Center of Organic Farming - COF

The Center of Organic Farming (COF) is anchored within the Uttarakhand Organic Board (UOCB) umbrella. Conceptually the center is an independent entity but as the UOCB was also established around the same time, the administrative functions of the COF are operated from the UOCB administrative unit itself.

COF in relevance with the UOCB

COF was initially conceived and sanctioned by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust ( SRTT) in May 2003, and came into existence in July 2003. (COF is a deemed center of excellence in the making and is meant to provide technical assistance to those critical areas in the on-going organic initiative of the State of Uttarakhand, which are being presently provided through State departments.) These areas of support are primarily in the form of technical expertise and human resource.

Organic agriculture in the State is an organized and innovative approach to rejuvenate hill agriculture. Several state programs have been dedicated towards organic farming through technology demonstrations and models creations. As the organic regime is entirely an alternative system, all support systems like production protocols, delivery mechanisms, guarantee systems, product development, market initiatives and consumer reach all needed alternative software in many areas along with alternative hardware.

The UOCB as discussed earlier was established to provide the above mentioned alternative systems along with coordinating the different on-going organic programs in the state.