Hawaii Organic Farmers Association

The green waste from the county landfill comes from hundreds of different sources, many of them commercial landscapers. Green waste may be used on an organic farm provided it is first composted according to the requirements of the NOP found in §205.203(c)(2) or brought onto the farm and quarantined for three years to date of harvest.

Dear HOFA:

Where can I find information on organic production techniques?

There is a great new resource on sustainable agriculture in Hawaii provided by the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. This web site is still under construction so be sure and return to it for new information.

www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/Projects/newFarmer.asp

Dear HOFA:

Is it ok to use crushed coral in organic production?

Yes. Crushed coral, also known as calcium carbonate, is a locally produced and relatively inexpensive form of calcium for your farm and garden. Other accepted forms of calcium include: oyster shell flour, dolomite (not slaked), aragonite, and mined limestone (CaCO₃).

Dear HOFA:

Can I use treated lumber for my raised garden beds?

Treated lumber that comes into contact with soil or livestock must not be treated with arsenic or any other prohibited materials. Lumber treated with boric acid, also known as Hi-Bor, is acceptable provided the there is no direct contact with food or crops.

Dear HOFA:

Where can I find a copy of the federal organic standards?

The federal organic standards and copies of the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances can be downloaded for free at: www.ams.usda.gov/nop

Copies of the organic standards, as well as organic growing guidelines, can be found in the HOFA handbook. The handbook is available in our application packet for $75 or can be purchased separately for $15.

If you have burning questions you would like HOFA to answer, please send inquiries to the HOFA office and they will be answered in our next edition.

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION UPDATE

By: Kelly Lange, Certification Coordinator

FIRST CERTIFIED ORGANIC RETAILER IN HAWAII!!!

On April 21st, 2004 Damian Paul of, The Source Natural Foods located in Kailua on Oahu, received an organic handling certificate for bulk and packaged groceries and produce.

Damian Paul served as the HOFA Board President for two years and has been a member in the organization since 1994. Damian provides quality foods and health care products to customers on Oahu and can now assure them that they have been handled in accordance with the National Organic Program (NOP).

The NOP does not require retailers of organic products to obtain organic certification. The trend of certified retail stores across the nation is done solely for the benefit of customers who care how their organic products are being handled at the retail level. “I want to focus on what makes us unique and give my customers security and confidence in what I sell as organic,” says Damian.

Organic Certification requires record keeping of all sanitation and pest control practices to insure no contamination has occurred within the store. Certification also requires prevention of commingling with conventionally grown products in storage areas and on store shelves. Proper labeling of organic products must also be in compliance with the NOP. Since organic consumers pay more for certified products, it is important for them to know it has maintained organic integrity all the way to their table.

If you would like to certify your retail store or are a customer who would like to see a store certified, please contact the HOFA office for a handling application.

SMALL FARMER EXEMPTION

Any production or handling operation that sells agricultural products as “organic” but whose gross income from organic sales totals $5,000 or less annually is exempt from certification.

All producers who qualify for this exemption must still comply with all applicable production, handling, and labeling requirements of the National Organic Program (NOP).

In addition, any products that fall under the small farm exemption can not be used as ingredients identified as organic in processed products produced by another handling operation.

You may not call your product “certified organic”. Certified means that you have a Certificate, you have submitted an organic system plan for review, and had an on-site inspection performed. You may make the claim “organic”.

Some retail stores may require a notarized affidavit to protect themselves from legal situations. HOFA provides affidavits as well as a copy of the NOP and 1-year HOFA membership for $50.

Please contact the office for details.

GRAZING LIVESTOCK POLICY IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION

Occasionally we are faced with a circumstance that the National Organic Program (NOP) does not fully address. We call these situations, “gray areas” . While the NOP does have strict requirements for most aspects of an organic production or handling system, gray areas must be addressed and defined by the certifying body. Ultimately, this type of “interpretation” may vary from one certifier to another. The HOFA Certification Committee, when faced with gray areas, does its best to develop policies that are in the best interest of the organic producer while still maintaining compliance with the NOP.

The most recent situation involves the use of grazing livestock in orchard systems as a weed and/or pest control management practice. According to the NOP, §205.203(c), “the producer must manage plant and animal materials to maintain or improve soil organic matter content in a manner that does not contribute contamination of crops, soil, or water by plant nutrients, pathogenic organisms, heavy metals, or residues of prohibited substances.” Further on it states, “Raw manure must be composted unless incorporated into the soil no less than 90 days prior to the harvest of a product whose edible portion does not contact the soil”.

The Certification Committee determined that, “in those situations where grazing livestock are being used for weed control as allowed in §205.206(c)(3) and/or for pest control as allowed in §205.206(b)(1), the manure that is naturally deposited in the course of grazing should be considered incidental rather than applied as fertilizer.” Aspects considered for this policy to be accepted were based on the requirement to maintain or improve soil organic matter in a manner that does not contribute to contamination.

VICTORY! USDA BACKS OFF FROM DEGRADING ORGANIC STANDARDS

Stung by a nationwide backlash by Organic Consumers Association members and the entire organic community, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced May 26 that it would rescind controversial policies issued last month that would have undermined organic standards and violated federal law requiring public input.

In April, the USDA announced that it would no longer monitor organic labels on non-food products, and added that pesticides, animal drugs, growth hormones, antibiotics, and tainted fish-meal would be allowed on organic farms. In response to this frontal assault on organic integrity, the OCA immediately sent out an Action Alert and launched a media campaign to pressure the USDA into reversing its controversial directives.

Thanks to all of you in our network, within two days, over 5,000 petition signatures were gathered and a landslide of faxes, emails and phone calls hit the USDA and National Organic Program offices. Amplifying OCA efforts, other public interest groups such as the Consumers Union and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture joined the fray, while the Organic Trade Association rallied industry support. Meanwhile a class action lawsuit against the USDA was being prepared by Dr. Bronners (an organic soap and hemp bar company), the OCA, and others. The USDA ultimately capitulated on May 26, when it became clear that America's 30 million organic consumers were not going to accept the agency's dictatorial practices.

Unfortunately, consumers are still being locked out of many important policy discussions at the USDA, and of course Congress is still subsidizing--with our tax dollars--genetically engineered crops, factory farms, and chemical-intensive agriculture to the tune of $20-30 billion a year, while giving crumbs (less than $5 million annually) to organic programs for research, promotion, and monitoring. But the OCA, with your support, will continue to safeguard organic standards and move organic agriculture from a $15 billion dollar industry to becoming the dominant force in America's $800 billion food and fiber market. www.organicconsumers.org

CANADIAN SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST FAMILY FARMERS

The epic battle of Canadian family farmer Percy Schmeiser against biotech giant Monsanto Corporation officially came to a close on May 21. A hairline 5-4 Canadian Supreme Court ruling sided with Monsanto, saying Schmeiser is guilty of the "crime" of saving seeds from his canola plants-- seeds which Monsanto claims they own.

In the late 90s, Schmeiser's canola field was contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) seed, most likely from a neighboring farm or from trucks passing in front of his Saskatchewan farm. Monsanto's patent monopoly on GE crops, such as canola, mandate that farmers using the seed must pay "royalty" fees to the gene giant. Since Schmeiser never purchased his seeds from Monsanto or signed an agreement in the first place, he continued to save his seeds and replant each year, so Monsanto sued. The court's decision has angered family farmers across Canada, and emboldened organic farmers to continue their class action lawsuit against Monsanto and Aventis (Bayer) for contaminating organic crops with mutant GMOs. Join OCA's Millions Against Monsanto Campaign. organicconsumers.org/monlink.html

Excerpted from Organic Bytes, Organic Consumers Association

CONGRATULATIONS! NEW CERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCERS

JANUARY THROUGH JUNE 2004

Brocksen Gate Estate

Hawaii Holistics

Honomalino Farm

Mike Lavove

Maui Banana Company

Pacific Fruit shippers

Pele Plantations

Petersen Organics

Poamoho Produce

Rancho Aloha

South Kona Macadamia Nut Company

The Source Natural Foods Store

West Maui Ag. Co.

Cultivating beneficial soil fungi to increase yields
By Laura Sayre

April 6, 2004: Results are in from the 2003 field tests of a low-tech system for cultivating mycorrhizal fungi (MF) to improve plant health and boost yields.

In preliminary trials at The Rodale Institute Experimental Farm, substantial differences were found in the response of MF populations to different soil environments. Test plots designed to demonstrate how farmers can produce their own MF inoculant—to use in a greenhouse mix, for instance—showed that two key MF species performed better when grown with a dairy manure-leaf compost or a yard clippings compost than when grown with a controlled microbial compost.

The different MF response may be attributable to the higher phosphorous levels in the controlled microbial compost, since MF populations are believed to be inhibited by high phosphorous conditions. The 2003 data will help researchers refine the MF inoculant production system so that it can be passed on to farmers.

The inoculant production research is part of a multi-year project led by Agricultural Research Service scientist Dr. David Douds. A soil microbiologist who has dedicated his career to the study of mycorrhizal fungi, Douds has been collaborating with Rodale Institute researchers since 1989, studying the effects of conventional and organic farming practices on MF populations and the effects of MF populations on crop yields.

Previous years' field studies found higher and more diverse MF levels in organically-farmed than in conventionally-farmed soils, in part because of the use of over-wintering cover crops in organic systems. Field experiments have also demonstrated dramatic yield increases when crops were inoculated with MF: up to a 34 percent yield gain in sweet peppers, and up to a 45 percent gain in potatoes.

The on-farm inoculant production system should enable farmers to realize similar yield increases with minimal costs. "These systems could become as common as a compost pile" for organic and sustainable farms, notes Rodale research technician Matt Ryan. Constructed out of landscape fabric, the yard-square planting enclosures are simple to build and require little maintenance other than watering.

This season, Douds and the Rodale researchers will repeat the experiment with a few adjustments based on the 2003 results. The yard clippings compost and the dairy manure-leaf compost—which produced the best results at higher concentrations—will be tested at compost:vermiculite mixtures of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, and 1:9. The controlled microbial compost—which produced the best results at lower concentrations—will be tested at dilutions of 1:9, 1:19, 1:49, and 1:99.

In addition, Douds plans to evaluate the feasibility of using native soils, instead of host plants pre-inoculated with MF, in the production system. Reasoning that undisturbed soils from a given farm—say from a hedgerow or native prairie remnant—should contain the MF species best suited to the local conditions of that farm, the researchers will mix controlled amounts of native field soils into sterilized compost: vermiculite mixtures, and then plant non-inoculated host plants into the enclosures.

A final, more elementary possible refinement is the use of large bags—either of woven polyethylene or of burlap—for the propagation system, rather than having farmers construct the raised beds out of sheets of landscape fabric and wooden stakes. In addition to being simpler, using bags would enable farmers and growers to start the MF propagation beds in the greenhouse in early spring, and then move them outside when conditions permit. Last year's results indicate that inoculant enclosures started earlier in the season produced significantly more viable MF propagules.

Article reprinted from The New Farm Research, Rodale Institute located at: www.newfarm.org

Hawaii Organic Farmers Association (HOFA)
P.O. Box 6863, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 969-7789 Toll Free: (877) 674-4632 Fax: (808) 969-7759
Email: hofa@hawaiiorganicfarmers.org
Copyright 2002