What You'll Learn
- Why organic compliance extends across your whole supply chain, not just your own operation
- How to vet suppliers using certificates, profiles, and letters of guarantee
- What “trust but verify” looks like, QR-code checks, annual updates, third-party verification
- Why supplier relationships and cross-trained staff prevent problems early
- How sourcing redundancy keeps a lost supplier from becoming a crisis
Watch Time: 12:34
In organic, you’re responsible not just for your own operation but for the integrity of everything your suppliers send you, and this video covers how handlers manage that. It walks through vetting and approving suppliers, the documentation to require from them, from organic certificates to letters of guarantee for uncertified vendors like packaging and transport, and how to confirm a certificate rather than take it on trust. Experienced organic handlers describe the verification habits that keep a supply chain clean, including checking paperwork at receiving, keeping supplier lists current, and building in a control point so vendor-uploaded documents still get audited by your team. A strong thread running through it is the value of real relationships with suppliers over transactional ones, along with the practical advice to line up backup sources for your key ingredients so a single certification lapse doesn’t halt production. Watch this video when you’re bringing on a new supplier, building out your approved vendor list, or setting up how your team verifies the operations you buy from.
About the Featured Operations
Organically Grown Company
- Organic Produce Wholesaler & Distributor
- Portland, OR
- 260 Employees
- Certified Organic since 1998
An organic produce wholesaler and distributor sourcing certified organic fruits and vegetables domestically and internationally for retailers, restaurants, buying clubs, and processors. At its core a logistics operation, it also sorts, repacks, co-packs, and private-labels. Founded to support local organic growers, it is now purpose-trust owned, serving a mission rather than profit and committed to advancing organic.
Giant Jones Brewing Company
- Organic Brewery
- Madison, WI
- 4 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2019
A certified organic brewery run by women, specializing in strong beer styles such as barley wines and Belgian tripels, sold in returnable bottles. The focus on big beers lets it absorb the cost of organic ingredients. Its motivation is rooted in community, sustainability, and a belief in organic agriculture’s benefits for soil, water, and wildlife.
Nana Joes Granola
- Organic Granola Manufacturer
- San Francisco, CA
- 9 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2018
A manufacturer of organic granola and granola bars, founded by a trained pastry chef who built the business around all-organic ingredients from the start. It has favored steady, sustainable growth over growth at any cost, emphasizing product integrity and a consistent team, and treats supplier relationships as partnerships rather than transactions.
Tradin Organic
- Organic Ingredient Importer
- Aptos, CA
- Certified Organic since 2010
A global organic sourcing company importing bulk ingredients such as seeds, grains, fruits, juices, and cooking oils, aiming to be a one-stop shop for U.S. companies seeking organic inputs. It emphasizes long-term grower relationships built on trust and farm visits, with a stated goal of making organic more broadly available.
TCHO Chocolate
- Organic Chocolate Maker
- Berkeley, CA
- Certified Organic since 2009
An organic chocolate maker focused on flavor and sustainability, built on the philosophy that better beans make a better bar. It works directly with cacao-farming communities in Ghana, Ecuador, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Madagascar, co-creating higher quality, and at times helping growers reach organic status, all without compromising on flavor.
Janie’s Mill
- Organic Stone-milled Flour
- Ashkum, IL
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2017
A stone mill producing flours from grain grown on partner farms and its own fields, with quality as its stated first priority. It sells wholesale to bakeries and retail to home bakers. The operation grew from a farming family’s interest in connecting good growers, careful milling, and bakers who value the resulting product.
Traditional Medicinals
- Organic Herbal Teas
- Rohnert Park, CA
- Certified Organic since 1995
An herbal tea company and early organic adopter, deeply committed to its source communities and organic teas. It sources organic botanicals from grower communities worldwide, treating those relationships as essential to its work, and advocates for organic on a broader scale beyond its own products.
Prairie Gold Eggs
- Organic Egg Aggregator & Distributor
- Oconomowoc, WI
- Certified Organic since 2024
A solar-powered farm producing certified organic, pasture-raised eggs, packing its own eggs alongside eggs from partner farms under its own brand. It has grown by bringing on additional farms and building a recognizable brand around its pasture-raised, organic offering.
Cedar Grove Cheese
- Organic Cheese Maker
- Plain, WI
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 1995
A family-owned cheese manufacturer producing both conventional and organic cheeses, including cow, sheep, and goat varieties. Small enough to design productions directly to a customer’s specifications, it makes specialty cheeses and produces in bulk for other companies to label and market.