NEW YORK – CNBC reports that specialty grocer Whole Foods Market, a trailblazer of the organic foods movement, has added another layer and label to fresh produce with its Responsibly Grown program, “which allows conventional, nonorganic growers to be recognized for good practices.”

The news source notes that according to the Organic Trade Association, the organic industry grew to nearly $40 billion in U.S. sales last year, and while organic demand has increased, so have supplies, which creates challenges for the government’s organic certification process.

At the same time, Whole Foods has added another layer and another label to fresh produce with the Responsibly Grown program. Matt Rogers, global produce coordinator at Whole Foods, told CNBC that it’s a program Whole Foods “rolled out over the course of the last year to help us add an additional level of transparency,” adding that it is intended to cover aspects of agricultural production that are not a part of the USDA’s certified organic program.

“We're asking suppliers a series of questions about a range of topics: soil management, pesticide use and pest management, water conservation, energy use and greenhouse gases, topics like farmworker welfare," Rogers told CNBC.

Suppliers that want to be recognized as Responsibly Grown must pay a fee to subscribe to a Whole Foods website and fill out a questionnaire, then the grocer follows up with more questions before determining the rating, if any, the supplier obtains. Qualified suppliers are rated good, better or best, writes CNBC, and certified organic growers have automatic points in the Responsibly Grown program.

Some organic growers reportedly “bristled at facing another certification process” when Whole Foods introduced is food label program, but the company maintains it’s not a replacement for certified organic; it’s a complementary program. "Certified organic is really still the gold standard in terms of sustainable agriculture practices," Rogers told the news source.

“We recognized there are more and more topics that relate to human health and the environment and how our food is produced that customers are interested in,” he said.