Moratorium on Hydroponic Organic Certification

We small producers make our living counting on the public's trust in certified organic and its base in soil for healthy food and a healthy planet. Soil-less crops should establish their own brand if their wish to be recognized.

We expect standards in food production that we can trust. "Organic" is chief among these for consumers. To alter rules without prudent consideration amounts to fraud.

Organic certification should only apply to soil-grown foods (or else there needs to be some special, clearly labeled category for hydroponics).

As an organic grower and as a consumer of organic food I don't agree with allowing hydroponics to be included in organic certification.

There are fundamental flaws in hydroponic and aquaponic systems that are contradictory to The Organic Rule, notable the failure to address increasing biodiversity and the return of the hydroponic waters to the soil. Many just dump waste water into municipal sewer systems. Was involved in published research on what is cited as model research in aquaculutre integration of fish and vegetables in a closed system.

Putting hydroponically-grown food under the same label as soil-grown organic food is grossly misleading to food consumers. Use some other label for hydroponics, but not USDA organic so people can know what they are getting. Organic hydroponics is an oxymoron.

Organic means grown in healthy soil.

The standard for organic food should be scientifically founded for health reasons and not monetary gain by hydroponic growers. Soil integrity is synonymous with organic.

As a former member of the Organic Standards in the New York Organic Farmers Assoc Certification Program, I don't think hydroponic vegetables should be certified as organic. Perhaps watercress and other plants that don't root in soil.!

I appreciate all the work that you are doing to move this forward.

In no way can hydroponic produce be considered to have been grown organically. Please take an unbiased look at the facts and ignore the commercial interests for once.

organic can not be organic if the lack of nutrients has to be artificially done to a soil

For Be Wise Ranch

We don't need any more "Zombie Food" being kept alive by intravenous flow of lord-knows-what.

The practices that underlie hydroponic production are not practices compatible with or rooted in sound organic practice. The two have no business being categorized together.

The organic standards board has made it clear that hydroponic vegetables can not be considered to be "organic" because they are grown in totally non-natural media.

This resonates with me totally. Organic is about the soil.

I eat organic because I care about my food being healthy. I also care about the trust a consumer should have in the "organic" brand -- it should not be degraded by adding products that are not known whether they meet the standards or not. That's why I don't want hydroponically grown foods labeled organic unless they strictly meet that criteria of organic, which is not the case at this time. Thanks for keeping the SOIL in ORGANIC!

Must have plants in soil!

Growing food in soil and soil amendments is the very definition of organic food production.