acaDEMY LIVE!

September 29-30, 2025

Fairfield Inns and Suites, Albany, NY

 

Cost to attend: $400, includes daily breakfast, snacks, and lunch on Day 1

Click here to book your room: Fairfield Inn and Suites, Albany, NY

Agenda – subject to change

Day 1

8:30-9am – Registration

9-10:30am – Using Risk Assessment to Improve Inspection and Certification Review Part I – Marni Karlin and Rachel Myers

Verifying compliance with the organic regulations is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Using a risk-based approach (assessing the risk to organic integrity of operations and situations, and then using that assessment to inform compliance verification procedures) will benefit the entire system – it will maximize the use of certification and inspection resources and talent, minimize unnecessary burdens on operations, and enable resources to be put toward areas where there is higher risk of compromise to organic integrity. Join us as we present ACA’s new risk-based certification tools, and work through how they can improve the work of inspectors, reviewers, and certification generally.

10:30-10:45am – Break

10:45-11:45am – Wading Through Organic Sea Vegetable Certification – John Welton, MOFGA

Sea vegetables make up a unique niche in the world USDA organic production, spanning the crop, wild crop, and processing/handling scopes as well as thousands of acres of coastline. In this session, we’ll tread the murky waters of sea vegetable certification through a risk-based lens. Using experiences from the coast of Maine, we’ll cover the regulatory history of organic sea vegetable production, common end uses, and active certifier guidelines used to determine compliance in the absence of NOP standards. Insights will be shared from a recent TOPP collaboration on the National Alignment of Farmed Seaweed Organic Certification Protocols and Guidelines that focused on consistency and compliance when reviewing cultivated sea vegetables and seeded spool nursery production.

11:45am-12:45pm – Lunch provided by ACA

12:45-1:45pm – Organic Maple Guidelines – Ensuring Forest Management Meets Organic Principles – Steve Hagenbuch (Conservation Biologist, Audubon VT), Nicole Dehne (VOF Director), from Vermont Organic Farmers, LLC

In 2008, 2% of the U.S. maple syrup crop was certified organic. In 2019, that number more than doubled to 59% (USDA NASS 2021). This number continues to grow however, there are no National Organic Program standards specific to maple production. This means that certifiers have developed their own guidelines for certification. These guidelines vary dramatically, especially in regards to verifying sugarbush management. This workshop is an opportunity to discuss the importance and challenges of verifying forest management as part of organic maple syrup production. Topics for discussion include tapping guidelines, biodiversity management and protecting natural resources.

1:45-2:45pm – Livestock Traceability – How do we ensure integrity in the supply chain and how do we work together efficiently and effectively to verify slaughter status – Kyla Parmelee (Certification Specialist & Livestock Lead), Nicole Dehne (VOF Director), from Vermont Organic Farmers, LLC

The Origin of Livestock regulations added another layer of complexity to verifying livestock purchases. Currently, certifiers must verify that organic producers are buying organic animals that qualify for organic slaughter status and ensure that they are not purchasing transitioned animals. In the Northeast, certifiers are using different approaches to verify and document this information. Requests between certifiers to verify slaughter status is common. This workshop will examine the various approaches being used and facilitate a discussion to explore potential efficiencies, encouraging a consistent approach among certifiers.

2:45-3pm – Break

3-4:30pm – Using Risk Assessment to Improve Inspection and Certification Review: Part II – Marni Karlin and Rachel Myers

Day 2

9am-10am – Mass Balance and Tracebacks – Rachel Myers

10am-1pm – possible NOP content