Advantages
The certification approach is said by Protected Harvest literature to have great environmental value in that it helps to solve a major intractable problem: nonpoint source pollution caused by agricultural runoff of pesticides and fertilizer components such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Certain pesticides and fertilizers provide cheap insurance to farmers that they will have large yields. Third-party certification is designed to provide assurance to consumers that growers are in fact utilizing practices which reduce these problems.
Each Protected Harvest production standard is written to reflect the unique growing requirements and environmental considerations of the crop and the specific bioregion in which it is grown. A “typical” standard is divided into four major sections: whole farm management, soil and water management, and air quality management.
Depending on the crop, the region where it is grown, and the exact production system being addressed, the relative importance of the factors will change. When developing a standard for certification purposes, the point system is ultimately determined by a multidisciplinary Crop Advisory Committee that is assembled for the writing of each crop certification standard. A peer review of the standard is then conducted to evaluate the technical competency of the standard, followed by a review by the Protected Harvest Oversight Board.
Read more about this topic: Protected Harvest
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