Help!!! My product is... in conversion!

Where does Organic Agriculture come from if not from the conversion of cultivated land with a traditional method? Supporting products in conversion is certainly a political choice made in the knowledge that the organoleptic characteristics of the final product do not differ, due to the amount of chemical residues, from the certified product. Below is the speech by Franco Zecchinato, president of the El Tamiso Cooperative, on the subject.

Some customers still refuse to buy local organic fruit and vegetables “in conversion”.
We think that this derives from incomplete information, and perhaps influenced precisely by the term 'conversion', which may suggest a path of 'redemption', but this is not the case.
In this regard, we would like to express some considerations, which we consider important precisely for the development of organic agriculture, that we all care about:
- contrary to the first Organic Farming Regulations of the 80s — the famous “What is Organic?” — in which during the delicate period of conversion, operations and techniques were granted and then subsequently prohibited, to promote the process of change, today the Rules of Law oblige us to use only the techniques and means allowed in organic farming, whether in conversion or not
- what's more, for the first 12 months from the start of organic production, and the related subjection to all the obligations and controls provided for, any denomination referring to organic in the sale of the product is prohibited
- in most cases, in the 12 months (for vegetables and herbs) or 24 months (for fruit trees) following the first year, the products can be sold by declaring them “in conversion to organic farming”. After this additional period (therefore from 2 years to 3 years after the start of the use of the organic method, without ifs and buts) it will be possible to remove the reference to conversion, if the product was planted, sown or harvested during that period
- so all the burdens and risks of converting to cultivation, as well as the heavy costs of control, certification, assistance and research are borne by the grower. In this regard, consider crops such as apples, peaches, etc. etc. whose sale in the conventional market, an obligatory choice for the first 12 months, is almost impossible due to their lower external quality and “appearance”
- add to this that even in the months of the saleable “conversion”, no one buys cereals, fruits or vegetables intended for processing, for the simple reason that, having to mix, for example, organic and converted soft wheat, one would have to define all the flour obtained as from conversion; therefore, only a share of fresh fruit and vegetables remain potentially valuable
- despite everything, we at the Cooperative are committed to “breeding” and supporting new companies, in particular different ones run by young entrepreneurs... perhaps small, but valuable experiences for the future, which are there and are growing (otherwise there would be no conversion at all!) and those who know a little about the prospects of our agriculture, in terms of age, professionalism and passion, know that more than 90% of current Italian farms do not have a successor!

- for some time now, the El Tamiso Cooperative has been following its precise and effective chemical analysis plan for all suppliers, whether they are members or not; particular attention is paid to the monitoring of productions in conversion, in order to ensure that there are no chemical residues detectable by the instruments, therefore at levels much lower than the limits tolerated by the Law for conventional foods, which are higher
- in one case, in 2010, problems were encountered, for the “memory” of certain clay and organic soils that tend to retain chemical molecules used in the past, and immediately the production and cultivation of that soil was eliminated
- not to mention that in general a danger, always lurking, is the potential pollution from conventional crops (drift), the “background” pollution of water and air, on which we all have very little objective information, etc. etc... all issues on which, then, we cannot leave our new agricultural entrepreneur alone!
With these considerations, we hope to have motivated why we accept and value regularly certified productions “in conversion to organic agriculture”: it is a sign of responsibility and respect for the commitment of others, a concrete alliance between those who produce, those who resell and those who buy; a real contribution to the development and growth of organic and biodynamic agriculture.
It is, as always, literally a choice of field:
- or are we for agriculture that cultivates “public contributions” (CAP, agro-environment, biogas, biodiesel, ground-based photovoltaic, etc.), speculating on the environment and landscape, to make up for the inadequacy of agricultural prices
- or we are to recognize the dignity and value of the grower's work, the organic one in particular.

Finally, we invite you to reflect on the fact that, even in the presence of a clear growth in demand for organic products, and therefore in production, there is very little product being converted around... isn't it that with our refusal we risk contributing to “faster” conversions?