Some organic crop farmers don’t want crops raised without soil in hydroponic greenhouses to carry the “organic” label, and to make their point, they dumped a pile of compost in a parking lot Monday where a federal advisory board dedicated to the organic community was meeting.
A handful of tractors circled the lot and about 50 protesters carried signs that oppose federal rules that allow some produce grown without soil to be labeled as organic.
But others said the designation as organic shouldn’t have anything to do with where the crops are grown. The National Organic Standards Board is meeting in Stowe this week.