Keep The Soil In Organic

In 2010, the NOSB (National Organic Standards Board) recommended to the NOP (National Organic Program) that soil-less vegetable?production (crops grown hydroponically), NOT be certified as organic. The NOSB voted 12 to 1 to prohibit soilless?production but three years later, the NOP continues to ALLOW?hydroponic vegetable production to be certified as organic. Meanwhile, the NOP has not offered any guidance to certifying agencies on this matter, nor any explanation. Many certifying agencies in the US are now refusing to certify hydroponic operations as organic. Presently, the vast majority of the ?hydroponic organic? produce sold in this country is grown in either Mexico, Canada, or Holland. All three of these countries prohibit hydroponically produced vegetables to be sold as organic in their own countries, and because there is no labeling to announce that these vegetables are hydroponically grown, consumers are left in the dark about the growing method. While the hydroponic method works well, it is NOT organic since it does not rely on the microbial activity of the soil to provide the biological diversity that is the basis of organic growing. The old?adage for organic farming has always been, ?Feed the soil, not the plant.? Hydroponic growing is based on the opposite belief, ?Feed the plant, not the soil.? The NOP standard emphasizes that organic growing is based on caring for the soil and their refusal to prohibit soil-less growing goes against their own standard. Now is the time for us as organic growers and/or consumers to make our position clear to the National Organic Program.?Click here to sign the petition to keep the soil in organic.

Tell the USDA to Stop Dow Chemical?s “Agent Orange” Crops

Support Farmworkers, Today!

Right now, EPA is making final decisions on the changes they will propose for the Worker Protection Standards, the rules intended to protect farmworkers from the harms of pesticides. These rules are weak and unenforced ? and long overdue for an overhaul.?The two million farmworkers who plant, tend and harvest the country’s produce face pesticide exposure every day in fields and orchards across the country.? Please add your name to the petition by clicking here and?urging policymakers to?better protect farmworkers from dangerous pesticides, today.