When purchasing organic tomato seeds for growing in commercial production or as a home gardener, the seeds should be from a certified grower where they are listed as organic. Farmers who grow this type of produce do so without artificial fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides or any other types of artificial production.
To be a grower of this kind, it may take several years to qualify for this status. A person cannot just begin farming in this method, it takes time to allow for the soil to adjust, especially where artificial products such as fertilizer and treatments have been used and are finally removed from the land that a farmer wants to grow the produce in.
Any water on the property used for this project also has to have a check done to assess for any artificial contaminants. If this turns up as a positive result, then step are taken so that the water like the soil will also be return to its natural state.
Anyone embarking on a project of this kind needs to develop a management plan which will help with any changes that are necessary. These plans once developed are put into practice and used over a period of time during the pre conversion process, this is the usual practice where a grower wants to grow produce under the certification rules.
If a farmer wants to grow other crops this practice may be allowed providing these crops are not grown on the same land as the organic produce. The crops also have to be unrelated, and it must be demonstrated that there will be no risk of any cross contamination occurring from the inorganic plants.
To become a grower of this type of produce a number of records need to be kept, such as a history of cropping, soil test, what fertilizer has been used, this must organic whether it is animal manure or mulch hay products etc, and pest and disease monitoring, as well as a number of other records, which have to be produced when the certifier pays a visit.
Once conversion is completed and all levels of the certification process have been passed, the grower is then listed as a certified producer and may sell the tomato seed on the market as organic. This allows anyone buying the seed to do so with confidence as the seed cannot be listed under this label if it is grown in any other manner.
Want to find out more about organic tomato seeds, then visit Chad Perry’s site on how to choose the best organic vegetable seeds for your home vegetable and fruit garden.