Is Semi-Organic the Way Forward?

Drew Norman has been growing vegetables organically for 25 years and he's still not sure "organic," as currently defined, is the last word.

I had a chance this week to visit with Drew Norman on the farm he started with wife Joan in White Hall, Maryland, north of Baltimore, when they were hardly more than kids. Norman was just out of agriculture school at the University of Maryland and the reason he chose organic was because the things he was taught at the university just didn't add up for him.

One of his first classes was all about how micro-organisms are the beginning and end of healthy soil. But when he got to learning about growing fruit trees, he said, it was all about spraying pesticides, which of course kill micro-organisms along with a lot of other things.

More recently, his own farm was part of a study that measured soil health. Far ahead of Norman, who relies on cover crops and compost as his primary means of fertility, was another farmer who uses cover crops heavily as well but does not till his soil and applies an herbicide to deal with weeds on his crop rows.

Of course herbicides are an automatic disqualifier for the "organic" label. But Norman says that after 25 years of following the organic rules, he still has only 2.5 percent organic matter in his soil (5 percent is considered optimum.) He also recognizes that his usual farming techniques--plowing cover crops under, building plastic-covered rows, using drip lines for irrigation--involves quite a bit of soil tillage. And in his words, "micro-organisms don't like a lot of tillage."

So what, I asked, does he think is the answer?

Norman, who has 1,400 CSA subscribers this year, along with a hefty wholesale business, answered this way:

"I became an organic farmer to be more environmentally friendly, and 25 years later I find I can be more environmentally friendly by not being 'organic.' " After thinking a minute, he added: "If I were 100 percent CSA? I would probably write my customers a letter telling them why I was going to start using an herbicide on my crops"--meaning a switch over to more cover, less tillage and an increase in organic matter, along with a loss of his "organic" status.

Joan Norman, who handles the business end of the farm, was quick to add: "Of course we would never do anything like that without asking our customers first. Some of them would be absolutely devastated if they thought we were using an herbicide."

I find discussions like this fascinating because they show that the question of how best to farm is far from settled. Organic farmers are expected to work extra hard on behalf of the environment, but at the same time they need to make enough money to stay in business.

Or, as Joan Norman often likes to put it: "Agriculture has to be viable to survive."

For instance, it has always struck me as a bit of a contradiction that so much sheet plastic is used on organic farms (we can get into Canadian peat moss another time). Conventional plastic sheeting is made from petroleum, and it is not biodegradable. Yet Drew Norman swears by it. His crop rows--miles and miles of them crossing 175 acres--are all immaculately mulched with plastic.

"I've been chastised for using plastic because it has its isssues. But my answer to that is, it's cost effective," Norman says. "Everything yields better on plastic."

Mostly, he covers his rows with plastic to conserve water in the soil around the plant roots. The plastic also largely eliminates the need for weeding, a huge labor saver. The benefits contribute significantly to his bottom line--especially when plastic represents a mere 3 percent of his costs.

Blogging about food is great fun. Ranting about food issues is stimulating, and sometimes even results in a worthwhile discussion. But occasionally it's good to visit a farm and hear what real farmers think.