Ariel Pressman: Free Certification + High Standards at Real Organic Project

#113: Our Director of Certification, Ariel Pressman, joins Linley to discuss the relatively easy steps USDA organic farmers must take be earn free certification from Real Organic Project, and how our standards differ from other food labels. 

Ariel Pressman has been the Director of Certification at Real Organic Project since 2019. He's also an experienced organic vegetable farmer. Ariel ran a 13-acre, certified-organic vegetable farm in Western Wisconsin called Seed to Seed for 7 years. Seed to Seed employed 6 people while selling over 100,000 lbs of produce every year to some of the largest organic retailers in the Midwest. 


To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/ariel-pressman-free-certification-high-standards-for-organic-farmers-episode-one-hundred-thirteen-2

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms

We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

If you like what you hear and are feeling inspired, we would love for you to join our movement by becoming one of our 1,000  Real Friends:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/real-organic-friends/

To read our weekly newsletter (which might just be the most forwarded newsletter on the internet!) and get firsthand news about what's happening with organic food, farming and policy, please subscribe here:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/email/