The Soil Question Organic Still Hasn't Answered

(Does this look like the kind of organic farm we want feeding future generations? Photo courtesy of the Real Organic Project.)

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Aside from being a violation of Section 6513(b)(1) of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the case against hydroponics in organic has always rested on a simple principle: organic is rooted in soil.

New research adds to a growing body of evidence that soil health matters far beyond the farm. Scientists increasingly recognize that healthy soils help supply nutrients that ultimately end up in our food, linking soil stewardship not only to agricultural productivity but also to human well-being.

That should matter to an industry that believes it makes the world better.

Avoiding synthetic pesticides and GMOs is a genuine public good — but it was never the whole point. The promise of organic is that healthy soil is the foundation of healthier food and healthier people.

Which makes the acceptance of hydroponics so hard to square.

Even as “regenerative” dominates the conversation — anchoring marketing campaigns, conference agendas and climate strategies on the premise that healthy soil underpins a thriving planet — soilless produce is rapidly expanding across the produce aisle: berries, tomatoes, greens, peppers and cucumbers. Grown in water, yet still carrying the USDA organic seal.

While much of the industry has remained silent on this issue, some of organic’s most committed advocates for soil health have been sounding the alarm for years.

Opposition to hydroponics is the issue that gave rise to the Real Organic Project, and it is the group’s defining issue. Both the Real Organic Project and Regenerative Organic Certified® ban hydroponics in their add-on label certification.

The USDA’s National Organic Standards Board nearly did, too. In 2017, a proposal to bar hydroponics from organic certification failed by a single vote, seven to eight. The board has not revisited the question since.

IMPLICATIONS OF REMAINING IN THE DARK

Even as organic produce continues to grow at 5x the rate of the conventional produce market, most people remain unaware of what is truly happening behind the scenes.

* Soil-based organic farmers must compete on an unlevel field against massive hydroponic operations, a dynamic that many farmers believe is pushing soil-based growers out of the marketplace.

* Consumers are losing choice at the supermarket as soil-grown organic berries, tomatoes and cucumbers are growing harder to find by the day.

* And the unwitting shopper, reaching for organic because they trust it is better for their family, is not getting food grown in the living soil that many believe is central to the organic promise.

Even worse, the longer the silence holds, the more entrenched large hydroponic operators become — and the further organic drifts from its purpose.

Most of us in this industry have children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, who will be eating this food for decades to come.

The question is what kind of organic we want nourishing their bodies and minds — because the longer this issue goes unaddressed, the marketplace drifts further from the soil that gave organic its meaning.

With gratitude, Max Goldberg, Founder