Acronyms For the Organic Sector

An acronym is an abbreviation formed using the initial components in a phrase or name. Government is often accused of having lots of acronyms but most sectors have their share. Here are a few of the ones I use.

OMAFRA - Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (www.ontario.ca/omafra)

AAFC - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(http://www.agr.gc.ca/index_e.php)

OVCRT - Organic Value Chain Round Table (http://www.ats.agr.gc.ca/value_chain_roundtables/organic_e.htm)

OCO - Organic Council of Ontario (www.organiccouncil.ca)

COG - Canadian Organic Growers (http://www.cog.ca)

EFAO - Ecological Farmers of Ontario (www.efao.ca)

OACC - Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada
(http://www.oacc.info/)

ECOA - Expert Committee on Organic Agriculture (http://www.oacc.info/ResearchDatabase/res_priorities08.asp)

OFC - Organic Federation of Canada (www.organicfederation.ca)

COS - Canada Organic Standard

CGSB - Canadian General Standards Board
(www.ongc-cgsb.gc.ca)

SCC - Standards Council of Canada (www.scc.ca)

CFIA - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/toce.shtml)

COO - Canada Organic Office

COR - Canada Organic Regulation
(http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/orgbio/orgbioe.shtml)

OCPP - Organic Crop Producers and Processors, now known as Pro-Cert Canada or OC/PRO Canada
(http://www.ocpro.ca/)

Ecocert - EcoCert Canada
(http://www.ecocertcanada.com/eng/index_eng.html)

QAI - Quality Assurance International
(http://www.qai-inc.com)

OCIA - Organic Crop Improvement Association
(http://www.ocia.org/)

CSI - Centre for Systems Integration -
(http://www.csi-ics.com/)

SBDFG - Society for Biodynamic Farming & Gardening (www.biodynamics.on.ca/ or
http://www.biodynamics.com/)

IOIA - Independent Organic Inspectors Association (http://www.ioia.net/)

OMRI - Organic Materials Review Institute
(http://www.omri.org/)

NOP - U. S. A. Dept. of Agriculture National Organic Program (http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/)

CHFA - Canadian Health Food Association
(http://www.chfa.ca/)

OTA - Organic Trade Association of North America (http://www.ota.com)

SARE - Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (http://www.sare.org/)

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service formerly known as the "Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas" project
(http://www.attra.ncat.org/)

The List of Agriculture, Food and Rural Organizations in Ontario provides a list of acronyms for most of the other organizations in Ontario http://apps.omafra.gov.on.ca/scripts/english/rural/thelist/default.asp

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