Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC)

Regenerative Organic Certified was established in 2017 by a group of farmers, business leaders, and experts in soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness, collectively called the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). Regenerative Organic Certified® is a revolutionary new certification for food, fibre, and personal care ingredients that represents the highest standard for organic agriculture in the world, with stringent requirements for soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness.

Regenerative Organic Certified® uses the USDA Certified Organic standard as a baseline. From this base, it adds important criteria and benchmarks that incorporate the three major pillars of regenerative organic agriculture into one certification.

Before beginning an application, please make sure you have read, and understand, the full Regenerative Organic Certified® framework and governing documents, available at RegenOrganic.org/Resources.

Important Notes

• Initial applications for ROC certification are made via the ROA at the following link
• Program Fees payable to the ROA are detailed here
• ACO Audit Fees are charged as outlined in our Fee Schedule
• To achieve certification to ROC, an entity must first hold USDA organic certification, or an international equivalent formally recognized by the National Organic Program (NOP).
• To achieve certification to the ROC Animal Welfare Pillar, an entity must first hold an animal welfare certification recognized under ROC*
  *The requirements of the animal welfare pillar are only applicable to operations including commercial livestock sales.
• To achieve ROC Farmer & Worker Fairness, the entity must first hold a social fairness certification recognized under ROC*
  *Not applicable to operations in the Global North including Australia.
• ROC has three levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each requires a different number and scope of regenerative organic practices used.
• Annual recertification audits are required at all levels.

Levels of ROC

Bronze

To claim ROC at the Bronze level, at least 10% of fibre-or food-producing land within an operation must be certified at initial certification and must reach at least 50% by year five. Alternatively, the certified portion may represent at least 10% of the operation’s revenue derived from food or fibre production. Claims about organic and regenerative organic can only be made about products specifically grown on land that is already certified organic. Any organic and regenerative organic labelling must also abide by USDA organic labelling regulations.

Silver

To claim ROC at the Silver level, at least 50% of fibre-or food-producing land, or revenue from ROC crops, within an operation must be certified at initial certification and must reach at least 75% by year five. Alternatively, the certified portion may represent at least 50% of the operation’s revenue derived from food or fibre production. Claims about organic and regenerative organic can only be made about products produced from land that is already certified organic. Any organic and regenerative organic labelling must also abide by USDA organic labelling regulations.

Gold

To claim ROC at the Gold level, 100% of fibre-or food-producing land of an operation must be certified, representing 100% of revenue derived from food or fibre production. Any organic and regenerative organic labelling must also abide by USDA organic labelling regulations. Processor criteria include specific sections from each pillar that must be verified by on-site audit for any products carrying Gold ROC claims.