Organic vs. natural farming
There’s a slight confusion between organic and natural farming, with the terms sometimes being used interchangeably. While both organic and natural farming use the same processes, the big difference lies in paperwork. Namely, ‘organic’ refers to a farm or product that uses natural farming methods and has been certified as organic by a third party, while ‘naturally grown’ refers to a farm or product that uses natural farming methods, but does not have organic certification.
In 2010, Republic Act 10068, also known as the Organic Agriculture Act of 2010, was signed into law. This made it illegal to label products as ‘organic’ without the proper certification. Unfortunately, since getting certified by a third party is expensive, costing about P40,000 per product, this means that a lot of small farmers were left out. It also meant that farms had to price their organic products at a premium to make up for the cost of certification. This is why