Is it Certified Organic?
Read about the farm's veganic farming practices here.
More from the Hesperides FAQ page:
We are NOT certified organic and have absolutely no plans on getting “certified.” (See the section of our website which discusses in detail our farming practices). We practice sustainable methods of agriculture and even go beyond the organic standards by practicing “Veganic” methods which do not use factory-farm waste products such as blood, bone meal and manure (which is allowed in USDA Certified Organic Regulations). Do you think that the large multinationals who sell “organic” had anything to do with crafting this legislation? Hmmm, I wonder. If you're not a little paranoid, you're not paying attention!
So, what do you use for fertilizer?
We love compost. And compost tea. We had the good fortune of spending a day with the Queen of Compost Tea (Elaine Ingham) and have built our own compost tea brewer. We also plant cover crops, rotate fields and have permanent planting beds. We use Neptune Harvest Organic Fertilizer and other fertilizers based on bio-dynamics (ssh we don't want to give away all our secrets!).
Demand for USDA Organic has resulted in thousands of pounds of chemicals not being washed into our watersheds, not winding up in the oceans and in our drinking water. Soil conservation, and safer working conditions for farm workers are two more of the many benefits of organic practices. Organic certification is expensive, and it is far from a perfect standard, especially as big agribusiness gets in on the financial gains to be made. See the NY Times article Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized? for examples. Hesperides’ farming practices achieve the main goals of organic farming without certification.
While other claims may not be verifiable, smaller farms may be inherently more sustainable than larger ones. A good example in the same Hesperides page compares pesticide use of two conventional potato farms, one large, one small. Pests thrive best in large monocultures, necessitating the greater need for pesticides. Larger also means a greater dependency on mechanization and fossil-fuel inputs. Smaller farms tend to be more integrated and complex, carry out crop rotation and recycle nutrients from within the system, as described in this article from the Multinational Monitor.
See also
The film “Food, Inc” (free on Amazon streaming if you have prime)
Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, sort of the long version of above
More from the Hesperides FAQ page:
We are NOT certified organic and have absolutely no plans on getting “certified.” (See the section of our website which discusses in detail our farming practices). We practice sustainable methods of agriculture and even go beyond the organic standards by practicing “Veganic” methods which do not use factory-farm waste products such as blood, bone meal and manure (which is allowed in USDA Certified Organic Regulations). Do you think that the large multinationals who sell “organic” had anything to do with crafting this legislation? Hmmm, I wonder. If you're not a little paranoid, you're not paying attention!
So, what do you use for fertilizer?
We love compost. And compost tea. We had the good fortune of spending a day with the Queen of Compost Tea (Elaine Ingham) and have built our own compost tea brewer. We also plant cover crops, rotate fields and have permanent planting beds. We use Neptune Harvest Organic Fertilizer and other fertilizers based on bio-dynamics (ssh we don't want to give away all our secrets!).
Demand for USDA Organic has resulted in thousands of pounds of chemicals not being washed into our watersheds, not winding up in the oceans and in our drinking water. Soil conservation, and safer working conditions for farm workers are two more of the many benefits of organic practices. Organic certification is expensive, and it is far from a perfect standard, especially as big agribusiness gets in on the financial gains to be made. See the NY Times article Has ‘Organic’ Been Oversized? for examples. Hesperides’ farming practices achieve the main goals of organic farming without certification.
While other claims may not be verifiable, smaller farms may be inherently more sustainable than larger ones. A good example in the same Hesperides page compares pesticide use of two conventional potato farms, one large, one small. Pests thrive best in large monocultures, necessitating the greater need for pesticides. Larger also means a greater dependency on mechanization and fossil-fuel inputs. Smaller farms tend to be more integrated and complex, carry out crop rotation and recycle nutrients from within the system, as described in this article from the Multinational Monitor.
See also
The film “Food, Inc” (free on Amazon streaming if you have prime)
Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, sort of the long version of above