Wednesday, November 5, 2008

What Does Organic Really Mean?

Why Organic?

According to a 1986 survey by Agriculture Canada, two of the main reasons farmers choose organic production methods is for "the health of their family" and because "it is better for the soil". Farmers are concerned about the environment and issues such as well contamination, river and lake pollution, and soil degradation. Manufacturing, transportation and pollution are threats, be they from accidental causes or from normal use. There is also a concern to reduce energy use in agriculture, since many farms chemicals have energy intensive manufacturing processes that rely heavily on
the use of fossil fuels. Some farmers view organic farming as part of the solution. Organic farmers generally find their new methods and farming operations to be profitable and rewarding.

"Certified Organic"

Certified organic is a registered trademark of the Organic Crop
Improvement Association (Ontario) known as OCIA. A number of
associations in Canada have standards and inspect farms to validate that certified organic farms meet their associations standards. These standards have minor differences from one association to another and most are based on the standards as set by the Organic Food Producers Association of North America (OFPANA), and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Products from certified organic farms are frequently labelled and promoted as certified organic produce. In the USA, the Organic foods Act of 1990 established a minimum standard for the certification of organic food. In Canada, there are currently negotiations to establish similar standards for a Canada Organic designation.

For the full article: The Old Kitchen Cupboard Ltd Natural & Organic Foods

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Ryan, please remove Queen Anne from this site. As yQueen Anne Farmers Market is no longer managed by your organization, it is confusing to customers to have it listed on this site. Customers can find us at www.qafma.org. Thanks and good luck in all you do.