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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE
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New U.S. Organic Cotton Organization
July 29, 1994
Representatives from every sector of the U.S. cotton
industry -- from growers to post-harvest processors,
environmental organizations to agricultural labor -- came
together in June at a historic meeting, the result of which
was the formation of a new industry group, the National
Organic Cotton Association (NOCA). In addition to being the
only group to represent the growing organic cotton industry,
NOCA is the first national agricultural industry organization
to formally include non-farm environmental leaders in its
national leadership. This effort constitutes a major step
toward getting diverse and sometimes competing constituencies
to collaborate, and is the culmination of several years of
work by CIRS Rural Toxics Project Director Will Allen.
Though there were a few tense moments, a spirit of
compromise and cooperation prevailed among these different
sectors who, in the past, have sometimes been at odds with
one another. For the first time, groups as disparate as
growers from California and Texas, manufacturers such as
Esprit and Patagonia, unions such as Teamsters Local 890 and
the United Farm Workers, and environmentalists were able to
transcend their differences and forge an alliance that
reflects the true face of the organic cotton industry.
At the conference, held June 25 and 26 in Albuquerque,
an interim board of directors was elected, with six members
representing growers and agriculture, six members from the
post-harvest side of the industry, and a single at-large
member representing a non-farm environmental organization. A
major accomplishment was the appointment of a national public
advisory board which will assist the organization by
providing policy recommendations. The board will also help
with the important task of informing the general public about
organic cotton.
NOCA also formed four member committees -- marketing,
certification/standards, administration, and vision -- which
convened meetings to develop specific work plans and elect
chairpersons. The vision committee is unusual in that it
addresses labor issues, as well as long-term planning and
research direction. Finally, NOCA assumed responsibility for
the next National Transitional Organic Cotton Conference,
although no date has been set.
The next NOCA general membership meeting will be held at
the Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 4-7, 1995, in San
Antonio, Texas. For more information about NOCA, please
contact Rene Robin, interim executive director, at (510)
649-1962.
Source: Rural California Report, Summer 1994.
Contact: Don Villarejo, California Insitute for Rural
Studies, Box 2143, Davis, CA 95617; phone (916) 756-6555; fax
(916) 756-7429.
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The Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS) is a
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