Certified Naturally Grown

Certified Naturally Grown is a grassroots effort by over 500 farmers and ranchers across the country to provide an alternative to USDA Organic that’s tailored for small-scale, direct-market producers. The certification program is available only to farmers and ranchers that support local markets and sell directly to their customers, and therefore don’t need to buy into the expense, paperwork, or more agribusiness/wholesale focus of Organic.
Certified Naturally Grown uses the publicly available USDA National Organic Program Standards as the basis of our growing practices, however the program is NOT affiliated in any way with the USDA National Organic Program, and is not administered or overseen by the USDA or any other government agency.

Certified Naturally Grown uses an application process, inspections, and unlike the USDA Organic program, makes use of random pesticide residue testing to help ensure consumer confidence.

Farmers commit to the following practices:

• Absolutely no use of synthetic chemical insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers on our crops
• Minimal and careful use of even Organically approved soil amendments and sprays
• Care for our soil, water and air quality with crop rotations, cover crops, protective buffer strips and ecologically sustainable farming practices
• No use of chemically treated or Genetically Modified seeds
• (For Farmers with Livestock) Humane treatment of livestock including the use of no hormones or antibiotic-laced feed and consistent access to pasture
• Adherence to sanitary post-harvest practices including proper transport, storage and the use of only potable water for the washing of produce
• A commitment to pass on the land and surrounding environment in an even better condition than it was passed on to us

We grow this way because we care about our families’ and workers’ health, the health of our friends and customers purchasing and enjoying our food, and because we want to be good, sustainable stewards of the small portion of this earth that has temporarily been put under our care.

Certified Naturally Grown is supported by national environmental groups, health organizations and sustainable agricultural groups including the National Cancer Awareness Coalition, the Sierra Club’s Atlantic Chapter and the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).
For more information and to see the complete list of farms participating in the program nationwide, please visit www.naturallygrown.org on the web.