Land Rental Form Returns

Please be reminded that if you rent out any of your organic land, you and the person renting the land must complete and countersign a SOPA Land Rental Form (Record Sheet 16 in Member Downloads).  The form must detail all of the fields to be rented between both parties, crop intended to be sown (including expected sowing date) or grazed, rental period and the expiry date of the landowner’s current organic certificate.   Copies of completed land rental forms for the year ahead must also be forwarded to your SOPA Producer Certification Officer by the 28^th February 2023.  

Having this information on file assists the certification team with seed derogation& input requests and ensures that our Inspectors are fully aware of the fields that require verification during your annual SOPA farm visit ensuring a robust inspection process.

For those renting out land it still remains your responsibility to ensure that the organic standards are adhered to for all activities that take place on the land whether undertaken by you, a contractor or another producer renting the fields.  You must be aware of the management and all inputs applied and as such the producer renting fields from you must be prepared to share this information and field records, including derogation approvals, with you.  Given the land is certified as in-conversion/organic under your membership it is your obligation to ensure that the third parties you rent ground out to do nothing that may jeopardise the status of your land.

All derogation forms and record sheets are available to download in the Members Portal