“What is organic production and marketing?”
That’s a question the BC Vegetable Marketing Commission hopes to answer this year as it works to improve its services to the province’s vegetable sector in the wake of a new general order.
“We need to get a handle on what that is,” BC Veg general manager Andre Solymosi told producers at the commission’s annual general meeting last month. “What is organics? Is there a definition we can use? And how does that organic production fit into the regulatory framework?”
Use of the term “organic” and variations thereon have been protected under provincial regulation since 2016 and typically requires producers to hold a certificate recognizing them as engaging in production in accordance with organic production standards.
Organic BC, which represents organic growers and spearheaded the push for protection of the term “organic,” said it looks forward to discussing the commission’s goals and understanding its intentions.
The commission currently regulates a range of greenhouse and storage crops but has expressed an interest in increasing data collection to keep abreast of production and sales trends, as well as to identify gaps in the market that BC producers could fill.
It has also pledged to greater engagement with stakeholders, following on the formation last year of an advisory task force with broad representation from industry.
A similar task force specific to northern BC, for which the new general order includes regulations, is also under development.
“We continue to await further response from them as to how they would like to consult with the sector,” Organic BC says in a statement to Country Life in BC.
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