What does Organic really mean?
Every September, we pause and reflect on the word organic.
It appears on fruit and vegetables, milk and meat, and on our pasta too.
But it’s not just a label; it is a set of standards, a legal framework, and a philosophy of farming that has been built and defended over generations.
What does organic compare with?
When we talk about organic, it helps to set it alongside the alternatives.
Conventional farming often means high yields supported by synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, and sometimes post-harvest chemicals. It can deliver volume, but often at the cost of depleted soils and reduced biodiversity.
Regenerative farming has become a fashionable term. It can include valuable practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, or attention to soil carbon. However, it has no legal definition, so it can mean very different things depending on who is using it. One farmer’s “regenerative” might be another’s “conventional plus.”
Organic farming is defined by law. It bans the use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, glyphosate, and all genetically modified organisms. It requires farms and food producers to meet strict standards verified by independent inspectors every year.
Biodynamic farming (Demeter-certified) builds on organic principles but also follows a holistic philosophy developed by Rudolf Steiner, including the use of specific preparations and lunar planting calendars. It is a fascinating and demanding system, but as of today there is no biodynamic or Demeter-certified pasta produced in the UK.
A British story to be proud of
You may not know it, but in Britain the organic movement has a long and remarkable history. In the 1940s, Lady Eve Balfour compared organic and conventional farming side by side, and in 1943 she published The Living Soil, a book that became a cornerstone of the movement which birthed the Soil Association in 1946, an organisation at the forefront of organic farming worldwide. Its vision was simple but profound: that farming should work with nature rather than against it, and that soil health, biodiversity and food quality are inseparable.
This is British history to feel proud about. The Soil Association, along with the other UK certifying bodies, continues to uphold some of the strictest standards in the world, ensuring that organic farming really does mean no glyphosate, no artificial fertilisers, no shortcuts. It means building healthy soil, protecting biodiversity, and keeping the living world in balance.
What does organic mean for pasta?
Organic certification is not just about how the crops are grown, it extends into how we run our business every day. Every ingredient we use must carry a valid organic certificate. Every delivery must be logged. We keep records that prove complete traceability from a bag of pasta on the shelf back to the flour, and from the flour right down to the field where the grain was grown. Inspectors check this chain every year and they do it thoroughly.
It also affects our daily routines. After we wash machinery or equipment we must rinse everything again to make sure no residues remain that could contaminate the pasta. It sounds simple, but in practice it doubles our cleaning procedures and adds a lot of extra work. Packaging too must meet organic standards: it cannot leak or risk contaminating the food. Storage has to be carefully organised so that certified organic ingredients and finished products are kept separate from anything non-organic.
And there is more. Organic certification strictly bans the use of genetically modified organisms. That gives customers an additional level of confidence that no GMO grains, enzymes, or additives are anywhere in the chain.
These requirements do not dictate whether we stone mill our flour or dry our pasta slowly, those are our own craft choices, but they do guarantee something equally important: that no chemicals or GMOs have entered the process, that everything can be traced back to the farm, and that an independent body has checked the proof.
The meaning of UK AGRICULTURE
You may notice that the Soil Association logo on our packs is accompanied by the words UK AGRICULTURE. This matters. It means that every grain in that product was grown in Britain, not imported. At present, this is the only third-party certification available that gives customers independent assurance that a pasta is 100% UK grown. For us, that is a point of pride, and for our customers it is a guarantee of provenance that no other scheme currently offers.
Why it matters today
Organic farming restores fertility, supports the microbial life beneath the soil, and gives space for insects and birds to thrive. It produces crops without synthetic residues and gives customers trust. For you, choosing organic pasta is not only about the food on the plate but also about the land it came from.
At Carleschi we see organic as the most practical and proven answer to sustainable farming. It is not an abstract idea but a system of checks and standards that has been built over decades. By choosing organic food we carry forward the work of those who fought for these standards, and we help protect the countryside we love for those who will walk its fields after us.
Since 2019 we have made Organic our choice for our pasta and we will continue to make it. Because it matters: for the land, for the grain, and for everyone who shares our table.
Together we can make a difference, one plate of pasta at a time.
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