I think the EWC debate is really interesting...
I am an avid reader/researcher on all things organic agriculture, and from everything I have read about Veganics, the "Vegan Organic Network", which certifies farms as "stock free" have a ban on using worm castings. They even have some restrictions on using plant based teas for fertilizer. It seems they want the majority of the fertility to come from the use of legume based cover crops, as well as farm produced vegetable compost.
I would love to use all these techniques on my own land, but the trouble is, I have a couple chickens and a worm bin, and I am not about to stop using/composting these wonderful, free, home produced amendments in order to fit into some label. But the underlying principal, being, that you get the majority of your fertility through cover crops and rotations, is very cool indeed.
The medical cannabis community has allot of work to do in these areas...There are literally hundreds of potential cover crop plants/compost plants to experiment with.
Lately I have been thinking about experimenting with Yellow Sweet Clover in raised beds for the outdoor crops, used in rotation, it grows for 1 1/2 seasons, gets HUGE and you can cut it multiple times a season for composting, and it also has a huge nitrogen fixing root system. After the plant dies back, the roots and all the nitrogen it fixed, will slowly rot back into the soil, creating tons of "humus pathways" for our medical plants to feed off the following season.
I am also really interested in trying a technique called undersowing. Basically that is, using small growing clovers (white dutch for instance) to create a "carpet" under the larger crops. The benefits being nitrogen fixation, and moisture conservation.
Any ever tried something like this?