| Organic Crops |  |
| Organic Crops | |
Seeds and Planting
Normally anything the farmer plants must be organic; organic seeds, seedlings and plants; but there are some exceptions.
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If no organically produced seeds or planting stock is available of a particular plant then the non-organically produced equivalent may be used. (This doesn’t apply to sprouts however – they must always come from an organic background!) If the non-organically produced planting stock is treated it must have been treated with a substance from the National List of allowed synthetic substances. If a perennial crop is grown from a non-organically produced stock it can be labeled as ‘organic’ after a year of organic maintenance. The seeds and other planting stocks may be treated with prohibited substances when required to do so by federal or state phytosanitary regulations.
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| Phyto- means plant and –sanitary means cleanliness, so phytosanitary means plant cleanliness! |  |
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The Harvest When the crops are harvested the farmer must be careful to gather and harvest them in a way that will not damage the environment. If it is a wild crop he’s got to make sure that the gathering and harvesting will not prevent that crop from continuing to grow and reproduce.
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