Organic certification should require soil-based fertility management, excluding hydroponics
The Organic Foods Production Act's definition of organic farming centers on soil-plant ecology β building soil fertility through crop rotation, cover cropping, and biological activity. A system with no soil has nothing to manage in that sense, and shouldn't qualify for the same label as a farm that does.
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For
The Cornucopia Institute has been making exactly this argument for years, backed by NOSB's own repeated (if inconclusive) internal opposition since 1995. That's not a fringe objection β it's the organic movement's own standards body failing to reach consensus in USDA's favor.
Against
This treats 'soil' as the point of organic farming when the actual consumer-facing promise is about inputs β no synthetic pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, verified supply chain. Hydroponic operations can and do meet all of that without a single square foot of dirt.