Certification Principals

The National Standard for Organic and BioDynamic Produce requires a conversion period of at least three consecutive years of organic farming. That means there is a period of at least three years of growing according to the organic standards before the Organic label can be attached to produce.

One or two years of organic conversion may, in some circumstances, be completed before joining the certification program. The Certifier will usually demand that growers remain at ‘Conversion’ level for at least two years, unless they have very good documented evidence of their previous farming practices.

In any case, the first year of membership of the certification program is called pre-certification (or pre-cert) and during this year the grower may not use any certification label. The grower will receive at least two farm inspections during pre-cert. Inspections include looking at records of purchase and use of all inputs such as fertilizers, permitted pesticides and cleaning products. After a twelve-month pre-cert period the grower may use a ‘Conversion to Organic' label.

The 'Organic’ label may not be applied until the growing system has shown compliance with the Standards for at least 36 months.

 Certification Process Flow Chart (64.98 kB)