Update On Glyphosate And Organic Certification
The debate on the failing integrity of the National Organic Program has become international, as heard on last night's program on BBC World. Click here to hear Dave Chapman, farmers from Holland and India, and General Mills discuss the controversies in organic.
I was honored to be a part of this show. It is clear that we are ALL affected by the failures of the USDA organic program, from California to Singapore.
A certified hydroponic organic blueberry "farm."
In my last letter, I quoted NOP director Jenny Tucker as saying that there is no transition period for hydroponics. After reading my letter, some withheld judgment until the Seattle meeting of the National Organic Standards Board. Jenny promised she would address the issue of hydroponics and glyphosate at that meeting. No transition period means that a hydroponic producer could use ANY chemical on their land or greenhouse that is allowed in conventional agriculture. They could do this the week before bringing in new substrate and still qualify for immediate organic certification.
A Driscoll's certified organic blueberry "farm" of coco coir pots.
Substrate is the fancy word for the growing medium in the pot. Hydroponic producers choose materials to grow in like shredded coconut husks (called coir) because they don’t rot. They also don’t provide any nutrition to the plants. The coir holds the roots and the water. All the nutrition is provided as a near-constant liquid feed in the irrigation water. Hydroponics can happen in a container on the ground or on a table. For some crops, it even happens without any container at all. At its most extreme form, called aeroponics, the roots are suspended in the air and sprayed with the nutrient solution. There is no nutritional difference between spraying the roots in the air or watering them in a container of coir or a bucket of water. The difference is in the time the plant can survive if the electricity goes off. With an “aeroponic” system, it is a matter of minutes. With a container system, it is a matter of hours. It is the same nutrition.
Jenny’s comment created quite a stir as the implications became clear. In the new USDA interpretation, “certified organic” no longer defines how the land is farmed. It now only defines how a pot of coco coir is “farmed.”
How twisted will the USDA "new organic" standards become? Will they look something like the political machinations we see in this district map of Maryland?
The new USDA definition of organic is becoming a form of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the process by which a group of political officials manipulates the drawing of an election map in a way that benefits them. The result is a complex, illogical map that makes sense only to those who will profit. This principle is applied to many areas of government. When the allowable levels of glyphosate were being crossed in conventional farm products, the EPA simply increased the “safe” level. In the case of "organic" hydroponics, we are ending up with a convoluted set of regulations that look like the latest Congressional district designed to keep one party in power.
Or we are left with no regulations at all, with every certifier making up their own? That is the case until the USDA answers our questions.
Wasn't preventing such a "Wild West" scenario the justification for the NOP in the first place?
Real organic blueberry production. Soil-grown blueberries must be free of prohibited substances for 3 years before being eligible for organic certification. This is referred to as a "3 year transition period."
The reason for this is because hydroponics CAN’T fit into the real meaning of organic. Organic farming is based on the principle of stewarding the life in the soil in order to provide superior nutrition for plants, animals, and humans. I would now add climate to that list of benefits. It is, in fact, the opposite way of farming from “conventional.” This foundation of soil stewardship is well understood in the rest of the world, as clearly defined by IFOAM (The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements). The United Arab Emirates has just joined the rest of the world in prohibiting hydroponic from being certified as organic. It is also well understood in our own law, the Organic Food Production Act. And yet, the USDA continues to be the rogue nation embracing hydroponic as organic.
Hydroponic is the opposite way of farming from organic. Being a hydroponic organic producer is like being an illiterate book critic. They just don’t fit together.
Jenny Tucker speaking this winter at an event on organic integrity.
So people came to Seattle ready for answers. They got none. Jenny Tucker has given the seemingly contradictory statements that glyphosate would never be tolerated in organic AND that there was no transition time for hydroponics, thus allowing glyphosate (and hundreds of other pesticides) to be used immediately before certification. And there are no standards prohibiting hydro producers from going out of certification for a week during the crop changeover so they can spray whatever they want, and then being immediately recertified when they bring in new pots.
Laura Batcha of the OTA and Dave after speaking together on a panel in Washington this Spring. We often agree to disagree. Photo courtesy of Charles E. DeBourbon/The Hagstrom Report.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) delivered a letter to the USDA signed by members, including the leading USDA organic hydroponic producers. It demanded that USDA make clear that glyphosate is not permitted in organic certification. Which of course, it is not. Dr. Tucker was happy to make that clear. The letter briefly mentions the question of whether glyphosate is allowed the week before organic certification. Which it is, in the absence of applying the three year transition period to hydroponic and container operations. Yet the three year transition period is a cornerstone of the Organic Foods Production Act.
Just to be clear, the OTA continues to strongly support certification for its hydroponic members such as Driscoll's and Wholesum Harvest. Although OTA has publicly opposed certifying “hydroponics,” their definition of hydroponics is a perfect example of “rebranding.” In the strange world of OTA, hydroponics is limited to plants growing with their roots in water or in the air. Clearly, this is not what the rest of the world means by that word. No wonder they are so confused. In their private world, “Hydroponic is what we say it is. Organic is what we say it is.”
CCOF President Phil LaRocca at the 2017 Jacksonville NOSB meeting.
Phil LaRocca, President of CCOF, testified in Seattle, where he clearly expressed his genuine outrage that this “no transition period” was being allowed. He said that he had been told by CCOF’s Executive Director that, indeed, no transition time was being required by some certifiers for hydroponics. As the largest certifier in the world, CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) would know. Phil asked that Jenny clarify the USDA National Organic Program position.
She would not.
Over and over people, including members of the National Organic Standards Board, pressed Dr. Tucker to respond and clarify the NOP position. Over and over Jenny responded that she would not respond to a question about “hypotheticals.”
It seems to me that when the NOSB and the President of CCOF ask what the USDA policy is on organic transition time, it is not a hypothetical.
I have wondered why Jenny refused to set the record straight and answer a simple question about policy? She did say that she misspoke in answering my question, but she would not disavow her statement! All she had to do was say, “I was wrong. A three year transition period is required for ALL organic production, and always has been.”
That answer would then lead to the decertification of those certified with no transition time. Probably that would lead to lawsuits. But if the USDA continues to allow this, that will also probably lead to lawsuits. It looks to me like the USDA is going to get sued (again), one way or the other.
The final testimony at the meeting came from Lee Frankel, the lobbyist for the misnamed Coalition For Sustainable Organics. They should be called the Coalition For Hydroponic Organics. They just don’t want you to know that. The desire to keep us in the dark seems to be the hallmark of the “hydroponic organic” producers. Lee asked what the logic was of requiring a three-year transition for hydroponics? It is interesting to note that Wholesum Harvest, the leader of the Coalition, is calling on the NOP to enforce a three-year transition in the OTA letter. On the same day, the Executive Director of the Coalition is questioning whether a three-year transition makes any sense.
Is there a logic in requiring a three year transition period for a pot of coco coir? The problem with this whole circus is that it doesn't make any sense certifying hydroponic as organic in the first place. Organic and hydro are opposite systems of growing. Let the hydro producers make their own label. Let them proudly offer their products to consumers.
But that transparency isn’t going to happen, is it? The large hydro growers run from honesty with their customers. The whole reason they want the organic label is to avoid being transparent.
Real Organic dairy at Radiance Dairy in Iowa.
People have said that real organic farmers are afraid of honest competition. I say bring it on. But let’s make sure it is HONEST. Let every hydroponic tomato and berry have an image above of plants growing in buckets of coco coir sitting on black plastic. Let every CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) produced container of milk or eggs have a picture of animals in confinement on the front. And real organic farmers will put pictures of our reality on our products, of plants growing in soil and animals eating fresh grass. Then we will see who wins the support of the customers.
Aurora Dairy in Colorado which, according to the Washington Post, is fake organic. For their investigation, the only cows found on pasture were "dry cows," not producing milk. Which milk would you buy? Photo courtesy of Washington Post.
Of course, this would be no contest. The HYDROs and CAFOs would go out of business. The farmers growing real organic would be unable to keep up with market demand. The stores would be falling over themselves to buy locally from real organic farmers. Real organic farmers would multiply.
The whole reason that we shouldn’t allow hydroponics to take over American organic vegetable production is that we want to be honest. We want to protect the customers from fraud. We want to protect the farms and farmers. We want to protect the land.
So I invite all in the organic community to come together.
If you are a consumer, demand that local real organic products are on the shelves of your grocery store.
If you are a member of CCOF, demand that your organization stops certifying hydroponics. Throw out CAFOs while you are at it.
If you are a member of OTA, demand that your organization publicly calls for an end to ALL hydroponic certification, including hydroponic containers. Throw out CAFOs while you are at it.
When that day comes, perhaps we can take back the organic seal in America. Oh, and we will need to elect a new President as well. I never said this was going to be easy.
In the meantime, please support the Real Organic Project.