Australian Certified Organic has applauded a proposal by the Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council that could reduce the time it takes some producers to achieve organic certification.
It currently takes three years for a farmer or grazier to achieve organic certification; this includes a year of ‘pre certification’ and two years of ‘in conversion’ until achieving full certification in the third year. The new proposal would acknowledge prior organic practices.
The Organic Industry Standards and Certification Council sets the National Standard for Organic and Bio-dynamic Produce in Australia. Under the proposal, producers could be fully certified after one year of inspections, if they can verify that the property has been under organic management for the previous three years.
Organic certification body Australian Certified Organic says it has been lobbying for the change. The change would bring Australia’s organic standards in line with international standards, says its chief certification officer Michael Baker.
“This is an exciting development and is especially good news for certified organic producers who want to add additional land to their operations,” he says.
“It’s a change Australian Certified Organic has requested for some time. It would make Australian organic producers more competitive on the international market and give producers converting to organic a market to sell ‘in conversion’ produce.”
If the changes were made at a national level, The Australian Certified Organic Standard would follow suit.
Baker says, however, it’s important that this change is not seen to give producers short cuts to organic.
“They still need to manage the property according to the Australian Certified Organic Standard and they would need to prove that they've been operating the farm organically for three years.
“Under organic certification initial soil tests are taken on farms and they’re audited each year to make sure the property and its management complies with the Australian Certified Organic Standard,” he says.
