Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> What has been happening for several years now to pave the way for 
> WalMart to
>
> mass market cheap organic produce is a gradual weakening or the definition of 
> 'organic', not that the USDA definition isn't weak enough already.  
>
> Back in the unshaven hippie days of organic food a pile of manure was a good 
> sign and chemical nitrates were completely verboden!    Now the manure pile 
> does not qualify as organic unless it is turned and mixed in a very certain 
> unproductive way which is out of the reach of small producers.  Yet chemical 
> nitrate is permitted since you COULD be using imported and expensive bat guano; but 
> chemical nitrate produced from fossil fuel is CHEMICALLY the same thing so 
> it's OK to use it (up to 20% of total nitrogen).  
>
>  
My impression is that standards are much stricter than they used to be.  
It's easy to find the evidence of that.  Peaceful Valley, a major 
supplier of organic growers, totally dropped things like manganese 
dioxide (a natural mineral) and chelated iron (like people take in pill 
form) several years ago when the new organic standards came about.  I 
can't find any example of chemical nitrate in their catalog.

I couldn't find the post I wanted to quote.  You were saying that it 
couldn't be any good unless there were dozens of compost bins.  I think 
that direct manuring is probably one method they might use to circumvent 
the composting process.  This is in short supply, though, compared to 
the number of potential farms, so those who have a source are locked 
into position and have a vested interest in limiting other acceptable 
ferilizers.

But even that should be no problem for the resourceful.  For years I got 
along on free cedar-chip crap (which does little harm if you don't use 
too much, and actually gives some impression of good tilth), and the 
all-important alfalfa.  I find alfalfa pellets from a #50 bag to be very 
economical as a fertilizer, once they're soaked in water and fall 
apart.  They release ferilizer at a fairly-slow rate, and the contain 
all the trace minerals a crop needs.  I never turned my head once for 
anything as crazy as bat guano or earthworm castings once I discovered 
alfalfa.

Bill