Bad News on the Manure Rule

We had our organic inspection yesterday. All went well and my crazy worrying about it all was just plain stupid.

During our inspection we chatted about the manure rule which defines when a farmer can apply it. In the case of crops within 18" of the ground, there needs to be a 120 day separation between application and harvest. For crops more than 18" from the ground, the separation needs to be 90 days. Our certifier interprets the rule to mean that animals grazing (and pooping) in the orchard is "manure application." For us this means we have to keep the sheep out of the orchard for much of the prime grazing time.

So, back to the conversation with the inspector. As if the manure rule weren't restrictive enough, the NOP, in their wisdom (?), recently determined that farmers who use work horses will now have to put bags on the horses' butts to keep them from dropping "manure" in the fields as they work.

I am as concerned about food safety as any responsible farmer, but this rule and subsequent decision is not serving the goals of organics well. In all of the recent food scares, organics have not been the culprit. Conventional agricultural practices have been to blame.

We are focused on creating vibrant soils, growing a healthy, quality product, minimizing our impact on the local environment (which includes the lake), and lessening our global impacts as they relate to CO2 and fossil fuel usage. By requiring us to manage our sheep in an illogical manner, we are forced to 1) apply more off-farm fertilizers and 2) run our gas guzzling equipment more to mow and fertilize. This is contrary to our philosophy of what organics should be about.

I had hoped that we were going to see a more thoughtful approach to the use of manure.