In a recent press release ECOCERT, a French based certification body, has announced that it has acquired Indiana Certified Organic (ICO), a US certification body operating in the US and US Virgin Islands. ECOCERT explain that the transaction is key to its strategy in developing its North American business plan with well-established local partners in the USA. The acquisition of ICO brings over 300 additional US clients to the ECOCERT Group.

Informal discussions between ECOCERT and ICO started in 2009, and the formal process was initiated in July 2010 and completed on 28 January 2011.

Commenting on the acquisition, former ICO CEO, Cecilia Bowman noted, ‘ECOCERT was a natural choice as we share the same values and commitment to organic farmers and handlers.’ ECOCERT CEO, William Vidal, agreed, saying ‘We are proud to have ICO within the ECOCERT Group. It will strengthen our commitment to the organic sector’.

Source: ECOCERT press release, 20 September 2011.

A progress report

Significant progress was made during the third face-to-face meeting in June of the multi-stakeholder Standards Committee.  The 58-member Standards Committee is working to develop an American National Standard for Sustainable Agriculture under the rules of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Committee consists of a skilled, diverse membership representing a broad range of perspectives from across all areas of agriculture, including commodity producers; speciality crop producers; agricultural product processors and distributors; food retailers; environmental, labour, and development organisations; NGOs; industry trade associations; government representatives; academics; regulators and certifiers. There is also a good balance of representatives of organic and alternative agriculture-oriented organisations and businesses with respect to those from a more conventional-industrial agriculture perspective. Organic-oriented Committee members include two NOSB (National Organic Standards Board) members, non-profits organisations such as the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA) and International Labor Rights Forum, businesses such as Organic Valley and Whole Foods, and consultants such as Wolf + DiMatteo & Associates.