Conventional Canadian seeds in organic cover crop - Ask Extension
I am trying to rotate in a difficult to find cover crop on my organic operation. The cover crop in question is untreated-conventional, and I can only...
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Conventional Canadian seeds in organic cover crop #780582
Asked January 21, 2022, 1:59 PM EST
I am trying to rotate in a difficult to find cover crop on my organic operation. The cover crop in question is untreated-conventional, and I can only locate the seed in Canada. Are there any prohibitions against using Canadian seed in an organic operation? If you can find a citation for your answer that would be even better!
Oakland County Michigan
Expert Response
Hi Brian,
I am not aware of any prohibitions on use of Canadian seed in organic production. If it passes the regulations to bring the seed into the US and as you have stated it is conventional and untreated it should be fine. The guidance for organic seed can be found at https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/5029.pdf.
Now, that being said, the final say on what you use in your organic system is your organic inspector. I always recommend for issues like this that you contact your inspector from your organic certifier to make sure there are no surprises.
Dean Baas
Michigan State University Extension
