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 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

 + + + + +

 NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD

 + + + + +

 WEB CONFERENCE

 + + + + +

 MONDAY,

 AUGUST 14, 2017

 The National Organic Standards Board

convened via web conference, Tom Chapman, Chair,

Presiding.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

TOM CHAPMAN, Chair

ASHLEY SWAFFAR, Vice Chair

JESSE BUIE, Secretary 

FRANCIS THICKE, Crops Subcommittee Chair 

SUE BAIRD 

HARRIET BEHAR 

ASA BRADMAN 

LISA DE LIMA

STEVE ELA 

DAVE MORTENSEN 

JOELLE MOSSO

EMILY OAKLEY

SCOTT RICE 

A-DAE ROMERO-BRIONES 

DAN SEITZ 

ALSO PRESENT: 

JENNIFER TUCKER, Associate Deputy Administrator

PAUL LEWIS, Director, Standards Division

MICHELLE ARSENAULT, Advisory Committee 

 Specialist, NOSB

MILES McEVOY, AMS Deputy Administrator 
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1 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S

2 (1:06 p.m.)

3 MR. LEWIS: Good afternoon. My name

4 is Paul Lewis, Director of Standards Division of

5 the National Organic Program. I would like to

6 welcome the members of the National Organic

7 Standards Board and the public to today's NOSB

8 discussion in the development of a potential

9 proposal on hydroponics and organic agriculture.

10 This is part of the Board's continuing

11 discussion on this topic, and I am looking

12 forward to today's dialog.

13 The NOSB will be having its next

14 meeting, in fact a face-to-face meeting, from

15 October 31st to November 2nd, 2017. As part of

16 that meeting the NOSB will have a public webinar

17 on October 24th, and a possible second public

18 comment webinar on October 25th to hear public

19 comments on topics to be addressed at the face20 to-face meeting.

21 Please check the NOP website to

22 participate in the public comment webinar and
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1 face-to-face meeting.

2 I would also like to thank my NOP

3 colleagues for their help behind the scenes to

4 bring us today's teleconference.

5 Before I turn this meeting over to the

6 Chair of the NOSB Tom Chapman, I want to make

7 sure everyone can hear us. And if you can hear

8 us, please chat in the chat room, type in "yes."

9 I would like to now turn the meeting

10 to our Chair of the NOSB, Mr. Tom Chapman. Tom,

11 thank you for chairing today's meeting. I am

12 looking forward to a interesting and productive

13 dialog.

14 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Thank you, Paul.

15 My name is Tom Chapman. I am Chair of

16 the National Organic Standards Board. I would

17 like to welcome all members of the NOP, the

18 National Organic Program staff, as well as the

19 public. Thank you for taking time out of your

20 busy day to listen and help us address this

21 important subject before the organics community.

22 This conference call is to facilitate
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1 a public and board-wide discussion of the

2 hydroponics in hopes of getting the Crops

3 Subcommittee additional information that they

4 need to craft a proposal with input from all

5 board members. Board-wide discussions have

6 historically only happened at board meetings. 

7 And this conference call is a new approach that

8 will hopefully give subcommittee, the

9 subcommittee additional insight into the thinking

10 of both subcommittee and non-subcommittee

11 members, and to be helpful at moving discussions

12 and dialog of complex topics along more quickly

13 between in-person board meetings.

14 This is a new format for the board, so

15 I ask board members and listening members of the

16 public to forgive us if there are any technical

17 issues. Additionally, we will not be voting on

18 any items today. If you hear us talk about

19 technical terms like motions, proposals, or

20 recommendations it is to talk about the potential

21 of bringing these forward at a future board

22 meeting. Again, no voting will occur today.
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1 Since this meeting is meant to

2 facilitate a transparent board-wide discussion

3 prior to a finalized proposal, this conference

4 call was not open to public comment. And the

5 board currently does have an open docket

6 available for feedback directly to board members. 

7 If members of the public want to provide more

8 information to the board today, that would be the

9 best forum.

10 Additionally, as Paul outlined, the

11 board, the board will hear public comment in

12 preparation for the fall NOSB meeting via

13 webinar, in-person, and written comments.

14 With that, I will hand the meeting

15 over to Michelle to take a verbal roll call of

16 members present. Michelle.

17 MS. ARSENAULT: Thanks, Tom.

18 All right. Sue Baird.

19 MS. BAIRD: Yes.

20 MS. ARSENAULT: Hi, Sue.

21 Harriet Behar.

22 MS. BEHAR: Here.
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1 MS. ARSENAULT: Excellent.

2 Asa Bradman.

3 MR. BRADMAN: Asa is here.

4 MS. ARSENAULT: Thank you.

5 MR. BRADMAN: Yes.

6 MS. ARSENAULT: Jesse Buie.

7 MR. BUIE: Present.

8 MS. ARSENAULT: Hello there.

9 Tom Chapman, I know you're here.

10 Lisa de Lima.

11 MS. DE LIMA: Here.

12 MS. ARSENAULT: Excellent.

13 Steve Ela.

14 MR. ELA: I am here.

15 MS. ARSENAULT: Excellent, sir.

16 Dave Mortensen.

17 MR. MORTENSEN: Present.

18 MS. ARSENAULT: Thank you, sir.

19 Joelle Mosso.

20 MS. MOSSO: Here.

21 MS. ARSENAULT: Hello.

22 Emily Oakley.
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1 MS. OAKLEY: Present.

2 MS. ARSENAULT: Hi, Emily.

3 Scott Rice.

4 MR. RICE: Present.

5 MS. ARSENAULT: Thank you, sir.

6 A-dae Romero-Briones.

7 MS. ROMERO-BRIONES: Here.

8 MS. ARSENAULT: Thank you.

9 Dan Seitz.

10 MR. SEITZ: Here.

11 MS. ARSENAULT: Great.

12 Ashley Swaffar.

13 MS. SWAFFAR: Here.

14 MS. ARSENAULT: Okay, thank you.

15 And Francis Thicke.

16 MR. THICKE: Here.

17 MS. ARSENAULT: Great. That's all 15

18 NOSB members present and accounted for.

19 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Thank you,

20 Michelle. And with that I'm going to hand the

21 board -- I'm going to hand the meeting over to

22 Francis, chair of the Crops Subcommittee to run
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1 the discussion from here. Francis.

2 MR. THICKE: Thanks, Tom. And thanks,

3 Michelle and Paul.

4 So, as Tom mentioned, what the Crops

5 Subcommittee would like to do here today is get

6 feedback from the full board on some of the key

7 concepts in the draft proposal on hydroponics and

8 container growing which has been prepared by

9 members of the Crops Subcommittee. In

10 particular, we would like board feedback on four

11 proposed motions in the document.

12 Also, I understand that some members

13 of the Crops Subcommittee are planning on

14 preparing a minority report to be included in the

15 proposal. And we would like to, if you wish, to

16 hear about that as well.

17 So, what I'll do is read each motion,

18 each draft motion along with a little background

19 information. And then we can open it up for

20 discussion.

21 So, getting right into it, the first

22 one is on aeroponics. And aeroponics is defined
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1 here as a variation of hydroponic plant

2 production in which plant roots are suspended in

3 air and misted with nutrient solution. And the

4 proposed motion is to not allow aeroponic

5 production systems to be certified organic.

6 With that, I would open it up for

7 comments from board members. You can raise your

8 hands on the screen.

9 Everybody is a little bashful here. 

10 Oh, here we go. Harriet is the first one with a

11 hand raised.

12 MS. BEHAR: Hello, everyone.

13 MR. THICKE: And Emily, I'm sorry. 

14 I'm sorry, Emily Oakley is second on deck.

15 Thank you. Go ahead.

16 MS. BEHAR: So, aeroponics is not

17 allowed in two of our major trading partners, the

18 European Union and Canada. And I think that the

19 definition is very clear. And eventually I'm

20 hoping that we can have a discussion, if it does

21 go through the NOSB recommendation, that we also

22 provide the National Organic Program, with the
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1 consultation, a place to put this prohibition in

2 the regulations.

3 So that that's my only concern with

4 not allowing it is making sure that we are on

5 board, if it is disallowed, that we know where to

6 put it in the regulations. Because that was one

7 comment we did get from the National Organic

8 Program on our last draft -- last proposal, and

9 that's why we took it back, is that they did not

10 understand where they would put the rulemaking.

11 But I support the proposal that

12 aeroponics as defined not be permitted to use the

13 USDA organic seal or organic label in the

14 marketplace.

15 I'm done.

16 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

17 Emily.

18 MS. OAKLEY: Yes. I just think that

19 this might be one area where we had the greatest

20 amount of consensus in previous discussions, both 

21 possibly board-wide at some of the in-person

22 meetings, and also in the CS subcommittee
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1 meeting. So I wanted to just get a sense from

2 people on the call today if there is a general

3 consensus for prohibiting aeroponics. If there

4 is anybody that wanted to speak in favor of it. 

5 Just trying to get a sense of where people stand

6 on this issue.

7 And I'm done.

8 MR. THICKE: Okay, thank you.

9 There are no other hands raised on

10 this issue right now. And I would echo what

11 Emily asked is that if there's anybody here, the

12 Crops Subcommittee would like to know if there's

13 anybody who would prefer that aeroponics be

14 allowed to be certified organic. If we don't

15 hear from anybody then we'll assume that that

16 proposed motion has unanimous support.

17 MS. MOSSO: Joelle.

18 MR. THICKE: Joelle, I see your hand

19 is raised.

20 MS. MOSSO: Hi. Yes, I was actually

21 going -- I'm echoing actually that I could

22 support the aeroponics under the current
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1 definition would not be allowed.

2 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Joelle.

3 So I don't see any other hands raised

4 on this issue, so let's move right on to the next

5 one.

6 Oh, Ashley.

7 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I think Ashley

8 raised her hand.

9 MR. THICKE: Yes, Ashley, did you want

10 to speak here?

11 MS. SWAFFAR: Yep. Just want to say

12 I'd be in favor of not allowing it also.

13 MR. THICKE: Thank you.

14 Okay, if nobody else, I don't see any

15 other hands raised, so let's move on to the

16 second proposed motion, and a draft motion I

17 should say, and that's on hydroponics. And in

18 this one, for the discussion here we reverted

19 back to the definition of hydroponics that was

20 used by the NOSB in its 2010 recommendation.

21 And I'm just going to read a few

22 sentences here to give the background on that.
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1 In the 2010 recommendation the NOSB

2 stated that hydroponics cannot be classified as

3 certified organic growing methods due to the

4 exclusion of the soil-plant ecology. The

5 definition of hydroponics that they used then is

6 "the production of normally terrestrial, vascular

7 plants in nutrient-rich solutions, or in an

8 inert, porous solid matrix bathed in nutrient9 rich solutions."

10 And if you remember, in the spring,

11 those of you who were there, spring 2017 in a

12 discussion document the Crops Subcommittee had

13 changed that definition slightly and had included

14 along with in their matrix "biologically

15 recalcitrant." Well, in this draft motion we've

16 taken that out and gone back to the 2010

17 recommendation.

18 So I guess I would open it up at this

19 point for discussion on that draft motion and

20 definition.

21 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes, Francis, I'll

22 raise my hand.
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1 MR. THICKE: Okay, Tom, go ahead.

2 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I'm curious to know

3 what the Crops Subcommittee's thought is the

4 value of I guess re-passing the 2010

5 recommendations, given I believe this item came

6 on our work agenda because the 2010 definition

7 wasn't sufficient to provide the program with the

8 information they needed to move forward and

9 approve anything.

10 What value does it have re-passing the

11 same motion?

12 MR. THICKE: Well, the value is that

13 what we have to follow up is a container growing

14 motion, draft motion that would define container

15 growing. I think in the past what the NOP was

16 concerned about is that this did not address

17 container growing. And so we are addressing that

18 in a future motion that we'll discuss here in a

19 minute or two.

20 Okay, Jesse's hand is raised. And

21 then following Jesse is Harriet.

22 Go ahead, Jesse.
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1 MR. BUIE: Yes. You know, how will

2 the revised EU organic regulations, you know,

3 banning hydroponics, how is that going to affect

4 our deliberations?

5 MR. THICKE: I don't know if I can

6 answer that question. But you bring up a point

7 that -- and this is a good background that will

8 be important for the container discussion -- the

9 European Union, except with a few exceptions,

10 does not allow any container growing. Everything

11 has to be grown in soil, connected to the Earth's

12 surface.

13 And we understand that the European

14 Union now is in the process of actually making

15 that just applied to all countries. Apparently

16 there are a few countries that have an exception,

17 but apparently that is going to be for all

18 countries in the European Union.

19 And there are some implications there. 

20 One is that it's not reciprocal in that European

21 growers can grow hydroponically and sell it in

22 the U.S. Of course, U.S. growers cannot sell
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1 hydroponically and sell it to the European Union.

2 So, I don't know exactly what all this

3 is going to do, what it all implies for the

4 European Union in that our market, our exchange. 

5 If anybody else has a comment that

6 came in on that?

7 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: This is Tom. I

8 have a comment.

9 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, Tom.

10 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I mean there are

11 some fairly significant differences between the

12 U.S. standards and international standards for

13 European Union today. Some examples are the

14 allowance of antibiotics in livestock, the

15 allowance of vitamins and minerals. On the U.S.

16 side in cost of products, the way you calculate

17 non-agricultural and agricultural ingredients and

18 what's allowed percentage-wise is vastly

19 different between the U.S. and Europe. And

20 there's others.

21 And these, you know, like sulfites in

22 wine, another example, these are all fairly
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1 significant differences that haven't blocked or

2 really limited trade between the U.S. and Europe. 

3 They're just dealt with as one-off situations. 

4 Some may result in annotations to the equivalency

5 agreements, and some are just accepted as

6 regional differences between standards.

7 I don't really see -- I look at

8 international models as a way of providing input

9 as how other folks have addressed this issue, but

10 I don't see it as a motivating reason to take a

11 certain action or establish a specific standard.

12 And that's it for me. Thanks,

13 Francis.

14 MR. THICKE: Okay, thank you, Tom.

15 One follow-up point. I remember when

16 we were doing the antibiotics in fruit, tree

17 fruit, is that the Europeans would not allow

18 American apples imported that had been grown with

19 antibiotics. So, I think on major issues there

20 has sometimes been some difference. But that's

21 not the case in hydroponics at this point. Maybe

22 they will take action in the future; I'm not
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1 certain.

2 But I do know in speaking with some of

3 the European representatives that they are

4 concerned that they have a lot of pressure from

5 the hydroponics growers, and they're concerned

6 that if the U.S. passes a very weak hydroponic

7 rule that it will have implications for them down

8 the road.

9 Next up is Harriet.

10 MS. BEHAR: Okay. So, to the first

11 question about whether the -- why we went back to

12 the 2010 definition, in my view it's not so much

13 the definition that's the issue but how, what is

14 the mechanism for regulating that system of

15 production?

16 And as Francis said, we are going to

17 be looking at containers as being a separate

18 system of production, separate from a

19 "hydroponic" operation that meets the 2010

20 definition. And then we would look for a

21 mechanism to not allow or allow, however you want

22 to have it. So we would have that definition.
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1 And I think we all agree that that

2 definition is very clear, very understandable,

3 actually does mesh well with our trading

4 partners.

5 In response to whether or not this has

6 caused any market interference, especially

7 internationally, I would also state that the --

8 that in our equivalency agreements with both

9 Canada and the European Union, hydroponic is

10 called out specifically as something that is not

11 allowed to go into the European Union. And we do

12 have some issue with "organic" and NOP organic

13 operations in -- on the land mass of the European

14 Union that can only sell their products into an

15 organic market overseas into our market because

16 in their home market it is not allowed.

17 So there is to me some market

18 confusion and even some chance for mislabeling

19 due to that non-allowance.

20 And I agree that there is the

21 antibiotic --

22 MR. THICKE: Thank you.
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1 MS. BEHAR: -- side with the livestock

2 that we will not accept antibiotics from

3 livestock. So typic -- that's produced in the

4 European Union because they do allow it. But

5 typically what happens is then those operations

6 have to be dual-certified to both the NOP and to

7 the European Union.

8 I'm done.

9 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

10 And people said they can't tell who's

11 speaking. So I will say myself that this is

12 Francis talking again.

13 I don't see any other hands raised. 

14 But I would raise the question is there anyone on

15 the board who cannot today support the 2010

16 recommendation based upon the 2010 definition of

17 hydroponics? The Crops Subcommittee would like

18 to know that as we try to work to finalize our

19 recommendations, our proposals and motions.

20 Ashley has her hand raised. Ashley,

21 go ahead.

22 MS. SWAFFAR: Thanks. So, one thing,
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1 I just want to bring up this fact is, you know,

2 the hydroponic definition, like we see in that

3 2010 site, would probably not fit what's

4 currently happening as far as what hydroponics

5 systems are certified. Because I know certifiers

6 are actually certifying those operations

7 according to the 2010 document. So I really

8 think that the currently certified hydroponic

9 systems would still continue to be certified

10 organic if, even if this motion was to go forward

11 not to allow hydroponic systems as you've written

12 it.

13 MR. THICKE: So, Ashley, the question,

14 and I don't know the answer, are there not some

15 hydroponic operations that are in pure liquid

16 that are certified today? Can anybody answer

17 that question?

18 Ashley, go ahead.

19 MS. SWAFFAR: Right. Well, I was

20 going to say it's so, everybody has all these

21 different ideas, because they're still in that

22 little peak, whatever you call that little thing
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1 that looks like the size of a quarter that will

2 keep things, so that, well, if you would really

3 consider that really an all-liquid system.

4 But, yes, I mean there are some --

5 MR. THICKE: I thought that --

6 MS. SWAFFAR: Go ahead. Sorry.

7 MR. THICKE: Go ahead. Go ahead. Go

8 ahead, Ashley.

9 MS. SWAFFAR: I haven't seen every

10 system out there that's certified. I haven't

11 seen very many. So I can't speak to what every

12 certifier does and look at every system. But I,

13 I do think there's a lot of certifiers out there

14 that are following the 2010 recommendation as

15 justification for certifying hydroponic systems.

16 So I really think that we'll still

17 have some hydroponics.

18 MR. THICKE: I'm interrupting, Ashley. 

19 Would you yourself personally be in favor of the

20 hydroponic operation that uses all organically21 approved inputs that's in pure liquid, like a

22 nutrient film technique, to allowing them to be
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1 certified organic?

2 MS. SWAFFAR: Thanks for putting me on

3 the spot. Yes, I would. I would.

4 MR. THICKE: You would consider them

5 to be certifiable. Okay, thank you.

6 MS. SWAFFAR: Yes. I do support the

7 2010. But I, you know, I'm very open to

8 hydroponics because I think they're interesting

9 new technology that really has a place in the

10 organic.

11 MR. THICKE: Okay. Joelle, I see your

12 hand is raised.

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, can you

14 add me to this as well?

15 MR. THICKE: Yes. Tom, you can be

16 second.

17 Joelle.

18 MS. MOSSO: This is Joelle. And I

19 just wanted to follow up on what Ashley also said

20 and that I, too, would support more novel systems

21 that allow for systems to evolve and to be

22 inclusive of hydroponics. And I, you know, ask
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1 it be discussed more later in the call.

2 There's a group of us, you know,

3 providing a minority view that will be speaking

4 to what we, you know, view as compliant. And we

5 do feel that the 2010 recommendation for the

6 definition of hydroponics is fine but does need

7 further elaboration, as was requested from the

8 NOP. So, we will be providing that, not with

9 details on this call but we are in the process of

10 writing it.

11 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Joelle.

12 Tom.

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes. To attempt to

14 answer your first question about operations being

15 certified, I don't know. But from the feedback

16 I've seen from certifiers, from the public input

17 in the past, and from the kind of pro-hydroponics

18 subcommittee of the Hydroponics Subcommittee --

19 Task Force, it sounds like most of those

20 operations consider themselves in compliance with

21 the 2010 recommendation.

22 So, I mean that kind of gets back to
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1 my first point of what additional clarification

2 that provided. I am fine with the 2010

3 recommendation from the NOP and would vote in

4 favor of it, but I don't -- the problem I have

5 with the 2010 recommendation is it didn't provide

6 the clarity to the program and to the public as

7 to what it was really prohibiting.

8 From the way I read it, it prohibits

9 items without any sort of plant, terrestrial

10 plants grown without any substrates, similar to

11 the aeroponics motion that you discussed earlier,

12 potential motion. Or plants grown entirely in

13 inert substrate which, you know, would mean

14 something like a perlite which, as I understand,

15 most operations have moved away from.

16 So while I'm fine supporting the 2010

17 recommendation again, I don't, I still think it

18 sows a lot of confusion out there in the

19 community as to what's really being prohibited.

20 MR. THICKE: Okay. Joelle, did you

21 have a hand raised again? It's still up on the

22 right.
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1 MS. MOSSO: No, I don't. Sorry. Let

2 me lower it.

3 MR. THICKE: Okay. Steve. Steve Ela

4 has his hand raised. Steve.

5 MR. ELA: I think, and again I agree

6 with what you're saying, Tom, but I guess, you

7 know, the Crops Committee was, you were -- we

8 know this is a controversial topic so we were

9 trying to find at least, you know, some of the

10 things that we felt we, you know, could have some

11 common ground on among the whole NOSB and then

12 work our way up from that.

13 So while it's sort of restating the

14 2010, you know, recommendation, I guess we felt

15 like it was still important to say, yes, here's

16 at least for the NOSB board as a whole here's the

17 baseline yet again. And I, you know, agree the

18 wording probably needs to be added to just to

19 help clarify that a little bit that, you know,

20 you can't grow in rockwool, you can't --

21 rockwool, you can't grow in perlite. And so at

22 least just to draw some baseline that, you know,
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1 here's something the board agrees on.

2 So that's all I have to say.

3 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve.

4 Anybody else, comment?

5 MR. BRADMAN: This is Asa. I don't

6 know, can you hear me?

7 MR. THICKE: Yes.

8 MR. BRADMAN: Okay. I apologize for

9 interjecting, my computer's not letting me click

10 the hand, raising my hand.

11 I want to go back actually to the

12 aeroponics. I might be an outlier here but I'm

13 not opposed to aeroponics. I'm not saying I'm

14 for it right now either. I've been in the

15 situation in the last six months where I'm

16 gathering information and I haven't seen an

17 aeroponics production system. And I feel like I

18 need hands-on experience and observation and

19 discussion before making a judgment about that.

20 And I have, you know, I've seen now

21 more kind of hydroponic and container systems. 

22 And I know I'd like to come up with a compromise,
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1 maybe that's a labeling compromise or other, that

2 can foster production of food that uses less

3 resources and less synthetic chemicals. And I'd

4 like to do that in a way that adheres to the

5 principles of the Organic Foods Production Act.

6 I don't quite see the way there right

7 now but I think there is a possibility to do

8 that. Some of the suggestions around -- well,

9 we'll talk about containers later -- you know, I

10 think there's points there about using materials,

11 reusing materials, maintaining percolation with

12 soil, et cetera, that have a lot of promise.

13 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Asa.

14 Harriet has her hand raised. Go

15 ahead, Harriet.

16 MS. BEHAR: I'm wondering if something

17 that would help this definition would be to

18 eventually define inert material. That's my,

19 that's my comment, that that seems to be what is

20 that inert material we're talking about? It's

21 either roots in water or roots that are in some

22 sort of rockwool, coconut core, perlite. I don't
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1 know what else we'll come up with. And I think

2 some of us feel that that's an inert material and

3 others not.

4 So I'm just wondering if the

5 definition of inert material might be useful.

6 I'm done.

7 MR. THICKE: Okay. Thank you,

8 Harriet.

9 I guess we've kind of gone a little

10 bit in circles with this with recalcitrance and

11 so on. And when I search, I Google the word

12 hydroponic, basically it means grown in water. 

13 And I guess it comes from Greek. Greek, "hydro"

14 is water and "ponos" is work. Water works or

15 something. So it's basically I think the common

16 understanding is that if you're growing with

17 virtually all water it's hydroponic. But that

18 doesn't really seem to be working in this case.

19 We'll go back and we'll look at it a

20 little more.

21 I don't see any more hands up right

22 now. So let's move on for now to aquaponics. 
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1 And aquaponics is defined here as a recirculated

2 hydroponic system in which plants are grown in

3 nutrients originating from aquatic animal

4 wastewater, which may include the use of bacteria

5 to improve availability of those nutrients to the

6 plant. The plants improve the water quality by

7 using the nutrients, and the water is then

8 recirculated back to the aquatic plants.

9 And the proposed motion is very simple

10 again: motion to not allow aquaponic production

11 systems be certified organic.

12 I would like, I'm very interested to

13 hear what the whole board thinks about

14 aquaponics. And I don't see any hands raised yet

15 but I welcome your comments.

16 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, this is

17 Tom.

18 MR. THICKE: Do ahead, Tom.

19 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Can I get a better

20 idea as to the justification for why the Crops

21 Subcommittee would propose prohibiting this form

22 of production?
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1 MR. THICKE: It's because aquaponics

2 is actually pure hydroponics, often without any

3 substrate at all. It's basically hydroponics.

4 And some aquaculture systems are

5 completely linked and they only use fish waste

6 for their nutrients. Whereas as others are, just

7 are -- I forget what the term is but they use

8 some fish waste and also some liquid nutrient

9 feeding.

10 So the thinking of the Crops Committee

11 in this is that aquaponics is really just

12 hydroponics using a difference source of

13 nutrients.

14 I see Harriet has her hand raised, and

15 then Steve has also. Go ahead, Harriet.

16 MS. BEHAR: I also have concern about

17 the fact that this is a raw manure that is not

18 really treated systematically. And I believe

19 there has been some issue with a recall. I'm not

20 sure what the issue was.

21 But I feel that it's really unfair to

22 the land-based producers who have to wait three
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1 to four months before being able to apply raw

2 manure to their crops. They wouldn't be able to

3 take the effluent from an aquaponic operation and

4 use it as irrigation water out in their field. 

5 So I think it's kind of an unfair playing field

6 to say that because it's right there in the same

7 building and it's floating in the water directly

8 that it would be allowed, whereas it would not be

9 allowed for those in the field operation.

10 And so I think there's a lot more that

11 needs to be looked at in this system. I think

12 there is a lot of interest in the synergy between

13 the fish and the plants and this kind of

14 symbiotic relationship where one, you know, where

15 the plants actually somewhat clean the water so

16 it can go back to the fish. And I can understand

17 how people are attracted to that.

18 But I think we do really need to look

19 at the raw manure issue and having it be in line

20 with field- and land-based and soil-based

21 producers are required to do and still carry the

22 organic label.
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1 I'm done.

2 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

3 Steve Ela.

4 MR. ELA: Yes. And I would echo what

5 Harriet said, I think, you know, some of that

6 consistency. And I think the Crops Committee, I

7 mean it's one of those things where at this point

8 we'd like to disallow it for organic

9 certification. But in our discussions we've

10 certainly said this is a very fascinating system

11 that, if we could solve some of these problems,

12 you know, we would be open to discussing it in

13 the future and allowing it.

14 But I think just like Harriet said,

15 the manure issue is probably a big one for me in

16 terms of consistency. And I'd rather see it

17 disallowed for now and then come back and, you

18 know, later on with some, you know, clearer

19 standards on the manure issue and some other

20 things, you know, allow it in the future. But

21 I'd rather not go down the road of allowing it

22 now and then trying to say, wait, this is, you
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1 know, we need to clarify it. I'd rather do it

2 more prudently and thoughtfully without putting

3 the -- without having it already out there in

4 practice.

5 I'm done.

6 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve. Thank

7 you, Steve.

8 We have Dan Seitz and then Scott Rice

9 and then Emily Oakley. Go ahead, Dan.

10 MR. SEITZ: So this is Dan Seitz.

11 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: This is Tom. Just

12 raising my hand, Francis, so you know that my

13 hand's been raised.

14 MR. THICKE: Oh, Tom. Oh, okay.

15 Go ahead. You had your hand up first,

16 Tom, go ahead.

17 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: No, no. You can

18 let Dan go ahead. Thanks.

19 MR. SEITZ: Okay. So to some degree

20 I'm echoing what Steve said. I see this as a

21 prudent motion to pass now in order to avoid the

22 situation where we're actually faced with the
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1 hydroponics where certifiers start to certify the

2 operation and then after the fact we're in the

3 awkward position as a board, and the NOP is in

4 the awkward position of trying to then clarify

5 what are the standards that should be used for

6 this.

7 So I don't see this as a prohibition. 

8 Certainly the aquaponic folks can continue. It's

9 really a question of whether the coveted organic

10 seal can be applied to that. And before that

11 possibility is open, I think we have to be very

12 clear if we -- very clear on what would be the

13 requirements for such a system to be certified

14 organic.

15 So once again I think it's more to

16 just avoid the messy situation that we're finding

17 ourselves in with hydroponics.

18 And I'm done.

19 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Dan.

20 Tom.

21 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Thanks. So I'll

22 just go now after the next piece. But so as I
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1 understand it, these operations are already

2 currently being certified and are allowed under

3 the current interpretations by the program. So

4 it's not like we'd be prohibiting something novel

5 that hasn't yet started. We would be prohibiting

6 a practice that has already occurred that the

7 businesses have been built around, with the

8 possibility that we would bring it back again in

9 the future if we did more research.

10 That's not, that's not a prudent move

11 I guess in my view. We should either, we should

12 have done our due diligence. And if we need to

13 manage the input system for aquaponic growers,

14 similar to how an input system for manure is

15 managed for in-ground grower, there's reason for

16 that. And we should explore that option.

17 But the wholesale prohibition of them

18 because we haven't done our research when they're

19 already allowed is just not, it's not palatable

20 to me.

21 That's it for me.

22 MR. THICKE: Okay. Thank you, Tom.
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1 Scott next; right? Go ahead, Scott.

2 MR. RICE: Thanks. Thank you.

3 Tom made the point that I was going to

4 make, but can add to that. Essentially, yes, we

5 have these already in inspection. I think it

6 would not be helpful to pull that back and then

7 allow it. Again, that's not a very sensible way

8 for a business to respond to in terms of how a

9 regulation works.

10 And in terms of just aquaponics in

11 general, I think it's a system within kind of the

12 framework of hydroponics and fluid-based systems

13 that we talk about that most reflect kind of what

14 we're looking for in my mind for an organic

15 operation, and that's kind of the ideal closed

16 loop system. You know, we like to see that type

17 of resources, input, and nutrients.

18 So to me it speaks to kind of what,

19 what I look for in the ultimate goals of organic

20 production.

21 Another good point, I think, is that

22 manure in the regulation is not -- it's
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1 explicitly defined as feces, urine, or other

2 excrement in bedding produced by livestock that

3 has not been composted. And livestock in the

4 regulation does not include aquatic animals. So

5 I just wanted to put that out there as well.

6 And that's it for me on that. Thanks.

7 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Scott.

8 MR. BRADMAN: This is Asa.

9 MR. THICKE: Yes, Asa.

10 MR. BRADMAN: Apologies again for

11 interrupting. My computer is not letting me

12 raise my hand.

13 I just wanted to echo what Tom and

14 Scott said and that, you know, I think Harriet

15 raised this really important point about concerns

16 about manure and food safety and things like

17 that. And, you know, I certainly agree that

18 there should be careful evaluation of that and

19 any rules around that should protect, you know,

20 protect food safety and ensure food safety. And

21 I don't know if that means it's the exact, you

22 know, replication of what we do with land-based
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1 manure, but I agree that that's important.

2 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Asa.

3 Next we have Emily and then Ashley

4 after Emily. Go ahead, Emily.

5 MS. OAKLEY: Thank you.

6 I wanted to echo what you said

7 earlier, Francis, by the reason that the Crops

8 Subcommittee brought this forward is because we

9 determined these systems to be essentially

10 hydroponic. They are hydroponic but simply with

11 the inclusion of fish tanks from which water is

12 recirculated for feeding. But the majority of

13 the plants' nutrients, if not all of them, are

14 coming from the fish.

15 So these systems are hydroponic. I

16 think to not disallow them is to create a double

17 standard. Again, I think that we do want to

18 disallow them because they are hydroponic.

19 I also think that there are definite

20 concerns with the manure issue, whether it's

21 within the regulations manure is defined as

22 livestock or not, it's definitely a raw feces
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1 product that we would definitely want to

2 consider.

3 I also think that there is an animal

4 welfare component that needs to be addressed if

5 something like this were going to be allowed. 

6 And I feel perhaps more strongly that this isn't

7 something that we would disallow now and then

8 come back and look at later. I think it's

9 something that we would disallow now and be very

10 unlikely to come back and change. Just as I

11 think that would be the same for a disallowance

12 of aquaponics or hydroponics.

13 And I'm done. Thank you.

14 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Emily.

15 We have Ashley next and then Lisa. Go

16 ahead, Ashley.

17 MS. SWAFFAR: Yes. So I just kind of,

18 Scott kind of hit on what I was going to say, but

19 you know I would very much be opposed to bringing

20 something forward that several members of your

21 Crops Committee feel like that might need more

22 information or needs to be looked at further. 
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1 There's no, there's nothing that says that we

2 have to bring it forward at this meeting.

3 If you guys feel like you need more

4 information on aquaponics, I would, you know, --

5 don't, don't bring a proposal forward that you

6 don't have all the information on.

7 And then, you know, but I do really

8 like the aquaponics system. I will say that. 

9 And Emily talked about the animal welfare

10 component. You know, livestock has aquaculture

11 kind of weaving in the list of their systems so,

12 you know, maybe that could be looked at in the

13 future also.

14 Thanks. Just a quick comment.

15 MR. THICKE: I would like to just --

16 Thank you, Ashley. Since I can't raise my hand,

17 I would like to make a couple points.

18 One is that we have actually looked

19 for information on fish waste. And we've some

20 conflicting, but very, very little, in fact it

21 doesn't appear that there's been a lot of

22 research on it. And so it's not that we haven't
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1 done due diligence, it's that it's an unknown

2 right now as far as we can tell.

3 Next up was, I'm sorry, Lisa. Lisa de

4 Lima. Go ahead, Lisa.

5 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, I have a

6 question about that. Can I ask you before we

7 move on to Lisa?

8 MR. THICKE: Yes.

9 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I understand

10 there's a, there's a NIFA grant right now and

11 research against that related to aquaponics and

12 food safety. What, if anything, did the

13 subcommittee think about that information in the

14 USDA?

15 MR. THICKE: If it's the one that I'm

16 thinking about it wasn't very conclusive. It was

17 very limited research and they didn't find

18 anything in their research. But they didn't,

19 weren't about to make any generalizations that it

20 was -- that they had covered the waterfront on

21 food safety and aquaculture.

22 Okay. Let's see, I lost my screen
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1 here. Here we go, next up was, I'll just give

2 the order, Lisa and then Harriet and Dave

3 Mortensen. Let's go with that.

4 Lisa.

5 MS. DE LIMA: I just want to echo what

6 some of the sentiments that Scott and Asa put

7 forward that I'm definitely open to aquaponics. 

8 And if there's additional issues that need to be

9 worked out as far as regulations, I'd rather talk

10 about that and bring that forward.

11 I definitely wouldn't, couldn't get

12 behind ruling it out at the next meeting without

13 having figured out some of those issues that I

14 realize, Francis, that you're saying you don't

15 have answers to and that you guys have tried to

16 get. But I still wouldn't be comfortable voting

17 to disallow at this point.

18 That's it for me.

19 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Lisa.

20 And then I kind of lost track. 

21 There's four of them up there. Who was next, was

22 it Dave Mortensen?
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1 MS. BEHAR: No, it was Harriet.

2 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, Dave. You

3 haven't spoken yet.

4 Harriet?

5 MS. BEHAR: Okay.

6 MR. THICKE: Okay, Harriet, go ahead.

7 MS. BEHAR: You want me to go or I can

8 go after Dave.

9 MR. THICKE: If you want to be very

10 polite, let's let Dave go first.

11 MS. BEHAR: Okay, I'm being polite.

12 MR. THICKE: Dave.

13 MR. MORTENSEN: Thank you, Harriet.

14 Yes, I guess, you know, and the Crops

15 group has spent a lot of time reading and

16 thinking about this issue, I guess as we all

17 have. I guess the first thing I would say is

18 that, you know, we're talking -- we're not

19 criticizing or saying something should be done as

20 a production practice. Although, frankly, the

21 aquaponic waste issue, whether it's

22 conventionally or organically grown, to me is a
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1 really serious concern.

2 And, frankly, on the NIFA grants

3 proposal front the only way we're going to

4 actually be able to assess the safety of that

5 program is through some sort of epidemiological

6 approach of studies of systems in place, many of

7 them, as opposed to how we control the experiment

8 of the kind that was outlined in the NIFA grant,

9 which would be like searching for a needle in a

10 haystack in my view.

11 This, I agree with Emily, we're

12 looking at a system basically of bathing roots in

13 a nutrient solution. There's a growing body of

14 evidence that would argue pretty strongly that

15 plants that are taking nutrients up actively from

16 the soil, that that active uptake also has been a

17 very beneficial way for human consumption of

18 phytochemistry of the shoots and fruits of the

19 plant.

20 And so that I continue to be concerned

21 about plants grown in a, basically in a nutrient

22 solution, whether it's a fish nutrient solution
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1 loaded with fecal waste microbial communities or

2 a other organically approved nutrient source,

3 it's still bathing roots in nutrients in a way

4 that evidence would suggest alters the

5 phytochemistry of the plant.

6 I also had the opportunity this winter

7 to visit a aquaponic system. And I guess another

8 concern that I have is the extreme extent to

9 which these systems are dependent on energy

10 consumption. There had been a ice storm that

11 knocked out power to this particular facility

12 that I visited. And within nine hours all of the

13 plants and all of the fish had died due to the

14 loss of power that was powering the pumps, the

15 lights, the aeration systems, the nutrient

16 delivery systems, et cetera, et cetera.

17 And I found myself thinking, my

18 goodness, this is about as far from an organic

19 holistic system as I can imagine.

20 So I continue to be thinking of this

21 both from a how are the plants that are grown in

22 these system responding to them but, also, what
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1 is the energy footprint and how holistic is the

2 system in fact? And so I am concerned about

3 those things as we look at something carrying the

4 organic seal.

5 I'm finished.

6 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Dave.

7 I have on my list Harriet next, then

8 Emily, and then Ashley. Go ahead, Harriet.

9 MS. BEHAR: Okay. So I understand

10 that this has already been approved by

11 certifiers. But this is a system of production

12 that was approved to carry the organic label

13 without standards for that production.

14 And there is a precedent for this in

15 aquaculture. We did have products that were

16 labeled as organic in aquaculture. We even had,

17 I know of at least one, fairly large and heavily

18 invested operation that used the USDA organic

19 seal on aquaculture products. And then the

20 National Organic Program said, Whoa, wait a

21 minute, this is a system of production that we do

22 not have any standards for. And they declared
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1 that that could no longer occur as far as being

2 able to carry the organic, USDA organic label.

3 So I think that that really is where

4 we're coming down to here is a unique form of

5 production with its own system. It would be

6 almost like saying, well, we don't have any

7 standards for dairy. Let the certifiers figure

8 out what's, you know, what's organic dairy. I

9 mean, it's a completely separate and unique

10 system of production that doesn't have any

11 standards.

12 And as we talk, you know, Emily

13 brought up the animal welfare issue. And so, I

14 mean, these are all things that need to be looked

15 at in a holistic way with a clear standard. And

16 through that clear standard we protect the

17 organic label for all things that are labeled

18 organic. Because if one section -- I mean, we

19 have, we have this issue right now with personal

20 care products and things like that, that the

21 meaning of the organic label is somewhat demeaned

22 when there is not clear meaning, not clear
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1 standards, and the consumers are then confused of

2 what is actually organic. And it does kind of

3 bleed over into other areas.

4 And I know that we are expecting at

5 some point an aquaculture standard. And I

6 believe that that would be the time to then

7 consider aquaponics as well. But, of course,

8 also with the manure issue because it's a human9 consumed product.

10 I'm done.

11 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

12 Next we have Emily Oakley. Go ahead,

13 Emily.

14 MS. OAKLEY: I just wanted to address

15 Tom and Scott and I think maybe also Ashley's

16 point about whether or not the Crops Subcommittee

17 felt that we needed more information before being

18 able to bring this forward. And I think other

19 people have also weighed in on this. But I just

20 wanted to reiterate that probably what the case

21 is is that there are some members of the CS who

22 would currently feel comfortable supporting
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1 aquaponics but there are others who would not.

2 Probably rather than question of

3 people wondering if there's more information that

4 could ever persuade them to accept aquaponics, I

5 think that it's more of a division within the

6 philosophical points of view within the CS. So

7 there's certainly I think those who might tend at

8 some point to want to allow it, and then those

9 who would never want to allow it.

10 So I just wanted to put that

11 clarification out.

12 And I'm done. Thanks.

13 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Emily.

14 Harriet, your hand is still up but

15 maybe you just didn't take it down.

16 Tom, did you want to say something?

17 MS. BEHAR: I just took it down.

18 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes. Sue's had

19 some technical issues so I got a text from her

20 since she's not able to speak on the phone right

21 now unfortunately. We'll work through that

22 problem.
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1 But just to convey something from Sue,

2 the aquatic systems that she's worked with have a

3 three-part septic-like filtering system that

4 removes solids, leaving only nutrients remaining. 

5 Most large operations are designed as such.

6 So it's her opinion that manures from

7 aqua -- concerns around manures from aquaponic

8 systems are not founded. But just adding that

9 little bit into the conversation.

10 But basically from what I've heard so

11 far -- this is Tom speaking for Tom now -- it

12 doesn't sound like board-wise we have a consensus

13 on this, this issue. So is it the Crops

14 Subcommittee's intent to still bring this motion

15 forward?

16 MR. THICKE: Probably. I can't speak

17 for the whole Crops Subcommittee. But we don't

18 really know what the vote would be as yet. And I

19 think that we should go on record in my opinion

20 to see what the full board does think on this,

21 and on the container issue as well.

22 One little comment on the filtering of
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1 the fish waste. Of course I think we all

2 recognize that if you filter the fish waste that

3 the microbes would be in solution. And so that

4 wouldn't really be a -- that wouldn't really

5 prevent any contamination to filter out the

6 waste.

7 So are there any other comments on

8 aquaculture or should we move on to the

9 containment system?

10 MS. MOSSO: Yes, I just wanted to put

11 a comment in there about the filtering. It would

12 be completely dependent on the size of the filter

13 as to whether or not microorganisms, bacteria or

14 otherwise, would be in the water.

15 MR. THICKE: So are you suggesting

16 that they would actually filter out on the micron

17 level the bacteria? Would that -- Are people

18 doing that?

19 MS. MOSSO: No, I'm not suggesting

20 anything other than you could create a system

21 which would eliminate bacteria or larger

22 organisms beyond solids.
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1 MR. THICKE: Thank you.

2 Harriet has her hand up.

3 MS. BEHAR: And that just to me

4 solidifies the need for a standard before -- I

5 mean, if there is a filtration system then it

6 would be in the standard what would be the size

7 of the filter, which types of filters would there

8 be.

9 I mean, I've heard also of enzymes

10 being used to mitigate pathogens. So, there's a

11 lot to this system. And right now there are no

12 standards. And so there's lots of different ways

13 to do it and every one is viewed the same.

14 I'm done.

15 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

16 Sue Baird, welcome to the call. I see

17 you're on now. Go ahead.

18 MS. BAIRD: Thank you. It's great to

19 be here.

20 I do agree that there should be

21 standards for filtering out bacteria. But I'm

22 wondering why we cannot apply the same standards
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1 as is dictated by for the microbial presence in

2 dehydrated poultry or other compost systems.

3 MS. OAKLEY: I'm sorry. This is Emily

4 again.

5 And just really quickly, dehydrated

6 what? I didn't hear that last word.

7 MS. BAIRD: The dehydrated poultry or

8 livestock standards that has been stated under

9 the NOP guidance is compatible and can be applied

10 the same as a compost.

11 MS. OAKLEY: Okay. Thank you.

12 MR. THICKE: All right. Thank you,

13 Sue.

14 MR. SEITZ: Francis, I had raised my

15 hand. Dan.

16 MR. THICKE: Oh, Dan. For some reason

17 the order seems to be getting messed up here on

18 my screen. So if I get you out of order, tell

19 me.

20 Go ahead, Dan.

21 MR. SEITZ: Sure. There's just an

22 irony here that I just want to mention that in
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1 the absence of standards you sometimes have

2 different certifying agents, agencies certifying

3 certain practices for which there are not yet

4 NOSB or NOP regulations or guidance. And then

5 once you have a certifier that recognizes a

6 practice, then you have vested interests that are

7 following that.

8 And every -- a number of people have

9 said, well, once you have these vested interests 

10 is it fair to somehow put in a requirement

11 afterwards that may limit what they're able to do

12 or prohibit that process from happening?

13 But to me it's just kind of strange

14 situation that in a sense the certifiers are

15 creating what you might say NOSB and NOP policy

16 through actions that create vested interests

17 here. And I was under the impression, and I'm

18 obviously mistaken, that aquaponics had not yet

19 been certified. But I imagine that there perhaps

20 are not many yet that have been.

21 So I just want to offer the caution

22 that in the absence of requirement, as more
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1 operations do get certified and you create more

2 vested interest, it becomes harder and harder to

3 actually come up with worthwhile standards in

4 line with the OFPA and the regulations. And do

5 we want a situation where, in essence, a

6 certification practice then is leading the way?

7 At least that's how I see it from a

8 kind of legal standpoint.

9 That's it.

10 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, this is

11 Tom.

12 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, Tom.

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Is see that Miles

14 wants to --

15 MR. THICKE: Go ahead.

16 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I see that Miles

17 wants to say something. Miles. Can you call on

18 him?

19 MR. THICKE: Okay, sure.

20 MR. McEVOY: Hi. Yes, the discussion

21 is very, very interesting. In terms of

22 aquaponics it is a little bit challenging in
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1 terms of how the regulations apply there. You

2 couldn't certify an aquaculture operation under

3 the USDA organic standards at this time or apply

4 the USDA organic seal. But there are organic

5 aquaculture products that are in the U.S. market. 

6 And these are produced under foreign standards.

7 For instance, the EU does organic

8 salmon that's in the U.S. market. And as long as

9 they don't use the USDA organic seal we're not,

10 we're not taking any particular action against

11 that. But there are no U.S. standards for

12 organic aquaculture. So you could not do USDA

13 organic aquaponics in terms of the fish part of

14 the operation at the current time.

15 There were a couple other things that

16 were said. In terms of the EU arrangement, the

17 EU is in the process of updating their

18 regulations. They've been working on this for

19 many years. It is quite a challenging process. 

20 And whether or not they're successful at changing

21 the regulations is yet to be seen. They've had

22 many proposals over the years. So counting on
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1 conversations of what's going to happen I think

2 is premature.

3 And there are similar types of organic

4 operations that are not in soil in northern

5 European countries that are certified organic

6 under the EU standards. And the EU, U.S.-

7 European Union organic equivalency arrangement

8 has no restrictions in terms of hydroponics, so

9 there's no critical variances or differences

10 there.

11 And then, finally, one of the beauties

12 about the U.S. organic regulations is that it

13 provides a lot of flexibility in operations to

14 develop systems that are, can be compliant with

15 the regulations. And so certifiers and

16 operations have determined ways of certifying

17 organic beekeeping, honey bee production,

18 mushroom production where there aren't any

19 specific standards. And so that diversity of

20 standards or systems is, they're all in

21 compliance with the USDA organic regulations

22 because they, certifiers, ensure that that
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1 happens, and we oversee those certifiers to

2 ensure that any operations that they certify are

3 compliant with the regulations.

4 So it does at times lead to some

5 differences in terms of systems that certifiers

6 approve. But all those operations are compliant

7 with the regulations. And the diversity is one

8 of the benefits of the way that the system is set

9 up.

10 So, thank for listening.

11 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Miles.

12 We have two people on deck, Steve Ela

13 and then Dan Seitz. Steve is first.

14 MR. ELA: Sure. I think, I guess, you

15 know, one of the issues I have and, you know, it

16 comes back to kind of the manure issue and

17 manure's supposed to be applied and tilled in,

18 which obviously we can't do in an aquaponics

19 system. But and I agree while we can create

20 filters or there are filters that would, you

21 know, filter out those potential pathogens,

22 conversely, those same filters are going to be
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1 filtering out the "biological activity" of the

2 system.

3 You know, if we're removing bacteria,

4 pathogenic bacteria, we're also removing the good

5 bacteria. And I think one of our big debates

6 within the whole hydroponic issue is really what

7 is the biological activity of this system? And

8 so I guess I have real concerns if we're, you

9 know, if we're putting in place filters to remove

10 bad bacteria, then we no longer have a

11 biologically active system which, you know, goes

12 against, goes against the standards.

13 And I'm done.

14 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve.

15 Dan, you had your hand raised. I

16 think it went down though. Do you still want to

17 speak now?

18 MR. SEITZ: It went down. But I had

19 left it raised before so I don't have anything

20 further to say.

21 MR. THICKE: Okay. Okay, thank you.

22 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: This is Tom.
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1 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, Tom.

2 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: So, Steve, if

3 there's a filter in place for an aquaponic

4 operation that removes harmful bacteria and then,

5 you know, heat-based composting of manure

6 operations where heat is the mechanism by which

7 harmful bacteria is killed, and then that's

8 allowed as an acceptable input, I guess what's

9 the difference there? Why is one practice deemed

10 acceptable and the other one not?

11 I mean, you're interacting, those

12 nutrients are then later interacting with biology

13 in the system at a later point, whether it's a

14 heat-composted manure or a --

15 MR. THICKE: I would jump in, Steve.

16 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yep. Go ahead.

17 MR. THICKE: I would jump in in that

18 I think it's a completely different system. 

19 Under composting it's biologically driven and it

20 still feels like it's still unperfected. But

21 then it actually re-cultures and makes a very

22 robust culture of beneficial bacteria at the end
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1 of the process. Whereas this is a mechanical

2 system of filtering out. And you could add back

3 in bacteria afterwards if you wanted, but it's

4 not really an ecologically-based system in my

5 opinion.

6 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: So do we have

7 research that shows that the nutrients that then

8 go into the plant area of the system are not

9 culturing bacteria?

10 MR. THICKE: In the aquaculture?

11 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Correct.

12 MS. OAKLEY: You mean aquaponics?

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Aquaponics, yes.

14 MR. THICKE: In the aquaponics. I'm

15 sorry, yes, yes, yes. Presumably there could be

16 some. Yes, there could be some. But my

17 understanding is that often in these things when

18 you recirculate them, when they recirculate the

19 water they basically kill the ozone, the microbes

20 because too many harmful bacteria can grow in it. 

21 And then they re-inoculate with beneficial

22 organisms. I've heard of those systems where
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1 pathogenic ones get out of control.

2 So it's really different from

3 composting in my mind.

4 MR. THICKE: Steve Ela, you had your

5 hand up again?

6 MR. ELA: Yes, this is Steve Ela.

7 Well, I was just going to respond as

8 well. I mean, this is Steve.

9 I think, yes, Tom, I agree with what

10 Francis said. I mean, I think, you know, yes, in

11 what you're asking gets back into the fundamental

12 question that we're going to go into on the

13 containers. And I know a number of the board

14 members and, you know, I believe OTA have

15 proposed that, you know, there have to be

16 (webinar interference) some bacterial action that

17 maybe restarts.

18 But I'd have a real question if we're

19 talking about a, you know, a system that is

20 diverse and resilient and, you know, really goes

21 with those organic standards in that case.

22 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve.
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1 MR. ELA: Go ahead, Francis.

2 MR. THICKE: Harriet has her hand up.

3 MR. ELA: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay.

4 MR. THICKE: Harriet.

5 MS. BEHAR: All of this discussion

6 just reinforces that we need a standard. And I,

7 I appreciate Miles', you know, discussion of

8 mushrooms and beekeeping and such. But I would

9 also remind him that the National Organic

10 Standards Board has provided standards for those

11 types of systems of production because we wanted

12 to have that consistency between. And, of

13 course, I believe he knows how much I, I really

14 would love to see the apiculture standards

15 because there really is a huge difference between

16 the various certifiers and what they approve for

17 forage zones and inputs and the whole nine yards.

18 So, I think actually all this

19 discussion about aquaponics and whether or not

20 it's biological, and animal welfare, and manure,

21 and all those things bring up that it is a unique

22 system of production that would need standards.
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1 And I'm for that discussion. But I

2 think that having an aquaponic standard would

3 come after having an aquaculture standard in

4 place.

5 I'm done.

6 MR. THICKE: Thank you. I don't see

7 any hands up.

8 Tom, did you speak up?

9 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes, I did. But I

10 can stand off. Go with Ashley and then we'll be

11 okay with that.

12 MR. THICKE: Oh, okay. I see Ashley's

13 hand came up.

14 MS. SWAFFAR: Yes.

15 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, yes.

16 MS. SWAFFAR: Sorry. I'm taking notes

17 here.

18 So, Harriet, I think that you made

19 some really good points about the standard. And,

20 you know, that just brings that around to the

21 point that all of us made at the beginning of the

22 call as, you know, I'm not sure why the Crops
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1 Committee did bring this forward because it

2 sounds like there's quite a bit of support for

3 aquaponics on this current NOSB board. So I'm

4 just a little maybe wondering why you would bring

5 it forward if you know that the motion might

6 possibly fail to prohibit.

7 And maybe going forward have you all

8 thought about next steps on aquaponics, after

9 thoughts?

10 MR. THICKE: Okay. Well, there are

11 several people's hands up. And I have Tom is

12 next and then Emily and then Sue.

13 Go ahead, Tom.

14 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: So I'm somewhat

15 echoing what Ashley just said. And I agree with

16 Harriet that, yes, standards are needed. And I

17 really was hoping that we would be debating those

18 on this call or talking about what sets of

19 standards would we be putting in place for an

20 operation like an aquaponic operation.

21 But I'm not really there for a direct

22 prohibition of it without discussing standards. 
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1 Given the number of operations already served by

2 it and statements from the program that these

3 operations can be compliant with the program as

4 it's written today.

5 Whether or not there's NOSB

6 recommendations for other types of production,

7 those are just recommendations at this point and

8 are not standards. They're not standards until

9 they go through the full rulemaking process and

10 public comment through the Federal Register. And

11 that hasn't occurred for mushrooms or other types

12 of operations.

13 So, I do hope at some point we can

14 move this conversation forward. I'm curious to

15 know if the Crops Subcommittee would move on to

16 looking at standards for aquaponic operations if

17 this motion fails at the fall meeting, because it

18 seems at that point that there's no consensus to

19 prohibit these practices. These practices are

20 already allowed under the current rules. And

21 that it would be beneficial to provide more, more

22 structure to those rules through individualized
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1 standards.

2 So that's a question for you guys.

3 The next piece, though, just a

4 recommendation from my standpoint is, you know,

5 prohibiting a practice already in place is

6 economically costly. And that piece of review

7 that occurs in the later steps beyond the NOP

8 review. Just a fact of life when it comes to

9 rulemaking and that's a piece of the rulemaking

10 review. And so now as we look at these

11 justifications for disallowing these types of

12 production, you know, the Crops Subcommittee

13 should come well researched and cited with

14 research.

15 If food safety is a concern, you know,

16 I would like to see a lot of that research in

17 citations in the recommendations. And, you know,

18 if there are concerns around how these differ

19 from in-soil production practices, then those

20 should also be well, well cited and outlined in

21 the argument to deploy these practices.

22 That's it for me.
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1 MR. THICKE: I would like to jump in

2 real quick if I could, in that I think, for

3 example, with animal welfare standards the

4 economic analysis show there would be a huge

5 economic problem for these huge chicken

6 operations that do not have access to outdoors. 

7 But the NOSB recommended anyway, took it forward

8 anyway, now it's come up at USDA, but there are

9 consequences sometimes to those kind of things.

10 And basically why the Crops Committee

11 that wrote the document put that -- opposed

12 aquaponics just simply is that it is hydroponics.

13 Let me look at my list here. Who is

14 -- Emily is next.

15 MS. OAKLEY: Yes. Thank you, Francis.

16 I was actually going to reply to Tom

17 and Ashley about I would not be in favor of

18 trying to propose recommendations to support

19 aquaponics if this did not pass, the prohibition

20 didn't pass in the fall, because in my view with

21 hydroponics I don't think the inclusion of fish

22 in a tank makes the system that much more
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1 innovative or more in keeping with the organic

2 standards.

3 I think as I said before, on Crops

4 Subcommittee calls the organic principles are

5 based on the understanding that plant nutrients

6 are delivered through the soil. That's why we

7 have so many different standards around cover

8 cropping, crop rotations, manure applications,

9 root conservation, tillage, et cetera. The many

10 things that farmers engage in, many of which are

11 spelled out in the regulations based on the

12 premise that plants grow in the soil and derive

13 their nutrients from the soil.

14 But for me the fact that fish are

15 added into the system, while it might be an

16 interesting option for other people, does not

17 make it an organic system and does not meet the

18 standard.

19 So I, I also wanted to point out that

20 in the 2016 April meeting in D.C. there were some

21 standards -- or some statistics, sorry, from the

22 NOP about the number of certified operations
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1 under these different ponic systems and container

2 systems. And as of the 2016 data that Miles gave

3 us, there were only 22 certified aquaponic

4 operations, which is a really incredibly small

5 number of the overall operations that, you know,

6 are certified organic under the USDA.

7 And I also just wanted to point out

8 the time which is that we have about 40 minutes

9 left in this call. So we might want to start

10 moving towards the container discussion so that

11 we have plenty of time for that as well.

12 Thanks. I'm done.

13 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Emily. Good

14 point.

15 We've got two up. And then maybe we

16 should move to containers after that.

17 Go ahead, Sue.

18 MS. BAIRD: Yes.

19 Thanks, Emily, for that time reminder. 

20 So I'll keep this short.

21 At least for aquaponics I do feel like

22 there is an inherent difference in the delivery
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1 system. I don't feel like we are addressing, or

2 at least in my mind we're not addressing the fish

3 or the fish itself, we are addressing plants that

4 are produced by the fish.

5 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Sue.

6 So let's move on to the container

7 production systems. And I just want a little,

8 give a little background here before I read the

9 proposed motion. And that is that the Crops

10 Subcommittee is looking for a compromise in the

11 middle ground between requiring all organic crop

12 production to be in the soil, connected to the

13 Earth's surface, as is the standard in most

14 European countries today.

15 And a number of the Crops Committee

16 really would prefer that.

17 On the other hand, we have people on

18 the Crops Committee and on the board in general

19 that would allow 100 percent organic production

20 to be certified organic, 100 percent hydroponic,

21 yes.

22 So we've come up with a compromise
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1 that we think is in the middle. And I think we

2 can talk about where these pieces came from, but

3 there's three parts to the compromise. And let's

4 see, I'm going to read the motion here.

5 The proposed motion is that for

6 container production to be certified organic, a

7 limit of 20 percent of the plant's nitrogen

8 requirement can be supplied by liquid feeding. A

9 limit of 50 percent of the plant's nitrogen

10 requirement can be added to the container after

11 the crop has been planted. And the container

12 substrate must be at least 50 percent soil and/or

13 compost by volume.

14 And for perennials, the soluble

15 nitrogen feeding limit is calculated on an annual

16 basis. And transplants, ornamentals, herbs, and

17 aquatic plants are exempted from these

18 requirements.

19 It's kind of long. And we can look at

20 all the pieces. But maybe we should, I should

21 just open it up first of all for other comments

22 from other people. If anybody wants to raise
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1 their hand. Or else I can go on.

2 Steve had his hand up. Go ahead,

3 Steve.

4 MR. ELA: Yes, so this is Steve.

5 So I think, you know, what I'm coming

6 down to on this, and I know it's, I know there

7 are, you know, things for us, you know, as you

8 said we have both interests reflected on the

9 board. And that's great, but --

10 MS. ARSENAULT: Hey, Steve, I think we

11 just lost you. If you could adjust your headset

12 or phone. Yes.

13 MR. ELA: Okay. Is that any better?

14 MS. ARSENAULT: Better. Thank you.

15 MR. ELA: Okay, thank you.

16 But it comes down to pushing the

17 envelope a little bit. And I think, you know, we

18 could have straight hydroponic systems, we could

19 have straight soil systems. Where I really, you

20 know, like I hear people saying they can't have

21 any more than, you know, 10 percent soil or

22 compost in the container, yet then I hear other
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1 people testify that theirs, you know, have much

2 higher level, 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent

3 soils, and they're doing it very successfully.

4 So, I see the NOSB in general part of

5 our job is to push the envelope of what is good

6 organics. And I think we, I think we need to

7 push this envelope. And so I support this

8 compromise. It's not what either side wants. 

9 But I really feel like we, you know, we push the

10 envelope with antibiotics in tree fruits for fire

11 blight and, you know, that has cost me personally

12 by banning that.

13 We push the envelope with animal

14 welfare. We push the envelope with other things. 

15 And I really feel strongly that we need to, even

16 though this is a compromise I think it's pushing

17 the envelope from straight hydroponics. And I

18 think, you know, the straight soil people are

19 giving up quite a bit as well.

20 I'm done.

21 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve.

22 I don't see any other hands up. I
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1 would like to just cover a few of the points, the

2 precedent for them. For example, the 20 percent

3 maximum liquid feed of nitrogen, Chilean nitrate

4 is now on 602 which allows no more than 20

5 percent of the crop's total nitrogen requirement

6 to come from sodium nitrate. And it's a very

7 soluble material, of course, this sodium nitrate.

8 And what's true actually is that some

9 of the materials being used in hydroponic

10 production are as soluble. For example,

11 hydrolyzed soybean meal is advertised as

12 completely 100 percent soluble. And the nitrogen

13 level is similar to sodium nitrate at about 16

14 percent nitrogen. And so we have a precedent of

15 allowing only 20 percent of the nitrogen needs to

16 come from this highly soluble system, organic

17 system.

18 So that was what the Crops

19 Subcommittee used for the basis for that

20 recommendation.

21 Unless my screen is not working,

22 nobody's raising their hand. I thought we'd have
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1 all the hands up for this one.

2 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: This is Tom,

3 Francis. I had a question specifically about

4 that.

5 Chilean nitrate, the precedent, I

6 disagree with your precedent I guess. The

7 precedent that was for the NOP to review, for the

8 NOP to review the substance and propose they get

9 listed as a prohibited natural substance and

10 limited to just 20 percent.

11 That's not what you're proposing here. 

12 You're proposing limiting a practice altogether

13 as opposed to if it was analogous to that

14 situation it would be proper for the Crops

15 Subcommittee to petition, or an individual of the

16 public to petition, or the Crops Subcommittee to

17 propose that soluble soybean extract, or whatever

18 it's called, hydrolyzed soybeans, get added to

19 that same list as a prohibited natural and

20 limited in how much it can be used.

21 But the precedence isn't around liquid

22 feeding of plants, it's around 1600 substance. 
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1 And so the precedence would then be to follow the

2 previous boards and add it as a prohibited

3 substance, not as not prohibit the practice

4 altogether.

5 That's my thought.

6 MR. THICKE: I have to disagree, Tom,

7 because soluble nitrogen fertilizers, the

8 synthetics, are not allowed in general. And

9 Chilean nitrate is unusual in that it is soluble. 

10 And so that is why it is not -- that's one

11 reason. And also it's a high solvent. But that

12 is a reason for not allowing it.

13 And it's a very similar kind of a

14 situation where you have this very soluble kind

15 of a material going into the plant, into the

16 hydroponic system. And we use nitrogen because

17 many of the regulations, the European regulations

18 and such, will limit the amount of liquid feeding

19 in general. And that is very complicated,

20 because some nutrients like boron and

21 micronutrients are needed in higher amounts.

22 So, and nitrogen is kind of an
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1 indicator nutrient in the soil in that if you

2 have nitrogen working in your soil cycling and

3 being produced out of the organic matter, in

4 organic material, then you probably have a very

5 robust kind of a microbiology going on in your

6 soil. And we thought also nitrogen would be

7 easier, one nutrient would be easier for

8 certification and enforcement.

9 I get that the solubility factor that

10 it doesn't mimic a natural ecology of an organic

11 system that is important that we were looking at.

12 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: So, Francis, I hear

13 you. But the mechanism used wasn't to put a

14 prohibition in the standards for sodium nitrate,

15 it was to put it in the material addressed in

16 602.

17 So, I guess I question why the Crops

18 Subcommittee wouldn't consider putting hydrolyzed

19 soybean meal in 602 instead of prohibiting the

20 practice of liquid feeding.

21 MR. THICKE: I come back to the

22 principle, Chilean nitrate is the only material
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1 really that has been used. Well, now, now I

2 guess the hydrolyzed soybean meal can be used in

3 the soil.

4 And that's one reason why we also

5 looked at having a maximum amount inputs that

6 could be done, put into the container after the

7 crops was planted because one could still put

8 highly soluble material on the container and then

9 water it into the system. We know that when

10 standards are set that many people will push it

11 right to the limit and find the loophole that

12 will allow them to do something that may not even

13 be intended by the rule.

14 So this is just to shore it up and to

15 make it as a robust, ecologically-based soil

16 system.

17 We have two more hands up. Joelle

18 first and then Dave Mortensen.

19 MS. MOSSO: Yes. Thanks.

20 I just wanted to kind of go, you know,

21 and have my voice heard here. The Crops

22 Subcommittee is proposing this but we're also
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1 going to be putting a minority view on this

2 document that comes forth. So as a kind of

3 caution, word of compromise, although I do

4 realize and recognize that the soil group has put

5 forth a lot of compromise from what they would

6 necessarily go towards people who may be more

7 inclusive of hydroponic systems.

8 I did want to make sure that, you

9 know, the public heard as well as the larger NOSB

10 that a minority view does exist. I think it's

11 reflective of the diversity that we see within

12 the all stakeholders of the organic system. And

13 I think we should be speaking about that in

14 addition to just what we're bringing forth,

15 especially in regards to that we're bringing

16 forth the Crops Subcommittee neighboring forces

17 proposal, potential proposal. And there's a good

18 likelihood that in the larger context of the NOSB

19 it will not pass and status quo will be

20 maintained.

21 So I do think rationales are great to

22 be heard. I also think that we need to be
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1 cognizant of that as well.

2 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Joelle.

3 Dave Mortensen.

4 MR. MORTENSEN: Yes. I, you know,

5 this issue of how much of the liquid fertility

6 would be delivered, you know, we've been having

7 probably, well certainly since the Denver meeting

8 and way before that. For those that are not new

9 on the board like I am, this has been discussed

10 in great detail.

11 One of the things that was pointed

12 out, I believe at the Denver meeting, and

13 certainly has been on a number of the phone calls

14 was, and I don't know that it's helpful to say

15 I'm pro this or pro that group or whatever, but

16 the point was made that we shouldn't be bringing

17 forth regulations on the liquid feeding side that

18 are not any more restrictive than are the

19 regulations on soil-based systems.

20 I think that was the logic that led us

21 collectively to be discussing a compromise that

22 limits the liquid feeding in a way that's
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1 consistent with limitations on feeding of crops

2 in the soil and not putting in there, you know,

3 handcuffing liquid-based systems. So that at

4 least in terms of the threshold, that's where we

5 were coming from with that. At least that's how

6 we settled in on that as a group.

7 The -- What was the second thing I was

8 just thinking in response to Joelle comments? I,

9 it's left me for the moment, so I'll come back.

10 But at least on the first part, that,

11 that issue of this threshold was it was a

12 compromise that was deliberately set and debated

13 based on the comments by some that we shouldn't

14 be putting undue restrictions on the liquid-based

15 systems. And that's what their point of view

16 reflects.

17 I guess, actually, the second point

18 was that actually on one of our recent calls, I

19 think it was two subcommittee calls ago, the

20 point was made that don't, don't have a proposal

21 come forward that doesn't have multiple layers of

22 motions in the proposal. And that was one of the
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1 reasons why this proposal has multiple motions

2 and why it is that they're ordered in a way that

3 we're looking for identifying where we have

4 common ground and consensus and get to more

5 issues where we have less agreement on those.

6 So, again, a deliberate attempt was

7 made to come forward with a multi-motion

8 proposal. And that's why it looks the way it

9 does.

10 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: I have a question

11 for Dave. This is Tom.

12 MR. THICKE: Go ahead, Tom.

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: From what I heard

14 from what Francis read, and maybe I'm wrong, but

15 it was about container, the 20 percent nitrogen

16 input would be limited to container production,

17 so it would not be applied to field crops. And

18 so it's not what you're saying that it's held

19 equally across the board.

20 So, did I mishear, Francis, the way

21 you read the proposed motion?

22 MR. THICKE: There was some, there was
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1 a motion that is written. It's not written for

2 in-ground. Although there's been discussion

3 about that, that some have said we could have the

4 same standard for in-ground that we have for

5 container production.

6 And it's very true that many soils are

7 getting a lot of liquid feed and would not be

8 able to meet this standard. And so I think

9 that's something we may want to look at in the

10 future is should a standard like this be applied

11 for in-ground growing? And, of course, that

12 would allow you would want to give time for those

13 growers to get their soils in shape and working

14 so that they could meet that standard.

15 However, it's true with containers

16 that you have more flexibility because you're

17 creating your own substrate, unlike if you have a

18 40-acre field out there that's very sandy and has

19 very little organic matter. To change that field

20 is very difficult and takes time. But a

21 container, you're creating your substrate on the

22 spot and so you could more easily meet a standard
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1 than the field grower.

2 Next we have Harriet and then Emily.

3 MS. BEHAR: Okay. So, this container

4 standard was to allow some production but

5 recognize that biological activity in the soil is

6 where we prefer to see most of the nutrient

7 transfer to plants occur. And I, I'm hoping that

8 the minority opinion will have something to us in

9 a timely manner so we would have chance to look

10 at it in time to have some discussion before our

11 proposals are due to put up on the docket.

12 So that's just asking the minority to,

13 you know, work with us and try to get something

14 to us soon.

15 This is also a lot kind of based again

16 on the European Union. I guess I'm just going to

17 reiterate again that we're not just pulling this

18 out of a hat or being arbitrary in our dislike of

19 hydroponic operations carrying the organic seal. 

20 This is kind of something that is seen around the

21 world as an issue. And we, we are trying to

22 recognize that there are operations currently
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1 here in the U.S. that are doing hydroponic and

2 are certified as organic.

3 But there's a question of how that all

4 happened and why that all happened. So, I

5 understand there may be some economic impact.

6 The other thing that I have been doing

7 is talking with compost makers. And my

8 understanding is that the weight or the bulk

9 density of the compost that might be required in

10 a 50 percent soil or compost based substrate

11 would be too heavy to make it practical.

12 And I specifically was talking with

13 Purple Cow Organics, and then with some other

14 people. I was at a field day where people were

15 talking about compost and making compost. And

16 then this is, and also John Biernbaum from the

17 University of -- from Michigan State who was on

18 the Task Force, the Hydroponics Task Force, have

19 all told me that producing nutritionally balanced

20 and acceptable compost can be done so they have

21 less bulk density and less weight. This is not

22 rocket science. It can be done right now.
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1 And so I think at least that issue I

2 hope we can not continue to talk about that

3 because there is compost that can be used.

4 I'm done.

5 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Harriet.

6 And I wanted to quickly interject on

7 this topic that about the percent, 50 percent and

8 20 percent, that the USDA Hydroponics Task Force,

9 the subcommittee that was following the 2010

10 recommendation, made that recommendation.

11 The first recommendation is that all

12 organic crops should be grown in the soil. And

13 then they said if that is not going to be the

14 case then under containers that there should be a

15 limit, a limitation of no more than 50 percent of

16 the required fertility being added after

17 planting, and no more than 20 percent to be added

18 as a liquid fertilizer after planting.

19 So those recommendations come directly

20 also from the USDA Hydroponics Task Force.

21 Emily, you were next. And then we

22 have Ashley and Scott and Sue.
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1 MS. OAKLEY: Thank you. I just wanted

2 to make a clarification to something you had

3 mentioned earlier, Francis, that I think the word

4 you said that there might be many soil systems

5 that are applying a large amount of liquid

6 fertility.

7 And I think I obviously can't speak as

8 an expert to this, but of the many, many family9 scale organic farms that I visited, I would say

10 that I have not visited any in which liquid

11 fertility added either through fertigation or

12 feeding after the crop has been planted forms a

13 large percentage of the crop's fertility needs.

14 Maybe in a desert environment or in

15 some sandy or some suboptimal conditions people

16 are applying large amounts of liquid fertility in

17 the soil. But I think the whole notion of the

18 organic regulations and principles are that we

19 work to build our soil over time.

20 As a farmer, the two things that I

21 tell people who come to my farm for tours or who

22 see me at the farmers' market and have question
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1 is that our two biggest challenges organically

2 are weed control and building up soil fertility. 

3 Those are things that take the longest amount of

4 time and the things that we have the long view

5 on.

6 So, I do think that there are a

7 majority of organic farmers going in the soil who

8 are working on building soil fertility over time

9 and not relying on outside inputs in liquid form

10 for their crops' needs.

11 But I also just wanted to say that I

12 don't know if people remember at the spring

13 meeting in Denver one of the blueberry container

14 growers who spoke, I believe from Chile, I asked

15 him a question about his ability to incorporate a

16 50 percent soil or compost into his containers. 

17 And he said that, yes, he thought that he would

18 be able to do that.

19 And I know subsequent people testified

20 that that might not be possible for them. But I,

21 I agree with this notion that Steve brought up

22 that we want to push people to be adhering to the
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1 standards. And the principle of organics, as

2 I've said many times before, is based on soil.

3 So I hope that if we have an agreement

4 that we can agree on with the 50 percent

5 soil/compost in the container, that even some of

6 these liquid inputs that people are concerned

7 about needing in large quantities would be

8 diminished because the plant would be getting a

9 good percentage of its needs from the soil or

10 compost within the container.

11 And that's it. Thanks.

12 MR. McEVOY: Francis, Tom, point of

13 clarification.

14 MR. THICKE: Yes.

15 MR. McEVOY: On the Task Force, the

16 Hydroponics Task Force they didn't have any

17 recommendations, just a number of different ideas

18 that were within the two different subcommittees

19 of that Task Force. And the one subcommittee

20 that was looking at kind of the pro soil

21 component, they did have that idea. But there

22 were many other ideas that were in that report. 
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1 But there were no recommendations from the Task

2 Force.

3 MR. THICKE: Okay. Yes, Miles,

4 perhaps that was right, it wasn't a formal

5 recommendation. But it was stated as I quoted

6 it.

7 MR. McEVOY: Yes, it was an idea that

8 was in one part of the report. And there are

9 many other ideas in there.

10 MR. THICKE: Okay. Next I had Scott.

11 MR. RICE: Okay.

12 MR. BRADMAN: After Scott, this is Asa

13 again. I can't raise my hand on the computer.

14 MR. THICKE: Okay, that's good.

15 MR. RICE: Yes, this is Scott.

16 I, I just wanted to touch back on the 

17 -- to clarify that this would be speaking

18 specifically the limitation of liquid feeding is

19 specific to container, or is it for across the

20 board for all producers? I think I'm hesitant to

21 have, you know, two different standards on that. 

22 And if we're going to be limiting that feeding,
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1 then there's a portion of our community who grow

2 in the soil who have not been necessarily paying

3 as close attention to this as maybe the

4 hydroponic growers.

5 And just to keep that in mind as we

6 set limitations.

7 And then, secondly, also a concern

8 I've expressed before is that we, we create a

9 threshold in terms of that 50 percent soil or

10 compost. But perhaps that's not necessarily

11 serving the function or the purpose in these

12 particular systems but just maybe a check box. 

13 Just keep that in mind as we bring this up.

14 MR. THICKE: Okay, thank you, Scott.

15 Asa.

16 MR. BRADMAN: This is Asa.

17 I think on this proposal I kind of

18 fall a little bit closer to where Joelle is on

19 the requirements here. I mean, I would like to

20 see more flexibility in it.

21 I mean, I've said before I'm not

22 opposed to hydroponics but I'd like to see it
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1 done in a way that's, you know, consistent with

2 good ecologic and, you know, principles and,

3 again, minimizing carbon footprints, minimizing

4 use of synthetic pesticides, that sort of thing. 

5 And I kind of transfer that to the container

6 arena as well.

7 And, again, a limitation of 20 percent

8 on external feeding, I'm not sure if that would

9 really apply to perennials. And, again, if the

10 materials are really -- if we all agree that

11 they're certified organic, I don't think the

12 limitation should be there in the way that

13 they're listed here.

14 Again, I know there's other issues

15 with container production and concerns about

16 erosion. And I think there are good points

17 there. And I'd like to see more discussion and

18 evaluation of that.

19 But I guess I want to I guess see a

20 little bit more flexibility here.

21 MR. THICKE: Okay. Thank you, Asa.

22 Next we have Sue Baird. And then --
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1 MS. BAIRD: Yes. Hi.

2 MR. THICKE: Go ahead.

3 MS. BAIRD: Can you hear me?

4 MR. THICKE: Yes.

5 MS. BAIRD: Am I on? Okay.

6 I wanted to address first of all Sue's

7 contention that we are here to push the limit. 

8 And I'm not sure that I agree with that totally. 

9 I think we're here to enforce regulations and to

10 make sure that our, our proposals adhere to the

11 regulations.

12 She specifically cited the use of the

13 streptomycin antibiotics in production, and that

14 had been clearly from the beginning stated there

15 would be no antibiotics in organic production. 

16 So I'm not sure that this -- that point really

17 applies here.

18 The second point I wanted to point

19 out, this goes back, and I may be wrong, but I

20 think historically that the limitation on Chilean

21 nitrate is not so much on the use of the liquid

22 nitrogen flowing and being added into the system,
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1 but I should have looked this up but I really

2 think that historically it was a result of the

3 concern for that batch that only lives in the

4 Atacama Desert. And they were addressing the

5 environmental issue more than they were the use

6 of the nitrogen being added to the soil.

7 Again, that's just in the back of my

8 mind. I did not research that, and I apologize

9 for that.

10 Thirdly, Harriet states that she had

11 John Biernbaum. I would really like to see some

12 of his research. Because when she quoted him,

13 she said that (unintelligible) intended for

14 containers. And she also quoted that --

15 MS. ARSENAULT: Sue, this is Michelle. 

16 We're losing you a bit. If you could get closer

17 to your phone. Thanks.

18 MS. BAIRD: Okay. Can you hear me

19 better now?

20 MS. ARSENAULT: Much better. Thank

21 you.

22 MS. BAIRD: I'm sorry.
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1 The quotes that she quoted when she

2 sent the email said that they were working on a

3 compost that would be lighter and could be doable

4 for container growing. Also stated that large

5 media companies are working on composts that

6 would weigh less to make it be able to work, and

7 she said specifically for legal marijuana growing

8 industry.

9 I would like to see some real research

10 that says that these lighter composts are doable

11 for containers before I would feel comfortable in

12 dictating a 50 percent soil or compost in the

13 container growing.

14 That's it.

15 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Sue.

16 I just suggested that you look, I sent

17 a couple of files from John Biernbaum that went

18 into quite a bit of detail on that. You might

19 find that in your inbox.

20 MS. BAIRD: Oh, thank you.

21 MR. THICKE: Next was Ashley.

22 MS. SWAFFAR: Hey, guys. Sorry.
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1 I just wanted to go over some things

2 that Harriet had said that feels like a minority

3 opinion seeing that we've about got that

4 finalized we think. Maybe by the end of the week

5 we could get you kind of what, what we're

6 thinking on that.

7 And then I just want to say, you know,

8 I can't support limiting that 20 percent nutrient

9 and then requiring 50 percent soil or compost. 

10 There's a lot of container producers that can't

11 get anywhere near that. And, you know, I really

12 support the systems that they have and feel that

13 they are inclusive of our organic standards.

14 So I can't support the system -- or,

15 sorry, I can't support this, your motion.

16 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Ashley.

17 Lisa is up next, and then Harriet, and

18 then Emily.

19 MS. DE LIMA: I'm on the same page as

20 where Asa was. Looking at the different

21 requirements I'm not ready to -- I mean I'm open

22 to hydroponics and so I don't think I could get
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1 behind this.

2 But I know we don't have time on this

3 call since we've got 10 minutes left. But I

4 think there's some other areas that we haven't

5 really gotten a chance to talk about where we

6 might find more commonality like just, example,

7 artificial lighting, and then dealing with

8 containers and, you know, what the requirements

9 would be around recycling those containers and

10 those kind of topics.

11 I know we're getting down to the wire

12 having to get things into the program if we want

13 to do something, if we want to do something this

14 fall. But I would like to see, I'm just

15 wondering if you guys have discussed any of that

16 on the crops calls?

17 MR. THICKE: We have, Lisa. And we

18 have some, some suggested proposals in the works

19 that we could bring forward on those issues.

20 MS. DE LIMA: Okay. Thank you.

21 MR. THICKE: Okay. Thank you, Lisa.

22 Harriet was up next, and then Emily.
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1 MS. BEHAR: Yes. And so thank you,

2 Francis, for bringing up the information from

3 John Biernbaum. And I was -- but since that has

4 come out I have talked directly with compost

5 makers who can produce compost in, you know,

6 eight weeks, ten weeks that would -- at least

7 that's what they tell me.

8 And I could, I have the person's card

9 who said that to me. And I can ask him to send

10 us more information on that. But I believe it's

11 not a difficult technology to do.

12 And then in answer to Joelle, yes, the

13 Crops Committee has a discussion document that

14 addresses artificial light, recycling of the pots

15 and the vegetative matter and the substrate, as

16 well as -- what's the third? I have a third

17 thing in there. Somebody help me.

18 Francis, what else did I have in my

19 proposal, my discussion document? Sorry. It's a

20 long call.

21 MR. THICKE: Sorry, I was distracted.

22 Oh, you were also talking about
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1 mulching systems; correct?

2 MS. BEHAR: That's right. The use of

3 petroleum-based mulches that don't get removed at

4 the end of one season. Many of these container

5 systems lay down the woven petroleum-based

6 landscape clothes and leave those down for many

7 years and completely cover many acres. So I've

8 tried to address that situation as well.

9 I'm done.

10 MR. THICKE: Okay. Thank you,

11 Harriet.

12 Emily.

13 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, this is

14 Tom. May I be after Emily?

15 MR. THICKE: Sure.

16 MS. OAKLEY: Pardon? Did somebody say

17 something?

18 MR. THICKE: Emily, you're next, yes.

19 MS. OAKLEY: Sorry. The call, I got

20 dropped out of the call but I'm back on. So,

21 sorry about that.

22 Is it my turn?
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1 MR. THICKE: Yes, it is your turn.

2 MS. OAKLEY: Sorry about that.

3 I just wanted to not put anybody on

4 the spot, but if there's anybody that hasn't

5 spoken and wants to, there are a couple of people

6 in particular who we haven't heard from on the

7 container proposal in particular, or potential

8 proposal in particular. And I was just wanting

9 to give them the chance to weigh in if they

10 wanted to.

11 A-dae and Ashley, I don't want to put

12 you on the spot, so if you don't want to weigh

13 in, please don't. But I also just wanted to be

14 sure that you had a chance to share your thoughts

15 if you wanted to.

16 And I'm done.

17 MR. THICKE: Okay. No more hands are

18 up.

19 I just wanted to, I usually get a real

20 quick -- Oh, Tom, I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead.

21 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes. Yes, thanks.

22 So I mean mine somewhat dovetails with
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1 what Emily was asking for. But I did hear Ashley

2 and I thought she, she opposed it from the

3 comments I heard earlier.

4 But it sounded like for me, again, we

5 don't -- there's not enough votes here to pass

6 this concept as it's written, from what I heard

7 from the discussions. So my question back to the

8 Crops Subcommittee is what's the plan?

9 Are you going to bring this forward as

10 is? Or will you guys, you know, take it back and

11 consider something that could get the consensus

12 of the board?

13 And if it's not, then what's the plan,

14 you know, following if this does not pass at the

15 board level?

16 MR. THICKE: Well, the Crops Committee

17 will certainly talk about what happened today. 

18 There seems to be a difficulty that there doesn't

19 seem to be a middle ground that's acceptable. It

20 seems that on the hydroponics side that there

21 doesn't seem to be much give. And the soils

22 advocates have gone from growing in the ground to
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1 reaching a compromise position.

2 So, it looks like we have to

3 compromise and support hydroponics. And some of

4 us at this point can't do that. But we'll look

5 back at what has been talked about and see what

6 we can come up with.

7 I just wanted to clarify something. 

8 Miles said that the Hydroponics Task Force did

9 not make a recommendation.

10 I guess that's correct. I -- that's

11 probably a legal thing. Because I just came back

12 and, quote, they said "we suggest a limitation of

13 no more than 50 percent of the required fertility

14 being added after planting, and no more than 20

15 percent to be added as a liquid fertilizer after

16 planting." And they gave a lot of reasons for

17 it.

18 So, they didn't make an official

19 recommendation but they certainly strongly

20 suggested it.

21 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Francis, that was

22 one subcommittee of the Task Force; correct? Not
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1 the full Task Force?

2 MR. THICKE: That is right. I thought

3 I mentioned, that was the one side the soils side

4 of the Task Force; exactly.

5 And that's where we're back to this

6 thing again where we really don't seem to have a

7 middle ground. We seem to have two sides here. 

8 And, frankly, as I said, I think the soils group

9 is compromising to a great degree. But I don't

10 see any sense of compromising on the part of the

11 hydroponics advocates.

12 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes. So, Francis,

13 real quick.

14 MR. THICKE: We have to keep it --

15 Yes?

16 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes, real quick, we

17 have four minutes. We can take a few comments

18 but then you'll need to wrap it up from there

19 because we do need to stop at 3:00 o'clock sharp.

20 MR. THICKE: Sounds good, Tom. Thank

21 you.

22 Steve, go ahead.
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1 MR. ELA: Sure. And I think, Tom, I

2 was just going to echo what Francis said. I

3 mean, I wish, I wish we could see a compromise

4 that would be passable. And it seems like there

5 really are two sides on this, and some people in

6 the middle, but it's a tough one.

7 I mean, I, I don't think any of us

8 have seen a compromise that, you know, that a 10-

9 person majority of the board supports that. And

10 so it's real enigma. And I'm not sure how we --

11 I'm still very uncomfortable that we don't, that

12 we continue with the status quo because I think

13 we have certifiers that don't certify operations,

14 and certifiers that do. And that was not the

15 point of the NOP.

16 But I think I'm, you know, I'd sure

17 like to see what the compromise is that, you

18 know, ten people can support because I just, like

19 Francis said, it's just not -- it hasn't popped

20 up yet. If it had, I think we would, you know, a

21 lot of us would, would go for it because we need

22 to crack this nut somehow.
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1 Carry on.

2 MR. THICKE: Thank you, Steve. Thank

3 you.

4 And just to summarize, the Crops

5 Subcommittee will certainly look at everything

6 we've just talked about today and see, and see

7 what we can do to try to find some ground that we

8 can all agree on.

9 I'll turn it over to you, Tom. You

10 can wrap it up.

11 CHAIRMAN CHAPMAN: Yes. Thank you,

12 Francis. I appreciate your time, the time of the

13 Crops Subcommittee, and all the members here, as

14 well as the public listening in.

15 Clearly this is not an easy subject to

16 resolve. This has been on the board's agenda

17 since 1995 in some form or another since the

18 board's been meeting. So it's not surprising

19 that it's difficult to find compromise. And I do

20 appreciate the Crops Subcommittee's hard work in

21 attempting to find something to bring forward.

22 With that, we'll conclude this
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1 meeting. Again, thanks everyone for

2 participating. And again, this was just a forum

3 to facilitate a public discussion of the full

4 board, a transparent discussion of the full

5 board. Any formal notes or whatnot will not

6 appear in the forum but will occur in the

7 subcommittee to bring proposals going forward for

8 the full board to consider. And at that time

9 they would be available to the public for

10 comment.

11 And we look forward to hearing your

12 comments and taking this discussion further at

13 the full board meeting in the fall.

14 Thank you, everybody. This meeting is

15 now adjourned.

16 (Whereupon, at 2:59 p.m., the web

17 conference was adjourned.)

18

19

20

21

22
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A

A-dae 1:18 7:6 102:11

ability 90:15

able 32:1,2 45:4 48:2

49:18 50:20 55:11

85:8 90:18 97:6

absence 55:1,22

accept 20:2 50:4

acceptable 61:8,10

87:20 103:19

accepted 17:5

access 69:6

accounted 7:18

acres 101:7

Act 28:5

action 17:11,22 57:10

63:16

actions 55:16

active 45:16 60:11

actively 45:15

activity 60:1,7 86:5

add 23:14 37:4 62:2

78:2

added 26:18 70:15

73:10 77:18 88:16,17

89:11 95:22 96:6

104:14,15

adding 51:8

addition 81:14

additional 4:3,9 25:1

43:8

Additionally 4:17 5:10

address 3:20 14:16

49:14 95:6 101:8

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85:1,1 103:6

wrong 84:14 95:19

wrote 69:11

X

Y

yards 64:17

years 57:19,22 101:7

Z

zones 64:17

0

1

1:06 2:2

10 74:21 99:3

10- 106:8

100 72:19,20 76:12

14 1:7

15 7:17

16 76:13

1600 77:22

1995 107:17

2

2:59 108:16

20 73:7 76:2,4,15 77:10

84:15 88:8,17 94:7

98:8 104:14

2010 12:20 13:1,16 14:4

14:6 18:12,19 20:15

20:16 21:3,7 22:14

23:7 24:5,21 25:2,5

25:16 26:14 88:9

2016 70:20 71:2

2017 1:7 2:15 13:11

22 71:3

24th 2:17

25th 2:18

2nd 2:15

3

3:00 105:19

31st 2:15

4

40 71:8

40-acre 85:18

5

50 73:9,12 75:2 87:10

88:7,15 90:16 91:4

93:9 97:12 98:9

104:13

6

60 75:2

602 76:4 79:16,19

7

70 75:2
NEAL R. GROSS

COURT REPORTERS AND TRANSCRIBERS 

1323 RHODE ISLAND AVE., N.W. 

(202) 234-4433 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005-3701 www.nealrgross.com 

C E R T I F I C A T E

This is to certify that the foregoing transcript 

In the matter of: 

Before: 

Date: 

Place: 

was duly recorded and accurately transcribed under 

my direction; further, that said transcript is a 

true and accurate record of the proceedings. 

 

 ----------------------- Court Reporter 

121

Web Conference

USDA National Organic Standards Board

08-14-17

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