Hydroponics — Organic or not?

Hydroponics is a type of agriculture that involves growing plants, typically crops, without soil. Plants are grown in mineral nutrient solutions and inert media (like perlite, gravel, mineral wool, and others) may be used to provide support, to which mineral solutions are added. The fact that is it a soil-less type of agriculture causes some serious issues when it comes to organic products.

In the EU, the legal framework for organic products and organic production currently prevents products grown hydroponically from being certified as organic. This is explicitly mentioned in article 4 Regulation (EU) 889/2008, which clearly and simply states “hydroponic production is prohibited”. Only products which have been grown in soil can get organic certification. On 1 January 2022, after a one-year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Regulation (EU) 2018/848 is due to enter into force, bringing ad updated and more modern legal framework to organic production. However, things are not going to change, as Annex I, part I, paragraph 1.1 of said regulation once again explicitly prevents products grown hydroponically from being labeled as organic. As a matter of fact, the previous paragraph 1.1 requires organic products to be “produced in living soil, or in living soil mixed or fertilized with materials and products allowed in organic production, in connection with the subsoil and bedrock”. Conditions…