Certified Naturally Grown

Certified Naturally Grown logo

Certified Naturally Grown is a non-profit alternate farm assurance certification program created for small-scale organic farmers, and striving to strengthen the organic movement by preserving high organic standards and removing financial barriers that tend to exclude smaller farms that are selling locally and directly to their customers. The program is operated in the United States by a non-profit corporation, Certified Naturally Grown, Inc, based in Stone Ridge, New York. It was founded by Kate & Ron Khosla who operates a community supported farm in New Paltz, New York using the Community Supported Agriculture model. A United Kingdom sister organization, the Wholesome Food Association, promotes similar food production standards, but does not operate a farm assurance or certification program.^[1]

To be Certified Organic (as opposed to Certified Naturally Grown) in the US, a grower must keep detailed records of planting, cultivation, fertilization, harvest, and storage, and must pay for both organization membership and periodic inspection. This process works well for large-scale commercial growers, but becomes onerous for small mixed-agriculture farms. Since only certified seeds may be used, the varieties available to be grown are limited, and sustainable practices such as seed-saving is not permitted, unless the farmer also applies to be certified as a seed supplier.

Certified Naturally Grown farmers follow the USDA standards of the National Organic Program, but the record keeping and inspection process is tailored to accommodate the needs of small-scale mixed-agriculture farmers, and are not normally permitted to use the word “organic”. Farmers commit to act as inspectors. Farmer-Inspectors are uniquely qualified to observe and note whether their neighbors are sticking to the standards, and are encouraged to provide helpful feedback, which helps foster a sense of community and sharing. Inspection forms are posted on the Internet for anytime public access, and all farms are subject to random pesticide residue testing. All in all, the CNG procedure requires significantly less paperwork, yet arguably results in more transparency and fostering of better farming practices, than the Certified Organic process, which primarily depends on farmer declarations backed by copious paperwork, and which inspects the paperwork rather than the farm.

A nationally recognized and endorsed grassroots effort, CNG exists because of enormous volunteer efforts, running primarily on free-will donations from farmers and supporters.

References

1. ^ "Our principles". WFA. http://www.wholesome-food.org.uk/principles.html. Retrieved 2009-04-05. 

External links

• Certified Naturally Grown
• Wholesome Food Association – CNG's sister group in the UK
• USDA Organic Standards
• Satya Magazine
• Organic Producer Magazine
• In Business Magazine
• Organic Seeds Trust
• NOFA/Mass

This article related to a non-profit organization is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Organic food Agriculture stubs Non-profit organization stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Man You Gotta Get Up Whittier Transit Look at other dictionaries: Organic certification — Mixed organic bean sprouts Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed… …   Wikipedia Organic farming — Agriculture General …   Wikipedia Organic movement — The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic farming, which is a more sustainable mode of agriculture. Its history goes back to the first half of the 20th century, when… …   Wikipedia Northland Organic Foods Corporation — Northland Organic Foods Type Private company Industry Certified organic non GMO, identity preserved (IP) raw materials and food ingredients Founded 1991 Founder(s) Peter Shortridge Headquarters Sa …   Wikipedia List of organic gardening and farming topics — An organic garden on a school campus This is a list of organic farming and gardening topics. Contents 1 Techniques …   Wikipedia CNG — can mean: *Compressed natural gas, e.g., CNG vehicles *Cypriot National Guard, the combined arms force of the Republic of Cyprus *Chinese National Geography, magazine published in China *Comfort Noise Generator used in Speech Codecs to insert… …   Wikipedia Sugar Mountain Farm — is a farm located in the mountains of rural West Topsham, Vermont, United States, and run by Walter Jeffries and his family. The farm uses what are now considered unconventional methods but in past centuries would often have been considered… …   Wikipedia Farm assurance — is product certification for agricultural products that emphasises the principles of quality assurance. The emphasis on quality assurance means that, in addition to product inspection, farm assurance schemes may include standards and… …   Wikipedia Système de garantie participatif — Les systèmes de garantie participatifs ou SGP regroupent des organisations et des fonctionnements qui unissent leurs efforts pour offrir aux consommateurs ou usagers une forme alternative de garantie. « Les systèmes de garantie participatifs …   Wikipédia en Français plant disease — ▪ plant pathology Introduction       an impairment of the normal state of a plant that interrupts or modifies its vital functions.       All species of plants, wild and cultivated alike, are subject to disease. Although each species is… …   Universalium 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”