This week I was able to participate in the Organic Inspector Basic Course at the College of Agriculture and Natural Science Building at the University of Guam. Since the first day, it was a very intense course with lots of information handled to us. The class started at 8:00 am and getting out after 6:00 pm. It was like that the whole week. The daily homework had us burning the midnight oil. Sleep was starting to be a challenge up until the last night. Where most of the students had little sleep or none at all working on their field reports to turn it in this morning.
This course was the Crop Inspection portion of the basic course. I would have to take the Livestock portion and Handling./Processing portion at a later date.
My class was diverse as the subjects that were being taught. There was Felix from Palau, Jackson from Pohnpei, Soko from Fiji, Valetine from Chuuk. The rest of the class was from here on Guam. Majority were from the college itself. A couple of farmers and gardeners rounded out the class structure.
My instructors were Luis from Costa Rica and Garry from Canada. They are instructorsfrom the International Organic Inspectors Association (IOIA). They have so much knowledge in regards to the Organic Farming Industry in both the National Organics Program (NOP) and personal experiences as Organic Inspectors. That, I have learned so much from them. It was a fun but intense class.
I now understand that Organic is bigger than Organic Certification. It makes it a lot easier for me to transition from a conventional ranch to an organic ranch. I thought it would be hard. But, seeing the perspective from my instructors viewpoint, makes it a lot easier. Especially, when I now personally know what synthetics are allowed and what non-synthetics (aka as natural) are prohibited in the organic certification process.
I am praying that I pass this course and earn my certification as an Organic Inspector. I will not know my official results for a couple of days.
I recommend this class to anyone who would like to become an organic inspector. The knowledge will also help out in your farm/ranch operations.
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