By: Anna Meyer - Brand & Supplier Liaison, Regenerative Organic Alliance
The Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC™)
standard is a new certification that addresses
a growing consumer demand for climate-friendly, fair, and ethical
products.
ROC™ begins with USDA organic, and requires additional criteria in three
pillars: soil health & land management, animal welfare, and social
fairness. The overarching goals of the certification are to:
- Increase soil organic matter over time and sequester atmospheric carbon in soil, a promising opportunity to mitigate climate change.
- Ensure the ethical and humane treatment of animals, and emphasize pasture-based systems
- Ensure fair conditions for all farmers, ranchers, and workers .
Some of the regenerative organic practices required by ROC™ include conservation tillage, cover cropping, crop rotation, continuous and open access to pasture for animals, and long- term contracts and fair hiring practices for workers. The full framework of requirements can be viewed at RegenOrganic.org/Resources.
There’s
rapidly growing
interest in regenerative agriculture and Regenerative Organic
Certified™
as consumers demand products that address climate change and other
important
social and ethical issues. Producers are responding readily. Some
see it as an
opportunity to ensure long- term viability and to take advantage of
an
additional market premium.
With so much interest from brands, current demand for ROC™ ingredients far exceeds the available supply and the market opportunity is excellent. Organic food and other products have experienced exponential growth in the last couple of decades, a trend that has been largely consumer driven. We continue to see a push from consumers for products produced to an even higher bar.
DAABON Group, which has implemented,
developed and maintained a
certified organic production system in its plantations of Palm,
Banana, Coffee
and Avocado from 1993 to date, is currently managing its
certification process
in accordance with the ROC ™ standard, initially for palm
plantations. Daabon
is convinced that the practice of Regenerative Organic Agriculture
is a
fundamental tool that counteracts, to a great extent, the damage
caused to the
planet by agro-industrial production methods that are not very
friendly to
nature
To learn more about Regenerative
Organic Certified™,
visit
RegenOrganic.org.