Liquid Organic Fertilizer Scandal

In the last three weeks, the Sacramento Bee’s Jim Downing (a TFF subscriber!) has written two articles that expose a growing scandal involving liquid organic fertilizers that were illegally spiked with synthetic products.  The articles cover the issue very well and can be found here:  http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1501772.html; http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1569698.html

                 This is a big story that has immense potential to damage the image of organic farmers and perception the public has of us.  I believe the only reason it has not gotten more coverage in the media is because the timing corresponded with President Obama’s inauguration.  Nonetheless, I believe the media will eventually discover the issue.  As in the case of the E. Coli contaminated spinach, they will oversimplify it and many people will stop buying organic produce.

I have been involved with this issue for several years as a board director of California Certified Organic Farmers, the largest organic certifier in the U.S.   At this time, I have decided to inform our CSA subscribers about how Terra Firma is dealing with it.

Our farm uses composted manure and cover crops to provide the vast majority of our soil fertility.  However, we have always used a small amount of liquid fertilizer in two applications:  long season crops using drip irrigation, primarily tomatoes and strawberries; and nursery crops (transplants) that we grow ourselves.  Liquid fertilizer is useful because it can be applied in irrigation water.

Terra Firma never used Biolyzer, the first fertilizer to be prohibited by our certifier and later the state.  When the product was outlawed, CCOF also made it clear that any growers using a product that was not explicitly approved for organic production would not be tolerated.  At that point, we were using a product that was approved by all the right agencies.  That product was Agrilyzer, and the company that was making it has now been shut down for violating state law.

Organic farmers are now in shock and dismay that the system that we created to maintain the integrity of the food we produce has been violated by unscrupulous fertilizer makers.  Unfortunately, for years we have applied the same model used for certifying farmers to those producing fertilizer — a model which mixes  regulation and inspection with trust.  We now realize that we were wrong to ever extend our trust to a group of people who don’t share our belief system. 

Many organic farmers thought that risks like these would be eliminated when the National Organic Program created state and federal agencies to verify and oversee our industry.  But as the Sac Bee’s articles show, the government agencies enforcing fertilizer integrity clearly are more focused on procedure than they are on protecting the integrity of organic food.  This story is one of government incompetence as much as it is greed and dishonesty.

This is not a food safety issue.  Crops grown with synthetic fertilizers do not pose any health risk to those who eat them.  However, the fact remains that much of the “organic” food sold during the last four years or more was not actually organic. Right now, TFF has several fields of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage that were grown from transplants that were fertilized with Agrilyzer.  Should we be prohibited from selling these vegetables as organic because we unwittingly used a fertilizer that had been illegally spiked?  Right now, the official answer is “no”, but the public’s answer may be quite different.

Going forward, TFF will use only liquid fertilizer that does meets the new, tougher CCOF standards issued last week.  You can see those standards here:  http://www.ccof.org/pdf/Cert_News_Resources/2009_Liquid_Fert_Policy.pdf

>  Farmers like us are demanding a much more rigorous inspection and testing program for fertilizers, one based on the presumption of guilt rather than innocence.  Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to do this as it was ten years ago:  organic farming is now governed by a mishmash of private, state, and federal agencies who have to work together.  This process is never fast.  As it goes forward, I will try to keep our customers apprised of what Terra Firma is doing to make sure that we and our customers are never again victims of this type of fraud.

Please post any questions or feedback about this issue on my blog so that anyone interested can see my responses. 

 

Comments

[Ska Monkey]

Thanks for letting us know about this scandal. I'll still eat the broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage despite the spiking. We breath in and ingest so many other things that are more unhealthy in any given day, a little bit of fertilizer that contains a little bit of synthetic material won't kill us.

[Trina]

We appreciate your transparency, & agree with Ska Monkey. The long-term health advantages we receive from your farm's produce, as well as our emotional/mental well-being of knowing our food's source, far outweigh anything else.

[shash]

thanks for the info as usual, and this time in blog format! neat. -kerstin

[Monika]

Like the others, I will continue to eat the food you send us. I also appreciate your honesty. I also agree with Trina, knowing my food source and knowing it's locally grown is much more important to me. Thank you