The system of organic certification is too onerous, too complicated and at times the rules are stupid.

A revolution of sorts is in the wings, with organic producers refusing to submit to rules that favor large scale agriculture but are way too onerous for small producers. Who wants to spend their days fulfilling bureaucratic requirements instead of being out there actually planting and harvesting their fruits and veggies?

I can’t believe it’s not organic (ICBINO) is a logo that has been created by some people in the UK, who are fed up with the local enforcer, the Soil Association.

Read more about it in this article on the Land Magazine’s site:

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Organic – A new DIY small producers’ association is germinating.

From the article:

In July 2011, Jyoti Fernandes and Simon Fairlie were hauled up before the Soil Association tribunal for giving a few wheelbarrows of grass cuttings from a nearby vegetable garden (which is farmed 100 per cent organically but not certified) to their cows; and feeding stale bread to pigs from a bakery that had recently pulled out of organic registration. As a result they have taken the cows and pigs out of the organic certification system. Simon and Jyoti are not alone in quitting the Soil Association. Many small farmers and smallholders have discovered (either before applying or after) that the way the organic certification system is structured is both too impractical and too expensive for small-scale local producers — particularly those who own limited amounts of land, and hence have to rely on rented land, imported hay or waste products.