What? We Got a Notice of Noncompliance?

I am sure as an Outstanding Organic Farmer you have never gotten one of these letters. If you have, then you know that the first thought running through your mind is that you about to lose your certificate! Even though I know better it was still a thought that was at the front of my mind and the second thought was, “what will all my organic farmers think about me?”

Well, it is not the end of the world, and it certainly didn’t kick our Organic Research Acres out of the “world of organics.” We just messed up and Yisel with NICS had to take us to the “woodshed” for a little organic discipline. I hope you never have to go there but I did survive!

What did we do? Well, we let some time slip by and forgot to provide some documentation on seeds and seed sources, have labels for organic materials we used and notify them of a change to our Organic System Plan! Just a minor infraction of NOP rules – at least that was my opinion……. NICS didn’t quite see it that way and I had to quickly get my act together and provide some documents.

Fortunately, I did have all the documents (except my non-GMO seed letter from Branden Watson at Brownfield Seed and Delinting which he graciously sent me!) and sent them by email with a letter to Yisel. She was very forgiving and after review sent me this letter.

We still have to make a few changes to our storage but overall, we are in good shape and looking forward to a successful year in organic research. Yisel did say that she hopes I can avoid another notice, but she doesn’t know me very well!