Organic farming is simply a continuation of traditional, science-based farming techniques, perfected over millenia by our ancestors. Today, organic farmers apply recent advances in agro-ecological sciences to our long-standing traditions in agri-culture to produce the cleanest, tastiest foods available today.
Modern Organics in Canada date back to the 1940s and 1950s… at that time, the “new” agri-chemical based practices rode a wave of “better living through technology”. When organic pioneers began noticing dead birds and pollinators littering their farms after applying these new pesticides, they
knew something had to be done. Around the same time, Organic advocate J.I. Rodale founded the Rodale Institute in the US and began publishing Organic Farming and Gardening in the 1940s.
As momentum with the public grew in the wake of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and other seminal works of the ecology movement, organic food co-ops began springing up across Canada. Fed Up! gave rise to many of today’s health food stores and food co-ops focusing on local, organic foods. As people demanded organic food, farmers and retailers wanted protection against fraudulant claims by dubious business people wanting to capitalize on eaters willing to pay the cost of production for organically grown foods.
The certification movement was born. An international phenomenon, organic certification standards were developed throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s at the grass roots level. Today, Canada has a federally legislated standard to which products sold as organic in Canada – regardless of country of origin – must be certified.
To learn more about the history of the organic movement, visit our resource page. We have articles, videos, and links.