Regulations and certification of fertilizers usable in organic farming
The organic sector is a booming and continuously growing sector, so there is a great need for inputs suitable for these productions.
Why are UNE standards necessary?
Organic certifications are carried out through private certifiers, which entails a great diversity of criteria and interpretations that do not go beyond the lists in annexes I and II of the Regulations:
- Regulation (EC) 834/2007 (to be replaced by Regulation (EC) 848/2018).
- Regulation (EC) 889/2008.
This generates a need for unification, for which a common technical specification has been created that aims to try to clarify and order these inputs in the market and thus offer guarantees of compliance with the provisions of the law to farmers. This common legislation is the so-called UNE standards:
- UNE 142500 Usable inputs in organic plant production. Fertilizers, amendments and growing media.
- UNE 315500 Usable inputs in organic plant production. Products for the management of pests and diseases.
- UNE 66500 minimum requirements for the certification of usable inputs in organic plant production according to UNE 142500 and UNE 315500 Standards.
Some certifiers have promoted the application of these UNE standards as of January 2021. But for the moment, these standards are voluntary and it will be the market and the clients themselves who have to impose their application, by demanding quality parameters that provide security to the market for organic inputs.
Defeder, following its quality protocols, is already processing the homologations of its input certifications according to UNE standards, in order to continue offering its customers all the guarantees on its organic products.