The Vulnerabilities of Program Design: How Competition between Certifying Agents Affects Standards Stringency under the USDA’s National Organic Program

• In Event: Governments in the Provision of Environmental Information

Brief Overview

Using a unique enforcement records dataset, accessed via the Freedom of Information Act and compiled through extensive coding, this paper examines enforcement disparities among 80 certifiers that oversee organic standards compliance in the U.S.

Authors

• David Paul Carter, University of Utah

• Seth Wright, University of Utah

• Ian Adams, University of Utah

• Tyler Andrew Scott, University of California, Davis