3 Reasons Soilless Farming Practices Should Retain Organic Certification
3 Reasons Soilless Farming Practices Should Retain Organic Certification
by Jason Arnold | Sep 7, 2017
3 Reasons Modern Farming Practices Should Be Certified Organic
Did you know that the National Organic Standards Board (a Federal Advisory Board within the USDA) is considering a ban of modern farming techniques like hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics from being certified organic?
That means that modern farmers like yourself who are investing in systems that conserve resources and allow you to grow healthier, locally grown crops closer to where people live, could soon lose the opportunity to be certified organic.
We here at Upstart University think that’s absurd and we’re taking action to ensure modern farmers like you have the ability to put an organic label on your product packaging!
In this post, we’ll look at 3 reasons why modern, soilless farming techniques should be certified organic.
(Did you know that you can submit a comment directly to the NOSB in opposition to this proposed ban?Here are some helpful talking points. )
1) Soilless grown produce is safe, nutritious and grown locally, just like consumers deserve!
The Organic label was created to signify safety, sustainability, and responsibility in food. Consumers depend on the organic label to help them identify food that is:
- Free of unsafe or unhealthy pesticides and fertilizers
- Resource efficient with effective cycling and recycling of inputs through the farm
- Free from harmful impacts to the air, water, and surrounding land.
- Created in humane and healthy conditions
And, as you know, modern farming techniques like hydroponic and aquaponic production can fit right into these criteria, yet they’re on the chopping block!
One great example of how hydroponics and aquaponics support responsible resource use and nutritious food is the decrease in food miles. Hydroponic and aquaponic systems can be built indoors or in greenhouses in/near cities, enabling fresh produce to be grown close to the consumer all year round, eliminating hundreds or thousands of miles of transportation.
This is different than most conventional soil farms, whether they’re certified organic or not.
Conventional soil farms need a lot of space, a lot of resources like water and labor, and healthy, unpolluted soil – all of which are difficult to find near or even in cities where people live!
That means they typically have to truck in their produce from much further than modern, soilless farms do – which increases the time between harvest and consumption. And as the Harvard T.H. Chan Center for Public Health reports:
“Even when the highest post-harvest handling standards are met, foods grown far away spend significant time on the road, and therefore have more time to lose nutrients before reaching the marketplace.” (1)
When food is grown regionally or locally using indoor hydroponics and aquaponics, the consumer gets a richer nutritional profile, and the environment benefits from a shorter supply chain.
The bottom line: hydroponics and aquaponics (i.e. soilless growing techniques) can actually deliver a better crop to market because of their proximity to where people live and their sustainable use of resources.
2) Soilless farming contributes positively to the economy and strengthens food security by bringing farms closer to where people live!
Modern farmers, empowered with appropriate tools and technology, are able to grow food in areas where fresh, local food has never been possible before (and bring jobs and opportunities along with them).
Doing so gives more people better access to nutritious food in previously unthinkable, ungrowable locations, like:
1) Urban food deserts like cities where land prices are high and areas with good soil are scarce.
2) Northern latitudes with harsh climates (e.g. Alaska) where the vast majority of food is shipped in and therefore lacks freshness.
3) Areas that lack abundant ground and surface water where conventional produce farms don’t stand a chance.
Modern growing techniques not only help grow food closer to where people live, they also help a new generation of farmers make a living doing what they love – growing good food!
Whether in an urban or rural location, farmers today face difficult growing conditions and even more difficult economics, and they need an edge to be successful. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) – growing in greenhouses or indoor environments with resource-conscious techniques – allows more people to grow food and access markets.(3)
Even the former Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, understands the power of fostering stronger local food economies saying:
“Urban agriculture helps strengthen the health and social fabric of communities while creating economic opportunities for farmers and neighborhoods.”
As part of the Upstart University community, you know this better than most. That’s because modern growers like you are helping to bring better food to those who want it and need it, regardless of where they live!
The bottom line: Evolved agricultural methods like hydroponics and aquaponics make farming more accessible, strengthen local economies, and supply fresher food to those who deserve it.
3) Conventional soil-based farming doesn’t have a monopoly on microbiology and healthy food.
Many anti-hydroponic and anti-aquaponic activists cite the lack of sun and soil as a major defect of the growing methods. After all, the soil is alive, and science has shown that plants grow better with the rich communities of microbes that give it life. If hydroponics uses rocks or coconuts husks or recycled plastic to grow, then it must be sterile, right?
Wrong.
What traditionalists fail to acknowledge is that microbes can thrive anywhere there is water, habitat, and nutrition for them. And unfortunately, the anti-hydroponic activists take advantage of the fact that most members of the general public do not have a degree in microbiology.
By using words like “unnatural, sterile, Robo-crops,” they deliberately try to confuse the public about the realities of evolved farming technics like hydroponic or aquaponic production methods.
That’s why it’s up to all of us who see the promise of modern technology that’s helping feed more people better food to set the record straight!
Much to the dismay of traditionalists, aquaponic and hydroponic systems are actually their own ecosystems teeming with life. In fact, studies show that Organic aquaponic and hydroponic production relies on a robust microflora in the root zone – made of the same types and numbers of bacteria and fungi that thrive in soil. These interactions and economies of microorganisms and plants are what makes them work so well.
The bottom line: While amazing in their own right, the soil and the sun hold no mystical powers and are not required to grow healthy, delicious food for our growing population. And, soilless systems take a deep understanding of microbiology (as well as other plant/physical sciences) and weave it into something that can grow organic food better.
But is it organic?
Lots of pixels have been spent in trying to define what organic means. The truth is that a narrow definition of organic is not helping us meet the challenge for fresh, healthy crops, grown close to the markets they are serving without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
I agree with Mark Mordasky, owner of Whipple Hollow Organic Farm, when he says that “If we had all of our nutrients organic, all of our pesticides and herbicides — whatever we’re doing to control disease was organic, and the medium itself that the roots are growing in is also organic, all the inputs are organic. The outcome, it seems to me, would be organic.”
WARNING: Modern farming might be banned from being certified organic unless you take action.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is a group of 14 people that make recommendations to the USDA regarding the organic standards – what they should be and how they should change.
Currently, the NOSB is considering a recommendation that the USDA bans hydroponic, aquaponic, aeroponic, and other container-based growing methods from the organic standards. (Right now, growers using these methods are able to receive organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program, but that opportunity might soon be eliminated.)
If the USDA were to take such a recommendation, modern farmers using resource-conscious growing techniques will no longer be allowed to use the organic label and therefore be at a disadvantage when communicating the value of their produce to customers.
The option would be completely off the table – probably forever.
This would put the hydroponic and aquaponic industries at a disadvantage and will likely negatively impact organic-loving consumers by deleting a significant portion of the organic food supply.
The data shows that organic food sales continue to climb and more consumers want organic food. Are we willing to reduce the amount of organic food available by banning modern farmers from helping increase the supply?
To protect the business opportunities of today’s modern farmers and those of future soilless growers, it is critical that members of the hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic community make their voices heard by the NOSB.
We believe that to provide consumers the reasonably priced organic fresh produce they want, we need as many organic producers as we can get!
(And we hate knowing that opportunities for modern farmers like you are being taken away!)
“Okay, I’m ready to fight back! How do I get involved?”
There’s a lack of unbiased information regarding how hydro-, aqua-, and aeroponics work and how changed standards would impact farmers, and that means those with the loudest megaphones have great power in this debate.
The NOSB needs to hear that there is an entire industry of modern, resource-smart growers using appropriate techniques to grow better food for people who need it.
It’s critical that you, as one of these modern farmers, make your voice heard and help even out this historically one-sided debate!
The best way to make sure your voice is heard is to tell the NOSB how this decision will affect you and your farming business. The NOSB will take your comments into account as they prepare for a vote on October 31st.
Here are 4 easy ways to take action TODAY:
1) [RECOMMENDED] Go to the NOSB Organic Comments page and write a message telling the NOSB that you believe your growing methods should remain organic. (Need some talking points? Here you go.)
2) Sign up to give a three-minute testimony at the October 24 and 26 webinars.
3) Sign up to attend the Fall Meeting in person and provide in-person three-minute testimony.
4) Contact your federal congressional representatives and tell them you want the NOSB to retain the organic eligibility of sustainable growing methods like aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics. Click here to enter your zip code and find your representatives.
Should Organic evolve or stay stagnant? You decide.
If the goal of the Organic label is to empower more consumers with organically grown produce, then hydroponics and aquaponics have a lot to offer. It doesn’t make sense to restrict or exclude these methods from the Organic label.
However, this ban is what will happen if farmers like you stay quiet.
Click here to tell the NOSB you want to see the Organic label evolve!