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	Demeter International Global · Tier 2 Trusted	Bio Suisse 'Knospe' (Bud) Switzerland · Tier 2 Trusted	Tún (Iceland) Iceland · Tier 1 Gold	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing
What it means	The certification mark for biodynamic agriculture. Stricter than any government organic standard: it covers the entire farm as a closed ecosystem, follows a planting calendar tied to lunar/solar cycles, and bans many practices the baseline organic rules permit.	The Swiss organic farmers' federation mark. The Knospe (Bud) is the dominant organic mark in Swiss supermarkets and operates to standards stricter than the Swiss federal organic ordinance.	Vottunarstofan Tún is Iceland's only accredited organic certifier. Accredited by MAST (Matvælastofnun) under the EU 2018/848-equivalent Icelandic standard, so a Tún-certified product is also recognised as EU-organic.	The word 'natural' on packaging is a marketing term, not a certification. In most jurisdictions there's no legal definition, no standard, and no inspection. A product labelled 'natural' can contain synthetic ingredients, pesticides, GMOs, and artificial flavours.
Scope	Several categories	Food	Food	Several categories
Established	1928	1981	1994	—
Inspection	Annual on-site by Demeter-accredited inspectors	Annual on-site, bio.inspecta accredited	Annual on-site, MAST-accredited	None
Residue testing	Risk-based on top of organic	Required	Required for at-risk operations	None
Guarantees	All organic standards PLUS biodynamic preparations and whole-farm planning. Whole-farm certification (not single fields/products). Annual on-site inspection by Demeter-accredited inspectors. Animal welfare standards stricter than baseline organic.	Whole-farm conversion. Lower nitrogen inputs than the Swiss federal organic baseline. Strong animal welfare requirements. Annual on-site inspection.	≥95% organic ingredients per EU rules. No synthetic pesticides, no GMOs. Annual on-site inspection. Animal welfare standards (outdoor / pasture access, geothermally-warmed greenhouse compatibility for vegetables).	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.
Does NOT	Biodynamic philosophy includes esoteric elements (lunar planting, herbal preparations) that many scientists view as non-evidence-based — the agronomic outcomes are still good, the underlying claims about cosmic forces are not testable.	Switzerland is outside the EU — the Knospe is recognised by the EU under the Switzerland-EU equivalence agreement, but not by USDA without further certification.	There aren't many Tún-certified operations (~120–160) — coverage in the Icelandic market is narrower than in the EU mainland.	Doesn't mean organic. Doesn't mean pesticide-free. Doesn't mean GMO-free. Doesn't mean ethically produced. Some markets (e.g. the US FDA on food, EU on cosmetics) place very limited restrictions on the word, but enforcement is weak.

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