I can assist you with:

• The setup and/or management of your organic program.
  
• Growing/Production
  
• Processing/Handling
  
• Packing/Co-Packing
  
• Shipping
  
• Sales
  
• Preparation of:
  • Responses
    
  • Review letters/compliance reports
    
  • Notices of suspension
    
  • Appeals
    
  • Mediations and settlements

Having worked both as a reviewer for Certification companies, and as an inspector for 28 years, makes Christie Organic Consulting uniquely qualified to assist you with all things organic.  If you are new to organics and need an application and training, or need responses to complex issues, mediations or appeals, I can help.  I can assist with your organic certification for the smallest farms to the most complex multi-ingredient processing and packing operations.  I am well versed in the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) regulations, and international standards such as Canada, Mexico, and the EU.  I can do trainings and pre-inspection audits for you and your staff and make required updates to organic systems plans or create new ones. My experience as a paralegal for 16 years, as an organic farmer for 12 years, and as reviewer and inspector for 16 years, gives me the qualifications necessary to prepare for mediation and appeals with a positive outcome. I am located in San Diego; however, I can travel anywhere (Zoom meetings can be a wonderful and money-saving tool as well).  Please give me a call to discuss your needs.

Christie Organic Consulting is the culmination of my lifelong love affair with all things organic.  My mother introduced me to the organic methods of Rudolf Steiner (founder of biodynamic agriculture, one of the first forms of modern organic farming) and J.J. Rodale (founder of organic farming in 1940).  As a young girl, and my family always maintained several acres of organic gardens and an avocado grove.  There were always a variety of sprouts growing in the kitchen windowsill.  We had an entire area in the backyard dedicated to the worm bed and it was my job to feed the worms…. well, and the dog.  Later in life, working as a paralegal for 16 years, I decided to give up the 9 to 5 grind and opted instead for the 18 hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week lifestyle of a farmer in Baja California, Mexico.  The herb farm, Fiesta Farms, which was located near the Guadalupe Valley, just north of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, became renowned for its high quality medicinal and culinary herbs, as well as the beautiful decorative items and wreaths, which were manufactured on-site (most were exported to the US).  In the early days of the herb farm, the word “organic” was just that – a word, on whose meaning very few people could agree, and which the government had little to no interest.  That was just fine with me, because, as a passionate counter-culture farmer, I was against the government having any control over the way I farmed (okay, maybe that goes back to my hippie days…).  However, in retrospect, I realized the need for more oversight.

Fast-forward to today, the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), now governs every aspect of the organic industry in the US (it can also be implemented in Mexico).  Instituted in 2002, it is a complex set of regulations that dictates what can and cannot be done during every step of the certification process, from seed to sales, for produce or a product to be labeled as USDA certified organic.

In the years since leaving the farm, I have devoted myself to learning everything I can about organics (please see my Curriculum Vitae/CV).  Having worked for major organic certification agencies as an inspector, reviewer and certification representative with the smallest farms to the most complex multi-ingredient processing and packing operations, I have seen it all, making me uniquely qualified to assist you with all things organic.

From the time the seed goes into the ground until the products are harvested, processed, packed, shipped and sold, Christie Organic Consulting will ensure that your Organic System Plans and documentation are in compliance with the USDA National Organic Program, as well as any international standards such as Canada, Mexico and the EU that you may need.