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Farmers who are new to organic certification sometimes make mistakes when interpreting the Organic Materials Review Institute’s (OMRI) list.
The OMRI Listed seal appears on over 10,000 products – but just because an input is OMRI listed does not necessarily mean you can use that product freely.
There are 3 categories of inputs in the OMRI product database:
Prohibited inputs are the most straightforward: using a prohibited input makes a field ineligible for organic certification.
While you can use Restricted items on your organic certified plots, the item must be listed in your farm’s Organic System Plan, with an annotation explaining how you will comply with the requirements for use.
Common restrictions include the following:
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For many disease and pest management products, you must show that you are using other management or cultural practices to proactively prevent the problem, and not just applying this input as a first line defense — for example managing weeds or using row covers to exclude pests.
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For micronutrients, you need a recent soil or tissue test showing a deficiency for that nutrient.
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Many inputs carry the restriction that it not be overapplied, and be applied in a way that avoids the input accumulating in the soil and knocking the soil nutrients out of balance
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Fertilizers are often listed with the restriction that the product “must be applied in a manner that does not contribute to the contamination of crops, soil or water.”
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