From Violet Stone, Cornell Small Farms Program
Demystifying Organic Certification: Get Help Navigating the Certification Process
If you’ve been thinking about getting your farm certified as organic but aren’t sure whether it’s worth it, and find all the paperwork and requirements overwhelming, this course is for you. This 6-week online course is facilitated by Laura Biasillo of Cornell Cooperative Extension Broome County and taught by representatives from NOFA-NY LLC (Northeast Organic Farming Association’s certification arm), and designed to demystify the certification process. The course is appropriate for total newbies as well as experienced growers contemplating the transition to organic. It won’t teach you organic production techniques, but will help you understand the National Organic Program requirements, learn who the certifiers are, evaluate whether certification is right for your operation, and walk you through the paperwork.
Join weekly live webinars on Tues. nights from the comfort of your living room, and participate in homework and discussions in the course’s online classroom between webinars. You’ll learn from successful organic farmers about why they’ve chosen certification and what considerations might be most important for your farm.
The course begins Tues. Feb 12 and runs for 6 weeks. It costs $200 and registration is only open until the first day of the course, or until it fills, whichever happens first. View Frequently Asked Questions about our online courses.
View the syllabus and learning objectives or register for BF 106: Organic Certification.
This course is just one of many offered by the Cornell Small Farms Program in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Registration is still open for BF 202: Business Planning (starts Feb 21) and BF 103: Taking Care of Business (starts March 4). Read more about these and other online courses.