According to the principles of organic farming fertility and biological activity of the soil shall be maintained and increased by multiannual crop rotation and the prevention of damage caused by pests, diseases and weeds shall rely primarily on the protection by natural enemies, the choice of species and varieties, crop rotation, cultivation techniques and thermal processes. In the case these measures are not sufficient to provide soil fertility and crop pest control, commercial off-farm inputs may be used in conformity with the respective standard rules and restrictions.

The various organic standards have different requirements for the off-farm inputs allowed to be used for organic farming. In most cases it is impossible from a product label to determine if an input can be used. This leads to difficulties for the input manufacturers to sell their products to a wide-spectrum of organic farmers and for the organic farmers to recognize if a product can be used in organic farming according to a particular organic standard.

You can download a list of Off-Farm Inputs certified and registered by IMO here.