United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service		 Soil Quality Institute Go to Accessibility Information
Skip to Page Content





Soil Quality Management

Organic Agriculture and Resource Conservation

What conservationists need to know about organic growers.

  1. Why are organic producers important to conservationists and rural development organizations?
  2. Does NRCS promote organic agriculture?
  3. How do farmers and ranchers become certified as organic?
  4. What production practices are required?
  5. What is in an organic farm plan?
  6. How does a Conservation Plan relate to an organic farm plan?
  7. Is organic agriculture good for natural resource conservation?
  8. Do certified organic growers automatically meet USDA conservation program rules?
  9. Are Conservation Practice Standards consistent with organic practices?
  10. How does the Farm Bill impact organic growers?
  11. At the local level, how can I help organic growers?
  12. At the state level, how can NRCS help organic growers?

1. Why are organic producers important to conservationists and rural development organizations?

  • As a group, organic growers have a wealth of experience regarding crop rotations, cover crops, soil health, and disease control. Many organic practices enhance resource conservation. Organic growers can help promote conservation practices and pollution prevention by participating in field days and other activities.
  • Organic agriculture is an approach to farming that may be well-suited to historically underserved customers including Native Americans, low resource groups, and women.
  • In 2001, almost 7,000 farms and over 2.3 million acres were certified organic nationwide. (See USDA-Economic Research Service for more detail.)
  • Organic growers are part of our watersheds and our clientele, and therefore should be included as players in watershed planning and conservation initiatives.

Return to Question

2. Does NRCS promote organic agriculture?

The agency does not have a policy of promoting organic agriculture over other forms of agriculture. It is one of many options for land use, rural economic enterprise, and resource conservation.

The NRCS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organic Trade Association in 2002. In this document, the two parties agreed to support resource conservation on organic operations.

Return to Question

3. How do farmers and ranchers become certified as organic?

Producers must pay a USDA accredited certifier to inspect their operation and ensure that it meets the standards set by the National Organic Program rules. The certifier may be a private enterprise or operated by a state agency.

Growers can label their products as organic without being certified if they sell less than $5,000 of agricultural products annually and meet the production standards of the federal rules.

Certification requires detailed record keeping of production and handling practices. Land used for organic production must be free of prohibited substances for three years prior to harvest. Therefore, new growers may have to go through a three-year transition period before they can label their product as certified organic. The transition period may be avoided if farmers use land that is known to have been free of prohibited substances, such as acres coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

For more information, see the technical note from ATTRA, "Organic Farm Certification & the National Organic Program."

The process and rules for certification are described in Subpart E (section 205.400-406) of the National Organic Program rules.

Return to Question

4. What production practices are required?

In brief, producers:

  • must not use prohibited substances,
  • must prevent contamination or mixing from neighboring non-organic operations, and
  • must practice good land stewardship including maintaining or improving the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soil; minimizing soil erosion; maintaining or improving soil organic matter content; not contributing to contamination of crops, soil, or water; and managing deficient or excess plant nutrients.

For full detail of production requirements, see Subpart C of the National Organic Program standards.

Return to Question

5. What is in an organic farm plan?

Each certified organic farm, ranch or handling operation must have an "organic production or handling system plan." The plan describes practices and substances used, and describes monitoring practices.

To help them create an organic plan, farmers may use templates, they may design their own record keeping plan, or certifiers may provide questionnaires to help farmers design a farm plan. Alternatively, producers may use a conservation plan or other plan prepared for another government program, if that plan meets the requirements of the standards.

Return to Question

6. How does a conservation plan relate to an organic farm plan?

The conservation plan and organic farm plan can be complementary documents that are cross referenced or blended together into a total plan for the producer.

The organic farm plan describes crop rotations, pest management systems, and other practices intended to support land stewardship and to prevent contamination with prohibited materials. The conservation plan can help growers enhance and document their land stewardship achievements by explicitly identifying resource concerns, specifying practices to address those concerns, and defining results.

Organic growers generally adapt well to the SWAPA+H approach to conservation planning because they are accustomed to multidimensional approaches to assessing their farming operation. As with conventional producers, it is important to listen to and incorporate production system considerations into the conservation plan, especially when formulating alternatives for addressing resource concerns.

Return to Question

7. Is organic agriculture good for natural resource conservation?

Generally, yes. For example, because organic growers cannot use chemicals for pest control, they have to use cultural practices such as complex crop rotations. Crop rotations have numerous benefits for soil and water quality, in addition to controlling pests. Organic growers have to be attuned to pest cycles and soil health if they are to succeed at farming without chemicals. They are required to create buffers around their farm to protect it from unapproved substances from neighboring farms. These buffers may also help protect water quality, create wildlife habitat, and reduce wind erosion.

On the other hand, organic operations are not free of resource concerns. Organic growers usually rely heavily on mechanical methods of weed control. Repeated tillage speeds the loss of soil organic matter to the extent that, even on organic operations, loss of organic matter and excessive tillage can be significant threats to soil quality and erosion control. Maintaining organic matter levels may be a special problem on vegetable operations that generate little crop residue.

Soil biological activity may be better under organic management than under conventional management because of the lack of pesticides, the use of diverese crop rotations, and the addition of organic amendments. Greater biological activity may partially compensate for the effects of heavy tillage. In other words, for a given amount of tillage, soil structure may be better under an organic system than under a conventional system.

Organic growers often apply compost and manure based on the nitrogen needs of plants. As in conventional systems, this practice can result in a build-up of soil phosphorus levels, which may threaten surface water quality.

In summary, soil quality and resource conservation on organically managed fields depends on the skill of the manager. The level of tillage and organic matter inputs varies widely among certified organic growers.

Return to Question

8. Do certified organic growers automatically meet USDA conservation program rules?

Not necessarily. National standards state that organic growers must protect soil and water quality, prevent erosion, and support wildlife habitat. Generally, organic farmers are very interested in and committed to land stewardship. However, they are not required to document conservation outcomes in the way that USDA programs require. For example, they are not required to use RUSLE to estimate erosion rates and they may not be required to test soil or manure for nutrient levels. Organic certification guidelines tend to specify practices rather than outcomes.

Return to Question

9. Are Conservation Practice Standards consistent with organic practices?

The national practice standards, by and large, do not conflict with organic production practices. On the other hand, because they are written in general terms, the national standards provide only limited technical assistance for organic growers. 

Return to Question

10. How does the Farm Bill impact organic growers?

Organic growers should consider participation in any of the Farm Bill conservation programs. EQIP and the Conservation Security Program (CSP) may be the most broadly applicable. Several states use funds from EQIP or other programs to specifically target support to growers who are transitioning to organic certification. The Conservation Security Program may be well suited to organic producers.

Return to Question

11. At the local level, how can I help organic growers?

Organic growers differ from conventional growers both in the way they farm and in the way they market. So be prepared to refer farmers to local sources of both marketing and production information.

With regard to marketing, organic growers need information about the market demands that already exist, and they need help organizing and networking so they can deliver products to those markets.

With regard to production, three practices that are most likely to improve land stewardship on organic operations are:

Extra outreach may be required for organic growers who may not be accustomed to working with federal programs. For help explaining key points about NRCS services, see: "What Organic Producers Need to Know about NRCS and Conservation Programs".

When possible, work to improve interaction among organic and conventional growers. Both groups have skills that are useful to the other, but communication is often blocked by mistrust or lack of awareness.

Return to Question

12. At the state level, how can NRCS help organic growers?

  • Cooperate with organic agriculture organizations to promote NRCS and ensure that NRCS technical assistance (including State conservation practice standards) meet their specific needs.
  • Ensure organic growers are represented on the state technical committee so rules can be written to either target organic growers or to avoid excluding them inadvertently.
  • Provide training to field staff on how to integrate programs and practices with organic regulations.

Many states already support organic agriculture in a variety of ways. Here are examples from Minnesota: 

  • MN-NRCS participated in the development of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), based on the national NRCS MOU with the Organic Trade Association. The Minnesota MOU was signed by NRCS, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the University of Minnesota (UMN), and UMN Extension.
  • MN-NRCS and RC&D staff have access to ongoing training opportunities such as one-day workshops and the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference. NRCS is participating on a steering team of a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) professional development program to provide regional organic training throughout Minnesota.
  • MN-NRCS worked with the UMN Southwest Research and Outreach Center to present workshops and tours at the Center's 120-acre certified organic research farm.
  • MN-NRCS is using EQIP funds to support farmers transitioning to organic production, and is considering providing funds to pay for maintenance of buffer zones to protect organic integrity, provide habitat, and prevent soil erosion.
  • State-level staff participate in the Statewide Organic Network.

Return to Question

< Back to Soil Quality Management | Organic Agriculture and Resource Conservation