Organics

Soil Association Certification is expanding its digital presence to support licensees with a range of online resources, webinars and remote inspections in response to the challenges of Covid-19.

With the organic market set to surpass the £2.5 billion sales mark by the end of the year, Soil Association Certification is expanding its range of digital resources to ensure the sector is better supported. In addition to launching a Covid-19 Support Hub, Soil Association Certification has also developed a new home-delivery hub to support businesses that are moving from their usual distribution channels to sell direct to consumers.

Over the coming weeks Soil Association Certification said it will be sharing more resources including learnings from organic businesses and a wide range of webinars, panel discussions, articles and organic-learning sessions, covering everything from managing social media to building a brand in a crisis.

In addition the certification body has also been offering remote inspections to ensure business runs smoothly for existing licensees and that they can continue to offer organic food with integrity to the public at this time.

Clare McDermott, business development director at Soil Association Certification, said: “Soil Association Certification is expanding its range of digital resources to ensure licensees are not only prepared to weather this crisis, but that they can continue to thrive in an increasingly digitalised world.

'We see digitalisation as core to our service. We’ve implemented technology-led remote inspections to ensure our existing clients can be inspected, maintaining integrity and their certification, and are supporting with new online routes to market and sharing best practice.

'We expect shoppers will continue buying organic from home delivery post Covid-19 as they continue to look for many of the benefits which organic products deliver on – natural, healthy and tasty food and drink that’s been sourced and farmed with care.”