What this is, and what it isn't

A directory of New Zealand organic producers that tries to be honest about the difference between a claim and a checked claim.

“Organic” on a label can mean a farm audited annually against a written standard by an independent certifier. It can also mean somebody decided their growing felt organic. Both are printed in the same font.

This directory separates them. Every farm listed shows who certifies it, the certificate number, when it expires, and when somebody here last checked it against the certifier’s own public register. Where a farm makes further promises — no plastic, living wage, land retired to natives — those are marked as declared rather than audited, because nobody inspects them.

What gets checked

Certification, and only certification. When a farm claims BioGro, AsureQuality, Demeter or OrganicFarmNZ, that claim is looked up against the certifier’s register and the date of the check is recorded on the page. When a certificate expires, the badge comes off automatically rather than waiting for somebody to notice.

Everything else a farm says about itself is its own word. That is worth having — a producer who publishes their input register is telling you something real — but it is not the same as an audit, and this site will not let the two look alike.

What is not checked

• Whether the food is better, healthier or tastier. Not our claim to make.
• Whether a declared practice is actually followed on the farm.
• Price, availability, or whether an order will arrive.

Farms in conversion, and farms that never certified

Certification costs money and takes three years. A small producer selling into their own community may never earn back the fee, and a farm part-way through conversion is doing the work without yet being able to say so. Both are listed here, both are labelled plainly, and neither is allowed to wear a mark that suggests an audit that has not happened.

Who runs it

A small operation in the Waikato. Not a certifier, not a government agency, not a marketplace taking a cut of anything.

If you grow organically and want to be listed, write to hello@organicmatters.nz. Listing is free. There is no charge to appear, and no way to pay for a better position.

If something here is wrong

Tell us. A directory whose whole value is accuracy has no business being defensive about corrections — support@organicmatters.nz.