[compost_tea] Re: Re: USNOP Thing

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 19:30:03 -0800

Dennis, Bob, All -- Thanks for your replies and insights. Ya, we should all
contact a US rep or senator, or both. It's our best present shot at getting
compost tea thru truly stupid USDA/NOP hoops, imo.

Corrections on Cong contact: After an initial call and likely a second
call - one to relay your concern, second to discuss with appropriate staff
person - they'll call you back usually - takes about 10-20 minutes, it takes
about 15 minutes a month (not week) to track, on up to however much time you
want to give it, and if you have a really responsive rep staff person, I
hope you'd stick with them as much as they need... You will most likely be
introducing them to compost teas.

Ah, a Boston Tea Party kind of party, Bob. I thought you meant political
party. I missed that too, but that's a great idea! Create our own
publicity with an event on DC mall or something - make tea, spray each
other, drink some, show the buggers how safe and easy it is. Have a display
of chemicals to compare. Pics of soil and plants comparing tea and
chemical results. Product taste test comparisons. Lots of possibilities
and I'm going to keep thinking about it. We may need to do that. Anybody
have some creative ideas about public events we could do? This could
involve a bunch of fun, too.

In the meantime, we do need to query congresspeople and get them bugging
USDA. It would take a whole digest to convey all Cong contacts, even if I
had them, and email is not as effective as a call or letter. Your local
phone book and a quick call is realistically and practically the best place
to start. If you want to write a letter (they may ask you to do that, btw),
you can get the address. If you want to do email you should be able to get
addresses on calling, too. Ask your rep to include the Secretary of
Agriculture in their communications - Ann Veneman (who I assume is at
ann.veneman_at_usda.gov - don't know for a fact, could be spelling wrong.)

"Dick and Barb" - Matthews and Robinson (or Veneman) are unlikely to respond
to any calls or letters or emails (I'd say something about chicken*&%$'s but
I won't). Their email addresses are richard.matthews_at_usda.gov and
barbara.robinson_at_usda.gov. If you email them, be as polite but firm as you
can, maybe as often as you can. The key to enabling dunderheads is
repetition, it seems.;)

Three other men are important here and I believe they are supportive of
compost tea: Owusu Bandele, chair of the NOSB Crops Committee under which
the Compost Tea Task Force works, Dennis Holbrook and Eric Sideman, CTTF
co-chairs. Messages to them should definitely be considerate, keeping in
mind that if NOSB is to rise to the occasion, these are likely the guys to
drive it... Their addresses are obandele_at_subr.edu, dennis_at_tiagris.com , and
esideman_at_mofga.org. All are organic practitioners today, running their own
operations, so they fundamentally understand where we're coming from.

Most important is to connect or re-connect with congresspeople. The long
vacation they're taking right now (wish I could do that) is a good time to
set up or continue communications. You might be able to meet and talk with
them at a local meeting this month. The next scheduled opportunity for NOSB
consideration of compost tea is May 2004 as I recall, so there's time for
both direct contact and action. Please go for it.

For international folks, sorry to be so parochial here, but USNOP support of
CT seems important for all of us. Ask your gov why US gov is being so
stupid and ridiculous about compost teas... Email US folks if you have
a case to make.

-- Kirk

Some possible questions, stuff to think about:

There are likely to be millions of people using compost teas worldwide
today, as many have for centuries. Many thousands are likely using the
newer, aerated compost tea methods. There has never been a report of
danger or disease resulting from any compost tea use. What is USDA's
problem here? Why the delay in NOP support and approval?

Why are NOSB Compost Tea Task Force deliberations secret? Does USDA have
something to hide? The task force is a public group, set up through a
public law and pursuing public purposes. Is the imposition of
confidentiality even legal in this instance? What's the content of their
discussions, why can't we hear about that? If there's any danger from
compost tea, you'd think they'd want to let us know that, and how and why,
hmm?

Where's their information and data, darnit? We all should have some access
to that, per US law. Upon what bases are they making decisions? How did
conditional NOSB support for compost teas get converted to "not eligible to
satisfy soil fertility" standards by USNOP? Why, given broad, successful
use of compost teas for a lot longer than USDA has been around, isn't USDA
at least supporting research and conditional approval rather than apparently
pursuing rejection?

Again, there has never been a single report of a contamination problem from
any compost tea in the real world. The only problems I've ever heard about
are a couple of USDA samples, done in labs under contrived circumstances
with contaminated materials and poor machines. This is totally bogus, which
begs another question: Why do they appear to be using un-reported,
un-published, un-reviewed, un-replicated, and apparently un-documented
research - with machines you can't even buy anymore, to boot?

Why did even Brinton state: "When used according to instructions and with
composts provided with purchased extraction kits, the commercial technology
teas produced were safe." - but compost teas are still not OK by CTTF or
USNOP? Huh? What's not safe about compost teas made using NOP-approved
materials?

I gotta shutup. Ask what's happening with compost tea and what the USDA/NOP
schedule is for either outright or conditional approval, please. What is
the USNOP status of compost teas today, and why are they taking so long to
recognize compost teas are beneficial, inherently safe and organically
sound?



















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Received on Fri Dec 12 2003 - 23:16:37 EST

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