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News
Planting
Flexibility for Organic Farmers
Posted 23 June 2008
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced that the United
States Department of Agriculture/National Organic Program (NOP) has
accepted a request made by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land
Stewardship to grant a temporary variance to the NOP crop rotation
requirement due to recent rains and flooding in the state.
“Organic certification requires longer crop rotations. Organic
farmers, as well as other farmers, are faced with challenges planting
crops this late in the season,” Northey said. “This variance will
give them much needed flexibility when making decisions on planting
this year.”
The Department made the request on June 9th in response to the
significant and historical rainfalls that have occurred frequently
during much of May and June. Consequently, there have been very
few opportunities for farmers to complete field work due to saturated
soils, flooding and severe weather.
Organic farmers are faced with the challenge of either not planting a
cash crop this year to comply with the crop rotation regulation or
planting the same crop, such as soybeans, in a field where that crop
was planted last year. This variance will allow organic farmers
the flexibility they need to make viable cropping decisions during this
extraordinary time.
Organic farmers are committed to organic practices and requirements,
such as using no pesticides or fertilizers, and this temporary variance
will not affect the integrity of the organic crops that they produce
this year.
The Department will continue to work with the Iowa Organic Advisory
Council, Iowa Organic Association and the National Organic Program
during this time period as it monitors weather conditions impacting
Iowa organic producers. Certification organizations operating in
the state and organic farmers will be notified of this variance.
For more information please contact the Agricultural Diversification
and Market Development Bureau at 515-281-5783.
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