COTA Vision
The Canada Organic Trade Association envisions organic products becoming a significant part of everyday life, enhancing people's lives and the environment. Through our leadership and collaboration, COTA provides a strong voice for organic in Canada.
COTA Mission and Statement of Principle
Visit COTA's new Shopify store to access our public and paid reports!
Who We Are and What We Do
Government relations & regulatory affairs
As a registered lobbyist organization, COTA has created ongoing relationships with the legislators that make the decisions that affect our sector. COTA is the recognized face of organics at the House of Commons, and the now well-known Parliament Day allows COTA to bring both worlds together.
State of Organics: Federal-Provincial-Territorial Performance Report 2017 / État du secteur des produits biologiques: rapport federal-provincial-territorial sur le rendement 2017 (July/Juillet 2017)
Organic Industry Comments on the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (April 2017)
Recommendations for the Next Agricultural Policy Framework (November 2016).
Research & market analysis
COTA’s research program works to provide in-depth background information and analysis on various segments of the Canadian organic sector. COTA collects data on organic acreage and on the number of organic producers in the country, while collaborating with industry leaders on an ad hoc basis to assess critical organic issues and respond to the sector’s priorities.
Recent releases:
Canadian Organic Market Report: Trends and Opportunities (November 2017)
Organic Agriculture in the Prairies (June 2017)
Organic Agriculture in Canada - by the Numbers (March 2017)
Consumer education
COTA conducts ongoing research on a variety of issues relevant to the sector, such as the organic marketplace, seeds, etc. This research is focused on building the sector’s capacity for access to reliable data. Solid data is critical to guiding organic policy-making and planning for long-term domestic and international strategies.
COTA also coordinates the National Organic Week and helps manage the Choose Canada Organic campaign. Additionally, COTA maintains an active Canadian media presence, promoting the organic sector, educating the public and protecting organic product integrity.
Global market opportunities & export development
COTA, with assistance from Agriculture and AgriFoods Canada, has developed an international marketing strategy to promote the growth of Canada’s organic sector. COTA has focused on export marketing, trade show participation, market intelligence and trade missions.
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