Western Growers dismayed by court's compost ruling

A farm group is dismayed that a federal court ruled that it's no longer necessarily OK to use composted municipal green waste on organic farms in California. From Western Growers:

The (USDA) Guidance already prohibited use of compost that was shown to contaminate soil, crops or water, but plaintiffs argued that this was not strict enough under the pre-2011 organic rules. While the court stopped short of agreeing with plaintiffs, the court found that USDA did not gather sufficient comment on the 2011 legal guidance and ordered them back to the drawing board. USDA now has 60 days to issue new Guidance and get comment before the August 22 deadline. Western Growers provided input to the court as an amicus to show that the sudden withdrawal of the Guidance would harm organic agriculture, composting operations and consumers in California.

The Capital Press is following up on this ruling and will have a story up on our website soon.