Canada’s organic standards have always been voluntary, but that will change in June.
The expensive, yet democratic methods for standards and committee formation are formally structured by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB).
However, many in agriculture and trade who support organic methods serve on the CGSB’s organic technical committee.
These volunteers share a range of technical and practical organic production knowledge in the ongoing work of keeping a standard up to date.
Standards serve different purposes for different groups:
- They provide information and guarantees to consumers on organic integrity.
- They promote good practice by guiding organic producers, from whom all organic standards originally developed.
- Organic standards also provide the base for inspection, certification and the accreditation of certifiers.
- They are a tool for using the precautionary principle to exclude the use of known and suspected toxins.
Read Also
VIDEO: Green Lightning and Nytro Ag win sustainability innovation award
Nytro Ag Corp and Green Lightning recieved an innovation award at Ag in Motion 2025 for the Green Lightning Nitrogen Machine, which converts atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form.
Agriculture Canada has financially supported the Canadian Organic Standards in response to consumer and farmer requests to develop the organic market. Farmers receive assistance in their efforts to verify their organic production methods through the use of these standards and the certification oversight process.
Organic certification is essentially a marketing tool. Some would say this tool is for meeting consumer demand for identity preservation and environmental services in food production.
Others would say certification is a tool, along with the standards and their founding principles, for building a more environmentally and socially responsible food system.
The levels of accountability in certification are expanding to include the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s new Canadian Organic Office (COO) as it implements the federal organic regulation.
This regulation will enforce the labelling requirements for food sold under the Canadian Organic Regime to prevent consumer fraud. The founders of the organic movement want to see decisions made on the basis of enforcing the integrity of the guiding principles of this standard.
The Organic Federation of Canada is a board of provincial representatives of the organic community. Working with the OFC, the COO is creating a standards interpretation committee.
As questions about the standards come forward from Canada’s 26 organic certifiers, this committee will not only provide consistent answers but also let the CGSB’s organic technical committee members know which areas of the standard need to be clearer.
Keeping a dynamic standard current and equivalent to our trading partners’ standards is challenging. The proposal before the COO is that the standards interpre-tation committee comprise COO staff and technical committee members.
The principles and the standard have evolved through recognizing that the differ-ences in Canada’s agricultural regions require “varying practices to meet production needs.”
Principles guide how the standards are applied in the many production systems and situations that make up organic agriculture.
They include:
- Protect the environment, minimize soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, increase biological productivity and promote a sound state of health.
- Maintain long-term soil fertility by improving conditions for biological activity within the soil.
- Maintain biological diversity within the system.
- Recycle materials and resources as much as possible.
- Provide care that promotes the health and meets the behavioural needs of livestock.
- Emphasize careful processing and handling methods to maintain the integrity and vital qualities of organic products at all stages of production.
- Rely on renewable resources in locally organized agricultural systems.
Hopefully, history will show that putting these principles into action through the implementation of Canadian Organic Standards has supported a healthier, more just and truly sustainable agriculture.
Janine Gibson is a senior organic inspector and trainer in Western Canada. She can be reached for questions at 204-434-6018 or Janine@rrcc.ca.
