2014 Mississippi Code
Title 69 - AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND ANIMALS
Chapter 47 - ORGANIC CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
§ 69-47-5 - Certification required for sale of organic food; farm plan; tissue testing of crops; fields under organic management to have distinct and defined boundaries; soil fertility, water residue, and plant-tissue test results; certification rating system; technical assistance to applicant [Repealed effective July 1, 2013]

(1) Any producer who sells or intends to sell organic food shall apply to be organically certified in accordance with this chapter.

(2) (a) An applicant for certification must document that the land, individual field or greenhouse units to be certified shall be managed organically. Documentation for certification shall be in the form of a detailed, three-year farm plan for land, fields or units and in a format acceptable under the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program standards. The application shall be reviewed by the organic certification program director.

(b) An applicant for certification may seek the aid of the Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service, which shall be the organic assisting agent to provide technical assistance and information in the application process to ensure that the necessary requirements of the application are met before submission to the certifier for approval. The organic assisting agent shall meet the requirements established by the United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program standards before providing such assistance or offering any training to individuals in the area of organic farming.

(3) The farm plan shall include:

(a) Rotation and nutrient-stabilization plans for each field or unit under organic management;

(b) One-year, agronomic field-by-field crop practice and spray plans for each field or unit of the farm which is organically managed;

(c) A map of the field to be organically managed which also indicates all buffer zones and their width, with a buffer zone separating land managed organically from other cultivated agricultural land and a buffer zone separating greenhouse units managed organically from other units;

(d) A description of facility and methods that shall be used to keep organically managed crops and livestock from post-harvest segregated from nonorganically managed crops and livestock;

(e) A description of facilities and methods that will be used to keep farm equipment from contaminating organically managed fields; and

(f) A description of facilities and methods that shall be used to store and handle prohibited materials separately from permitted materials.

(4) A crop grown in an organically managed field, any part of which is located in close proximity to a field to which a prohibited pesticide has been applied, shall be tissue-tested for residues of that pesticide before the harvest of the organic crop.

(5) A field that is part of a farm shall not be certified as organically managed unless there exist distinct, defined boundaries between fields under organic management and other fields.

(6) Land that has no previous history as cultivated cropland, orchard or improved pasture, and that is being converted to organic for the sole purpose of replacing land abandoned because of chemical contamination or depleted fertility resulting from previous farm-management practices shall not be certified.

(7) An applicant for certification may present soil fertility test results for each field or greenhouse unit to be certified initially and every third year thereafter.

(8) An applicant may also present the results of water residue and plant-tissue tests as required by the department.

(9) The department shall not provide technical assistance to any applicant in the preparation of an application or development of a farm plan for certification or recertification as an organic farming operation, except in those instances in which the organic assisting agent lacks the ability to provide such assistance and defers its ability to do so to the department. The department shall be responsible for approving application for certification, managing and administering the certification program, performing inspections of records, products and organic farming fields to determine compliance with this chapter, the enforcement of the penalties for violations thereof, and any other duties for the necessary implementation of this chapter for which they have authority and which do not create a conflict of interest.