Certified Organic, who here is C.O.?

Interesting...

So advertising as CO may turn some people off because they think you are overpriced and your produce is not quality -- but if they can clearly see your prices and the quality of your stuff, that takes care of that.

Certification can be expensive and intensive depending on your state/certifying organization -- research and get the information to help you decide whether to be certified or not. Check around in your area to see if CO produce is in demand -- if so, then it may be worth the expense and time required. I agree that keeping records is a good idea either way (for many reasons).

Certified Naturally Grown is inexpensive and seems to be less intrusive. I'm still reading up on the certification process. One concern is the inspection process. How does one get inspected if there are no volunteer inspectors in your area? Customers are more familiar with the CO "label" so what is your reply when they ask if they are organic (which they are, but when people ask they really mean are these certified organic -- don't they?).

Growing organically is my method of choice whether I advertise it or not. I'm still looking into the certification costs/process -- then I'll decide. I may also wait until I talk with the customers and get a sense of their opinion. I already know the Market Manager's view on organic certification and it's not favorable.

Thanks for the replies everyone!
Donna

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"Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth." — Li Zhaoxing

The inspector can be virtually anyone. We are the only ones in our state so the co-inspection wasn't possible. When we became Certified Naturally Grown I simply asked a visitor to our farm to do the inspection. He said no problem, went through the paper work and checked off the appropriate items and that was that. He had come to see how we do things with our pigs so he had already gotten a farm tour so doing the 'inspection' was an easy step from there.

When someone asks:
"Are you Certified Organic?"
I reply "We are Certified Naturally Grown."
I almost never get asked that though.

What people do ask is:
"Do you use hormones?" "No."
"Do you feed anti-biotics?" "No."
"Are your sows confined?" "No, we free range them on pasture."
"Do you use GMOs?" "No."
"Do you feed grain?" "No."
"Wow, do you really feed hay to pigs?" "Yes and they thrive on it with dairy in the winter. In the warm weather they get pasture and dairy."
"Do I have to pickup the pig and take it to the butcher myself?" "No, we can do that for you at no charge" is what I reply.

People are now recognizing that big corporations have coopted the term Organic. Now they want to know were the animals raised humanely, were things naturally grown, were GMO's, antibiotics and hormones used, etc.

We are truly organic but can't use that term in advertising since the USDA took it over. We are actually beyond organic since you could raise animals in confinement, feed them organic rations and then call them organic.

We raise our animals humanely and naturally on pasture to produce high quality, healthy, high in Omega-3 fatty acids meat at a reasonable price. That is what customers want to know.

Do check out the Certified Naturally Grown ( http://naturallygrown.org ). They even have a better logo than the USDA's CO.



Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://NoNAIS.org

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

We decided not to pursue an organic certification for a number of reasons.

First, for sally, it had nothing to do with paperwork or record keeping.

After reading the full set of USDA standards, I decided that to lay claim to a set of regulations that reflected a lower standard than I used was selling out to the 'system' and that it would in the long term be detrimental to our sales. Many of our customers are very well educated regarding the commercial food system and the politics involved in creating federal standards for virtually anything. They buy from us for one or more of the following reasons.

• We use natural and sustainable practices that go beyond CO standards.

• We raise our animals in natural, healthy environments without any routine meds or chemicals and treat them humanely first and foremost.

• Our meat products have better flavor and texture and our produce is ripe when harvested and sold within hours/days of harvest.

• They want to support local business and keep their money in the local economy.

I really didn't feel that an OC would legitimately support any of these motives and would therefor be at best unnecessary - at worst potentially be seen as a 'sham' by some existing or potential customers. Frankly I don't really want a customer that is willing to pay a premium for a product because of a buzzword certification - if they are truly educated about the certification and understand the standards, that would be a different thing. I'm very aware of folks that are OC that go above and beyond the standards to provide truly excellent premium products. And to them, I tip my hat and have a great deal of respect - it simply wasn't a good fit into our program or philosophy.

Great information!
I applaud you both in your practices and philosophies.

__________________
"Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth." — Li Zhaoxing