Q&A

DEAR NEW FARM:

I am from the Caribbean and am contemplating producing organic food for export. Do you have any suggestion or advice? I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks a lot for your help.

Regards,
Bertha D. Joseph

DEAR BERTHA:

We asked the advice of our friend Rick Martinez, former president of the Independent Organic Inspectors Association (with inspection experience in more than 30 countries), current president of Organic Integrity International (a consulting firm), and founder and executive director of Sweetwater Organic Community Farm, 200 member CSA Educational Farm located in Tampa, Florida. Here’s what Rick had to say.

“The best approach is to first determine destination markets. Next is to search for the certification agencies accredited or best suited to provide services that are recognized in the target markets. If the United States is the primary destination market, this boils down to a certification agency that is USDA accredited, of which there are many listed on the USDA, NOP Web site at www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm. [Editor’s note: You can also check out the New Farm Certifier Directory at www.newfarm.org/ocdbt.]

The next criterion is cost. If the destination market is the U.S. and Europe, it would be worthwhile to research the fees and areas of expertise of certifiers close to the projected ports of entry of your product.”

NF

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