What the Standards say about seeds and plants
Section 205.204 of the NOP Standards states that producers "must use organically grown seeds, annual seedlings, and planting stock." This is the basic goal you should keep in mind. There are, however, a number of exceptions:
1. Untreated, non-organic seeds or planting stock may be used if organic seeds or planting stock of a given or equivalent variety are not commercially available.
2. Non-organic seeds and planting stock treated with a permitted synthetic substance may be used if untreated seeds or planting stock of a given or equivalent variety are not available.
3. Non-organic annual seedlings or transplants can be used with special permission in the case of natural disaster or for research purposes (see §205.290).
4. For perennial crops, non-organic planting stock can be used, but the plants need to be managed organically for at least a year before any organic crop can be sold.
5. Seeds, annual seedlings and planting stock treated with prohibited materials may be used when such use is required by state or federal phytosanitary regulations.
Note that organic seed must be used for the production of edible sprouts.
Two key phrases in the points listed above are "commercially available" and "equivalent variety." The standards leave it up to the certifier to determine whether a given variety was commercially available and whether you made a good-faith effort to find organic seeds to fit your cropping plan.
A common rule of thumb is to try three potential sources before resorting to non-organic seed. Keep copies of telephone notes, emails and other correspondence documenting your efforts to source organic seeds. The organic inspector will want to see this documentation.
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