Washington–SafeLawns.org held a rally at the nation’s capitol recently to generate more support for its “million acre challenge,” aimed at getting homeowners across the country to pledge to stop using chemical fertilizers. Part of the organization’s more than 150 members and supporters, including some who belong to the American Horticulture Society, heard their founder, author Paul Tukey, announce that four acres of the National Mall are now growing organically thanks to the cooperation of the National Parks Service. “This will provide a side-by-side comparison of what organic care can do as opposed to the traditional synthetic chemical techniques,” Tukey told Green Markets. Tukey, who wrote The Organic Lawn Care Manual and started the web site SafeLawns.org in February 2006, claims chemical fertilizers are “just as bad as chemical pesticides, leaching into the ground and water and killing off beneficial soil organisms.” In addition, Tukey claims 40 pounds of chemical fertilizer contains the same amount of fossil fuel it takes to produce three gallons of gasoline. He promises that the organic way can keep lawns green even during drought, declaring that “if you avoid synthetic chemical fertilizers and switch to compost and organic fertilizers you’ll reduce the need for watering by up to 75 percent by helping the soil to store water and the grass stay green.” Also, the need for nitrogen is overstated, he insists, “because lawns don’t need synthetic nitrogen when there are organic ways to produce it.” Kathy Mathers, TFI Vice President, took issue with SafeLawn claims. “If you look at SafeLawn’s list of sponsors, it is full of commercial ventures in the organic market,” Mathers told Green Markets. “That’s fine, but where is the science behind their claims about commercial fertilizers? We have internationally recognized product testing data on 23 major fertilizer products which shows that when managed properly, fertilizers pose no harm to human health or the environment. Lawns (or crops for that matter) can’t tell the difference between commercial or organic nutrients (in fact some commercial fertilizers are on the approved organic list) and the most important thing for all homeowners to know is that management of all nutrient sources is key to protecting the environment.”
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain