Organic
"The organic agriculture is a production system free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers; it promotes the sustainability of systems and the preservation of natural resources. Organic, biologic and ecologic are considered synonyms."
Patagonia works with different local certifying bodies (Argencert, OIA and Letis) for organic certification programs according to the destination markets:
The process starts when the producer, manufacturer and/or trader introduce to the certifying body the project to certify. In this first stage, it has to be analysed which are the standards to apply to start the certification process.
After the certification request and signature of contract between certifying body and the customer, there is an exchange of documents and information as required by the certification program.
After the inspection, an inspection report is made and there may or may not appear non-compliances. The customer is certified after a positive report without non-compliances.
Then, the cycle restarts for supervision.
In Argentine In 1998, National Law No. 25.127 for the Organic Production was passed, and Argentina was one of the first countries in the world to have a law to regulate this type of productions.
Our certifying bodies have been homologated by SENASA (Argentina federal drug and food administration), have the EU recognition and is accredited by IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) to certify organic productions.
These accreditations allow them to certify the main agricultural and cattle productions in our country and the associated industries (dairy, meat, honey, cereals, oilseeds, vegetables, aromatic herbs, fruits, flours, oils, juices, pulps, wines, processed products, etc.) reaching over 2,000,000 hectares under certification.
This certification can be applied on different stages: primary production, processing and marketing.
European Union:
Argentina is considered as third country equivalent for the certification of organic products destined to the European Union. Our certifying bodies certify products according to Regulation No. 834/2007 which sets the production and labelling requirements of organic/biological/ecological products entering the European Union.
United States:
Since October 2002, the organic products destined to the United States must comply with the NOP (National Organic Program). This program is regulated by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), an entity that has accredited our certifying bodies to certify products under their standards for the American Organic Market.
Switzerland:
BIO SUISSE is a private association of Swiss organic farmers. It provides a seal to those foreign products which comply with the EU organic standards and conditions referred to market policies. Our certifying bodies are accredited by BIO SUISSE to certify products destined to the Swiss market. For more information, please visit: www.bio-suisse.ch
Canada:
Our certifying bodies have been accredited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since the COR – Canadian Organic Regime – start up, to certify organic products in compliance with this standard requirements.
Complementary but also useful Canada signed and equivalence agreement with the United States so that all products NOP (National Organic Program) certified can enter the Canadian market, and vice versa. For more information, please visit: www.inspection.gc.ca.
The certification procedure for organic products in Japan (JAS - Japanese Agricultural Standard) has been in force since April 2001. Argentina obtained the organic standards equivalence with JAS.
This equivalence implies that products certified under the Argentine standard can enter Japan directly.
The advantage of this agreement is to access the Japanese market by obtaining the Argentine certification. This agreement includes only vegetal products and derivate. Animal products and beverages are excluded.
