Hydroponic food allowed to use ‘organic’ labels, court says

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Hydroponic organic labels overview: 

• Who: The Ninth Circuit has upheld a decision to continue allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to let hydroponic food growers label their food as “organic.” 
• Why: The judges disagreed with claims from traditional food farmers that hydroponic food cannot be considered organic. 
• Where: The case is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

The Ninth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s decision to let the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continue allowing hydroponic food growers to label their food products as “organic.” 

Hydroponic food growers came under fire from traditional organic farmers arguing that food that is grown hydroponically can not be considered organic, Law360 reports. 

Traditional food farmers brought their claims against the hydroponic food growers under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA). 

A unanimous panel of Ninth Circuit judges, meanwhile, upheld a decision against the traditional food farmers, determining that the OFPA has no rule clearly barring the USDA from banning hydroponic farmers from labeling their products as organic. 

“If the OFPA’s text clearly barred hydroponic production, we would be required to enforce it according to its terms and set aside USDA’s interpretation,” the judges write. “But no part of the statute clearly precludes organic certification of crops grown hydroponically.” 

Ninth Circuit rejects arguments claiming food must be grown in soil to be organic

The Ninth Circuit judges also rejected the traditional food farmers’ argument that food must be grown in soil to be considered organic, ruling instead that the USDA simply states requirements on soil nutrition. 

Finally, the judges turned down an argument that the USDA was in conflict with the law in the way it interpreted the OFPA, ruling it is “not a reason for us to reverse the district court, much less second guess USDA.”

“Here, USDA explained its reasoning and exercised ‘scientific judgments and technical analyses within the agency’s expertise,’ so our review ‘must be at its most deferential,'” the judges write in their opinion. 

The Center for Food Safety, along with other groups, filed a complaint against the USDA and its top officials in March 2020 after the agency rejected their petition to issue regulations prohibiting organic certification in the hydroponic food industry, Law36 reports. 

In related news, a class action lawsuit revolving around the meaning of organic was filed this month against Procter & Gamble unit This is L. Inc. over claims the company falsely advertises that its tampons are “100% organic.” 

Have you purchased food grown hydroponic organic food? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Sylvia Shih-Yau Wu of the Center for Food Safety.

The hydroponic organic labeling class action is Center for Food Safety, et al. v. Vilsack, et al., Case No. 21-15883, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

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