At Kemp Family Organic Farm & Dairy all of our crops, livestock, and bulk dairy is Certified Organic (by the certifier QCS).

Because of the much smaller volumes involved, our other dairy products (butter, cream, skim milk, cheese, and yogurt) are "organically managed".  We follow all of the applicable National Organic Program regulations and best practices for organic certification, but we have not yet received "processed products" certification.  We are, however, preparing a new OSP (Organic System Plan) that includes eggs and processing/handling and will be submitting it to our certifier very soon.

Please note that food safety is not part of organic certification.  Food safety is regulated, and inspected by the Indiana Department of Agriculture.

Certified Organic means that a crop, livestock, product, etc., is produced in strict conformance with the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards.  An independent certification organization, in our case QCS, inspects our Organic Systems Plan (OSP) and physically inspects our farm and dairy facilities for compliance with all applicable NOP standards.  After careful review of our OSP and the physical inspection they issue us a certificate indicating compliance which also gives us permission to use the USDA "Certified Organic" logo on our products.

The phrase Organically Managed is not defined in any USDA standard.  In general, it is a statement by a farmer, rancher, or producer, that they follow the NOP guidelines but have not yet secured "certification" for a specific aspect of their operations.  This is generally the case where the sales volume of a specific item does not justify the cost of certification.  It can also mean that they are "trying the waters" of a new crop or product to see if there is a need for organic certification.  We want to be clear that the term Organically Managed has no regulatory meaning.