News Flash, May 21st, 2020
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Join Us for Organic Week 2020!
This year, Organic Week is celebrating it's 11th anniversary! From September 7th-13th, join Canada's largest national event by becoming a 2020 sponsor and help Canada celebrate organic food, farming, and our front line workers!
We recognize the uncertain times we are facing in light of the ongoing global pandemic, and that planning ahead is especially difficult right now. That's why we have made every effort to adapt the Organic Week campaign into one that is appropriate no matter the circumstances that September brings with it.
The 2020 Campaign is designed to offer you a variety of digital assets to use for advertisements and mechanizing, both in-store and online, custom e-signatures, banner ads, posters, social media graphics, as well as opportunities to bolster your social media visibility. We encourage you to take a look at what this year's campaign hast to offer!
To become an Organic Week sponsor, please review the Sponsorship Benefits Package and submit the completed Sponsor Commitment Form to Karen Squires by May 31st, 2020.
Let's work together to deepen public trust of organic in Canada and encourage healthy, sustainable living!
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Organic Week Sponsorship: Globe & Mail
As part of COTA’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the evolving world of organic food and this growing sector, we are, once again, working in co-operation with The Globe and Mail to produce a special national feature that will appear in The Globe and Mail and The Globe and Mail online.
Special COTA packages are available. Click here to read more about these specialized opportunities.
For more details on the special incentivized COTA package, contact Richard Deacon.
Deadline to get involved: July 17th, 2019
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COTA Membership Renewal
Dear COTA Members:
Shortly, you will be receiving your membership renewal letter for 2020 and we understand this is a challenging environment we are all navigating but let’s continue to build upon our successes –now more than ever! Thank you for the great work and extra efforts required to get through this pandemic and we look forward to hearing from you in the coming weeks.
At COTA, we continue to work on your behalf and communicate all government updates, regulatory affairs, research and consumer campaigns such as Organic Week. While some of these programs undergo shifts and changes, we continue to liaise with industry, government and consumers to ensure we are providing you with up to date information. Stay tuned as we continue to update trade shows next month for 2020/2021.
Once you receive your Membership Renewal Letter and Invoice, we ask that you please liaise with Karen Squires should you require any specific payment options. Communications will be important to ensure everyone continues to benefit from membership with COTA and we are here to support our valued members.
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Canadian Standards Interpretation Committee Consultation
Comments are being sought on the topics below for the period between May 1 - May 30, 2020:
- If an owner owns two operations, where one is organic and the otherconventional, does 5.1.3 and 5.1.4 apply to the non-organic operation?
- Regarding the 'vegetable matter' element in requirement for poultry and pork (6.4.3 j)
- Can hydrogen peroxide that is used to treat drinking water for humans but is not necessarily rated 'food-grade' be used to treat livestock drinking water? The hydrogen peroxide annotation in PSL table 5.3 stipulates "food-grade" is required.
Click here to view the proposed answers raised by organic stakeholders regarding the National Standards for Organic Agriculture. All questions can be directed here.
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How the Pandemic Has Laid Bare Food Insecurity
A lot of things are hard to take for granted after two months of pandemic — and one of them is food: what we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it. It's also laid bare how intricate, interwoven and vulnerable to disruption and sudden change our food systems are. COTA Member, Food Secure Canada (FSC) discusses how the pandemic has revealed the weaknesses of our food systems, on both global and national levels.
The episode is available here. The FSC Interview with CBC Sunday edition commences at 1h15.
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WEBINAR: COVID-19; Manage your cash flow and ramp up for business
Export Development Canada (EDC), in partnership with Business Development Canada (BDC) is hosting a Webinar entitled COVID-19: Manage your cash flow and ramp up for business.
The webinar will take place on Thursday, May 28, 2020, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET & will cover:
- Cash flow and its link to business success
- Why forecasting is helpful and tips on how to do it
- How to conserve and manage your company’s cash flow for business survival
- The role of financing and loans to increase cash flow
- How insurance can protect your cash flow and reduce business risk
You can register for the webinar here.
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Moms Across America Interview with Marise May from Cha's Organics
Listen in to Marise May from Cha's Organics interview with Mom's Across America Gold Standard as she provides some insights on her business model for producing high quality products such as coconut milk and spices to support moms, the community, and overall health. Marise and her husband Cha from Sri Lanka have a diverse background in the food industry supported by education in nutrition science. Armed with this unique combination, they have set out to raise the bar on standards in the food system. This interview provides a snapshot of their journey and shares details of how she keeps integrity and health quality as her guiding light.
You can listen to Marise's full interview here.
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Food Secure Canada Launches Action Plan for Food System Renewal
On Thursday, May 14th, Food Secure Canada (FSC) published a policy action plan for renewing the country’s food system in response to Covid-19. The pandemic is magnifying the structural inequalities in our food systems, the insufficiencies of our social protection programs, and the challenges with the dominant food supply chains. Food insecurity in Canada is expected to double from the most recent statistics of 4.4 million people, before the end of the year.
Read the full action plan from FSC here.
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Great news for the European Organic Farming!
Today, it was announced that the European Commission has accepted the new targets set by the From Farm to Fork strategy and EU Biodiversity, which is part of the priorities under the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. One of the ambitious goals is to achieve by 2030 25% organic land on Europe's total agricultural area!
The European Commission will act to :
- Reduce the use and risks of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030
- Reduce the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50% by 2030
- Decrease nutrient losses by at least 50% without deteriorating soil fertility
- Reduce fertilizer use by at least 20% by 2030
- Reduce the sale of antimicrobials for farmed animals and aquaculture by 50% by 2030
- Reaching 25% of the total European agricultural area as organic land by 2030
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