Keegan Athey

This author has written 15 articles

Compost is a key input for many CNG farms, helping farmers improve their soil structure, fertility, tilth, organic matter levels, microbiology, and overall health. The benefits are many, but so are the challenges. From understanding CNG’s in-depth compost standards to the myriad issues farmers face when sourcing or making their own compost, farmers have their work cut out for them. Let’s see if we can clear up the standards confusion and highlight some best practices, so that we can ensure that we’re all responsibly able to utilize the organic matter around us to support our soils.

We’ll start with the basics—so what is the difference between compost and manure? Compost is organic material that has been biologically broken down (decayed) into a relatively homogenous, stable soil amendment. It’s essentially the process of creating soil humus. Manure is, well, poop—digested organic material that has not yet decayed or broken down. Aged manure is not compost, it is simply manure that has sat in a pile for a while, off-gassed some ammonia, and begun to partially break down. Compost is not defined by how long material sits, it is based on environmental conditions that the adept composter carefully manages, including: moisture, oxygen, carbon to nitrogen ratio, and temperature.

Farmers have some choices when it comes to applying compost or manure and there are several important considerations for each. Farmers can:

  • source compliant compost from a reputable source,
  • set up their own compost system,
  • or forget about compost and just apply manure.

Whether purchasing finished compost or composting on the farm, folks should pay close attention to the CNG compost rules.

Compost

CNG’s compost standards are based on National Organic Program (NOP), EPA, and FDA guidelines for food safety. If a farmer wants to apply farm-produced compost that includes manure, they’ll need to monitor the initial C:N ratio, take temperature readings, and turn the pile often to ensure that their compost is properly finished. If they can’t meet the compost requirements, the compost must be considered raw manure and applied using the 90/120 “manure rule” or applied only to non-produce crops (hay, landscape, pasture, cover crop, etc.).

CNG Compost standard for manure-based compost

205.203. Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard
(i) established an initial C:N ratio of between 25:1 and 40:1; and
(ii) maintained a temperature of between 131 F and 170 F for 3 days using an in-vessel or static aerated pile system
(iii) maintained a temperature of between 131F and 170F for 15 days using a windrow composting system, during which period, the materials must be turned a minimum of five times.

Lots of CNG farmers definitely struggle to meet these requirements or have alternative compost systems that don’t quite fit into the standards. This is understandable, but for food safety and consumer transparency reasons, CNG (and the NOP) require compliance with these standards. Also, in order to comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule farmers need to adhere to the same standards.

Many folks choose to apply their homemade compost using the 90/120 rule or only apply it to their landscape, hay fields, etc. since they struggle to meet the standards. Then they purchase a compliant, finished compost for their produce compost needs.

The other option for on-farm composters is to keep any animal materials out of their compost, so no chicken bedding, bones, manure, etc. (Eggshells are ok). Plant-based compost does not pose a significant food safety risk and is not regulated by the standards.

Farmers sourcing compost need to ensure that the compost they’re buying is properly composted (i.e. following the compost standard) and doesn’t contain prohibited additives or ingredients. Just a phone call or email to your compost supplier should do the trick.

Manure

When applying manure use the 90/120 “manure rule.” Apply (i.e. spread on the field, not left sitting in a pile) manure at least 120 days before harvest for crops on the soil surface (greens, un-trellised tomatoes, strawberries, etc.) and at least 90 days before harvest for crops not in contact with the soil (trellised tomatoes, corn, apples, etc.). When in doubt, go with 120 days. 

Applying manure in the fall is often the easiest way to adhere to the 90/120 rule, but can cause some issues if managed improperly. All farmers should have strategies in place to prevent nutrient runoff, but take special care if you live in an area with significant winter precipitation, have a sloping property, or farm near waterways. A great way to combat winter runoff and leaching is to apply your manure (or compost) and then plant a fall cover crop right into it. The cover crop will stabilize the soil and take up any available nutrients vulnerable to runoff and save them for you. Let’s keep our hard-earned nutrients in the soil and out of our waterways!

FAQs

  • Does my compost have to contain only manure from organic/naturally grown animals or food scraps from all-organic crops?
    • We get this question a lot! In short, No. Compost is compost, providing it does not contain added synthetic fertilizers or other additives. You should, of course, pay attention to what goes into your compost pile, but you don’t need to ensure that every single egg shell, carrot peel or cow pat was from an organic source. Make use of the organic matter you have and let the power of composting do the rest! Just make sure you’re composting properly and pay special attention to hay, straw, and manure that could contain persistent herbicides like clopyralids. These do not break down well, even in the composting process, and can cause serious issues for veggie growers.
  • Are biosolids or humanure allowed?
    • No. Human waste, treated or not, is prohibited to be used in any way on a CNG farm. Municipal compost does sometimes contain biosolids, so be sure to ask your municipality specifically.
  • Is mushroom compost allowed? What about worm compost?
    • Absolutely! Both fungi and worms are incredible digesters/composters and do a way better job creating awesome compost than your average backyard pile. These types of compost are so high quality that they’re often used in potting mix and soil blocks.
  • Does my purchased compost need to be OMRI-listed?
    • No. OMRI-listed compost is awesome, but not widely available in farm-scale amounts, especially in rural areas. Look for suppliers who are paying attention to C:N ratios, turning schedules, temperatures and don’t add any weird stuff like chemical fertilizers. Landscape companies, dairies, chicken houses, and municipalities can all be good places to look for compost. Ask your farmer and gardener friends about their favorite compost sources and try it out before you buy a bunch.
  • Can you use too much compost?
    • Yes, but it depends. Over-applying compost, especially manure-based compost, can cause phosphorus and sodium accumulation in your soils. Keep an eye on your soil tests and get frequent analyses of your compost too. Many farmers who feel that they’ve been applying too much manure-based compost over time, are switching to high carbon compost, often made from mostly wood chips, straw, leaves, and other brown matter, with little to no manure. It’s good to switch it up. Especially if you’re no-till and rely on heavy annual compost applications, change your sources up. Try some dairy compost one year and some high carbon compost the next. Or take a year off and up your cover crop game. You’ll help stave off unwanted salt accumulation and get to nerd out watching how your soil and crops react to different organic material sources.

Resources

The amount of awesome resources out there on composting is boundless, but here are a few of our faves:

Please reach out to the certification specialist with any questions or to add to our compost resource list—we’re here to help!

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As CNG farmers, we all know that seed sourcing matters. Growers must purchase organic or CNG seed unless the variety they need is not available in an organic form, after checking with at least three viable organic seed suppliers. We also know that we need to grow our transplants using organic inputs.

But what about other types of planting stock? Onions? Garlic? Sweet potatoes? Flower bulbs? Perennials? Do these need to be sourced from an organic or CNG supplier too?

In short, YES!

There has been a fair amount of confusion in our community around CNG’s requirements regarding the sourcing of conventional plant material. Hopefully we can clear up some of this confusion here.

Any plant material that a CNG farmer uses that will be marketed as a CNG crop should be obtained from an organic source whenever possible. So the pansies in the front yard of a CNG livestock producer who does not sell flowers can get ’em wherever! But the onion transplants and seed potatoes of a CNG produce farmer, those should be organic.

We’ll go into detail about a few of the most commonly confused crops and then outline some options for growers struggling to find organic sources.

Onions

Onions are annual crops grown from transplants or seed. Therefore, like all annual transplants, onion plants must be purchased from an organic or verified naturally grown source.

Hot tip—if you’re not sure if a plant or seed is organic based on the company’s website (i.e. it doesn’t clearly say “organic”) the plant or seed is very likely conventional. Companies work hard to source organic plant materials and get to charge more, so they are motivated to label their products accordingly. If you’re not sure, ask!

Onion transplants are different from onion sets which are tiny, cured onion bulbs that were grown out the previous year. Very few commercial growers use onions sets as the variety selection is very limited and suppliers are few and far between. CNG does have an exception for growers planting true onion seta—they are covered under the seed standard.

Most CNG and organic farmers choose to grow their onion transplants from seed since sourcing organic plants can be difficult and pricy. Large-scale growers in some areas even direct seed their onions.

Garlic, Potatoes, and More

Garlic and seed potatoes are considered seed and therefore covered under the CNG seed standard. (Remember how we were saying earlier that everyone knows the seed standard)? Well, here’s a recap.

  1. No GMOs ever.
  2. No chemically-treated seeds.
  3. Seed (and other crops covered under the seed standard) must be CNG, organic, or confirmed naturally grown whenever they are commercially available. So if you check with at least three major seed sources and still can’t find the variety you need, you can use conventionally grown seed.

These rules apply to regular seeds, plus these crops when they are grown as annuals: seed potatoes, sweet potato slips, day-neutral strawberry slips, ginger, turmeric, garlic and flower bulbs.

Garlic and seed potatoes should be pretty straightforward to find naturally grown, depending on your scale. If you are using conventional garlic seed or seed potatoes, you probably can find an organic source, even if you have to pay extra for shipping.

Sorry, cost is not a justification for using conventional plant material. We want to be supported as producers of CNG crops, so it’s important for us to support organic seed growers too! These folks are breeding and selecting their seed crops in organic conditions, which can make a big difference in the resiliency, yield, uniformity, and even flavor of your crops.

Happily, you can save your own seed, garlic, seed potatoes, etc., saving money and selecting for the traits you want on your farm.

Dahlias tubers are getting easier to find organically as well, so look around! For more details on flower bulb sourcing and other tips, flower farmers should check out our Considerations for Flower Growers page.

Perennials

Sourcing naturally grown plants for perennial crops (including flowers, herbs, fruit trees, berries, etc.) can be very challenging and even impossible in some cases. Therefore CNG and the NOP (National Organic Program) allow growers to source conventional perennial plants if a naturally grown source cannot be found. Growers using conventional perennial plants should document the other suppliers they checked with, just like in a seed search.

The caveat is that the conventional perennial plants cannot be represented or sold as a CNG crop until a year from the planting date. So the CNG farmer needs to grow the plants out and manage them according to CNG guidelines for at least a year before selling them as CNG.

For a great story about a CNG farmer who turned her plant-sourcing snafu into an awesome learning experience for both fellow farmers and customers, check out Kat the Farmer’s blog, “An Herb Debacle.”

Labeling

What can I do if I can’t find (or don’t want to pay for) organic/CNG planting stock?

Ideally, all the products produced on your farm should be included in your CNG certification, but this is not always possible. The most common way to deal with this issue is to exclude the crop or product from certification. This is a relatively common practice especially for:

  • flower growers who are sourcing lots of perennial transplants that may start producing within the first year;
  • livestock producers who certify their broilers, but not their hogs due to livestock sourcing issues;
  • produce growers who need to use treated seed for their sweet corn;
  • or larger scale, multi-enterprise operations (e.g. a vineyard with lavender fields, sheep, and cut flowers).

The key here is clear labeling. Any crops excluded from certification must be labeled as “not CNG” when marketed. Some growers just have a chalkboard at market that they write any products that are not CNG. For example: “This week, all the flowers in your bouquet are CNG, except the foxgloves.” Folks online marketing or selling wholesale can communicate this on their websites or through marketing emails. The important thing is that farms are being transparent with their customers, and labeling is the ticket!

Resources

The crew at CNG realizes that these are tricky, sticky issues and that it can be confusing to navigate the standards and discover appropriate plant material sources. We are here to help! Please reach out to the certification specialist by email or use the contact form below.

Though this is by no means a complete list, we’ve included a couple of the most common suppliers of organic planting stock for some of the trickier crops. For a list of seed suppliers, visit our Seed Suppliers page.

Here are a few sources we like:

Ginger & turmeric: Biker Dude Puna Organics, Kolokai Organic Farm

Seed potatoes: Wood Prairie Family Farm, Mythic Farm, Grand Teton Organics, Nature’s Circle Farm, Sprout Mountain Farms

Onions and other annual transplants: Banner Greenhouse,  Windcrest Organics, Sunbelt Transplants

Perennial transplants: Hillcrest Nursery

Strawberries: Peaceful Valley, Innovative Organic Nursery

Garlic: Your favorite organic seed company, contact a CNG garlic farmer, Keene Organic Garlic

We are working on creating a more complete list of suppliers to add to our website, so please send your favorite sources our way!

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We are so excited to announce the launch of the newly-rebuilt Certified Naturally Grown website.

Certified Naturally Grown farmers can create and personalize their farm profile on the website. Because this is a completely new platform, all farmers will need to reset their passwords in order to access their accounts. Instructions are available below in both text and video format.

If you still need help after completing the instructions, please use our tech support contact form.

 

Instructions:

Reset Your Password

    1. Navigate to the CNG site login page.

    2. Click lost password below the login form and enter the email you originally used to create your CNG account.

    3. Complete the lost password steps: an email will be sent to you with a password reset link in it. (If you don’t see the email, make sure to check your spam folder). Click that link to reset your password on the site.

    4. Once you’ve reset your password, login again with your new password.

Personalize your farm profile 

    1. Now that you’re logged in, you’ll see “Dashboard” in the top menu. This will take you to to your awesome new CNG dashboard interface!

    2. From here you’ll be able to edit your profile, submit a declaration, pay dues, and eventually view your applications. For today’s purposes: on the far right with the orange location pin icon, locate your farm name linked in the bottom of the text under “Farm or Apiary Profile” and click the link.

    3. Click the orange Edit button on the top of the profile.

    4. In the “Farm Information” section, write to your heart’s content, focusing especially on Description*. When you’re finished, click Next.

    5. Upload any desired photos, paying attention to the maximum file size. Make sure to click “save changes.”

    6. That’s it! Be sure to share your profile with customers and link to it from your farm’s website and social media. This is where they can come to validate your certification and how locals can find you from our searchable map!

 

All CNG members can receive three free market signs when they complete the annual certification requirements. You can choose from any of these designs and show your CNG pride! Use the contact form below or email cathy@naturallygrown.org to request your signs.

(The sign names on the request form are listed in the order they appear above, from left to right).

Date — March 2, 2023

Time — 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Location — Connects Workspace, 1301 Arapahoe St. Golden, CO

Dinner and Networking — 6:00 – 6:15 pm

Presentation by CNG and Q&A — 6:30 – 7:00 pm

Learn about our production standards, peer review inspection, marketing benefits, and the myriad resources we offer farmers in our community.

CNG Application Workshop — 7:00 – 7:30 pm

Ready to apply? Bring your laptop and get direct application support from CNG and GoFarm staff.

Please RSVP here and email Jess@gofarm.org if you have any questions. Hope to see you there!

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