Mission, Vision and Core Values

PCO’s Vision:

All communities are enriched through organic food and farming.

PCO's Mission:

To ensure the integrity of organic products and serve our farming community.

PCO’s Core Values:

Our core values serve as a guide for how PCO works and makes decisions every day. Through our Core Values we recognize the interdependent relationships between all our stakeholders: certified clients, supporters and members, PCO staff and contractors, partner organizations, and the community and environment.

We keep people at the center of every action, interaction, and decision. We do this by:

• Caring intensely about our stakeholders and their ability to succeed.
• Showing deep respect for human beings inside and outside our company and for the communities in which they live.
• Listening well and seeking to understand before reacting.
• Being empowered to provide proactive solutions.
• Communicating in a clear and timely manner.

We promote restorative practices that improve the world for future generations. We do this by:

• Providing sensible enforcement and understanding how that impacts people, the environment, and the organic industry.
• Creating a network of support by connecting stakeholders to resources.
• Being an advocate for PCO and the industry – building trust in organics from the inside out.

Embrace transparency and integrity in all our work. We do this by:

• Embracing humility, owning mistakes, and honoring commitments.
• Actively welcoming and giving constructive feedback.
• Fostering a participatory workplace through inclusive discussion and decision making.

At PCO we strive to promote a work culture that promotes caring, purpose, and results.

PCO Stands in Solidarity

After the recent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, Dreasjon Reed, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and David McAtee and subsequent protests, we stand in solidarity with those calling for racial justice.

PCO’s vision is that all communities are enriched through organic food and farming, and yet we will not be able to fulfill this vision with systemic racism ever-present in our society and our work in agriculture and food systems.

As an organization comprised predominately of white people, PCO must take time to listen and learn about how we’ve contributed to—and benefitted from—these inequities and how we can work together to eliminate them. We are in the beginning stages of a learning process, and PCO is seeking guidance so that we can effectively take the most important step—action. Moving forward, our work will be to develop and embody our organization’s commitment to racial justice.

Below we link to some organizations doing meaningful and courageous work, and from which we can learn about inequities and racial injustice in the food system. We invite you to support them and to share additional resources.

BIPOC organizations/resources