Testify to the NOSB Now!
Time is running out to let your voice be heard by the USDA. On March 30, 2017 the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will stop accepting testimony on the issue of hydroponics in organic certification. On April 19, the NOSB will meet in Denver to discuss whether to accept the principle of hydroponics as having a place in organic certification. If they accept hydro, then the meaning of the word "organic" will be changed forever in America, and in the world. This will leave the real organic farmers no place to go to differentiate their crops from the alternatives, and no way for organic eaters to tell whether they are buying soil grown or real organic. There is real support in the NOSB for banning hydroponics, but they NEED OUR SUPPORT!
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Testifying is easy. Click on the link below, and then click on the blue button that says "Comment Now!" in the upper right corner. Then just enter your address and a comment. It can be a few lines or a long treatise, depending on your inclination. Your comments WILL be read.
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Keep the Soil in Real Organic Farming
Help stop the organic label from losing its integrity.
We have been dismayed to learn that the USDA is now allowing greenhouse vegetables that are grown without soil to be certified organic. As a result, most of the "organic" tomatoes now sold in the supermarkets of the Northeast are actually hydroponically grown, usually in Mexico and Canada. Hydroponic means that the plant is grown in a bag of some neutral medium like peat moss or coconut coir, and all of its nutrition is derived from a liquid feed, much like an IV tube. In fact, most of the world (including Canada and Mexico) doesn't allow hydroponic produce to be certified as organic. Organic has always been based on the belief, "Feed the soil, not the plant." It is all about the life in the soil. On the other hand, hydroponic growing is based on the principle, "Feed the plant and get rid of the soil."
This is a long and complicated story. In 2010 the National Organic Standards Board (the advisory board to the USDA on organic growing) made a strong recommendation to prohibit soilless production of vegetables from organic certification. Since then, the USDA has refused to act, and has even announced that they welcome hydroponic production. As a result, more and more hydroponically grown vegetables are pouring into U.S. organic markets. This is only one example of the recent serious failures of the USDA to safeguard organic agriculture. Long Wind has started several petitions to object to this lack of action on the part of the USDA. Please take a moment to read more and sign one of these petitions. Prevent the erosion of public trust in the organic label. We need your help!