The United States and Canada have agreed to accept each other's standards for organic food, expanding trade opportunities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Wednesday. “Today's agreement between the world's two largest organic trading partners is an important first step toward global harmonization of organic standards,” Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said in a statement. The agreement will mean organic farmers and food processors certified by either the USDA or the Canada Organic Product Regulation can market their food with organic labels in both countries without having to go through a second certification process, Merrigan said. The U.S. organic-food market was worth $24.6 billion in 2008, the USDA said, up from $3.6 billion in 2007. Canadians buy $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion worth of organic food, about 80 percent of which is imported. About 75 percent of those imports come from the United States, the USDA said.
