Do I have to be certified?

You don’t have to be certified to gain the on-farm benefits of organic farming. Organic techniques can be used exclusively, or in combination with some non-organic approaches, to improve the overall sustainability of growing systems.

Certification is generally required before most specialist organic wholesalers and large organic stores or supermarkets will sell produce as organic. Organic outlets sometimes sell uncertified organic produce as ‘conventional’, or perhaps with some unique identification system operated by the shop (‘local organic’ etc), or the producer may sell it directly into regular (non-organic) wholesale markets. Uncertified organic produce, with some form of ‘self-declaration’ is sometimes sold at farmers’ markets or on-farm stalls, or by organic home delivery schemes.

You don’t have to go all the way to fully certified organic to use the information in this website. We have many friends who are not fully organic. They are all trying to reduce their chemical inputs, only ever use chemicals when it is not practical or economic to use other methods, always use chemicals with appropriate care, and try to make their enterprises as sustainable as possible. Some of their stories appear in this website too. They are generally identified as ‘biological’ growers.