Forgive my cross-posting, I thought this news today might get lost in the far more important quake/tsunami stories. I don't think it affects many home gardeners, but it sure does consumers of CA organic produce, such as myself.

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Organic fertilizer maker accused of using synthetic chemicals

By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times

March 11, 2011

To organic farmers, Kenneth Noel Nelson Jr. was the man with the golden manure: It was rich with Mother Nature's finest waste, robust for the soil and cheap in price.

But to federal prosecutors in California, Nelson's organic fertilizer empire had developed a stench.

On Thursday a federal grand jury indicted Nelson on 28 counts of mail fraud in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to dupe farmers and agriculture product distributors. The indictment accused Nelson, 57, of selling premium-priced liquid fertilizer touted as made from all-natural products such as fish meal and bird guano that instead was spiked with far cheaper synthetic chemicals.

The scheme, according to the federal indictment, enabled Nelson to become the largest purveyor of organic fertilizer to farmers in the western half of the U.S. and pull in at least $9 million in sales from 2003 to 2009.

This is the second indictment of an organic fertilizer producer in California in the last five months. It also has fueled fears among some farmers about possible contamination of their pristine fields and has raised questions about whether consumers bought produce that was billed as organic but may not have met federal organic requirements. Many consumers who opt to pay a premium for organic goods do so because they don't want pesticides and synthetic chemicals to be used in the production of their food....

...In the tight-knit world of organic farming, Nelson and his company, Port Organic Products Ltd., were well-known. He owned several ventures to sell fertilizer to the green-farming community, including Kern County-based AgroMar Inc., Sail-On Ag Products Inc., Desert Organic Express Inc., Action Fertilizer and Microbial Assisted Soil Health Inc.

Here is a link that might be useful: LA Times