Protected Harvest

Protected Harvest is a United States third-party certification program with the stated mission of helping farmers meet environmental standards that yield high quality products and preserve healthy land for future generations.

Activities

The Protected Harvest program provides technical support and collaborates with qualified organizations to develop region and crop–specific verifiable environmental performance standards, which are peer reviewed before being presented to its Oversight Board for adoption. The public availability of the standards and methodology is part of the Protected Harvest commitment to transparency. [ [http://www.protectedharvest.org Protected Harvest website] ]

Upon certification through on-site verification, growers may use the Protected Harvest eco-label in marketing their certified foods. The first Protected Harvest certified crop to hit the shelves was Health Grown potatoes from Wisconsin. Additionally, Protected Harvest certifies winegrapes from the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing program of the Lodi Woodbridge Winegrape Commission in Lodi, California, fresh and fresh-cut mushrooms from the Modern Mushroom company, and stonefruit sold under the Zeal and Ripe 'N Ready brands.

Advantages

The certification approach is said by Protected Harvest literature to have great environmental value in that it helps to solve a major intractable problem: nonpoint source pollution caused by agricultural runoff of pesticides and fertilizer components such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Certain pesticides and fertilizers provide cheap insurance to farmers that they will have large yields. Third-party certification is designed to provide assurance to consumers that growers are in fact utilizing practices which reduce these problems.

Each Protected Harvest production standard is written to reflect the unique growing requirements and environmental considerations of the crop and the specific bioregion in which it is grown. A “typical” standard is divided into four major sections: whole farm management, soil and water management, and air quality management.

Depending on the crop, the region where it is grown, and the exact production system being addressed, the relative importance of the factors will change. When developing a standard for certification purposes, the point system is ultimately determined by a multidisciplinary Crop Advisory Committee that is assembled for the writing of each crop certification standard. A peer review of the standard is then conducted to evaluate the technical competency of the standard, followed by a review by the Protected Harvest Oversight Board.

Establishment

Protected Harvest was founded in 2001 as an independent non-profit organization. In 2008, the program was merged into SureHarvest, a for-profit firm which provides sustainability solutions for agriculture and was involved in starting Protected Harvest.

Notes

References

* [http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/PESP/member_pages/protectedharvest.htm US EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Member Profile: Protected Harvest.]
* [http://www.eco-labels.org/label.cfm?LabelID=176 Consumers Union Eco-labels Report Card for Protected Harvest]
* [http://ecolabelling.org/ecolabel/protected-harvest/ Ecolabeling.org description of Protected Harvest]
* [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050909-0246-sustainabletomato.html "FARM SCENE: California farmers want classification for 'sustainable' produce," "San Diego Union-Tribune"] , September 9, 2005
*"Taste of Satisfaction," "Fresno Bee", April 16, 2008

External links

* [http://protectedharvest.org Protected Harvest]
* [http://lodirules.com Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing]
* [http://lodiwine.com Lodi Woodbridge Winegrape Commission]
* [http://sureharvest.com SureHarvest]