update: The NOP completed initial research into technology 

options that could serve as a public communications platform to facilitate public 

comment to the NOP and the NOSB outside formal meeting comment periods. Given 

that the NOSB did not pass the proposal, NOP has put this research on hold until the 

PDS and NOSB determines how and if it wishes to move ahead with the proposal.)

o Additional Items: The chair asked for feedback about the prep meetings before the 

NOSB meeting, and the overwhelming response was that they are essential, useful, and 

important for all members to get informed about the Subcommittees they are not on. A 

member suggested using the last Executive Subcommittee call before the Board 

meeting as a time for more discussion. The admin team will discuss this idea more.

o The members discussed informed participation and Board member engagement. They 

would like to make sure that everyone is fully engaged and participating on all 

proposals. Some members suggested that it would be useful at the meeting for 

members to state the reason they chose to vote as they did. MS/JFo added that the 

prep meetings helped people solidify their reasons and, as such, perhaps they didn’t feel 

the need to state that during the voting process. The group discussed greater 

transparency with regard to this topic. 

• The Chair adjourned the meeting.

FUTURE CALLS

December 14, 2012 1:00pm EST
January 11, 2013 1:00pm EST

February 8, 2013 1:00pm EST

March 8, 2013 1:00pm EST

Milestone

 

Target date

NOP – Complete tentative agenda February 8, 2013

Spring 2013 proposals due to NOP February 12, 2013

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment February 19, 2013

Public comment closes March 19, 2013

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB March 25, 2013

Spring 2013 NOSB Meeting – Portland, OR April 8-11, 2013
Note: Subcommittee notes may include preliminary discussions regarding substances considered for 

addition to or removal from the National List. They do not represent official National Organic Program 

(NOP) policy or regulations. Please see the NOP website for official NOP policy, regulations, and status of 

substances used in organic production and handling.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) 

Executive Subcommittee (ES) Meeting Notes

Friday, December 14, 2012, 1:00 pm EST

Attending: Mac Stone (MS) (Chair), John Foster (JFo) (Vice-Chair, Handling Chair), Jay Feldman (JFe)

(Crops Chair), and Zea Sonnabend (ZS) (Materials Chair), Joe Dickson (JD) (CACS Chair), Tracy Favre (TF) 

(Livestock Chair), Jennifer Taylor (JT) (GMO ad hoc Chair), Colehour Bondera (CBo) (PDS Chair), Calvin 

Walker (CW) (Secretary)

Absent: None

Staff: Miles McEvoy (MM), Michelle Arsenault (MA)

Agenda

• Call to Order - MS

• Approval of Notes - October 12, 2012 , November 9, 2012 (CW)

• Chair’s Report - MS

o Aquaculture petitions 

o Submission of proposals as they are finished

o Voting at NOSB meeting

o Workplan schedule (see table below)

• Advisory Board Specialist (ABS) update - MA

o Amended call schedule. Calls from Dec 25 (MS, PDS, CACS) moved to Dec 19, calls from 

Jan 1 (HS, CS, LS) moved to Jan 9

o Travel for Spring initiated

o Policy and Procedures Manual (PPM) update. 

o Library access

• NOP news and update - MM

• Subcommittee Reports (5 minutes each)

o Policy Development (PDS) - CBo

o GMO ad hoc- JT

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification (CACS) - JD

o Materials (MS) - ZS

o Crops (CS) - JFe

o Livestock (LS) - TF

o Handling (HS) - JFo

• Additional Items

• Adjourn

 
Discussion

• Notes from October 12 and November 9 meeting approved with no changes

• Chair’s Report – MS

o The Chair feels there is a lack of clarity and understanding with aquaculture petitions so 

he is requesting that the NOSB not rush the process and instead take some time to 

gather more information and get better prepared to discuss the petitions at the fall 

2013 meeting. The members discussed the pros and cons of grouping all of the 

aquaculture petitions into one meeting, acknowledging the fact that some will be more 

complicated than others. The NOP is working on a proposed rule for aquaculture based 

on prior NOSB recommendations. It probably won’t be ready before the spring 2013 

meeting anyway, so delaying would be a good idea. A member asked about organizing a 

webinar prior to the meeting to gather more information. MS asked the LS chair and CS 

chairs to think about how to gather questions and prepare for a webinar. A member 

added that practice standards development should be done first or simultaneously and

advocated for coordinating materials reviews and practice standards to avoid delays in 

reviewing materials. 

o The chair asked that proposals be submitted to the NOP as they are voted on and 

finalized to facilitate quicker review by the NOP prior to the spring meeting.

o Voting at NOSB meeting. The group feels that during the pre-NOSB preparation 

meetings they would like to pre-determine which items can be voted on during the 

meeting and which will be voted on the last day as this would save time during the 

meeting. So, the purpose of the pre-meetings is three-fold: for members to further 

discuss proposals; to serve as a venue for disseminating information about all 

subcommittees to all NOSB members; and to coordinate logistics for the meeting 

including what needs to be voted on when, and what will be projected on the screen for 

discussion. A member voiced a concern that if the pre-meeting is too structured, then 

perhaps notes should be taken. The group also discussed the inclusion of information 

about factors that were used to determine why votes were cast as they were. 

• Advisory Board Specialist (ABS) update – MA

o The ABS updated the members about various logistical issues with regard to call 

schedules, updates to the Policy and Procedures Manual, and access to the National 

Agricultural Library (http://digitop.nal.usda.gov/) for members. MA will ask other NOP 

staff for references about aquaculture and send those to the Board members. The 

timeline below has been updated with dates for workplan development, and MA will 

insert the table into all of the Subcommittee notes.

• NOP news and update – MM

o The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released their schedule for 2013; Phase 1 of 

the milk audit was released in 2012 and Phase 2 should be out soon. The OIG is also 

working on Retail Handling, and the members asked about the timing of the release of 

this, as it has implications for work that the CACS is doing. MM updated the group about 

the budget cuts and noted that this includes a 30% reduction in our travel budget. The 
NOP is considering ways to reduce travel costs for the NOSB meeting, including 

webinars and shortening the meeting. The administrative team will discuss this further 

and come up with some suggestions. The new NOSB appointment will hopefully be 

announced soon. 

• Subcommittee Reports (5 minutes each)

o Policy Development (PDS) - CBo. Reviewing current workplan items and waiting for 

some NOP input about decisive/indecisive votes. Materials/PDS are working jointly on 

the “Update petition and TR review process” and they hope to have it ready for the 

spring meeting. The PDS is revising the Public Communications proposal that was voted 

down at the fall 2012 meeting, and requests its addition to the PDS agenda. The request 

was approved by the ES and will be added to the PDS workplan. A member asked about 

the function of this communication vehicle and the expectations, and the group 

discussed various aspects of such a tool. 

o GMO ad hoc- JT. The Chair announced the new subcommittee members and the 

schedule for calls.

o Compliance, Accreditation, & Certification (CACS) – JD. The CACS is working on two 

items for spring meeting, and waiting for more information about the OIG report 

regarding Retail Handling, since they are currently working on an item that could be 

impacted but this. 

o Materials (MS) - ZS. The MS is proceeding with work on several projects including 

Confidential Business Information, an update of petition process, and definition of 

production aids. The Chair reminded everyone about collecting research priorities topics 

for the fall 2013 meeting. 

o Crops (CS) - JFe. The CS is reviewing many aquaculture petitions. They also expect to 

receive a Streptomycin petition, and are working on tetracycline. The group has asked 

for abbreviated TR’s for some TRs so they can move forward with reviews.

o Livestock (LS) - TF. The Livestock Workplan contains many aquaculture petitions. The 

group is also working on methionine and several other items. 

o Handling (HS) - JFo. Discussions are going well and the HS will be voting soon on a 

couple of items such as the fibers and sulfuric acid. Gibberellic acid will be delayed to a 

later meeting because the group is sending some additional questions back to the 

petitioner.

• No additional items were discussed

• The meeting was adjourned by the Chair

FUTURE CALLS

January 11, 2013 1:00pm EST

February 8, 2013 1:00pm EST

March 8, 2013 1:00pm EST

March 29, 2013 1:00 EST (last call before spring meeting)
Spring 2013 Milestones Target date

NOP – Complete tentative agenda February 8, 2013

Spring 2013 proposals due to NOP February 12, 2013

NOP - Post proposals, Publish FRN, Open public comment February 19, 2013

Subcommittees submit tentative workplans to NOP March 1, 2013

Discuss workplans on ES call March 8, 2013

NOP provides written comments on workplans to NOSB March 11, 2013

Public comment closes March 19, 2013

NOP - Send compiled public comments to NOSB March 25, 2013

Workplans finalized on ES call March 29, 2013

Spring 2013 NOSB Meeting – Portland, OR April 8-11, 2013