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	USDA Organic United States · Tier 1 Gold	Demeter International Global · Tier 2 Trusted	BioGro New Zealand New Zealand · Tier 1 Gold	? 'Natural' (NOT a certification) Worldwide · Tier 4 Marketing
What it means	The US Department of Agriculture's national organic standard. The green-and-white seal is the legal mark for any food sold as 'organic' in the United States.	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.	New Zealand's largest organic certifier. Recognised by the EU, US, and Japan under their respective import-equivalence regimes.	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	Food	Several categories	Several categories	Several categories
Established	2002	1928	1983	—
Inspection	Annual on-site by USDA-accredited certifier	Annual on-site by Demeter-accredited inspectors	Annual on-site, IFOAM-accredited	None
Residue testing	Required on ≥5% of operations annually	Risk-based on top of organic	Risk-based	None
Guarantees	At least 95% of ingredients are certified organic (the '100% Organic' variant requires every ingredient). No synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, no GMOs, no sewage sludge, no irradiation. Annual on-site inspection by a USDA-accredited certifier. Residue testing on at least 5% of certified operations each year.	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.	≥95% organic ingredients. No synthetic pesticides, no GMOs. Annual on-site inspection. Covers food, textiles, and personal care under separate standards.	Nothing. It is not a certification and there is no body verifying anything.
Does NOT	Doesn't certify nutrition, taste, or animal welfare specifically (separate marks like AWA cover welfare). Doesn't guarantee local production — a 'USDA Organic' product can be grown anywhere with an accredited inspector.	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.	New Zealand has no single legally-mandated 'organic' definition — voluntary certification is the norm.	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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