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Qualiservice propose to help you in the implementation of organic standard on your production unit. We will work with you to select the more suitable standard according to your target market.
We will design together the training process that will fit with your availability and knowledge.
History
The first organic concepts start at the beginning of the 20th century with new approaches which focused on soil fertility based on humus and goaled on an ecological balance within the farm.
In the 40s appeared the “green revolution” based on use of agro chemicals combined with introduction of high yielding varieties and intense mechanisation. Some people start to oppose conventional agriculture to organic farming.
During the 70s and 80s people start to realize the negative impacts of the green revolution on health and environment and the awareness of organic farming slowly increase in both farmers and consumers minds.
In the 90s, following a number of environmental disasters and food crisis there was a strong increase of organic farming. Consumers were afraid about what they were eating and they wanted to be reassured. As a natural way of farming, “organic” was one of the solutions for farmers and consumers. At the same time, a range of innovative organic technologies were developed.
Nowadays, organic farming is still growing. In 2007 there was around 30 millions of ha of organic farming in the world.
What is organic farming?
Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. It is based on no use of chemical synthetic and pesticides and based on cultivation management methods to reduce the damage to environment as much as possible.
Different kinds of goods can be certified: food, cosmetics, textile…
All the different actors (producers, processors, retailers…) have to be certified if they want to obtain the organic certification for a product.
Roles of organic production
- Respect of the environment
- assuring the sustainability of agriculture
- maintaining and enhancing the natural ecology
- Social issues
o assuring good quality of products for consumers
o assuring the social welfare for workers
o bringing benefices to producers
A lot of different countries have developed their own organic standard and there is at present no regulation on organic product which is applicable worldwide. The choice of the most appropriate organic certification standard depends mainly on the final market of the organic product.
The most important regulated markets are:
Additionally there is a wide range of private organic label standards, mostly owned by farmers associations. Depending on the country of marketing, a private organic label may be very important because consumers really trust their country label.
Examples for important private organic labels:
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