What the Standards say about weed management

Section 205.206 of the NOP Standards requires the use of crop rotations, sanitation and cultural practices to prevent weed problems and enhance crop competitiveness. Weeds may also be managed through the use of mulches, mowing, livestock grazing, mechanical cultivation, hand weeding, and thermal or flame weeding.

If—and only if—these methods are insufficient, there is a short list of organic- approved herbicides you can turn to, provided you comply with any restrictions and document where and how you used them in your Organic System Plan. (Most of these are cost prohibitive on all but the highest-value crops.)  

The Organic System Plan forms also ask about your monitoring and evaluation practices with regard to weed management: the effectiveness of your weed management plan, how you evaluate that effectiveness and whether you're planning any changes. If you're like me, you shouldn't have any trouble stating what your problem weeds are!  

Any weed management inputs you use should be listed on your Field History Sheet. It's a good idea to keep records of cultivation passes and other mechanical weed-management practices as well. These can be as simple as a field log or working calendar to record tillage, planting, cultivation and other jobs. The organic inspector will be checking to see that your stated weed- management methods bear a plausible relationship to your observed weed pressure.