読み方がまちがっているだろうか？HortiBiz（11月17日配信）から送られてきたメルマガに、”The controversy over organic hydroponics”（オリジナルは、Capital Press発行）という記事がありました。わたしの理解が正しいとすると、米国では歴史的に水耕栽培でも「有機」と認められてきたということになります。
そして、その判断は継続されたようです。以下の記事にあるように、USDA(米国農務省)の委員会が、この解釈を継続したことになります。その判決にあたっては、僅差（8：9）。しかし、様子をみると、大規模な農業資本には有利なやや偏った？判断ではあります。
もし、わが国でも現在、植物工場が林立しはじめています。そこが採用している水耕栽培（溶液栽培）が「有機」と認定されれば、業界へのインパクトが大きいと思われます。米国でも人件費がかからない大規模な植物工場は、効率的でコストが大幅に低いことがわかっています。
そのことを考えると、日本では「植物工場」（すでに、もやしは認定済み）がオーガニックの普及に弾みをつけることになるでしょう。その反面で、小規模農家の相対的な優位性が揺らぐことになります。
また、農業の理念哲学としては、「土を使用しない栽培法」をオーガニックと呼んでよいだろうか？そうした議論が起こりそうです。これはチャンスなのか？危機なのか？判断が分かれるところではある。
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”The controversy over organic hydroponics”
Hydroponic growers in the United States won’t be prohibited from getting their crops certified as organic, but the controversy over soil-free organic farming is unlikely to end.The National Organic Standards Board, which advises USDA on organic policy, recently voted 8-7 against banning hydroponic methods from organic production after years of debate.
Nonetheless, the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog group, and other critics believe that hydroponic production is contrary to the Organic Food Production Act, a federal law that created national organic standards.
Under that statute, farms must be operated under an organic plan “designed to foster soil fertility” through crop rotation, cover crops and the spreading of manure and compost. Other provisions of the law also emphasize soil fertility, health and preservation.
In the Cornucopia Institute’s view, this language clearly bars organic certification of soil-less hydroponic production, in which crops are grown in an inert medium such as coconut husks or perlite and irrigated with nutrient-infused water.
“It’s likely to result in a legal challenge. You sue the federal government when its actions conflict with the law,” said Mark Kastel, the group’s co-founder and senior farm policy analyst.
“The law requires building soil fertility, but how can that be accomplished without soil?” Kastel said.
Apart from the philosophical reasons, critics see hydroponics as posing an economic threat to traditional organic farmers. Highly mechanized hydroponic greenhouses are tremendously productive, reducing the per-unit cost of production, Kastel said.
“These massive operations are cornering the market for popular produce crops, such as peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers,” he said.
“That’s not farming, it’s something else,” said Kastel. “It’s an industrial process for growing our food.”
Hydroponic production has long been controversial in the organic industry and some organic certifiers don’t accept the method. Although OFPA was enacted in 1990, it was more than a decade before USDA’s regulations implementing the law became effective.
During the interim, the National Organic Standards Board issued a recommendation to allow labeling of crops grown in soil-free media as organic as long as they followed all other organic requirements.
However, that recommendation did not have the effect of law.
Since the National Organic Program regulations became effective in 2002, the legality of hydroponic production being included in organics has been fiercely debated. In 2010, the board issued a recommendation against allowing hydroponic production in organic systems, but USDA didn’t take action on it.
The hydroponic question continued to divide the NOSB and a special task force convened to ponder the matter,
ultimately leading to a vote on prohibiting the practice during the board’s autumn meeting in November.
Kastel believes that USDA has “stacked” the board with members sympathetic to major organic producers and manufacturers, resulting in the vote against banning hydroponics.
Click here to read the full article at Capital Press.
11/17/2017 – Capital Press
