Fracking on Organic Farms

Thanks to advocacy by PCC and others in the National Organic Coalition (NOC), the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to add concerns about fracking impacts on farms to its work agenda.

A growing number of farmers are raising concerns about acreage destroyed by oil and gas companies laying pipelines in rights of way. They say bulldozers scrape off the topsoil and push it aside, but once pipes are laid, companies don’t restore the land as promised. Uneven land with compacted clay has rendered many acres unfit for growing crops and there are concerns about using so-called “produced” water from hydraulic fracking to irrigate food crops, including organic food crops.

PCC Community Markets, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, and NOC will continue working to protect farmland and farmers being threatened and to preserve the integrity of organic.

Read our collective letter to Undersecretary Ibach and National Organic Program Deputy Administrator Jenny Tucker asking them to put our concerns on the NOSB agenda.

Related reading

PCC Advocates for Stronger Organic Regulations

PCC submitted comments on the National Organic Program’s (NOP) Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) proposed rule, aimed at addressing the issue of organic fraud and improving the integrity of the organic supply chain.

Letter to USDA urging finalization of Origin of Livestock Rule

PCC signed on to a letter urging the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to swiftly finalize the long-awaited Origin of Livestock rule, which would close regulatory loopholes damaging to small-scale and family-owned organic dairies.

Securing funding for WSU's organics research

Thank you to Senator Patty Murray; re: supporting the organic crop research and education program at WSU.