The most widely held definition of organic farming is that which is in harmony with nature, without using synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or other such products that upset the balance of the ecosystem. For cannabis growers, however, theory and real-world practice can differ on a daily basis. How are you handling the challenges? Where are you forced to make concessions? How does your definition of organic translate to your actual practice?
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A few years ago I read a fascinating book called, Unprocessed, by Megan Kimble. For the book she sets out to have a year of only eating unprocessed food. One of the ideas in the book that I found extremely thought provoking was how she defined “unprocessed food.” Unprocessed also meant the distance the food had to travel before it made it to her plate. If the distance was too far, she tried to exclude it from her diet. Interesting, no?
Organic is certainly a frame of mind, and there is no hard and fast definition. The USDA has a certification, but a lot of farmers are not able to attain that certification because it’s too expensive, for example - does that mean they’re not organic?
Another thought,:there are also a lot of bottled grow nutrients that are called “organic.” If you consider the distance and processing and packaging that go into getting those nutes to your grow-room perhaps it starts to stretch the parameters for how you define “organic,” or maybe not.
I worked at a commercial canna-grow facility. The common practice was to dump all the run-off from the grow tables into the large lot behind the facility. I asked my co-workers about what they thought of this… they didn’t really think about it. I asked if they knew where we got our water from… they said we had a private well. I asked them if they had any concern about the waste-water we were dumping out into the field leaching down into the well-water… They said they didn’t really think about that sort of thing.
… organic, for me, starts with looking at my surroundings
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