Martin Sawyer

CEO of Soil Association Certification

Martin leads a passionate team of over 120 committed and enthusiastic individuals who work to provide a range of inspection and certification services across organic food, farming, health and beauty, textiles, as well as forestry and food for life. We see our work as very much being the key enabler for the charity to deliver their ambitions on the ground; quite literally in the case of farming and forestry.

The Soil Association organic certification mark is present on a very high percentage of UK consumer products, and Martin’s business development team work throughout the year to build a strong and successful organic market place, supported by a desire to deliver great service and value to all our licencees; be they growers, farmers, processors or brand owners. 

In forestry, the team delivers services in over 54 countries worldwide and are highly respected by their industry peers for their knowledge, integrity and professionalism.

Martin’s career before joining the Soil Association spanned over 30 years of working in and leading fresh food manufacturing businesses, both in the UK and on mainland Europe, and he has enjoyed bringing this experience and knowledge to the Soil Association, and helping to  deliver a great ethically based, values-driven ambitious agenda for the Group as a whole.