b"Standards. Theres a list of inputs under the Canadian Organic Standards that states what is allowed to be used for fertilization and pest/disease control. By receiving an organic certificate, it means your organic production has followed all regulations under the Canada Organic Regime. Annual inspections are mandatory.When you sell your produce, your product to your client, you usually send also the organic certificate that is the proof that the organic designation is real, it can be trusted, Nicole Boudreau, a coordinator with the Organic Federation of Canada, explains in a phone interview.To become an organic grower in Canada you must go through a transition period, which takes three years. The land that you use cannot have synthetic pesticides or any other prohibited substances used on it for three years before organic crops are able to be grown on it. During these three years growers start using organic practices but still sell the crops produced on them in the conventional marketplace.For Canadian growers to be able to export their products An organic potato field at sunset at Hakkers Organics in Newtowninternationally, Canada has organic equivalency arrangements Cross, P.E.I.PHOTO: HAKKERS ORGANICSsigned with the United States, European Union, Japan, Costa Rica, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The equivalency arrangements allow for products labelled as organic and produced in Canada to be sold in these countries with the organic label as well, with organic products from these countries also able to be sold in Canada under the organic label.Canada doesnt have equivalency agreements with every country though. For example, if Canadian growers want to sell organic products to China, they must know what the organic import regulations are for China and then follow those rules.Growing Potatoes the Organic WayOrganic potato production is focused on being preventative in your pest and disease control, while conventional production is focused on being reactive to crop threats.We had to change the way we thought. This whole paradigm shift in production is that our focus is 100 per cent on healthy soil. So, the soil is healthy, lots of the right balance, lots of organic matter and just generally very healthy, then the potatoes don't need as many pesticides, Rempel says.Organic potato rows at Kroeker Farms in southern Manitoba. PHOTO: KROEKER FARMS To keep that soil healthy, organic growers focus on crop rotations. At Kroeker Farms they do a three-year rotation, growing a vegetable crop of potatoes or onions, then hemp, Canadian Organic Regulations beans, wheat or corn; with the third year being a restoration year In Canada there are two jurisdictions for organic regulations where they do plow downs to get the crop ready for vegetable provincial and national. Both are subject to the Safe Food forproduction. Canadians Regulation, which is overseen by the Canadian FoodAt Hakkers Organics they also do a three-year rotation, but Inspection Agency (CFIA). If you export your products outsidethey are fully focused on enhancing their potato production. of your province nationally or internationally, then you fall underIn non-potato years they grow mustard, buckwheat, and seed the national regulations which are run by the CFIA. If you sellradish, for green manure crops. None of these crops are sold locally within your province and there is provincial regulations,commercially with them all getting plowed down.then youre governed by provincial regulations. You must alsoEverything we do is to control wireworm. And we're seeing follow the federal truth in advertising regulations. after about five years of buckwheat mustard, that's when we To sell nationally and internationally you must be a certifiedreally start to see a decline. It's not like a one- or two-year organic producer under the Canada Organic Regulations (COR)solution. So that's our number one pest issue in organics, regulated through the CFIA. The CFIA oversees verificationMartien explains.officers who will check what inputs you are using and if yourOrganic potato production does require closer management growing practices are in compliance with Canadian Organicthan conventional. Fields are monitored more regularly both 8SPUDSMART.COM Winter 2023"