Mark Keating, who has been working in organic, local, and sustainable agriculture since 1988, answers your questions about organic certification. He began his career working as a farm laborer and food processing technician, and has spent stretches working in cooperative extension, state and federal civil service, academia and journalism. He worked for the USDA National… Continue reading To Certify or Not to Certify Webinar
Resources Category: Transition to Organic
4 Common Mistakes by First Time Organic Growers
The article covers a few common mistakes that the NOFA/Mass Organic Certification Technical Assistance Provider often sees on first-time applications for organic certification.
Black Farmer Index: Organic Growing Traditions
This video highlights the organic growing traditions of farmers of color.
USDA Organic 101 Blog Series
This is an anthology of the USDA Organic Blog Series so that the entire series is in one location.
Bite by Bite: Organic Certification Made Simple
In this multi-part video series, farmers discuss their firsthand experiences with obtaining organic certification—and why they decided to pursue it. Small video segments show viewers how the USDA organic regulations translate to practices on the ground by following a direct market farmer on his journey through the organic certification process. The video also provides a… Continue reading Bite by Bite: Organic Certification Made Simple
Organic Sound and Sensible Resources: Understanding the Rules, Certification, and Inspections
USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) has put together a resource hub of guides, videos, and other tools that help farms and businesses understand the USDA organic standards, certification process, and inspections in more depth. In this hub of resources is the Sound and Sensible resources, a series of short videos that help to explain the… Continue reading Organic Sound and Sensible Resources: Understanding the Rules, Certification, and Inspections
The Road to Organic Certification: Interactive Video
This interactive, choose-your-own-adventure style video puts viewers in the shoes of two farmers—Bruce, an established fourth-generation wholesale farmer; and Candace, a newer, direct-market farmer who uses sustainable practices—as they consider organic certification. Viewers make decisions with Candace and Bruce as they learn about applications, organic system plans, and the roles and relationships of certifiers, inspectors,… Continue reading The Road to Organic Certification: Interactive Video
How to Transition Your Farm, Ranch, or Business to Organic
This USDA National Organic Program (NOP) webpage provides a step-by-step guide on the steps of organic certification and provides additional links to USDA resources for getting certified organic.
Evaluating Organic Transitions at the Field Level
This publication provides information on making plans to transition to organic crop production. It helps outline the need for a transition crop plan, the importance of individual crop budgets, and evaluating results.
Making the Transition from Conventional to Organic
Farming organically allows producers to incur many economic and social advantages compared to farming conventionally. Understanding and planning the economic returns of the transition process can aid the producer in planning and in becoming organically certified.