Regenerative Organic Certification: A "revolutionary" new certification ...

The Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is a "revolutionary" new certification for food, fiber, and personal care ingredients that has been developed under the auspices of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. Using the USDA Organic certification as a jumping-off point, ROC incorporates elements of Biodynamics and Permaculture into its Land Management corpus and extends beyond that sphere to cover Animal Welfare and Farmer and Worker Fairness.

The organizing framework of the program is illustrated in the chart below.

The program completed its pilot program in early 2020 and expects to begin taking general applications in the summer of this year. The objectives of the pilot program were to (ROC):

1. Develop a greater understanding of how standards can be implemented at the farm and ranch level
2. Provide information that would help to inform the creation of training materials, audit tools, guidance documents, etc.

For someone farming chemically, Land Management certification would proceed as follows:

• Years 1 - 3: Preparation for USDA Organic Certification
• Year 3: USDA Organic Certification
• Year 4: Demeter Biodynamic Certification
• Year 4+ Naturland Fair Certification.

I will be writing extensively about this certification over the next few months beginning with the battle that has arisen between Regenerative proponents, who see this approach as part of a solution to the climate crisis, and Climatologists who are saying "stay in your lane."

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