Regenerative Organic Certified™

• Become a preferred supplier – leading retailers such as Whole Foods are committed to regenerative agriculture and support farms and products that are Regenerative Organic Certified
• Gain a competitive edge – show your business customers and consumers that your farms and products go well beyond the requirements of USDA Organic
• Reap the benefits of ethical leadership – conformance with strong ethical and social practices supports the economic well-being, health and satisfaction of farmers, farmworkers and communities
• Keep your farm strong – Environmental stewardship practices lead to improved soil health, protection of critical water resources, increased carbon sequestration, and healthy ecosystems

Eligibility

To participate, interested farms apply directly on the Regenerative Organic Alliance website. Your journey starts here: https://regenorganic.org/apply/. 

Program Objectives

The ROC program aims to promote holistic agriculture practices in an all-encompassing certification that creates a healthy food system, supports and sustains farms, respects land and animals, empowers people, and restores communities and ecosystems through regenerative organic farming.

Certification Criteria

International organic standards, such as USDA Organic, are the bedrock for ROC. At a minimum, participating farms and ranches must comply with all geographically-appropriate organic certification requirements.

Beyond this baseline level of performance, the ROC evaluate farms and ranches against three pillars, as applicable: Soil Health and Land Management, Farmer and Worker Fairness, and Animal Welfare.

Levels of Recognition

Farms and ranches can earn recognition under one of three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each tier requires a different number and scope of regenerative organic practices used. An excellent selection of Certification Resources can be found here: https://regenorganic.org/Resources/. The Soil Health and Land Management, Farmer and Worker Fairness, and Animal Welfare pillars contain criteria for each level of certification:

• Required practices (R): Practices that operations must meet for an operation to be eligible for ROC at the desired level. When a non-conformance for a Required practice is issued by the certifier, the operation has 90 days to resolve the nonconformance.
• Optional practices (O): Practices encouraged for all, but not required, at a particular level. Optional Practices (O) shift to Required Practices (R) as a producer advances from Bronze to Silver to Gold levels.
• Critical tolerances (CT): Practices that require action on the part of producers and must be reported immediately and remediated within 30 days. If the Critical Tolerance (CT) is not resolved within 30 days, a producer cannot claim ROC. To achieve the desired level of ROC, an operation must meet 100% of the required practices for that level.

Participation at any level requires that the entity is properly certified as organic by a properly accredited certifying body and complies with all baseline organic requirements.

The certification process involves the following steps.

• Apply for Certification through ROC
• Complete Application with ROC
• Determine scope and share documents with SCS
• Schedule the Audit
• Onsite Audit
• Report
• Certification
• Annual Evaluation

As of 2022, SCS is currently accepting clients in the United States who have been or are interested in being certified under the USDA National Organic Program.  SCS will soon be accepting clients operating in Mexico, and is making plans for further geographic scope expansion.

As of 2022, SCS is focusing on clients producing field and orchard crops. SCS is also making plans to expand its coverage to include farms with livestock operations.

What is regenerative agriculture?

“Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that aim to strengthen the agroecosystem by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. The Regenerative Organic Certified program not only prioritizes soil health , but also sets high ethical leadership standards for farmers and workers, as well as strong animal welfare provisions. The idea is to create farm systems that work in harmony with nature to improve quality of life for every creature involved.

Who is eligible to participate?

• Producer operations: farms, ranches, vineyards, and grower groups
• Buyers and other supply chain actors register with ROC directly
• Brands and other entities enter a license agreement with ROC directly

Does ROC require a farm to be organic?

Yes, the baseline certification for all ROC certification is organic (USDA, EU, JAS, whichever is appropriate for your country/regional requirements).

I’m an organic Certificate Holder (CH) with another certification body. What are the steps I need to take to pursue Regenerative Organic certification with SCS Global Services?

Request a change in Certification Body directly in the ROC eCert platform.

As of 2022, SCS is currently accepting clients in the United States who have been or are interested in being certified under the USDA National Organic Program.  SCS will soon be accepting clients operating in Mexico, and is making plans for further geographic scope expansion.

As of 2022, SCS is focusing on clients producing field and orchard crops. SCS is also making plans to expand its coverage to include farms with livestock operations