Organic Farmers Lose Battle Over Soilless Hydroponic Growing

Emily Monaco for Organic Authority:  The National Organic Standards Board voted last Wednesday to reject proposals prohibiting hydroponic and aquaponic production methods from being certified USDA organic. This decision followed intense lobbying efforts by groups in the organic community to urge the Board to vote to restrict certification to soil-based systems.

“It was sad, because the rally speeches and all the testimonies of the farmers were so moving,” says Dr. Linley Dixon, lead scientist at the Cornucopia Institute, an industry watchdog organization that was quite vocal in its support of the ban. “Everyone did such a good job explaining the situation, and it didn’t matter. It was very sad. There were a lot of tears.”

The 15-person Board voted eight to seven to reject the proposal. There are approximately 100 certified organic hydroponic operations in the United States.

This issue has been debated within the organic industry for years. Those against the continued certification of soilless systems argue that such techniques violate the basic principles of organic, which Abby Youngblood, executive director of the National Organic Coalition, told NPR “are really about soil health, regenerating the soil.”  Full Article:

Comments (0)

This post does not have any comments. Be the first to leave a comment below.


Post A Comment

You must be logged in before you can post a comment. Login now.

Featured Product

Elmo Motion Control – The Platinum Line, a new era in servo control

Elmo Motion Control - The Platinum Line, a new era in servo control

Significantly enhanced servo performance, higher EtherCAT networking precision, richer servo operation capabilities, more feedback options, and certified smart Functional Safety. Elmo's industry-leading Platinum line of servo drives provides faster and more enhanced servo performance with wider bandwidth, higher resolutions, and advanced control for better results. Platinum drives offer precise EtherCAT networking, faster cycling, high synchronization, negligible jitters, and near-zero latency. They are fully synchronized to the servo loops and feature-rich feedback support, up to three feedbacks simultaneously (with two absolute encoders working simultaneously). The Platinum Line includes one of the world's smallest Functional Safety, and FSoE-certified servo drives with unique SIL capabilities.