Section 1 : Preamble

Organic agriculture is a production system that is based on specific and precise standards of production which aim at achieving optimal agroecosystems which are socially, ecologically and economically sustainable. It is a production management system which promotes and enhances agroecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It encourages agricultural enterprises to manage their resources on a cyclical basis and to maintain long-term soil fertility and to increase soil biological activity through increasing the quality and quantity of organic matter. Its aim therefore is to limit external inputs, and to avoid the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Organic agriculture practices cannot always guarantee that agricultural products are totally free of chemical contaminants originating from general environmental pollution. Indeed, it is commonly acknowledged that agricultural enterprises cannot completely avoid pollution originating from air, soil, water and other sources. Pollutants which penetrate in the soil, like chlorinated hydrocarbons and some heavy metals, cannot be eliminated by using organic management methods. However, the application of organic methods of production strongly reduces the potential of contamination by pesticide residues, other agricultural chemicals and veterinary drugs. It also reduces environmental pollution of water resources which causes watershed and soil contamination.

The word "organic" is generally well understood by those involved in this type of agriculture. Other terms have been used like "biological" and "ecological," in an effort to describe the organic system more clearly. In the English language however the term "organic" is the adjective most widely accepted by the community as a whole. In order to avoid any misunderstanding among consumers, the scope of this programme shall be extended to include all of these terms.

The growing interest being shown in organic production has lead to the development of a product certification system intended to provide a primary guarantee that foodstuffs being produced and sold as "organic " do indeed come from operations where organic crop and livestock production methods have been applied and that the product’s integrity was preserved throughout the course of production, from the primary producer to the final consumer.

The standards outlined in this document shall be considered to be the merely requirements to which operators have to comply in order to obtain and to maintain organic certification within Quebec. The consumer is thus assured of the product's authenticity. The designation's credibility is protected in the same way.

The adoption of organic crop and livestock production practices requires a transition period, one that provides agricultural enterprises the time they need to adapt and refine production practices relative to the environment in which products are being produced. Time is also needed to allow the production support system, i.e. soil, existing stock, etc. to re-establish optimal organic activity while also eliminating a major portion of residues from agricultural chemicals that may still exist in soil and manure piles, etc. Animals also need time to respond to changes in their environment. This transition period is useful for cleaning the soil of contaminants, but the fact that some non-organic agricultural inputs can sometimes remain present for as long as 10 or 15 years means that organic agriculture cannot guarantee a total absence of pesticide and other agricultural chemical residues in organic products.

Originally, organic agriculture favoured a close contact between producers and consumers. Increases in market demand and the growing importance of expanded investment in production, as well as the greater distances separating producers and consumers, has prompted the organic agricultural sector to develop external monitoring and certification procedures. Product certification obtains official recognition of products originating from organic agriculture. The rules governing an enterprise’s certification are primarily based on the annual presentation of its records and organic management plan to the certification body. Depending on the enterprise these records would outline agricultural operations and production practices or food preparation operations. This organic management plan is prepared and maintained by the applying enterprise in accordance with the certification body's requirements or with those of its representative.

Once it has evaluated the compliance of this organic management plan, the certification body will then perform an on-site inspection of the operator's production or preparation practices. Based on how the operator's production system complies with the certifier's specification standards, the certifier will confer an organic compliance certificate on the inspected products.

With the exception of a small volume of production sold directly by the producer to consumers, most products find their way to consumers via established market channels.

The recognition of the organic designation, within the framework of Quebec's Act Respecting Reserved Designations (LRQ A-20.02) implies that monitoring procedures should be applied to all points at which a product's organic integrity risks being compromised. Until now, priority has been given to the agricultural production and processing steps for organic products, even though it was known that organic integrity could be jeopardized at the other stages of retail sales and distribution. It is for this reason that organic food preparation operations involving a change in labelling shall be subject to certification. Moreover, it is essential that efforts be made to raise the awareness of retail buyers in this sector. Although ideally every enterprise holding organic certification would only market organic products, some of these enterprises admittedly market non-organic products, for obvious reasons of profitability.

Organic product certification is based upon the monitoring of production and preparation processes rather than the product itself: In fact, there are no physicochemical, organoleptic or functional characteristics that would make it possible to distinguish, with certainty, an organic from non-organic product. The verification of production methods is the only way to guarantee that a product has been produced organically. Production "Methods" monitoring is therefore required to ensure the responsible involvement of all parties concerned. Inspectors therefore cannot by themselves fully control compliance with regulations. Even though organic products shall have undergone the same criteria and have met the same safety standards as non-organic products, it is their "organic" certification that is indicative of the method by which they were produced.