This document gives guidance on the characteristics and best practices of a professional farmer organization.

This document is applicable to commercially oriented farmer organizations. It does not apply to purely socially oriented farmer organizations or individual farmers. It provides a common standard of professionalism for commercially oriented farmer organizations, which can serve as guidance to inform, harmonize, and complement existing and future organizational development and assessment processes.

This document is applicable to large and small farmer organizations, without regard to the number of members, volume of business, output or capital investment, nor to the specific crop or product. It can also be applicable, when adapted, for very small or nascent organizations, for specific or differentiated products or for markets with special requirements.

It does not address every capacity or aspect of professionalism that can be of importance to a specific customer or market, nor imply the need for uniformity in organizational type or structure.