[compost_tea] USNOP non-example?
I have an National Organic Program perception to share, haven't sent,
probably won't.
What USNOP has done to compost tea so far is not irrational. It doesn't
make a lot of sense but it's not crazy, which is how they've gotten away
with it... They've focused on raw manure and pathogens and mapped that
directly to compost tea, exploiting a lack of specific science on it and
using research that's largely irrelevant. (and yes, bubba, this is an
example of how US gov warps science when they want to.)
We need to consider tea safety, to be sure, but USNOP is way overboard with
their concerns and how they see tea. There's an example imbedded already in
"The Final Rule" and CTTF report recommendation #9, which bans tea from use
with "edible seed sprouts."
Someone at USNOP or among their agribiz patrons has a thing about sprouts.
It's a good illustration of a fundamental misunderstanding of compost tea,
imo. (not to mention manure)
This is the picture they paint: Pathogen-ridden raw manure, or even
composted or vemicomposted manures, anything with manure in it, it seems, is
"brewed up" and sprayed on sprouts. A direct channel to potential pathogen
problems, maybe, and likely either inappropriate or not useful in growing
sprouts. Actually, their full picture includes spraying pathogen-ridden
teas on produce just before harvest and then eating unwashed... based on the
notion that people are such fools they think organic produce doesn't need to
be washed! (and can't tell the difference between raw and not-raw
manures...)
To my knowledge, most sprouts are grown hydroponically, a method so
different from most foliar/soil tea uses... makes their picture odd. I have
to wonder if anyone ever did that. I hear some hydroponic growers are
experimenting with tea - as a nutrient infusion in the watering system but
not as a foliar spray. Maybe with tomatoes. It doesn't seem to me you'd
use compost teas the same way with sprouts as most other produce.
I think it's pretty clear USNOP is imagining something that doesn't happen,
using sprouts to cause people to conjure the worst possible picture.
Anyone have any experience with tea and sprouts? Their other favorite
produce to bring up is lettuce. Any experience with tea and lettuce out
there?
Have you sent a CTTF report comment to nosb.crops_at_usda.gov? This is a
numbers game, folks. The more they realize people are watching and
concerned about what they are doing, the greater the chance they'll come
down ok on compost tea.
-- Kirk
CTTF report is at
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nosb/meetings/CompostTeaTaskForceFinalReport.pdf.
Apart from the pathogen hysteria, it's a decent basic compost tea read. Doc
E is right about it giving short shrift to simpler tea preps than ACT, too,
and the lack of "additive" specificity is positively strange in light of the
manure table appendix.
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Received on Sat Jul 10 2004 - 14:36:07 EDT
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:24 EST