Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In 2009, Canada implemented the Organic Products Regulation to regu-
late the certification of organic products. Also in 2009, the Canadian and U.S.
governments agreed that their national organic programs would be equival-
ent, with a few exceptions. For more information on Canadian organic certi-
fication, contact your provincial Ministry of Agriculture.
In this topic, we will refer to the National Organic Program or NOP. For
Canadian readers, interpret this as the Canadian organic program and refer
to the appropriate regulations and approved substances and practices lists.
In general, the two programs are quite similar.
Certification
Before you can market fruit as organic, you must first be certified by the
agency responsible for your location. Depending on where you live, certifica-
tion programs are administered by state departments of agriculture, provin-
cial offices, grower organizations, and/or private companies.
Certification is required only when you market fruit under the organic la-
bel and when your annual sales total a certain amount. Home fruit growers
are free to use whatever cultural practices they wish. If you want to produce
fruit organically, however, commercial organic standards provide an ex-
tremely valuable resource and can serve as a starting point for developing
or improving your orchard.
What Does “Organic” Mean for Orchardists?
Unlike currently popular terms such as “ecofriendly,” “low-spray,” and “grown
naturally,” “organic” has a specific, legal definition when applied to commer-
cially grown fruits and other produce. The national lists of allowed and per-
mitted substances are only a first step, however. Likewise, the OMRI's and
other testing organizations' lists of approved soil amendments, pesticides,
and the like are valuable, but more is needed.
Growing fruit organically goes far beyond simply using certain fertilizers
or pesticides. As conventional orchardists began transitioning to organic
production in the 1990s, a standard practice was to substitute “softer” organ-
