USDA announces partnership with South Korea

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the United States and the Republic of Korea formed a partnership that will recognize the two countries' organic programs as equivalent for processed organic products and streamline access to each other's markets.

According to U.S. industry estimates, the United States exported approximately $35 million of processed organic products to Korea in 2013. The National Organic Program, part of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, has helped farmers and businesses create an industry that today encompasses over 18,000 organic businesses in the United States and accounts for $35 billion annually in U.S. retail sales.

"Under this administration, USDA has worked aggressively to expand markets for American organic products around the world," said Anne Alonzo, agricultural marketing service administrator. "Opening the Korean organic market to American producers will benefit the thriving organic sector and create opportunities across the organic supply chain and in rural communities."