On Fri, 10 Mar 00 22:34:47 -0500, kandmhfarm@sprintmail.com wrote:
>food, it is essential to consider how current organic standards require
>certified organic producers to handle manure as a fertility amendment.
>It is obvious that under organic standards, raw manure can NEVER be
>applied in such a way that it is in contact with food soon destined for
>human consumption.
So what about the "manure tea" commonly used on many small organic
farms for a kick of soluble nitrogen? Then there is all the alleged
"sheet composting" (spreading raw manure in a thin layer on the ground
and pretending that is composting). And the garden chickens ('bug
patrol') you see on some small organic farms.
Frankly, of the few organic farmers I've seen who actually "compost,"
the majority do a really lousy job. And the stuff in California that
passes for "composted" chicken manure (often used in vegetable
production) makes me reluctant to buy any "organic" produce from
California.
There *are* good organic growers out there, who do a proper job of
composting. I've said on this list before that in my fairly
considerable organic inspection experience only about 5% of the growers
are really good. Half are just plain lousy, and not only do they not
know how to compost, most are stubbornly uninterested in learning how
to do.
Some of the worst are the philosopher-farmers, tragically stuck in
about 1974, and defining themselves in terms of being an organic
farmer. Therefore, of course, since they are (by their own definition)
an organic farmer, anything they do has to be organic (because they, an
organic farmer, did it). And since they also define organic as the
pinnacle of sustainability and healthiness (neither of which it is),
all organic practices are sustainable and healthy. Since they are
organic, everything they do is as sustainable and as healthy as it can
possibly be.
Such unteachable hearts do their consumers (and ultimately the
industry) a great disservice. When organic standards are seen as an
obstacle by the grower, and they are seen as such in many cases, we've
got a problem. Wayne Martin, for many years chair of the Kansas OCIA
certification comittee, and more recently chair of OCIA's International
Certification Committee, has said (quoted with permission) "The
industry's biggest problem in the next few years will be to ensure
grower compliance with the standards already in effect --- particularly
for rotations, soil-building, manure management, and record-keeping."
Existing organic standards for manure management are frequently
ignored, circumvented, or even (on occasion) subverted. As with the
people in eastern Canada who *died* from eating
sheep-manure-contaminated organic sauerkraut (listeria), there are more
organic manure disasters just waiting to give Mr. Avery the ammunition
he needs.
Bart
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 12 2000 - 14:00:34 EST