Developed by the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), the ROC covers requirements for farming and ranching operations, transportation, slaughter and certain processing facilities that produce food and fibre.

The goals of the ROC are to increase soil organic matter over time, improve animal welfare, provide economic stability and fairness, and create resilient regional ecosystems and communities. ROC utilises the USDA National Organic Program as the core of its program. NSF International facilitated the public comments process in 2017 as ROA developed the programme.

“We’re expanding our involvement beyond managing the public comment and are now leading programme implementation and certification body management for the ROA,” said Jessica Evans, Director of Standards Development at NSF International. “The Regenerative Organic Certification program recognises the efforts of certified organic producers who are demonstrating ambitious commitments to animal welfare, soil health and worker fairness.”

NSF International’s role as programme manager will involve the training and educating of certifying bodies, collection of data, and management of audit information and reports. Prior to the full launch of the ROC, NSF International will coordinate a pilot programme with various sizes and types of farms, facilities and verifiers to test the audit process and certification criteria.

NSF International has more than 70 years of experience conducting third-party audits and developing environmental health and safety standards. In addition to the ROC, NSF International also offers USDA National Organic Program certification and Certified Transitional certification through Quality Assurance International (QAI). QAI is part of NSF International’s family of companies. 

www.nsf.org