Moratorium on Hydroponic Organic Certification

In soil we trust

In Nature plants grow in soil, except aquatic plants.

Deep Root is the way!

I agree....

Building healthy, microbe & nutrient rich soil is one of our greatest tasks to continue life on on Earth. I support clear labeling of how our food is grown.

Call things what they are. Label things what they are. Organic is organic and hydroponic is hydroponic! Just like money is not speech, hydroponic is not organic! Stop this deception, now, and reserve the organic label for crops grown organically in soil. Also, the same goes for nanoparticles, which are synthetic, artificially produced, and harmful to human health. Keep them OUT of organic produce, and anything else labeled "organic". They are certainly NOT organic, so this is misleading and very deceptive. Tell the truth and stop the deceptions!

The certification of hydroponic growing, the approval of synthetic ingredients and the total failure to prohibit nanoparticles in organic foods have all created a total loss of consumer confidence, and credibility in organic certification. It would almost seem that the intent of the current Board is to undermine the concept of organic foods and destroy the growing market for organic foods.

If foods are called organic how can they have this label if not grown in soil. This is misleading for families trying to buy organic food.

Let´s go to do what´s right.

It does not seem appropriate to call something organic if it has not been grown in soil rich in natural organic nutrients. A different way of labeling them should be figured out, but not organic. That needs to stop.

what an awful decision!

We don't need hydroponics, we need to make better use of the soil we've got: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2015/04/decalifornify-cotton-vegetables-fruit-south

I served as a Consumer Interest Member of the National Organic Standards Board (2001-2006), appointed by former USDA Secretary Daniel Glickman. I am shocked, saddened, and frankly appalled that following the very clear and solid report by the members of the NOSB in 2010, which firmly stated that ONLY soil-based, soil grown agriculture can qualify to be termed organic, and absolutely MUST NOT be granted status of USDA Certified Organic, there seems to have been a total disregard to the work and report of that 2010 NOSB and the soil-based "soul" of what constitutes our long-understood definition of organic agriculture as being, first and foremost, soil-based agriculture.

Hydroponics belong nowhere near organic certification!

Organic agriculture considers agricultural ecosystems as networks of living, biochemically active, atmospheric, solar, hydrologic, and mineral components. To remove the soil component (with its living microbial, mycorrhizal, animal, and other constituents) is inconsistent with organic agriculture.

Our water is so contaminated that this would never work.

I eat organic to eat 100 percent natural food the way it grows naturally. This is my choice and I have a right to that choice. If hydroponics wants to go organic, then the label should read, "Organic Hydroponics" not simply "organic." That is misleading.

Not soil-grown is not-organic

As a Farm Manager and teacher in ecological farming methods, I do not believe that we can grow organic food without soil.

Food needs to feel the sun.