Time was, consumers trusted the producers who grew and processed the food they ate. Consumers, most of whom had ties to agriculture, knew how crops and livestock were grown and processed for the market.

Not any more. The link between most consumers and agriculture has been severed. Consumers today are typically one or more generations away from the farm. Direct knowledge of agriculture has been replaced by hearsay and online information, some of which is accurate and some of which is pure propaganda.

Now a growing number of consumers, who are confused by the conflicting information, say they want to know exactly how their food is produced.

That’s where certifications come in. The best-known certification is for organically grown food. Since the federal government introduced the green label for organic food in 2002, consumers see it as an assurance that they know how that food was produced.

The problem is the proliferation of other certifications and labels, each one usually involving an audit and a fee.

Now food can be certified salmon safe, GMO free, gluten free, fair trade, vegan, natural, sustainable, humanely raised, rainforest safe, bird friendly, wholesome and, in the case of seafoods, slave free, to name a few of the certifications that are currently popular.

Because consumers — and retailers — now demand certifications, producers who want their business must undergo more and more audits. Those who sell to several retailers often need several different certifications. That means several audits, and several fees to pay.

All of which can be overwhelming, and unneeded.

In the U.S., everything from pesticides to grain quality to the amount of dust produced is regulated by the federal government.

“Most people don’t understand the regulatory system in the U.S.,” said Randy MacMillan, vice president of Clear Springs Food, a trout farm in Idaho that goes through six annual audits of its environmental impact, food safety practices and social responsibility on top of meeting 1,300 regulations enforced by 30 state and federal agencies.

More certifications are on the way. Concern over the use of gestation stalls for sows, whether chickens are raised in cages or if livestock is given antibiotics amounts to a growing trend that one expert described as a “tsunami” of certification.

“The customer is always right,” goes the retail adage. That food customers want to be sure they know how their food is produced is OK, too.

But if farmers, ranchers, fish farms and processors have to devote massive resources to filling out a growing number of forms to gain certification for food that is already wholesome, the net effect will only be higher prices — and bigger packages so all of the added labels will fit.