GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Fair Trade Definitions - The ABC's of Fair Trade Document
Fair Trade certification
- Fair Trade Certification requires that production adhere to a set of strict social conditions, where registration is permitted only to democratically-organized producer associations or plantations with independent democratic unions who must uphold basic ILO (International Labor Organization) conventions. In addition to paying a set premium above world market price and have a guaranteed minimum price should the market price collapse, Fair Trade importers must provide up to 60% of the expected harvest value. To date, these NGO-based standards have no parallel or protection in national legislation. The certifying agent for Fair Trade in the United States is TransFair USA and in Canada TransFair Canada.
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Fair Trade
- Fair Trade’s rules guarantee: a living wage in the local context, offering employees opportunities for advancement, providing equal opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged, engaging in environmentally sustainable practices, being open to public accountability, building long-term trade relationships, providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context, providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible.
FAIR TRADE / ORGANIC Definitions
Audit - A systematic and functionally independent examination to determine whether activities and related results conform with planned objectives.
Audit Trail - A documentation control procedure that can determine the origin, transfer of ownership, and transportation process (i.e. supply chain) of any product labelled as organic or containing organic ingredients.
Breeder Animal - Female livestock whose offspring may be incorporated into an organic production entreprise at the time of their birth.
Buffer Zone - A clearly defined and identifiable boundary area that borders an organic production unit and that may limit inadvertent application of, or contact with, prohibited substances from adjacent non-organic areas.
Certification - The procedure by which the official certification body, or officially recognized certification body, provides written assurance that organic products or organic production systems conform to specified requirements. Certification of organic products may be based on a range of inspection activities including verification of management practices, auditing of quality assurance systems, and in/out production balances.
Certification Body - The body directing the certification process. The certification body is responsible for verifying that a product sold or labelled as “organic” is produced, processed, prepared and handled in accordance with this standard.
Certified Organic - A production method whose certification attests to conformance with this standard. This definition applies to the following terms: certified organically grown, certified organically raised, certified organically produced, certified ecological, certified biodynamic.
Commercially Available - The documented ability to obtain a production input or an ingredient in an appropriate form, quality, quantity or variety in order to fulfil an essential function in a organic farming, processing or handling system.
Compost
- A solid, mature product resulting from controlled decomposition, which is
a managed process of bio-oxidation, including a thermophilic
phase, of a solid heterogeneous organic substrate.1
1For the import and sale of compost, compost is defined as “a homogeneous and friable mixture of partially decomposed organic matter, with or without soil” and is a synonym for humus and leaf mould, in accordance with the Fertilizers Act.
Compost Tea - A soil amendment solution created by steeping mature compost in order to promote beneficial bacterial growth.
Crop Rotation - The practice of alternating crops grown on a specific field in a planned sequence in successive crop years so that crops of the same species or family are not continuously grown on the same field. Perennial cropping systems employ techniques such as alley cropping, intercropping and hedgerows to introduce biological diversity in lieu of crop rotation.
1For the import and sale of compost, compost is defined as “a homogeneous and friable mixture of partially decomposed organic matter, with or without soil” and is a synonym for humus and leaf mould, in accordance with the Fertilizers Act.
Drift - The physical movement of prohibited substances from the intended target site onto all or part of an organic farm.
Feed - Edible materials encompassing all agricultural commodities, including concentrates (grains), roughages (hay, silage, fodder) and pasture, consumed by livestock for nutritional value.
Feed Supplement - A combination of ingredients added to livestock feed to improve the nutrient balance or performance of the total ration. It is intended to be diluted with other feeds when fed to livestock, offered free choice with other parts of the ration if separately available, or further diluted and mixed to produce a complete feed, i.e. a combination of feed ingredients that will meet all the nutritional requirements of the animal.
Fertilizer - A single or blended substance composed of one or more recognized plant nutrient(s).
Forage - Vegetative material in fresh, dried or ensiled state (pasture, hay or silage), which is fed to livestock.
Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEO) (Organismes obtenus par génie génétique [OGG]) - Organisms and their derived products that are created a result of the techniques by which the genetic material, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA), is modified in a way that does not occur naturally by multiplication or natural recombination. These genetic engineering techniques include but are not limited to:
— recombinant DNA (rDNA) techniques that use vector systems;
— techniques involving the direct introduction into the organism of hereditary materials
prepared outside the organism;
— cell fusion, micro and macro injection, encapsulation, gene deletion and doubling. Genetically engineered organisms do not include organisms resulting from techniques such as conjugation, transduction and hybridization. Unless the donor/recipient organism is derived from any of the above techniques, examples of excluded techniques include but are not limited to the following:
— in vitro fertilization;
— conjugation, transduction, transformation, or any other natural process;
— polyploidy induction;
— mutagenesis; and
— cell fusion (including protoplast fusion) or hybridization techniques where the donor cells/protoplasts are in the same taxonomic family.
Handle - To sell, process or package organic products; this definition excludes the sale, transportation or delivery of crops or livestock, by the producer to a handler.
Handler - Any person engaged in the business of handling organic products, including producers who handle crops or livestock of their own production; this definition excludes final retailers of organic products that do not process organic products.
Ingredient - Any substance, including an addition to a product, used in the manufacture or preparation of a product. The substance is present in the final product, possibly in a modified form.
Inspection - The examination of products or systems for control of products, raw materials, processing, and distribution including in-process and finished product testing, in order to verify that they conform to requirements. For organic products, inspection includes the examination of the production and processing system.
Label - Any legend, word or mark attached to, included in, belonging to, or accompanying any product or package containing a product.
Livestock - All animals used for food or in the production of food, feed, fibre, or other agricultural based consumer products, including cattle, horse, goats, poultry, sheep, swine, fish, bees, wild or domesticated game.
Manure - Livestock feces, urine and other excrement, and bedding used (or soiled) by livestock that have not been composted.
Nutrient Management Planning - A nutrient budgeting process in which the timing and rate of nutrient application is based on soil nutrient status (soil test results), crop nutrient needs, amendment (manure, compost, plow-down crop or other permitted substance), nutrient contents and expected nutrient release rates. The goal of a nutrient management plan is to minimize nutrient loss, protect water quality, maintain soil fertility and ensure effective use of permitted soil amendments.
Organic (Biologique) - A method of production, including any subsequent processing, storage and transportation, conforming to a standard, that may or may not be attested by a certification body. This definition applies to the terms “organically grown,” “organically raised,” “organically produced,” “biological,” “biodynamic,” “ecological”.
Organic Integrity - The maintenance of the inherent organic qualities of a product from the reception of ingredients through to the end consumer.
Organic Practices - Management methods that enhance crop or livestock health and prevent weeds, pests or diseases through balanced nutrient management cycling excluding external inputs. These methods include selection of appropriate varieties and breeds, selection of appropriate planting sites, control of timing and density of plantings, constructio n of livestock facilities designed to optimize animal health, and management of stocking rates.
Perennial Crop - Any crop, other than a biennial crop, that can be harvested from the same planting for more than one crop year or that requires at least one year after planting before harvest.
Pest - An organism causing damage to humans or to resources used by humans, such as some viruses, bacteria, fungi, weeds, parasites, arthropods and rodents.
Processing - All processes, operations and steps that lead to the final product.
Prohibited Substance - A substance whose use in any aspect of organic production (e.g. processing, manufacturing or handling) is prohibited or not specified in CAN/CGSB-32.310 Part 3.
Production - The regional operations undertaken to supply organic products in the state in which they
occur on the enterprise, including initial packaging and labelling of the product.
Production Unit - A portion of an enterprise that produces an organic product under a specific management plan.
Records - Any information in written, visual or electronic form that documents the activities
undertaken by a producer, handler or certification body in accordance with this standard.
Substances List - The list of substances for use by an operator, as specified in CAN/CGSB-32.310 Part 3.
Wild Crop
- Any plant or portion of a plant
collected or harvested from a site that is not yet maintained under cultivation
or other agricultural management but is subject to harvesting in an ecological
manner by an operator seeking status as an organic enterprise.
HACCP Definitions
HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system - A tool that enables a facility to provide protection of the food supply, processed or manufactured from biological, chemical, and physical hazards.
The idea is to focus on the safe production or processing of food products from the acquisition and receiving of raw materials and ingredients to the finished manufactured or processed products.
GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (GAP'S) - They are the measures, practices and/or guidelines to ensure food safety, soundness and wholesomeness at all stages of the agricultural process. They are the prerequisites to building the HACCP Program and focus on people, equipment, process and the environment.
BIOLOGICAL HAZARD - Microorganisms that can directly cause illness or death, or create toxins in the food that could cause illness or death. These include pathogenic bacteria, yeast, mold, viruses, and parasites.
CHEMICAL HAZARD - Contaminants that may include residues from cleaners, agricultural chemicals, nitrates, heavy metals, lubricants and naturally occurring toxins known as allergens.
PHYSICAL HAZARD - A hazard that may cause physical injury to a human.
Examples include: glass, wood, stones, metals, wrong product in tank and/or bin.
CRITICAL CONTROL POINT (CCP) - A point, step, or procedure at which control can be applied and a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level.
SPECIFICATION - The set of parameters and criteria that the raw material must conform with to be considered acceptable for its intended use.
VALIDATION - Proving that there is a high degree of assurance that a specific process, method, or system will consistently produce a result meeting pre-determined acceptance criteria.
Unit Glossary
CAD Canadian Dollar
USD
EUR Euro
GBP British Pound
JPY Japanese Yen
Tonne Metric Tonne (MT)
Kg Kilogram
Lb Imperial Pound
Ha Hectare
Ac Acre
Unit Conversions
1.0 lb = 0.4535924 kg
2.2046226 lbs = 1.0 kg
2,204.6226 lbs = 1,000.0 kg
2,204.6226 lbs = 1.0 tonne
1.0 acre = 4,046.873 m2
1.0 acre = 0.4046.873 ha
1.0 ha = 2.4710 acre
Bushel Weights
| bu / 20 Tonnes |
lbs / bu |
Bushel Weights |
| Oilseeds |
||
| 787 |
56 |
Flax (Brown & Golden) |
| 1002 |
44 |
Hempseed |
| 882 |
50 |
Mustard (Brown, Yellow, Oriental) |
| 882 |
50 |
Polish Canola |
| 1470 |
30 |
Sunflower |
| 1102 |
40 |
Safflower |
| 735 |
60 |
Soybean |
| Borage |
||
| Primrose |
||
| Pulses |
||
| 735 |
60 |
Lentils (Large & Small Green, Dark Green Speckled (French Green), Red, Split Red, Black) |
| 735 |
60 |
Peas (Green, Yellow, Split, Marrowfat, Maple, Feed) |
| 735 |
60 |
Chickpeas (Large Kabuli (9mm), Small Kabuli (B-90), Desi) |
| 735 |
60 |
Beans (Pinto, Great Northern, Small Red, Dutch Brown, Black) |
| Cereals |
||
| 735 |
60 |
Ancient Grains (Einkorn, Spelt, Kamut, Ethiopian Barley, Quinoa, Amaranth) |
| 735 |
60 |
Wheat (Hard Red, CPS, Soft White, Hard White, Winter, Feed) |
| 735 |
60 |
Durum |
| 919 |
48 |
Barley (Malting, Hulless, Feed) |
| 1378 |
32 |
Oats (Hulless, Milling) |
| 787 |
56 |
Rye |
| 882 |
50 |
Proso Millet (White, Gold) |
| 919 |
48 |
Buckwheat |
| Forages & Grasses |
||
| 735 |
60 |
Alfalfa seed |
| 735 |
60 |
Clover seed |
| 882 |
50 |
Canary seed |
| 735 |
60 |
Black Medic |
| Herbs & Spices |
||
| 735 |
60 |
Fenugreek |
| 1764 |
25 |
Coriander |
| 1102 |
40 |
Caraway |
| Hay |
||
| 848 |
52 |
Triticale |