Organic farming is farming without pesticides or chemicals. It is using natural elements as a method of crop and livestock production that involves much more than choosing not to use pesticides, fertilisers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics and growth hormones, it is a holistic, sustainable system.
Organic farming uses the following systems and standards:
- Protect the environment, minimise soil degradation and erosion, decrease pollution, optimise biological productivity and promote a sound state of health
- Maintain long-term soil fertility by optimising conditions for biological activity within the soil
- Maintain biological diversity within the system
- Recycle materials and resources to the greatest extent possible within the enterprise
- Provide attentive care that promotes the health and meets the behavioural needs of livestock. Livestock should be completely free range and live off the earth.
- Prepare organic products which emphases careful processing emphasising careful processing, and handling methods in order to maintain the organic integrity and vital qualities of the products at all stages of production.
