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I’ve made no secret of my disdain for organic hydroponic produce over the years. Unfortunately, this stuff now constitutes the bulk of fruits and vegetables sold at big-box health food retailers like Earth Fare and Whole Foods.
If I see anything with the name Driscoll’s or Wholesum Harvest on it (the biggies in organic hydroponics), I won’t buy it.
Not only is hydroponics less tasty and nutritious than even non-organic local produce grown in well-tended soil, but it tends to rot extremely fast too.
Ever wondered why that expensive box of organic strawberries gets furry with mold within days of purchase?
Yes, that’s why.
It was hydroponically grown.
In short, organic hydroponics is, by and large, an incredible waste of your hard-earned food dollars.
The best organic produce is locally grown even if it isn’t officially certified. These locally grown fruits and vegetables are sold at farmer’s markets or independent natural food stores.
Those of you who have been eating organic for several decades like me know exactly what I’m talking about here!
Glyphosate and USDA Organic
Now comes the news that these massive “organic” hydroponic operations are using glyphosate-containing herbicides like Roundup.
Worse, this is happening with the blessing of the National Organics Program run by the USDA.
This is a huge concern especially given the $2 billion award against Bayer/Monsanto for its cancer-causing glyphosate-based herbicides. Over 13,000 pending lawsuits remain on the docket.
So, here’s the deal.
When a soil-based farm wants to get organically certified, there is a transition period of three years. This means that the farmers must grow their crops 100% clean using no chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for 36 months before those crops earn the USDA Organic label.
Guess what the transition period is for a hydroponic operation?
ZERO!
This means that a hydroponic producer can use ANY chemical on their land or greenhouse that is allowed in conventional agriculture in any quantity at any time.
All they have to do to get IMMEDIATELY certified organic (or get re-certified if they went on an offseason Roundup spraying spree) is simply bring in new substrate (the non-soil material used in the pots). (1)
What a scam!
What is Substrate?
Let’s drill down into what exactly hydroponic substrate is.
According to the Real Organic Project:
Substrate is the fancy word for the growing medium in the pot. Hydroponic producers choose materials to grow in like shredded coconut husks (called coir) because they don’t rot.
They also don’t provide any nutrition to the plants. [emphasis mine]
The coir holds the roots and the water. All the nutrition is provided as a near-constant liquid feed in the irrigation water. Hydroponics can happen in a container on the ground or on a table. For some crops, it even happens without any container at all. At its most extreme form, called aeroponics, the roots are suspended in the air and sprayed with the nutrient solution.
There is no nutritional difference between spraying the roots in the air or watering them in a container of coir or a bucket of water. The difference is in the time the plant can survive if the electricity goes off. With an “aeroponic” system, it is a matter of minutes. With a container system, it is a matter of hours. It is the same nutrition.
You Need to Know HOW Your Organic Produce is Grown
The bottom line is that USDA Organic certification is not enough to ensure the avoidance of dangerous chemicals like Roundup with its immune system destroying glyphosate residue.
You must take the time to familiarize yourself with the farms that grow your produce.
Do they grow in nutritionless coco coir pots with chemical spraying allowed only a few days prior? If so, find another farm that does it right in soil free from any pesticide/herbicide/fungicide spraying for a minimum of three years.
Jenny Prince of The Real Organic Project, sums it up well:
In the new USDA interpretation, “certified organic” no longer defines how the land is farmed. It now only defines how a pot of coco coir is “farmed.” (2)
The USDA definition of organic flies in the face of what other nations are doing. Just recently, the United Arab Emirates agreed with all other nations except the United States in banning hydroponics for organic certification.
Ultimately, hydroponics and organics are mutually exclusive terms. If you have one, you can’t have the other.
References
(1, 2) The Real Organic Project
Hydro plants won’t die if the power goes out and as for round up, I’m not sure how you could possibly have insight into every product on the market.. Plush if I use fish to poop in and drip feed in an nft system under shade cloth.. Hydro is the future as land is in short supply, we can research as we do and stay away from products we dnt desire I. E anything related to Monsanto, as for food going rotten quicker I question the fruit and veg that is tasteless and stats hard for weeks on end, I am also speaking from an African perspective so I’m sure many points you’ve made are completely relevant but I digress on demonizing anyone who grows produce lovingly via soil or aero or other hydroponic systems.. Just a humble opinion
I totally disagree with you author. Glyphosate or any kind of herbicide is never use in hydroponics! Herbicides are only used in the field where grasses and weeds grow. Its applied either in pre-emergence or contact on growing weeds. weeds does not grow on hydroponics as seedling are transplanted on net cups free of weeds, so your claim does not make sense! Pls. stop this mis-information.
Please read the article! I never said roundup was sprayed ON the hydroponics … but it is ALLOWED to be used within the environment and on the land used for hydroponics with no “detox” period like is required for soil based organics. Roundup residue gets in the air and can contaminate the area even if there is no direct spraying.
The bottom line is that organic hydroponics isn’t what people think it is … ANY chemicals allowed in conventional farming can be used with organic hydroponics with NO detox period required. You simply have to change out the pot medium with immediate re-certification.
This is padly false. There is no weeds growing in hydroponics so no need of herbicide use (glyphosate)
First of all, I would ask that you actually read the article! I would also encourage you to visit an industrial organic hydroponic farm! It is a dead zone. As mentioned in another comment … just because the pots aren’t sprayed directly doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem. Roundup is pervasive, gets into the air, and is permitted in the same vicinity as the hydroponics.
I detect a hatred for the certification process of organic and glyphosphate being thrown in to muddy the waters. I live in Ireland and doing hydro for my consumption for 5 years. Not one gram of pesticide/chemical used, and I dont care it cant be certified organic cause they taste better. I dont have to force feed co2 etc for yield and yield is 100% more than soil. Takes up half the area and its the only way the next generation can grow in their appartments as there wont be land so please dont rubbish all hydro.
Why would you write something that you don’t know anything about? Hydroponics is the only way we will be able to feed our growing population in the future! You obviously have some hate on for glyphosate/Monsanto. Bad info that your trying to spread!
I would refer you to the recent $2 billion award against Bayer/Monsanto to the couple who contracted cancer from using Roundup as part of their landscaping business in California. This is the third “Roundup caused cancer” lawsuit Bayer/Monsanto has lost in the past year or so. There are another 13,400 pending cases with similar claims.
By the way, the “hydroponics will feed the world” is the same propaganda used by GMO advocates. It is Monsanto invented spin. Sorry, I don’t buy it and many others don’t either. Hence, why hydroponics is banned from being certified organic everywhere except the US AND GMOs are banned for human consumption in the EU and parts of Asia.
What a misleading and/or misinformed article! Glyphosate use in this production method would not even come into contact with the crop, so chance of exposure for a consumer is zero. Also, like most things, the taste of hydroponically grown produce only suffers when it is not produced well, which is not often the case. Market tests time and time again show people prefer it. I challenge you to back up your assertion that it spoils faster – you cant, because it doesn’t. Finally, you didn’t mention that greenhouse grown food has some of the lowest pesticide residues out of any crop group, as biological controls (insects and fungi) are often used in place of chemicals.
Stick to your area of expertise, author. And go ahead, don’t post my comment because you disagree.
Ummm … I am writing in my area of expertise! LOL If you gave me 2 containers of strawberries, I GUARANTEE I could tell you which was the hydroponic one. Probably by looking at them alone. Certainly by tasting them and the fact that they would rot within a few days too. Sounds like you are a corporate troll sent here to discredit the truth so those that issue your paycheck can continue to dupe the public.
Glyphosate (Roundup), is a herbicide, right? Herbicides are used to control weeds. Undesirable plants that are directly competing with the desired crop for nutrients, sunlight, etc…
Hydroponics is a very controlled, precise method in growing that desired crop… If any producer has weeds growing in their hydroponics operation, there is something seriously wrong with that operation, let alone having to resort to spraying Roundup to get rid of them.
Plus the fact that Roundup is a non selective herbicide, meaning not only do the weeds die but so does the crop…
Doesn’t make sense to me
Yes, it kills weeds … lots of weeds growing at the facilities of hydroponic nurseries! Have you ever visited one? A very sterile (as in dead) environment other than the vapid plants growing in the nonsoil pots. This stuff gets into the air …. just because you aren’t directly spraying the plants in the hydroponic containers doesn’t mean the so called “organic” plants aren’t exposed.
Glyphosate is for weeds/grass; a herbicide ingredient. Glyphosate is not relates to Hydroponics. No.
You sound like the (some) wheat farmers who claim that Roundup isn’t (illegally) used to desiccate the plants to make harvest easier (other wheat farmers are honest I might add and admit this is done) … and yet conventional wheat products consistently test containing glyphosate residue.
Lol you dont seem to know what hydroponics are.. They can certainly be grown using an organic method and to suggest they can’t is ignorant. Your fear mongering is comedic to say the least lol.
Yes, you can grow hydroponics without chemicals … but this doesn’t make them organic … organic ALWAYS means grown in nutritious well-tended soil.
Hydroponics NEVER means organic even if no chemicals were used (but they in fact ARE used especially at the mega farms). The fact that hydroponic can be certified organic in the USA is an aberration compared with the rest of the world.
Well, I eat Driscoll’s organic berries all the time. Guess not any more! ☹️ Thank you for this info!
Good for you! It’s disgusting that the big box retailers here in FL where I live ship in poor quality Driscoll’s berries from California when there are local, in soil farmers just a few miles away that have much better quality berries for a better price. This is not organic folks! This is industrialized farming pretending to be organic.