Organic Certification
Fun Guy Farm was certified by OCIA from 1994 until 2005. Our certification
number was/is 11091G768-94. We are not currently certified as Organic by any
certifying agency. However, none of our production practices has
changed and all of our organic inputs are "organic". We now sell most of our
fresh mushroom products directly to the public at Toronto area farmers'
markets. For a list of markets that we attend go to our
Farmers Markets page. Because we are able to
establish relationships of trust with our customers we decided not to
undertake the cost and administrative duties of organic certification.
We will be getting recertified in 2010, perhaps by EcoCert.
The label "CERTIFIED ORGANIC" on a product means that it
has been certified by an agency who's' function is to thoroughly determine
that certain guidelines have been followed in the growing, production or
manufacture of that product. These guidelines briefly stated are that no
chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and no man made petroleum
based fertilizers are used in the growing of the item. Also chemicals and
additives are banned in the production of a finished product manufactured from
an organically grown crop, genetically engineered crops are also banned.
There are several certification agencies in North America. The Organic Crop
Improvement Association (OCIA) is the one we chose to certify our farm.
They have high standards for certification and insist on good record keeping
so that there can be an accurate audit trail available to the consumer to
ensure the product is actually organic. The standards for all certifications are set by OCIA
International.
Certification from OCIA is obtained by first applying with complete details
of the farm (production facility) and the techniques used for growing
(manufacturing) the end products. The application goes to a CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE
which checks the application information and decides whether to send an
inspector to the farm. OCIA uses third party inspectors, who have been trained
in organic techniques and are not working directly for OCIA. They are paid a
fee for inspection of the facilities and submission of a report. The
Certification Committee then goes over the inspection reports and either
grants or refuses certification.
The OCIA logos which can be used in their certified products are the
following:
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The OCIA International address:
