Courtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA
The question frequently comes up, Do SPIN farmers get organic certification? The real question is, Is organic certification worth it? Let’s think it through from a SPIN perspective.
Organic certification has cost and effort associated with it, so you need to determine if there is a business advantage to having it. SPIN is a direct marketing model so growers sell direct to their customers. They can explain their methods, show photos of their operation and even have customers come visit their plots. That is how they build trust, and it is what has driven the growth of farmer’s markets over the last 15 years. People want to know the color of their farmers eyes. That is the advantage SPIN farmers have – they can build trust directly. Organic certification is more useful for growers who can’t do that because they sell through middlemen. They have to outsource trust building to certification agencies.
The bottom line is that for SPIN farmers, it probably makes more sense to put the cost and effort of certification into building relationships with customers instead.
IF YOU HAVE ORGANIC CERTIFICATION, HAS IT GIVEN YOU AN ADVANTAGE? LET US KNOW IN THE FORUM >>>
