The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Agricultural product - Any agricultural commodity or product, whether raw or processed, including any commodity or product derived from livestock that is marketed in the United States.
2. (2) Aquaculture Stock - Fish, shellfish or other aquatic animals produced for meat, eggs or other products.
3. (3) Allelopathic - The ability of a plant species to produce substances that are toxic to certain other plants.
4. (4) Annual crop - A crop which reaches maturity during a specific seasonal growing period and is harvested at maturity.
5. (5) Biological control - The use of parasites, predators, or pathogens to suppress pest populations.
6. (6) Botanical pesticides - Natural pesticides derived from plants.
7. (7) Breeder stock - Animals used for reproduction, to produce organic progeny.
8. (8) Certified organic farm - A farm, or portion of a farm, or site where agricultural products or livestock are produced, that is certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture (the department) or an organic certifying agent, as utilizing a system of organic farming as described by these rules.
9. (9) Code - The Texas Agriculture Code.
10. (10) Commingled - Mixed or interspersed with other food or fiber.
11. (11) Contaminated - As applied to organic food or fiber, unfit for use because of the presence of toxic, synthetic, or other prohibited substances, or as applied to irrigation water or soil, unfit for use because of presence in the resulting crop of toxic, synthetic, or other prohibited substances, in excess of tolerances established in this chapter.
12. (12) Cover crop - A crop planted primarily to prevent soil erosion, recover nutrients from the subsoil, increase water infiltration, and increase the levels of nitrogen and organic matter in the soil.
13. (13) Dairy stock - An animal or animals raised for milk or milk products.
14. (14) Department or TDA - The Texas Department of Agriculture.
15. (15) Distributor - A person who is engaged in the business of selling food or fiber for resale, including, but not limited to, a wholesaler, broker, packer, repacker, shipper, or agent.
16. (16) Farm - All agricultural land that is leased, owned, or otherwise held by and under the management of a certified producer or applicant for certification.
17. (17) Farm plan - All documents relevant to the previous three years', current, and future management of an organic farm, including, but not limited to, written plans to rotate crops, build humus, and stabilize soil nutrients.
18. (18) Fiber stock - An animal or animals raised for fiber production, such as wool or mohair.
19. (19) Field - A clearly demarcated, contiguous tract of agricultural land leased, owned, or otherwise held by and under the management of a certified producer or applicant for certification.
20. (20) FSA - United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency which includes the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farmers Home Administration (FMHA).
21. (21) Green manure crop - A cover crop or other crop planted primarily to be plowed under to increase soil tilth and fertility.
22. (22) Handle - To sell, process or package agricultural products.
23. (23) Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point or HACCP - A system designed to eliminate the potential of contamination and commingling of food and/or fiber products during handling and processing.
24. (24) Ingredient information panel - An ingredient statement which shall appear on the principal display panel or information panel listing the ingredients contained in the product in descending order of predominance.
25. (25) Livestock - Cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, equine animals used for food or fiber, fish, or other aquatic animals used for food, or wild or domesticated game.
26. (26) Livestock production unit - A production system that includes animals and all related inputs and production practices, such as feed sources and feed storage, stock sources, water quality, shelter, land, disease-control methods, living conditions, stress management practices, and control of all associated processing and handling facilities, as applicable.
27. (27) Logo - The copyrighted "Texas Department of Agriculture Certified Organically Produced" and "Texas Department of Agriculture Transitional-Organic Certification Pending" logotypes.
28. (28) Low ecological profile - As applied to a soil-, crop-, or pest management practice, a practice that has a low degree of or no adverse effects on human health or the environment.
29. (29) Manuring - The application to soil of the excreta of agricultural animals, including stable litter and paunch wastes, to increase tilth and fertility.
30. (30) Material use records - Records required by the department or an organic certifying agent regarding the use of materials listed as allowed or allowed with restrictions, which have been used for production, processing, or handling of certified food or fiber.
31. (31) National list - A list of substances categorized as allowed or prohibited for organic crop or livestock production inputs, processing ingredients and aids, and handling materials as provided under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
32. (32) Organic certifying agent - An organic certification organization, or a person registered under this chapter.
33. (33) Organic farming - A system of ecological soil management that relies on building humus levels through crop rotations, recycling organic wastes, and applying balanced mineral amendments and that uses, when necessary, mechanical, botanical, or biological controls with minimum adverse effects on health and the environment.
34. (34) Organic fiber - Fiber that is produced under a system of organic farming and that is processed, packaged, transported and stored so as to maintain segregation and prevention of contamination from other fiber and from synthetic pesticides, prohibited defoliants and/or desiccants.
35. (35) Organic food - Food for human or livestock consumption that is produced under a system of organic farming and that is processed, packaged, transported and stored so as to retain maximum nutritional value without the use of artificial preservatives, coloring or other additives, ionizing radiation, or prohibited materials.
36. (36) Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 or OFPA - The national organic standards, 7 United States Code §6501, et seq., under the authority of the United States Department of Agriculture.
37. (37) Organically produced - An agricultural product that is produced, handled or processed in accordance with these rules.
38. (38) Participant - A producer, processor, retail store or distributor location certified to use the "Texas Department of Agriculture Certified Organically Produced" logo and/or the "Texas Department of Agriculture Transitional-Organic Certification Pending" logo.
39. (39) Pasture - Land that is managed in a sustainable manner to provide forage for grazing livestock.
40. (40) Person - Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization.
41. (41) Pesticide - A substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest, or any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.
42. (42) Pheromone - A substance that is secreted by an organism to the outside and that causes a specific reaction in a receiving organism of the same species.
43. (43) Poultry stock - Domesticated birds raised to produce meat, eggs or other products.
44. (44) Principal display panel - A part of the label most likely to be seen by the consumer at retail sale bearing the declaration of net quantity of contents and statement of identity.
45. (45) Processing - Cooking, baking, heating, drying, mixing, grinding, churning, separating, extracting, cutting, fermenting, eviscerating, preserving, dehydrating, freezing, or otherwise manufacturing, including the packaging, canning, jarring, or otherwise enclosing of food in a container. Fiber processing includes fiber opening, blending, cleaning, combing, garneting, compacting, drying, bonding, scouring, bleaching, bio-polishing, color brightening, softening, webbing, stitching, knitting, wefting, laydown, carding, hackling, drawing, lapping, gilling, roving, winding, spinning, plying, wrapping, creeling, warping, slashing, weaving, sanforizing, calendering, tentering, finishing, napping, sueding, brushing, or dyeing.
46. (46) Processor - A person who is engaged in the business of manufacturing raw agricultural commodities into food or fiber products.
47. (47) Producer - A person who is engaged in the business of growing or producing food or fiber.
48. (48) Propagation materials - Plant materials including seeds, transplants, cuttings, layerings, bulbs, tubers, slips, crowns, offsets, grafts, buddings, and root stocks or other plant materials used to cultivate plants.
49. (49) Raw manure - Agricultural animals' excrement, both solid and liquid, that has not been aged, aerated, composted, fermented, aerobically digested, or otherwise humified or processed in such a way as to improve its value as a biological activator.
50. (50) Retailer - A person, other than the operator of a restaurant, who is engaged in the business of selling certified food or fiber at retail to its ultimate consumer.
51. (51) Slaughter stock - An animal or animals raised for meat or meat products.
52. (52) Synthetic - A substance that is formulated or manufactured by a chemical process or by a process that chemically changes a substance extracted from naturally occurring plant, animal, or mineral sources, except that such term shall not apply to substances created by naturally occurring biological processes.
53. (53) Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Materials List - A list of substances categorized as allowed, allowed with restrictions, or prohibited for organic crop or livestock production inputs, processing ingredients, and aids, and handling materials as provided under these rules or the OFPA.
54. (54) Transitional period - A period of 36 months from the last date of application of a prohibited material during which a farm or field unit may be certified as Transitional-Organic Certification Pending. Products so certified are permitted to be sold as Transitional following 12 months from the last date of an application of a prohibited material.
55. (55) Vaccine - A diluted suspension of killed, attenuated or live microorganisms, such as viruses or bacteria, incapable of inducing severe infection, but capable of counteracting a disease-causing organism by stimulating the immune system of an animal.

Source Note:The provisions of this §18.1 adopted to be effective June 7, 1994, 19 TexReg 4009; amended to be effective June 22, 2000, 25 TexReg 5886.