News | Organic Council of Ontario

We're Hiring: Membership Outreach & Events Coordinator

Location: Toronto or Guelph, Ontario Compensation: 10 month contract, Hours negotiable Total Contract: $18,000 Location: Open to candidates who can work from Guelph or Toronto. Our Guelph office is shared with the Ecological...

We're Hiring: Policy and Research Co-ordinator

An Investment in Organic Should be Part of Ontario's Climate Change Action Plan

Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan 2016 - 2020 identifies a number of ways Ontario’s agricultural sector can aid climate change mitigation efforts. Among the methods listed are many actions that would be supported by a...

Food-on-Food Pest Control Exemptions

The Organic Value Chain Roundtable (OVCRT) has been working towards getting an exemption for products used for managing disease, insects or weeds, made from products you can eat. Essentially, it is using “food-on-food” ingredients for...

Organic Consultants List Now Available

In response to a demand for advice, information and expertise on organic certification and inspection from businesses interested in transitioning to organic, the Organic Council of Ontario has posted a list of Organic Consultants...

Ontario Organic Survey Looks at Barriers to Expansion

This week, even more coverage from John Greig of OrganicBIZ on OCO’s Carolyn Young’s report on her recent work, surveying the entire agricultural sector on its attitude toward organic. Greig summarizes some of the key early...

Looking at the Future of Organic Regulation

After attending our AGM on Mar. 31st, John Greig of OrganicBIZ provided a nice summary of points brought forward by OCO members and key stakeholders regarding the topic of organic regulation in Ontario. Quoted in the article are Seb...

Members Learn, Connect, and Feast at OCO's 2017 AGM

We were happy to welcome a variety of members, old and new, to our 2017 AGM in Guelph this past Friday. Not only did we learn a lot from guest speaker Brent Preston of the New Farm, OCO’s Carolyn Young, and our speaker panel on...

Is Organic the Persevering Tortoise?

Organic crop yields may currently be lower, but this expert says with research, they can still outpace conventional in the long run. by Ralph Martin, Ph.D., P.Ag., Professor, University of Guelph. The review paper by Verena Seufert...

OCO Partners with COG to offer Organic Success Program in SE Ontario

As part of a NEW partnership between OCO and COG, we’re now offering Southwestern Ontario’s first Introduction to Organic Certification workshop, which will be held in Guelph on Apr. 1st, 2017 (9am to 3pm, $40, lunch...

Farm Credit Canada: Organic Agriculture is Hitting Its Stride Again

In its most recent E-News, Farm Credit Canada includes commentary from OCO’s Mar. 6th post on what COTA’s recent Organic Agriculture in Canada: By the Numbers means for Ontario. Of particular note is the fact that although...

Proposed Bylaw Changes for OCO's 2017 AGM

The board of directors has proposed several new amendments to OCO’s existing set of organizational by-laws. These are primarily concerned with board make-up. Through these changes, the board seeks to ensure that its make-up is more...