organic certification 101 · pro-cert organic systems – saskatoon, saskatchewan 306-382-1299...

Organic Certification 101 This session will be an organic certification introduction for the uninitiated. Rochelle and Anne will outline the certification process, give an orientation to the do's and don'ts of organic standards, cover organic labeling claims and explain who's who in the organic certification world in BC, Canada and beyond. She will try to answer all questions and will give guidance on taking the next steps. Bring your pens, paperwork, and your questions. Regional Certifying Body administrators will join for the last hour to help complete paperwork.

In this session.... • Canadian overview

• principles and standards

• the certification process

• dos and don’ts

• allowed claims and logos

• who’s who

• records

• yield estimates

Resilient Solutions Consulting

Overview

Overview

the only type of agriculture with a set of

principles that puts nature, health,

fairness, and care first.

these principles are enshrined in

industry-developed standards approved

by consumers and verified annually by

third party organizations.


Organic principles

• Principle of Health - Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance

the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and

indivisible.

• Principle of Ecology - Organic Agriculture should be based on living

ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and

help sustain them.

• Principle of Fairness - Organic Agriculture should build on

relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common

environment and life opportunities.

• Principle of Care - Organic Agriculture should be managed in a

precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and

well-being of current and future generations and the environment.


The standard

Canadian Organic Standards (2 volumes)

�CAN/CGSB 32.310 General Principles and

Management Standards

�CAN/CGSB 32.311 Permitted Substances Lists

(PSL)


The certification process

Mandatory 12-15 months of transition

for in ground crops

See next slide for

additional transition timelines

Submitting an organic plan

to a certification body

Choosing a certification

body

The certification process Transition length varies:

• Land, including in-ground greenhouses, can take

up to 36 months

• Non-organic ruminates, bees transition for a year

• Sprouts + microgreens + shoots, mushrooms,

greenhouse container operations and processors,

are certified once verified as compliant


Dos and don’ts

• Always use the current version of

standard

• The principles dictate use of substances –

meaning 32.310 trumps 32.311

• Keep your organic plan up to date

• Secure CB approval for all changes in your

operation before implementing

• Ignorance is not a defence

• Be ready for an unannounced inspection


• Parallel production – not allowed

• Plans (organic, transition, GE risk) - required

• Buffers – required (were applicable)

• Commingling – not allowed

• Contamination - avoid

• Sufficient records – required

• Approved inputs – required

• Approved labels – required


Dos and don’ts

Allowed claims

• Across Canada Certification required for food,

feed and seed products

shipped out of province with

organic claims

• As of Sept 2018 in BC Certification will be required

for all products sold in the

province with organic claims


>95% products logo options in BC

BCCOP (Regional

programs (BDASBC,

IOPA, KOGS, LEOGA,

NOOA SOOPA)

COABC CFIA-ISO

Non COABC

CFIA-ISO

X (goods cannot be

shipped out of BC)

X

X X

Who’s who - national

AAFC’s - Organic Value Chain Roundtable (OVCRT )

Who’s who - national

Who’s who - BC

Who’s who – BC based CBs

F = Farms, OFP = On-Farm Processing, P/H = Processors & handlers. AA = Accepting

Applications all year, AD = Application Deadline E = Entire Province, R = Regional Area. G =

Grower Meetings,

T = Transition Workshops, Other, FT = Farm Tours, ES = Educational Seminars, M =

Mentoring

F = Farms, OFP = On-Farm Processing, P/H = Processors & handlers. AA = Accepting Applications

all year, AD = Application Deadline E = Entire Province, R = Regional Area. G = Grower Meetings,

T = Transition Workshops, Other, FT = Farm Tours, ES = Educational Seminars, M = Mentoring.


Who’s who – non BC based CBs

Pro-Cert Organic Systems – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 306-382-1299 [email protected]

QAI – San Diego, California 858-200-9704 [email protected]

Ecocert – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 306-665-9072 [email protected]

OTCO – Corvalis, Oregon 503-378-0690 [email protected]

TCO Cert – Humboldt, Saskatchewan 306-682-3126 [email protected]

OCIA – Lincoln, Nebraska 402-477-2323 [email protected]

Records

2 types required

organic plan (aka organic system plan)

– What do you do PLAN to do on your operation?

– Descriptions of activities, procedures, recipes

– Updated / confirmed annually – subclauses 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

documentation (record keeping) – Variable data; dates, quantities, locations

– Ongoing records/logs

– subclause 4.4


Examples

Organic Plan (annual)

Soil building

Compost making

Crop rotation

Transport clean out procedure

Dried bean mix recipe

Poultry densities

Herd health management plan including

potential substances inputs and

treatment methodology

Feed audits

Organic seed

Documentation (ongoing)

Input reports, invoices, labels

Compost temp log

Planting maps, seeding dates

Transport clean out log

Processing records

Poultry density calculator

Herd health log including dates

of treatments and animals

treated

Feed records & calculators

Seed search Resilient Solutions Consulting

Records

Why are records required?

Three reasons:

• Demonstrate conformity to the standard

• To assist in farm planning and management

• Traceability


• Consistent scale • Permanent field #s or names • Buildings, roads, permanent features • Natural features • Field boundaries • Adjoining land use • Buffer zones (contamination prevention)

Contamination risks • GE pollen • Pesticides • Fertilizers Part of the solution • Isolation • Barriers • Buffer zones

Prevailing wind

Could also be the planting map

2017 flax

2017 wheat

2017 corn

2017 corn

If you raise livestock include • outdoor access areas • pasture fields; • fences • shade • animals’ access to water

Input plan

Input document

Documentation


Agr chem documentation

June 20 Entrust #30382 (lot1) .5L 167 ml/ha x 2 ha foliar June 27 (7 days) winds <10km

potato corn

May 15 Joe’s #1 field 4 ha

Joe

Yukon Gold

Agr inputs documentation

Veseys Johnny's

Y O Y Y n/a n/a Y Y Last Years Inventory

N n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a N

broccoli, Fiesta n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Y Y

broccoli, Belstar y Y Y Y

broccoli Arcadia N N n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a N Last Years Inventory

Y Y Y

Y n/a n/a Y Last Years Inventory

O O

N N n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a N

n/a N n/a N n/a n/a n/a n/a N

Terraedibles

w illiam dam

Hope Seeds

Mapple Farm

cottage gardener

High Mow ing Seeds

organic seeds purchased

Broccoli De CiccoBroccoli Premium crop F1 1

Last Years Inventory. Produces w ell under drought conditions

broccoli, w altham

Cabbage red express

cabbage, red acrecabbage, super red 80

testing the cultivar (for mid season crop)

cabbage, ruby perfection

testing the cultivar (for mid/late season crop)

Seed Search #1


Poultry Density Worksheet

Feed Audits How much Organic feed purchased or grown compared with

amount required by livestock

• VOs compares actual with expected feed consumption, for example:

• broiler to 10 weeks 8.8kg

• pullet to 20 weeks 7.1 kg

• female turkey to 20 weeks 36.1 kg

• Hogs - weaning to market @100kg ( 220lbs) 600lb grower

• Information needed • Quantity of feed purchased over lifetime or in 12 month

period

• Number of livestock in each age group/production stage

• Details of ration

• Being prepared • Make sure have all the information readily available

before the VO arrives.

Ruminant Feed Calculator

DM DM DM

ID Dry Matter Pounds Dry Matter Percent of Concentrate Organic/T3 Pasture Pounds Pounds Pounds

Ingredient Number Percent as fed Pounds Diet y/n y/n y/n Forage Organic/T3 Pasture

1 Grass Silage 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

2 Corn Silage 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

3 Alfalfa Hay 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

4 Mineral Mix 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

5 Grain Mix 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

6 Pasture 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

7 Ingredient 7 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

8 Ingredient 8 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

11 Ingredient 11 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

12 Ingredient 12 0.0 0 0 #DIV/0! 0 0 0

Total 0 0 0 0

Percent concentrate in total diet #DIV/0! Dry matter demand: Use reference tables or % body wt value

Percent Organic/T3 #DIV/0! (eg lactating dairy cow of 1200lbs consumes approx 3% of body wt in

DMI or 36lbs.) Percent of forage from pasture #DIV/0! Or a list

DM Demand

Dairy Cattle: consumers 3% of body wt as DMI

Headings Sheep: maintenance 2%. Gestation increasing from 2- 3%, Lactation 4%

Calculated amounts

Beef?

Entered amounts

Estimated pasture DMI = Dry Matter Demand – total lb DMI from other feeds sources.

Traceability

- A documentation

control procedure

that can determine

the origin, transfer of

ownership, and

transportation

process (i.e. supply

chain) of … organic

product.

Package label

Sales record

Processing report

Harvest report

Field history

Seed order

Field Map

Seed search


Traceability

Examples of simple recordkeeping

systems


Jan Steinman shared some examples of what he

uses on the COABC listserv He said “I learned

some SQL, and made my own system using

MySQL, PHP, and MediaWiki, the same open-

source software used by WikiPedia. It tracks

harvest, sales, labour, and vehicle use. I'm working

on tracking expenses, but don't have that working

yet. It's accessible by any device that can look at a

website .”

Examples of specialty

recordkeeping systems


Chris Bodnar said they are going to use Farmigo to manage their CSA - it helps with everything from managing sign-ups online to building weekly box contents, printing pick slips and packing slips to planning delivery routes. It also tracks sales over time.

Yield estimating


Veggie yields http://extension.missouri.edu/sare/documents/KnottsHandbook2012.pdf

(Knott’s Handbook 5th ed 2007) cwt/acre*

*cwt (1 hundredweight) = 50.8 kg or 112 lb

Veggie yields http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/learn/reference/plantingchart

per 50 ft of row

Veggie yields http://usagardener.com/breaking_ground/plan_a_vegetable_garden.php

per 15 ft of row

Veggie yields thriftyliving.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Vegetable-harvest-yield-chart.pdf

per 4’ x 8’ beds

Veggie yields https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CSAplanning1.xls

acres & row feet per acre (North Carolina)

BC veggie yields http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/training/vegetable.htm

per acre

Salad mix yields http://www.johnnyseeds.com/assets/information/salad-mix-production-8135.pdf

Salad mix yields http://www.neon.cornell.edu/focalfarms/case_studies/newleaf/08%20NLF%

20Focal%20Crop%20Salad%20Mix.pdf

organic certification 101 · pro-cert organic systems – saskatoon, saskatchewan 306-382-1299...

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