[News Boquete] What “Organic” Means in Panama

When a Word Becomes a Promise

 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

Inspired by the rituals of Quetzal Cacao Most of us will never visit the farms that grow our food. We will never walk the fields, meet the producer, or see firsthand how a crop was grown. Instead, we rely on trust. There was a time when I did not think organic certification mattered. My philosophy was simple: know your farmer. Over the years, people came to know our farm. They walked the trails, saw the cacao trees, tasted the chocolate, and asked questions about how we grow food. I believed trust was built through relationship. Over time, however, I began to see something I had overlooked. Most consumers will never have the opportunity to know the people who grow their food. They make decisions from a market shelf, a roadside stand, or a grocery cart, often with very little information about how their food was produced. When trust cannot be built through direct relationship, it must be built another way.  That is where certification enters the story. Many people assume organic simply means food grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. While that is part of it, in Panama the word carries a specific legal meaning. The term organic is regulated by the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA). A producer cannot simply decide to market a product as organic because they believe it was grown responsibly. To legally use the term, a product must meet established standards and be certified through an approved process. Today, twelve products grown and crafted on our farm are certified organic in Panama. A story shared with me recently brought this into focus. A grandmother in Volcán was buying strawberries that were being sold as organic for her sick grandchild. When she asked whether they were truly organic, she was assured that they were. Later, she asked to see the certification. She was told it could not be shared. There was no way to verify what she had been told. She was not willing to take that risk with a child who was already unwell, so she threw the strawberries away.  That is not a small decision. That is trust breaking in real time. It is reasonable to ask questions whether you are speaking with the producer, the seller, or someone in between. It is reasonable to ask how a product was grown, whether it is certified, and even to ask to see the documentation behind the claim. My philosophy has always been simple: know your producer. Whenever possible, visit the farm, ask questions, and get to know the people who grow your food. When that is not possible, certification offers another way to build trust. For me, that is what the word organic has come to represent: not an idea, but a promise. A promise worth standing behind. The kind you can trace back to the soil. If conversations like this interest you, I would love to invite you a little closer. The Hearth grew from that same idea. It is where I share seasonal letters, harvest updates, workshops, and the ongoing story unfolding on our farm beneath the cacao trees. You are warmly invited to join us: lynbishop.com/hearth With care from the farm, Lyn Bishop Founder & Keeper of Simply Good & Quetzal Cacao Lyn Bishop stewards Finca Las Heliconias in Chiriquí Province, Panama, where certified organic cacao, fruit, and other tropical crops are grown. She is the founder of Quetzal Cacao, a tree-to-bar chocolate company.   SIMPLY GOOD Rooted in the Vibe   Reach me on WhatsApp +507.6521.4464 © 2026 Lyn Bishop Unsubscribe | Edit your details Lyn Bishop Correo 0415 00085 La Concepcion Bugaba Chiriquí 0145 Panama - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

--

___________________________________________________________________
The above message was distributed by News Boquete, a free subscription-based community service.
News Boquete's ONLY public email address is news.boquete@gmail.com.
For more info and use policy, visit https://www.dropbox.com/s/24y1vz2vae9iaen/News_Boquete_Policy.pdf?dl=0.

If replying to this message, reply ONLY to the ORIGINATOR (typically your email's 'Reply To' function works; do not use 'Reply All').

To stop receiving these emails, send a message to news.boquete@gmail.com with the word unsubscribe in the subject line or body of the message.

© 2005-2026, News Boquete. All rights reserved. Public redistribution strictly prohibited without prior written permission.