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Synthetic fertilizer used by some organic farmers
SACRAMENTO December 29, 2008 6:52am 
• Were unwitting victims of supplier, slow regulators • Took years for state to complete its investigation Some California farmers poured tons of fertilizer on their organic crops for years, not knowing the supposedly organic fertilizer was spiked with a synthetic chemical, the Sacramento Bee reveals in an investigation.
The additive, ammonium sulfate, is commonly used in non-organic farming. But organic growers eschew such additives -- marketing and pricing their produce accordingly.
Unbeknownst to the farmers, the fertilizer made from chicken feathers and fish also had a dose of ammonium sulfate.
The state ultimately discovered the problem in 2004, but failed to tell organic farmers that what they had been using for years was not organic, the Bee says.
It took from June 2004 to January 2007 for the California Department of Food and Agriculture to investigate the problem at the single manufacturer of the product, California Liquid Fertilizer, the Bee says it determined from sifting through records released only after it filed Public Records Act demands to see them.
The company was ordered to stop selling its product as organic in January 2007 but the CDFA kept silent about the problem, the Bee says, for another nearly 18 months.
No penalties were assessed the company, other than the order to stop selling the fertilizer into the organic market. CDFA spokesman Steve Lyle told the Bee that the case was complex and that seeking civil or criminal penalties would have delayed getting the fertilizer off the organic market.
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