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What the Standards say about wildcrafting
The "Wild crop harvesting practice standard" (§205.207) is among the shortest sections in the federal organic regulation. It includes two key requirements. Crops must be harvested:
• "from a designated area that has had no prohibited substance ... applied to it for a period of three years immediately preceding the harvest of the wild crop;" and
• "in a manner that ensures that such harvesting or gathering will not be destructive to the environment and will sustain the growth and production of the wild crop."
Organic crops harvested in the wild can thus come from land that is not itself technically certified, although it must meet the same basic requirements as certified acreage. Certifiers may ask for harvest locations, field management histories, descriptions of buffer zones and/or affidavits of adjoining land use. They'll want to know about your harvesting methods and crop handling practices. If the land you're harvesting from is not your own, it's a good idea to obtain written permission from the landowner. Depending on the crop and the location, you may need to obtain other forms of documentation as well. In some states, for instance, a permit is required to collect wild ginseng. Regulations like these exist to protect wild plant resources from over- harvesting. |
To Certify?A key question for wildcrafters is whether organic status is necessary for a given market. In Missouri, for instance, a group called the Missouri Northern Pecan Growers obtained organic certification for its members' sustainably managed wild pecan groves. Ranging in size from two to 500 acres, the groves are self-sown but actively managed through thinning and pruning.
For these growers, certification has been key to market development— sales quadrupled in two years, and they've begun selling overseas. Some Native American wild rice harvesters in northern Minnesota, on the other hand, have chosen not to seek organic certification, focusing instead on fair trade and other types of authentication.
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