Working Group Looking at Small-scale Organic Certification
Posted: March 10, 2014
Categories: Food in the News / GoodFoodBites
As part of the review of the Canadian Organic Standards, the Organic Federation of Canada has convened a working group to look at the concerns of small-scale and local organic farms and businesses considering organic certification for their products. The working group consists of representatives of organic organizations from across Canada and is led by long-term organic farmer, Tony McQuail, who served as executive assistant to Ontario Agriculture Minister, Elmer Buchanan, in the 1980s.
In order to better understand why and if these smaller ventures decide to certify, the working group is collecting information from small-scale and local organic farms and businesses across the country. The information gathered will inform the development of a more feasible organic certification process for these smaller businesses. McQuail states,
“Our current certification process is designed for maintaining the organic integrity of products in long supply chains which is appropriate for inter-provincial and international trade. It appears that a number of local producers growing for farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture and other short supply chains feel the current system doesn’t work for them…our goal is to come up with recommendations for a certification process that will support the local organic sector.”
The questionnaire i
s available on-line and is being distributed at various organic conferences and events. The working group will review the comments and suggestions received by April 11, 2014 and will use this information to draft recommendations which will be shared with the organic sector over the fall and winter of 2014-2015. Comments during this consultation period will inform the final recommendations which will be presented to the Canadian General Standards Board as part of the Canadian Organic Standards review.