Winter, 2002-03 Vol. 2, No. 55 Publication of the Northeast Organic Farming Association ISSN 1077-2294 Bush Administration Sally Fallon to Poor Custodian of Keynote 2003 Summer Organic Integrity by Elizabeth Henderson ture has given her underlings no leadership at all. Conference Veneman seems to believe we can solve the ecologi- by Steve Lorenz A mere twelve years after the passage of the Or- cal problems of agriculture with biotechnology. At a ganic Foods Production Act (OFPA), USDA held its press conference in June, 2002, Veneman stated, “In The more things change, the more they stay the official “roll out” of the National Organic Program many ways, biotechnology will create, and has the same for the NOFA Summer Conference Commit- (NOP). This event makes our NOFA mission to potential to create, some of the same effects and tee: Although we’ve lost some very valuable connect local farms with local markets more urgent benefits that people have been trying to get from members from years’ past, the 2003 committee is than ever. The growth of the organic market and the organics.” The National Campaign for Sustainable coming together—due to the special leadership of conversion of some large scale farms to organic Agriculture Organic Committee, which I co-chair cornerstone coordinator Julie Rawson—and is predates the NOP, but its existence will smooth the with Michael Sligh of RAFI, has no confidence that already getting things done. trend toward the industrialization of organic produc- Bush’s USDA will avert a “shake out” of small tion and processing. Like Dale Perkins at NOFA organic farms and farmer-consumer controlled Many of you out there in NOFA land will be very summer conference fairs, we need to keep our feet certification programs. We are planning a series of pleased to hear that we have secured Sally Fallon as planted firmly on two horses - strengthening loyalty action alerts to arouse the supporters of organic our keynote speaker on Friday night August 8th. to our local farms, whether certified organic or not, farming, at a minimum, to pressure the NOP into The very popular author of the cookbook Nourish- and pressuring USDA to maintain the integrity of compliance with existing international norms for ing Traditions is also going to present at a pre- the organic label. organic accreditation and fair dealing with small conference on August 7 and 8, a la Joel Salatin. certifiers. Watch this space for more elaboration in the future, and in the meantime, create your own nourishing While the NOP was difficult to work with under the (continued on page 32) Clinton administration, Bush’s Secretary of Agricul- traditions this holiday season.
Enjoy your holidays, but please keep an eye on the future, as tis the season for booking workshops. NOP Overrules NOSB According to the coordinator: “We will be cutting back slightly on workshops and presenters in an effort to keep costs down this year.” Julie Rawson will be collecting your workshop ideas until the end Advocates Say Organic Program of December with a target date of January 31 to have the entire workshop list planned. You can contact her at [email protected] or at (978) 355-2853. Yielding to Pressure Major focus areas for workshops are all aspects of farming and gardening and also health care, politics by Jack Kittredge agriculture unless it had been individually (continued on page 32) November 24, 2002 reviewed and approved. The NOP move to overrule the NOSB is “clearly in response to Several recent decisions by Richard Mathews, industry pressure” says Maine’s Eric Sideman, Inside This Issue program director of the USDA’s National vice chair of the NOSB Materials Committee at Organic Program (NOP), have alarmed organic the time of the 1999 vote. Although some Features advocates. The program, which began operating producers are pressing for inclusion of the Interstate Council News 5 on October 21, 2002, sets the rules for certify- materials, he noted, and will be hurt if they Report on Bioneers Conference 8 ing organic farms, producers and processors. remain excluded, a much bigger problem will Taste! Organic a Success 8 Strategic Planning for NOFA 33 According to the establishing legislation, the result for the organic program if they are in- Reverence for the Future 33 Organic Food Production Act (OFPA) of 1990, cluded. “The consumers’ and certifiers’ loss of Reports on the IFOAM Conference 34 the program is overseen by a National Organic confidence that the NOP is following the Rule Public Seed Initiative - 2002 Update 35 Standards Board (NOSB) composed of unpaid will hurt much more,” he warns. Biotech: The Risks to Small Growers 38 members of the organic and scientific commu- nities. The NOSB has been meeting for several Another alarming move announced by Mathews Supplement on years to draw up lists of materials suitable and is the exclusion of “food contact substances” not suitable for use in organic food production, from review by the NOSB. “Food contact Beginning Farmers and to set policy on hundreds of issues from substances” is an FDA classification which What Does New Farmer Mean? 9 Beginning Farmers of New Hampshire 10 compost making to standards for animal access includes substrates used in the ion exchange Access to Land 12 to the out of doors. But now, fear respected process, a subject of controversy at a recent Beginning Farmer Feeds 60 Families 14 members of the organic community, those NOSB meeting. Now they will no longer be Resources for Beginning Farmers 17 NOSB policies are being undercut by NOP subject to NOSB review. Who Will Farm? 19 administrators. Credit 23 NOP Threatens NOFA/Mass The CRAFT of Farmer Training 24 Just days ago Mathews said that he intends to Organic Certification Program Beginning Farmer Priorities in Vermont 26 Learning on Five Acres 28 add “List 3 Inerts” to the National List of New Farmer Ten Years Later 30 approved substances. List 3 Inerts are the many An NOP decision with special impact in the hundreds of materials the Environmental Pro- Northeast was announced by Mathews just two Departments tection Agency (EPA) considers of “unknown weeks ago during a visit to New England. At a Editorial 2 toxicity”. They includes substances such as meeting with organic growers in Connecticut, NOFA Exchange 4 phenols, benzene, naphthalene, ureas, acetone, according to Bill Duesing, NOFA Interstate News Notes 6 chlorotoluene and piperonyl butoxide. In 1999 Council president, and several other organic Book Reviews 36 NOFA Contact People 38 the NOSB Materials Committee voted unani- farmers who also attended, the NOP program Calendar 39 mously not to allow any List 3 Inert in organic continued on page 27 2 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Where Have All the Farmers Gone? When this country was founded, only a tiny minor- In the following pages we report on the problems about what resources they are calling upon. We hope ity of our citizens did not farm. Now, 7 or 8 genera- facing new farmers and look at some of the pro- that people thinking about farming will read this tions later, only a tiny minority does. We are pro- grams available to overcome these problems. We issue and gain confidence that it can be a successful ducing far more food with far fewer people. Behind feature folks who are making a go of it and learn choice. this simple fact lies a social and economic transfor- mation of enormous significance for our culture.
But for individuals, the meaning is clear: If you want to farm, you’re going to have a hard time of it. Unless you enter the industrial farming system as a skilled labor unit, or a manager, our economy really doesn’t have a place for you.
The traditional family farmer is not viable in today’s global system. Industrial farms are underselling your product, developers are outbidding you for land, fast food is beating you for labor, competition among suppliers is eroding, and the local support system of dealers and processors you depend upon is vanishing.
This issue of The Natural Farmer is about keeping people in farming, despite the odds. For organic farmers, this seems possible. A small but resilient local market exists for organic foods, and various groups are trying to provide training, credit, land resources, and other essentials to whoever is hardy enough to survive the demands of the work.
The Natural Farmer Needs You! The Natural Farmer is the newspaper of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA). Regular members receive a subscription as part of their dues, and others may subscribe for $10 (in the US or $18 outside the US). It is published four times a year at 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005. The editors are Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson, but most of the material is either written by members or summarized by us from information people send us.
Upcoming Issue Topics - We plan a year in advance so that folks who want to write on a topic can have a lot of lead time. The next 3 issues will be:
Spring, 2003 Farm Equipment Summer, 2003 On Farm Dairies Fall, 2003 Irrigation Moving or missed an issue? The Natural Farmer will not Advertise in or Sponsor The Natural Farmer be forwarded by the post office, so you need to make sure your address is up-to-date if you move. You get your Advertisements not only bring in TNF revenue, which Frequency discounts: if you buy space in several subscription to this paper in one of two ways. Direct means less must come from membership dues, they also issues you can qualify for substantial discounts off subscribers who send us $10 are put on our data base make a paper interesting and helpful to those looking for these rates. Pay for two consecutive issues and get 10% here. These folks should send address changes to us. specific goods or services. We carry 2 kinds of ads: off each, pay for 3 and get 20% off, or pay for 4 and get Most of you, however, get this paper as a NOFA member 25% off. An ad in the NOFA Summer Conference benefit for paying your chapter dues. Each quarter every The NOFA Exchange - this is a free bulletin board Program Book counts as a TNF ad for purposes of this NOFA chapter sends us address labels for their paid service for NOFA members and TNF subscribers. Send in discount. members, which we use to mail out the issue. If you up to 100 words (business or personal) and we’ll print it moved or didn’t get the paper, your beef is with your free in the next issue. Include a price (if selling) and an Deadlines: We need your ad copy one month before the state chapter, not us. Every issue we print an updated list address or phone number so readers can contact you publication date of each issue. The deadlines are: of “NOFA Contacts” on the last page, for a handy directly. If you’re not a NOFA member, you can still send January 31 for the Spring issue reference to all the chapter names and addresses. in an ad - just send $5 along too! Send NOFA Exchange April 30 for the Summer issue ads directly to The Natural Farmer, 411 Sheldon Rd., July 31 for the Fall issue As a membership paper, we count on you for articles, art Barre, MA 01005 or (preferably) E-mail to October 31 for the Winter issue and graphics, news and interviews, photos on rural or [email protected] organic themes, ads, letters, etc. Almost everybody has a Disclaimer: Advertisers are helping support the paper special talent or knows someone who does. If you can’t Display Ads - this is for those offering products or so please support them. We cannot investigate the write, find someone who can to interview you. We’d like services on a regular basis! You can get real attention with claims of advertisers, of course, so please exercise due to keep the paper lively and interesting to members, and display ads. Send camera ready copy to Dan Rosenberg, caution when considering any product or service. If you we need your help to do it. PO Box 40, Montague, MA 01351 (413) 863-9063 and learn of any misrepresentation in one of our ads please enclose a check for the appropriate size. The sizes and inform us and we will take appropriate action. We don’t We appreciate a submission in any form, but are less rates are: want ads that mislead. likely to make mistakes with something typed than hand- Full page (15" tall by 10" wide) $240 written. To be a real gem, send it via electronic mail Half page (7 1/2" tall by 10" wide) $125 Sponsorships: Individuals or organizations wishing to ([email protected]) or enclose a computer disk One-third page (7 1/2" tall by 6 1/2" wide) $85 sponsor The Natural Farmer may do so with a payment (MacIntosh or PC in Microsoft Word ideally.) Also, any One-quarter page (7 1/2" tall by 4 7/8" wide) $65 of $200 for one year (4 issues). In return, we will thank graphics, photos, charts, etc. you can enclose will almost One-sixth page (7 1/2" tall by 3 1/8" wide), or the sponsor in a special area of page 3 of each issue, certainly make your submission more readable and (3 3/4" tall by 6 1/2" wide) $45 and feature the sponsor’s logo or other small insignia. informative. If you have any ideas or questions, one of us Business card size (1 1/2" tall by 3 1/8" wide) $12 is usually near the phone - (978) 355-2853, fax: (978) Contact for Display Ads or Sponsors: Send display 355-4046 Note: These prices are for camera ready copy. If you want ads or sponsorships with payment to our advertising any changes we will be glad to make them - or to type set manager Dan Rosenberg, PO Box 40, Montague, MA ISSN 1077-2294 a display ad for you - for $10 extra. Just send us the text, 01351. If you have questions, or want to reserve space, copyright 2002, any graphics, and a sketch of how you want it to look. contact Dan at (413) 863-9063 or Northeast Organic Farming Association Include a check for the space charge plus $10. [email protected]. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 3 An Appeal to Readers by Jack Kittredge
This issue brings Julie and me to the end of 15 years as editors of this paper. It has been a wonderful opportunity to do important work and serve a cause in which we very much believe. Thanks for giving us this wonderful job!
We hope to continue in this job as long as we are able and you like our work. This Fall, however, NOFA-NY de- cided to eliminate the Natural Farmer as a benefit of membership and, instead, to make subscribing an option for a separate $10 fee. This could mean the loss of up to a quarter of our subscribers and puts us in a precarious financial position. For us to keep publishing at our current level of pages and frequency, we are hoping to earn your help in any of the following ways.
If you think the paper is a useful vehicle for articles on organic growing, food issues, and national agricultural policy, consider giving a gift subscription to a friend or relative. At $10 per year it is a great value! A form on the inside back page gives details.
If you recall an issue that you have lost, or would like to give to a friend, you can now purchase a back issue of The Natural Farmer. A form on the inside back page gives details.
If you have a farm or business (or know of one) which might advertise in or sponsor this paper, please consider it. The rates are quite low and the readership is very focused on organic food and farming. Sponsors are always prominently listed on page 3. All rates and details are on page 2 of each issue.
If you would like to give a (tax-exempt) donation for the work of The Natural Farmer, we promise it will be used frugally. Make such a donation to the NOFA Education Fund, 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 and mark it for use of The Natural Farmer. The Education Fund will acknowledge your gift promptly.
Let us thank these Friends of Organic Farming who have generously supported 4 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3
Experienced Biodynamic/CSA growers looking for 100% grass based organic dairy farm in Northwest farming opportunity in northern New England. Vermont seeks individual or couple to milk cows After fifteen years with the Kimberton CSA in PA, and participate in general farm operation. Prefer we have moved north and are looking for a new individuals with experience but willing to train the situation where we can pursue our interests in right person. Possible sharemilking prospect and/or NOFA biodynamic agriculture and local food systems. We future purchase of farm for right individual or are open to all possibilities. Please contact us at: couple. We feed no grain and raise all our replace- Kerry and Barbara Sullivan, 72 Gilford Ave., ment stock. We’ve milked between 70 and 130 cows Laconia, NH 03246;
NOFA member looking for small farm for organic gardening. Possible house on farm or also looking to sell farms (organic) for possible sellers. I have real estate license and would like to deal strictly with organic farms. Call Joe the Organic Realtor. 201- 823-3384. 6 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Organic Food More Nutritious? A study revealed at the American Chemical Society meeting found that organic oranges contained, on average, 30% more vitamin C than conventional oranges. The researchers theorized that high nitrogen fertilizer may cause more water uptake in conventional oranges, diluting the Vitamin C concentrations. News Notes source: Wild Matters, September, 2002 compiled by Jack Kittredge Cloned Food Products Near Reality. Milk from cloned cows and meat from the offspring of cloned Giant Hogweed Found in Massachusetts. An Imidacloprid and the Precautionary Principle. As cows and pigs could show up on grocery shelves as invasive weed native to central Asia has been a result of the Food Quality Protection Act two early as next year under the plans of livestock spotted in several Massachusetts communities. The major organophosphate insecticides, chlorpyrifos breeders who are already raising scores of clones on plant, hogweed, can grow to be 20 feet tall with a (trade names of Dursban or Lorsban) and diazinon American farmsteads. A recent report from the hollow, purplish stem 4 inches in diameter. The are being phased out for use in residential areas. A National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s top plant’s sap can cause burns on the skin and blind- new synthetic insecticide, imidacloprid, is poised to scientific body, was alarmed by genetic manipula- ness if it gets in the eyes. source: Country Folks replace them under the trade name “Advanced tion of fish and insects that might escape and harm Grower, September, 2002 Garden.” However, imidacloprid: wild species, but it found cloning of farm animals • is highly toxic to honey bees, less troublesome, since the technique involves Catnip for Mosquitoes? Researchers report that • harms some other important beneficial insects, copying adult animals without altering their genes. nepetalactone, the essential oil in catnip, is ten times including lady beetles, parasitic wasps, lacewings, The committee called for a few additional studies more effective in repelling mosquitoes than DEET, and predatory bugs, but said the technique was unlikely to affect the the synthetic pesticide used in most mosquito • is systemic in the plant — is readily taken up by safety of the food supply. source: Washington Post, repellents. source: Our Toxic Times, August, 2002 the plant roots and distributed throughout the plant, September 16, 2002 including in the nectar and pollen, Organic Food is Growth Industry! Organic grain • persists in soils with a half-life of up to 224 to 257 Genes caught skipping from bacteria to beetle. sales doubled from 1998 to 2000, according to a days in turf and 266 to 457 in potatoes, and Researchers think they have caught a set of bacterial new study. Over the same time, organic meat sales • may result in contamination of groundwater. genes that relocated to the genome of a Japanese have grown 71%, diary by 96% and convenience In 1998 and 2000 French beekeepers marched on beetle. They could be the first to witness natural foods by 86%. Also, for the first time in 2000, more Bayer (the manufacturer of imidacloprid) and on horizontal gene transfer between a bacterium and an organic food was sold in conventional supermarkets Paris. Imidacloprid was being used as a seed animal. Although many researchers suspect this sort than in health food stores – 49% versus 48%. The treatment of sunflowers, and the French beekeepers of gene movement occurs, no one had stumbled other 3% was sold direct via farmers markets, farm claimed there were massive die-offs of their bees across evidence as direct as this before. The event stands and CSAs. source: Alternative Agriculture each year when the sunflowers bloomed. Bayer might help clarify whether similar integration has News, October, 2002 and The Germinator, October, attributes the die-off of bees to biological causes – ever occurred in the human genome - and if so, 2002. mites and viruses. The French government, how- when. It could also shed light on whether such ever, decided to ban imidacloprid treatment of exchanges are likely between genetically modified Increasing CO2 Boosts Crop Productivity. A sunflower seed for 2 years in 1999, and renewed the foods and the bacteria in our guts. But many scep- study published in the New Phytologist in October ban for 2 years in 2001. In the U.S., however, tics remain convinced that both these scenarios are has found that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide imidacloprid is now marketed in your local garden highly unlikely. The team, based at the University of levels (which is expected to double by the end of center in many formulations for use on flowers, Tokyo, say they have found 11 or so bacterial genes this century) increase crop size significantly but lawns and other ornamental plants. For more inserted into a chromosome of the adzuki bean result in lower nitrogen levels, thus less protein, in information you can read Imidacloprid and Honey beetle Callosobruchus chinensis. The genes are from plant seeds. Legumes, however, are an exception to Bees: Can They Coexist? at http:// the parasitic bacterium Wolbachia, which lives this last finding, since they fix their own nitrogen. www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Imidacloprid/ inside the beetle’s cells and those of many other source: Alternative Agriculture News, November, index.html and File on Bee Poisonings (has recent insects. While other cases of possible gene transfer 2002 documents, but most are in French) at “are open to different interpretations, this one is http://www.beekeeping.com/_menus_fr/ fairly clear cut,” says James Cook, an evolutionary dossier_intoxications.htm source: paper on biologist who studies Wolbachia at Imperial College Imidacloprid by Kim Stoner in London. “They know where it came from and where it went to.” source: Nature News Service, The Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farm- September 27, 2002 ers, a one-year certificate program in grass-based dairying provides opportunities for internships, Genetically engineered food is labeled, but not mentoring, farm tours, and networking with experi- for Americans . Food produced for one of the enced grass-based dairy farmers. You can also learn country’s largest food companies, H.J. Heinz, is about grazing sheep, goats, and other species. already being labelled if it contains genetically Specialized scholarship support and a distance engineered (GE) ingredients. But the labelled education option are available for this course. The product is not sold in the U.S., even though it is Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers is produced here. Heinz sells the product in Australia, part of the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short where GE labelling is required – at about the same Course. For more information about this program, price Americans pay. Greenpeace revealed the label contact Dick Cates: [email protected] to demonstrate that identifying and labelling GE source: Email from WSBDF ingredients for food produced in the US is possible at no increased cost to consumers. source: American plans to force genetically modified Greenpeace press release, October 10, 2002 crops and food on to Third World countries were unexpectedly frustrated at the Earth Summit in A panel of five judges in the New York State September. After an impassioned plea from Ethio- Appellate Division Third Department has ruled pia, ministers rejected clauses in the summit’s plan unanimously that Cornell University is subject to of action which would have given the World Trade the state’s Freedom of Information Law and, Organization (WTO) powers over international therefore, must turn over documents pertaining to its treaties on the environment. One effect of this biotech research. “We still have another round to go, would have been to give the WTO the power to and no one can predict what the final outcome will override the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, giving be, but we’re getting closer to the day when we may developing countries the right to refuse to take GM get a look inside the academic-industrial complex,” imports. The WTO regards free trade as its top commented Jeremy Alderson, who brought the suit priority. “I have never seen so many environmental against Cornell. Alderson is asking for a variety of ministers hugging each other as when the proposal documents, including financial information, corpo- went down,’’ said one British negotiator early this rate contracts and risk assessments on biotech morning. source: The Independent (London) Sep- research conducted at the university. “Cornell has tember 2, 2002 put out PR saying that they know their work is safe because they’ve conducted risk assessments. But Roundup Wheat Postponed Again. Monsanto, the when you ask to see them, they say no. Makes you creator of genetically engineered Roundup Ready wonder what they’re hiding, doesn’t it?” source: crops has “indefinitely” put off commercialization Ithaca Journal, Nov. 8, 2002 of a Roundup Ready wheat. The grain was origi- nally scheduled to be released in 2003, then in 2005. Overall Nutrient Decline. A Canadian study has Now it will be on the market when the market meets found that in the last 50 years nutrients in produce “certain goals” says the biotech company. Accord- have declined. They tested 25 fruits and vegetables ing to the New York Times, the delay reflects the and found 80% showed declines in calcium and company’s “diffidulty…in winning acceptance for iron, 75% in Vitamin A, half in Vitamin C and the crop.” source: Alternative Agriculture News, riboflavin, and 12% in niacin. source: Growing For September, 2002. Market, August, 2002 Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 7
Engineered Genes Migrate! Two new studies have SARE Looking for Farmer/Educators. The demonstrated this alarming fact. In one, researchers Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and found that the Bt gene engineered into sunflowers to Education (SARE) program is seeking nominations resist pests was passed along to weedy relatives. for three new openings for its Sustainable Farmer The second generation wild sunflowers had the Bt Educator program. This program offers grant gene and far less insect damage, suggesting the Bt support for time and travel to articulate and experi- toxin was being expressed. source: Growing For enced farmers who want to share their knowledge Market, September, 2002. In the other study, scien- with others while continuing their farming opera- tists at Britain’s Newcastle University found that tions. Appointments normally run one year, and material from genetically modified organisms preference is given to successful farmers with (GMOs) digested by humans has found its way into previous experience presenting at workshops or in bacteria in the human gut. Since GMOs contain an other educational settings. Applications can be antibiotic resistance market, this as well can be downloaded from the Northeast SARE web site at transferred to disease causing bacteria in the gut www.uvm.edu/~nesare/; or a printed version can be which then can become resistant to antibiotics and requested by calling 802/656-0471. The application endanger human health. source: Acres, USA Septem- deadline is January 6, 2003. Selections will be made ber, 2002 in February. source: SARE press release
Biotech Gets in Trouble Contaminating Food! Featherless Chickens Developed. Naked chickens The danger of genetic contamination of food crops have been bred in Israel, when hot conditions can by pollen from related crops engineered to produce kill up to 20% of a flock. The chickens are de- drugs and industrial chemicals is suddenly looming scended from a mutant breed discovered in New large for the agricultural biotechnology industry. In Hampshire in 1954. They are very sensitive to the October the industry association BIO (Biotech sun, however, and must be kept in the shade. source: Industry Organization) announced a moratorium on Acres, USA October, 2002 growing transgenic corn in much of the midwest, or transgenic canola in the Canadian prairie if the NOP Backs Off Cosmetics. So you think organic plants are engineered to produce non-food chemi- food is big? Try cosmetics. The entire world’s cals. Early in November a Wall Street Journal article organic food trade is only $26 billion, whereas the quoted two food industry executives about their cosmetic industry in the US alone is worth over $30 concerns over contamination from such plants. billion. And the growing legitimacy of the word Mark Dollins of PepsiCo said: “We want to ensure “organic” in food has — guess what? – attracted the that our corn is protected,” and Rhona Applebaum interest of big corporate interests. (Sound familiar?) of the National Food Processors agreed, suggesting It seems that a lot of body care product lines are that “If need be, we could even go to the public” now introducing products which call themselves with their worries about the danger of contamina- “organic”. Unilever has an organic shampoo, for tion! A week later the reason for this flurry of instance, and Avalon has a line of organic hydrosols. concern surfaced. According to the Washington But these products not only do not meet the defini- Post, a company named ProdiGene, which had been tions required for food products to use the word growing bioengineered drugs (including an experi- “organic”, they in many cases contain toxins and mental oral hepatitis vaccine) in corn, sold soy endocrin-disrupting industrial solvents such as contaminated with Pharmed corn into the food phthalates and methyl paraben. Cosmetic manufac- supply. Apparently a plot of ProdiGene corn was turers readily admit these ingredients, but reply that grown on a Nebraska field in 2001. Ordinary their products are used in tiny amounts and must soybeans were planted in the same field this year. often last years on a shelf, as opposed to food. The Corn seeds left over from the year before sprouted National Organic Program (NOP) on May 5 re- and grew a small number of corn plants containing leased a statement indicating they intended to the drug. The company was supposed to check and regulate use of the word organic in the cosmetic ensure that those plants were removed before setting industry. Immediately an intense lobbying campaign seed, but it did not. USDA Inspectors for the U.S. was begun by the industry to reverse that decision Department of Agriculture caught the problem and with companies claiming they had millions of stopped movement of the beans and corn before dollars of product in containers which would not they entered the food supply, but a small plot of the qualify. And apparently the NOP has agreed to leave soybeans had been mixed at a commercial grain the body care industry alone, for now, although it elevator with many bushels from other local farms. has not made any public statement to that effect. But That made the entire harvest unsuitable for human NOP Public Affairs Specialist George Chartier was consumption and the government has quarantined recently quoted as saying: “…people higher up in and will probably destroy hundreds of thousands of the USDA…were confirming that those products bushels of the soybeans. source: Alternative Agri- would not be covered.” source: In Good Tilth, culture News, November, 2002; Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2002 November 5, 2002; and Washington Post, November 13, 2002 NOP’s Integrity Challenged. Over the last few months observers have become increasingly con- European Opposition to GE Crops Grows. cerned about signs that the National Organic Monsanto’s chief executive, Hendrik Verfaillie, Program (NOP) will not support recommendations stated in August that it can take at least to 2005 to of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) gain regulatory approval for the company’s GE seed when they are opposed by significant political and in Europe. The statement is taken as an admission commercial interests. Tufts professor Willie that the company underestimated the degree of Lockeretz resigned from the NOSB last summer opposition it encountered from environmental when he “saw a pattern emerging in which NOP groups and governments. Then in November almost never acted in accord with NOSB’s policy European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy warned recommendations.” When Alaska Senator Ted the United States against launching formal dispute Stevens pressed for inclusion of wild Alaska Salmon settlement proceedings in the World Trade Organi- as organically produced, he got it. When Georgia zation against the European Union over its de facto Congressmen pressed for an exemption from the ban on imports of genetically modified foods, 100% organic feed requirement for a local poultry saying it would “freeze” the process now under way producer, they got it. Now a well-connected Massa- to lift the ban for years to come. “The whole thing chusetts egg producer has convinced the NOP to will be blocked,” he said. source: Guardian, August ignore carefully thought-out NOSB regulations on 24, 2002 and International Trade Daily, November access to the out of doors for livestock. Groups are 12, 2002 beginning to file legal actions to force the NOP to live up to its enabling law. The Center for Food GE Crops Not Profitable. A report released by the Safety is leading a suit to force the USDA to estab- Soil Association, a British organic group, says lish a peer review panel to oversee the accreditation engineered soy, corn and canola have cost the US of certifiers. The number of applicants has jumped economy at least $12 billion since 1999 in farm from 49 to 122 and the CFS is concerned that many subsidies, lower crop prices, loss of exports and of them lack adequate experience and objectivity. product recalls. A copy of the report is available by source: Alternative Agriculture News, November, mail and can be ordered at www.soilassociation.org/ 2002 and Acres, USA, September, 2002. gm. source: Acres, USA November, 2002 8 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Report On the Bioneers Conference San Rafael, CA., October 17 thru 21 Paul Hawkin from the early days of Erewhon in low October temperatures in the northeast this year by Steve Gilman, NOFA-NY representative Boston and Kenny Ausabel from Seeds of Change. with sunny skies and warm weather. I managed a Writers such as Fritjof Capra have held a special brief side trip into farm country and out to Point Thanks to the extraordinary funding provided to the place on my bookshelf for years. I was quite unpre- Reyes for a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean and the NOFA chapters by the Pond Foundation I was able pared for the dynamic quality of many of the other awesome surroundings. to attend the conference along with representatives speakers, especially Katsi Cook, a Mohawk from from the other state NOFA organizations. Although I Ontario; Andrew Kimbrell, author of a new book on About the only advice I would give to the confer- have heard about the Bioneers Conference for years, industrialized agriculture; Jeremy Narby, a Swiss ence organizers is to pay more attention to the food. it has never been within my means to attend and, anthropologist and Naomi Klein, journalist and The NOFA Conferences have spoiled me by always likewise, it has never made the NOFA-NY agenda author. presenting well-prepared organic food, based on the because of the costs involved. premise that if you’re going to be talking about it, The breakout sessions each afternoon also provided you should be serving it as well. The exception was The conference not only lived up to its billing, it exemplary presentations. Of special interest to the Saturday night Awards Dinner which served an widely surpassed my expectations. Ironically, it not farmers were Toby Hemenway speaking on excellent meal. I again thank the Pond Foundation only provided expanded networking linkages to Permaculture and Elaine Ingham on the Soil for including the NOFA representatives in this farmers and agricultural groups from around the Foodweb. The political aspects were well covered special event, allowing us to experience the country but also among members of our own NOFA by John Stauber and Ronnie Cummins. Bioneers group from the inside. delegation that will directly benefit the functioning of our emerging interstate organization. There’s It was also highly stimulating being part of the 2500 All in all, this conference will take some time to nothing like traveling thousands of miles to increase attendees participating in the conference and I made digest. I am extremely thankful to the Pond people the connections in your own area! some great connections for future networking and for providing the opportunity to participate and feel further endeavors. I also appreciated the scope and a responsibility to spread and use what I gained The conference was an opportunity to see plenary diversity of the trade show and came away with there every way I can. The event was also very presentations by people whose work I have been stacks of valuable materials.The California setting stimulating and highly invigorating and I feel I have following for years, such as John Todd, from the also provided a welcome respite from the record gained renewed energies to carry out the work. days of the New Alchemy Institute in Woods Hole, Taste! Organic Connecticut is a Smashing Success by Bill Duesing
What a combination on September 8th at Topmost Herb Farm! • a gorgeous September day • a spectacular site overlooking eastern Connecti- cut • ten farmers selling bountiful, beautiful, organic, ecological produce • ten crafters selling beautiful, local products • delicious local, organic food • good music • children’s activities photo courtesy Bill Duesing • educational seminars and walks A young family strolls past the 20 some booths selling produce • Certified Organic Associated Growers (COAG), and crafts at Taste! Organic Connecticut. the Willimantic Food Coop and CT/NOFA foccaccia with grilled vegetables and summer generosity in making such a beautiful place avail- working together vegetable soup. Although one of the purposes of this able to us. Carole talked about visiting this spot as a • dozens of volunteers, and event was to create a larger market for organic food, little girl with her grandfather. It was their favorite • a crowd of over 700. many farmers donated produce for the food tent. place on the farm. Thanks to all those who supplied the delicious food. At the end of the day, smiles on the faces of attend- Many board members, including Marion Griswold, Carole has offered us the use of her farm for next ees, volunteers and vendors abounded. Farmers Erin Amezzane, Tom (and Joan) Kemble and year’s Taste! You can get a look at the place by market coordinator and COAG president, Wayne Mary Tyrrell worked long hours in the kitchen tent. attending HerbFest there on the first Saturday in Hansen, said that his sales far exceeded his expecta- Thanks also to the volunteers from the food Coop. June. tions and estimates about $7,000 of organic produce sales counting the farmers market and the produce For safety and flavor reasons all the food was Teri, Ed, Joey and Anna Natoli of Stone’s Throw sold to the CT/NOFA Food Booth. prepared on the site using Doug’s trailer mounted farm coordinated the children’s activities and wood-burning oven or one of the three grills it took provided goat milking demonstrations. Chef and caterer Doug Coffin volunteered his to keep the food coming. services and equipment for the cause and created a In addition to educating, Jim Roby, site coordinator delicious, all local, organic, vegetarian menu. (See Suzanne Duesing demonstrated the making of fresh and Mark Gauger did a great job of handling the the Annual Meeting announcement for more about gazspacho and salsa all day. Folks were thrilled with logistics including tents, porta-potties, parking, Doug.) Denise D’Agostino did an incredible job the free samples. Mary Lou Amento stepped in to electricity and vendor layout. coordinating this very complex undertaking. Chefs help when the demand got real strong. Jamie Malagrino and Jennifer McTiernan Huge Committee member Teresa Schacht arranged for a helped guide the many volunteers in preparing Folks spread blankets under the large trees or sat donated tent. She and Alice created the program grilled sweet corn, roasted fingerling potatoes, under a large tent to enjoy the food and the music. book, and Kathleen Rooney coordinated the vendors. Educational talks on Raising Chickens, Making Compost, CSAs, and Garlic, were well attended. We are collecting feedback from those involved in People were really interested in learning more about this year’s event to begin the planning process for these topics, asking lots of questions. Thanks to next year. Please volunteer now to get involved with (respectively) Joey Natoli, Jim Roby, Mark and the Second Annual Taste! Organic Connecticut, the Carole Gauger and Wayne Hansen for presenting Sunday after Labor Day in 2003. This is a great the talks. group of people to work with and an exciting event. Call me at 203-888-5146, email [email protected] Carole Miller, who hosted this event, led several or get in touch with a committee member. Weed Walks. Many, many thanks to her for her Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 9
Special Supplement on Beginning Farmers What Does the Term “New Farmer” Mean? by Cathleen Sheils, Growing New Farmers Professional Development Coordinator
The following discussion is based on Listening to New Farmers: Findings from New Farmer Focus Groups. (The full text can be found on the GNF publications page at www.northeastnewfarmer.org.)
Definitions
There are a number of terms and definitions that apply to this sector: new farmer, beginning farmer, young farmer and next-generation farmer are often used interchangeably. However, there may be slightly different meanings to these terms as used by a particular organization.
For example, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), a beginning farmer is one who has operated a farm for ten years or less. This definition is used to qualify for USDA beginning farmer loan programs. These loan programs also require that a beginning farmer have at least three years’ experience as a farm manager.
According to Farm Bureau, a young farmer is a farmer under the age of 35. The Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs work with young people of high school age. A young farmer may also be someone working with the older generation on the photo by Pete Lowy family farm. Chris Cashen explains his 4-year rotation plan to young farmers at The Farm at Millers Crossing. The term next-generation farmer is often used to describe a young person who will be among the next commitment. These stages are: recruits; explorers; 3. Planners: have made a choice to pursue some sort generation of farmers. Sometimes the term specifi- planners; start-up; re-strategizers; and establishers. of commercial production agriculture. They may not cally suggests the next generation of the family to For service providers and educators, it is important actually be farming yet, but are actively planning take over an existing farm. Farmers who are the to recognize that new farmers have diverse educa- their farm entry. Farm employees, apprentices and next generation on the family farm are likely to be tional, resource and training needs in each of these farm family members who do not have control of moving through various stages of decision-making various stages. farm assets and limited decision making responsibil- and control during the process of the farm transfer. ity also fall into this stage. New Farmer Descriptions Other organizations propose a broad definition of a Beginning farmers: Beginning farmers are those new farmer. This definition includes both people Prospective farmers: Prospective farmers fall into who are farming, but have been farming for ten who have started farming and those who have not three stages. In the first two stages prospectives years or less. They also fall into three stages. yet begun to farm. In this definition, a new farmer have not yet begun to farm. In the third stage they includes all of the above, plus people who are may work or apprentice on a farm, but are not 1. Start-ups: are in their first three years of farming. considering or planning a farming career. decision-makers in their own farming activities and They can be an employee, manager, or operator on do not have a high level of commitment or risk rented or owned land. They have decision-making New Farmer Typology associated with active farming. In these first three responsibility and an increasing commitment to stages, they may be taking part in educational or farming either in time, equity and/or resources, Under the Northeast New Farmer Network Project introductory farming experiences such as appren- either on their own farm, a rented farm or on a (NENFN), the predecessor to GNF from 1998 - ticeships. family farm. 2001, a series of focus group discussions was held with new farmers throughout the Northeast. A way 1. Recruits: might consider a career in production 2. Re-strategizers: are farmers who are making of classifying — a typology — emerged that more agriculture if provided with information and con- adjustments in their fourth to seventh years. They particularly describes new farmers. As we strive to nections to agriculture. This includes farm family have increased decision-making responsibility and improve how we meet the various needs of the members and those not from a farm. They could be commitment to farming as a farm renter, manager or region’s new farmer clientele, it is important to high school students, or people who want to change owner. Typically, re-strategizers go through a understand that they fall into different categories careers. critical phase of modifying or restructuring their depending on factors such as their level of farming operations. awareness, decision making, commitment and risk. 2. Explorers: are investigating a farming future. They are gathering information and may be partici- 3. Establishers: are farmers who are stabilizing in In this typology, there are two broad catego- pating in introductory educational programs and/or years eight to ten of the beginning farmer phase. ries: prospective farmers and beginning farmers. farming related experiences. This includes next They are on their way to becoming established Within these, there are six commitment or decision- generation farm family members as well as those farmers, and who continue to make changes and making stages depending on various factors such as not from a farm. improvements to their farm their level of farming awareness, experience and 10 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Beginner Farmers of New Hampshire: Is a Beginner Farmer Network Right for You? by Maryellen Sheehan
These days, the idea of anyone going INTO farming as an occupation seems to inspire varying degrees of incredulity and/or hilarious laughter. Or at least that’s the response I hear most from my friends and family: “You went to college and now you drive a tractor and do what!”
But after fleeing from the Midwest, where I’ve watched the sad, steady decline in the number of family farms, I’ve run into what seems a highly improbable situation here in New Hampshire—more and more, people are starting to farm! While some of this might be attributed to my own reorientation of scale (I’ve come to appreciate that you don’t need one thousand acres and ten thousand hogs to be a “real” farmer), the numbers seem to say that there really are more farmers now than last census. The 1997 Census of Agriculture (USDA) records 2937 farms in New Hampshire, up over 20% from 1992!
So what’s a person or family to do if they want to start farming? Where can you find land, learn your options to work it, and learn how to work it? If you are lucky, you may stumble into the world of apprenticing on farms. Or perhaps you have neighbors or relatives who can give you some advice. Or in New Hampshire, there is an organization called Beginner Farmers of New Hampshire.
I first heard about Beginner Farmers (BFNH) about a year after coming to New Hampshire to intern on a farm here. Coincidentally, BFNH was looking for an intern just as my apprenticeship year ended. I signed on and have been with the group ever since—first as an AmeriCorps volunteer and now as a farmer member—because basically, it’s an incredibly supportive environment for all farmers new and old!
photo courtesy Maryellen Sheehan In the following paragraphs, I will give a brief description of how BFNH got Beginner Farmers unloading hay from a bulk hay purchase. started, how it’s organized, and what it does (so if other farmers out there are Last year there were several bulk buys of round interested in getting their own Beginner Farmer group going, you can get a and square bales in Northern New Hampshire. sense of one way to go). I’ll then look at some of the benefits of being part of this beginning farmer movement. first meeting grew a countywide group called Belknap County Beginner Farm- ers. One of the first organizations contacted by the farmers of this group was Organizational History North Country Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D). The RC&D’s are non-profit organizations who work in partnership with the USDA’s Beginner Farmers came together in Meredith, NH in 1997 when three new Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). North Country RC&D saw farmers met to talk about their farms, their plans and their problems. From this the enthusiasm of this farmer group, realized the need that they were addressing, Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 11 and decided to help by providing office and administrative support and technical assistance.
Belknap County BF received a grant from Heifer Project Northeast in 1998, which further helped develop their infrastructure. They quickly realized how- ever, that the need of new farmers stretched across the state, not just in their county. By 2000, there were BFNH chapters meeting across the four northern NH counties and spreading down throughout the state.
BF Structure, Members and Meetings
Beginner Farmers of New Hampshire has some statewide structure, but the real action happens at the county level. County groups meet about once a month. The county meetings are open to the public, and there is usually a continuous flow of new faces at each meeting, with a core group of regulars. Each county decides what they want their meetings to cover, depending on their members’ interests or needs. Most often the meetings have a set topic and a presenter who speaks on that topic. Each county also has two Council Representatives to speak for them in the larger state organization. These representatives meet photo courtesy Maryellen Sheehan regularly with the other representatives to work on and decide on issues that Looking over equipment at an Beginner Farmer meeting affect all the counties. and equipment demonstration. reasons why people become members or get involved. I guess I can best explain Beginner Farmers is a group whose members have a wide range of experience by listing my own reasons to be part of the group: and backgrounds. Some members dream of farming one day, but aren’t yet in a position to make those dreams reality. Other members have farmed for decades • Education—BFNH holds workshops and hosts speakers whose presentations or were raised on farms and went away, only to return later. And more members help make me a better farmer and improve my farm’s profitability and have decided at varying points in their life (after college, after having children, sustainability. or after the kids leave home) that farming is the right lifestyle or profession for • Support—I meet other growers in my area and have the opportunity to work them. Members are all ages and have all different ideas or visions of what kind with and share experiences with them. Some BFNH members have a lot more of farm they want (or have). Some people hope to have a grade A dairy. Others experience than I do and they’ve helped and encouraged me through my rough manage CSA’s or market gardens. And others raise food for their family and times. Others I can help and encourage when they have hard times. friends. • Exposure—BFNH connects me with organizations and agencies that help farmers; with opportunities to meet and network with other farmers and potential Because there are members with so many interests and experiences, often the consumers; and keeps me abreast of what’s going on in agriculture in NH and in meeting presenters come from within the group itself. An accountant member the Northeast. teaches others how to keep good financial and farm records. A CSA grower • Marketing—BFNH helps get more local products out there in the public and demonstrates raised bed techniques. Cheese makers make cheese with every- builds markets for NH farmers. one. Biodynamic farmers explain their methods. A shepherd and spinner shows • Outreach—By combining with other farmers we can better teach the public what to do with all that wool. Sometimes statewide meetings or workshops are and consumers about good, local and organic food. held on topics of interest to all. Recent larger events include a mushroom • The food—Okay, so we have good potlucks and eating’s my main avocation in workshop (where participants inoculated their own logs) and a poultry work- life. shop (whose presenters included the former poultry extension agent for Vermont and NH, the NH egg and organics inspector, and an alternative poultry housing If you are interested in learning more about Beginner Farmers of New Hamp- builder). shire, or want some help in setting up a similar group in your area, contact us any time. Our website is www.beginnerfarmers.org and our office phone number is Why BF of New Hampshire is a Great Group to Be in: (603) 223-0083. I can also be reached at [email protected] if you So what makes Beginner Farmers such a good organization? There are many have any questions or want to talk more. Happy farming! 12 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Center founded the first land linking program. Its purpose was to match farm seekers with farm owners, and to facilitate the farm transfer. Access to Land Since then, land linking programs have sprung up across the country. Today, the Northeast boasts by Kathy Ruhf the land, well water and small barn for her farm more linking programs than any other region. New New England Small Farm Institute and Growing business in exchange for an annual fee. They have England Land Link, a program of the New England New Farmers divided the responsibilities for repairs, property Small Farm Institute, was first in the region, and taxes and other land costs. Nan is permitted to build covered the six New England states. Since that This article is in remembrance of Chuck Matthei, a a farmstand on the property. The landowner agreed time, state-specific program emerged in Vermont visionary and pioneer in the area of equitable to purchase the residual value of the building if and (Land Link Vermont) and Maine (Maine Land access to land. Chuck was the founder of Equity when Nan leaves the property. She has first option Link). Programs in New York (FarmNet/FarmLink Trust (CT), an organization devoted to alternative to renew the lease, and to purchase the property if at Cornell University), Pennsylvania (PA Farm and affordable tenure for farmers and other seekers the landowner decides to sell. Of course, there are Link) were established in the early 1990’s. Newer of land and housing. Chuck passed away in Octo- many details included in this type of agreement, but programs have been launched in Maryland and New ber, 2002. the bottom line is that both parties are satisfied. Jersey. “I want to start farming. How can I find a farm?” When farm ownership is transferred, the process is All land link programs have in common the linking “I just bought some farmland. How do I start complex, too. There are interpersonal, legal, and component. However, soon after these programs farming it?” financial considerations. Today, fewer farm proper- were established, their sponsors realized that linking “I can’t afford to purchase a farm. How can I get ties are being transferred within the farm family. was necessary but not sufficient to assure successful onto farmland?” Intra-family succession to the next generation in the access and transfer. A lot of technical assistance, farm family can be extremely complicated. Often, Are any of these questions familiar to you? If yes, “hand-holding”, education, information and referral there are delicate issues around the estate planning you are asking some of the most important and were required beyond the simple exchange of and retirement needs of the exiting generation and challenging questions facing new farmers today — contact information about available properties. treatment of non-farming heirs. One of the trickiest how to find, evaluate and get onto the right piece of These days, linking programs provide a wide array issues is the transfer of decision-making between farmland. Especially in some parts of the Northeast, of programs and services, from estate and retirement the generations. One famous story involves the where competition for and cost of land is high, planning workshops to publications on alternative exiting farmer not being “ready” to pass along accessing farmland may be the toughest obstacle for tenure, to individual farm succession consultations, management to his son. The farmer was 96 years a beginning farmer. to expert facilitation and mediation, to trainings for old; the son was 72. professional service providers. The “farmland question” addresses: 1) locating Sometimes, there is no heir to take over the family land; 2) assessing it for suitability against your Training service providers is really important. There farm business. If the family is committed to seeing farming goals; 3) choosing the right tenure model; are very few estate planners, attorneys, accountants, the farm business continue and the farmland stay in 4) negotiating the transfer; and 5) securing any extension educators, etc., with expertise in farm farming, they need to locate a farmer outside the necessary financing. succession and acquisition. Even these advisors are family. In transfers between unrelated parties, the not necessarily familiar with some of the more Tenure means “to hold”. There are different ways to issues are no less complicated. The transfer must innovative approaches that are increasingly popular “hold” land. How a new farmer feels about his or consider the family, legal and financial implications with farmland owners and seekers alike, such as the her relationship to farmland will guide decision- of transfer of the farm business assets and manage- use of conservation easements. making about tenure. Many farmers have a deep, ment. value-based commitment to owning a farm. They Another challenge is finding and educating farm- For some new farmers, entering into a transitional view farmland as a legacy. For them, stewardship land owners. In linking programs, the ratio of arrangement with an “exiting” farmer offers consid- and ownership are inextricably linked. Others feel lookers to owners can be as high as 7:1. It’s been erable advantages. First, there is the opportunity for that stewardship values can be realized on land they shown that farm owners, especially those in the mentoring. Working alongside an experienced don’t own. For many new farmers, owning the land generation ready to retire, are reluctant to think farmer who is a willing teacher is a true gift. is not as important as long-term security. Some are about succession planning. Many do not have wills. Gradual transfers of the farm business can also guided by personal values that question private Most do not have a succession plan, and fewer still ownership of land as a commodity. They welcome make business sense to both parties. The new tenure arrangements that address issues such as farmer can start as an employee, with specified speculative gain. Others feel that it’s better not to tasks. She or he can save money while working into invest capital into land, but rather into growing the an equity position, as a partner, for example. The business. They realize that for their enterprise, they exiting farmer can sell or gift farm business assets cannot carry the costs of owning the land. As while transferring management responsibility. This several economists have pointed out, farmland often arrangement enables the eventual transfer of owner- cannot pay for itself by farming it. Still other ship of the farm while sparing the sudden and often farmers hope eventually to own their own farms, but unmanageable impact of capital gains or estate taxes value the option for shorter-term tenure agreements for the exiting farmer or his heirs. It enables the as a first step. So choice of tenure is both a very new farmer to build equity and experience. personal as well as business decision. Sometimes, a new farmer can find secure tenure on What are the elements of tenure? You need access to land that is not currently being farmed, or that is the land. You need security. You need to be able to owned by non-farming landowners such as private redeem your investment in the property. You need families, municipalities or land trusts. Often, these clear articulation of rights and responsibilities. opportunities provide wonderful “win-win” situa- Some people argue that settling these factors is more tions for both parties. Landowners can meet their important than who holds title. goals to have the land in active use, and farmers can negotiate secure tenure through a variety of arrange- Often tenure decisions change over the course of a ments. More and more non-farming landowners are new farmer’s development. In the start-up phase, it interested in organic and sustainable farmers to meet may make sense to begin farming with a short-term stewardship interests such as wildlife habitat rental arrangement. Short-term rental (say, 1-5 enhancement or water supply protection. years) offers the advantage of flexibility and lower land costs. If you decide to change your enterprise, For example, Joe negotiated a long-term lease for or your location, it’s easier to move on. On the farm property owned by a local land trust. The other hand, short-term rental can discourage invest- terms of the lease required that the land be farmed ment in improvements that have a longer-term according to organic certification standards. The return such as some soil amendments, fencing or a land trust arranged and paid for technical assistance structure. to help Joe develop his business plan. For some farmers, a longer-term lease agreement How can you find land? Unless you are a next- offers real advantages, and can be an excellent generation farmer poised to take on the family farm, choice for the farmland owner as well. Long-term you need to find the land that meets your personal leases (5 to 30 years or more) offer the opportunity and farm business needs. Thinking through some of for security (and therefore a longer planning hori- these complicated issues around tenure is an impor- zon, which fosters stewardship practices such as tant first step. Then what? There are programs and rotations or slower-release soil amendments) strategies to help you find the right farm. ownership of improvements, and morgageability. A Over ten years ago, the Center for Rural Affairs in variation on leasing is lease-to-own, where a young Nebraska recognized that more and more retiring farmer starts out leasing, but the tenure arrangement farmers did not have heirs to take over the farm. At provides an agreement (or an option) to purchase the same time, there were more and more young the property after a certain amount of time. farmers from non-farm backgrounds who wanted to For example, Nan has negotiated a 10-year lease find farmland, or young farmers who were not with a private landowner. She has the right to use interested in or able to take over the family farm. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 13 have identified a successor. Too often, adequate Where to look for a farm? Besides checking in with come to the farm. Consider neighbors, visibility and planning does not happen, and heirs are forced to land linking organizations, a new farmer could work the general community environment; is it friendly to sell the farm — often to development — to pay with a realtor. New farmers report, however, that farming? Are there other farms in the area? Does it estate taxes, and to abandon the farm business. So, many realtors are not interested in farm properties. matter? Where are the nearest suppliers and repair to help new farmers get onto farms often means Linking programs mention that farm publications services? How far to the markets you choose to helping exiting farmers prepare to pass the land and state department of agriculture and extension pursue? along to a new farmer. newsletters sometimes have classified sections with farms listed. Look on bulletin boards of farm You can get a good sense of a farm property by eye- In the Northeast, there are many “non-traditional” suppliers and dealers. Attend farm organization balling it, but that’s not enough. Consult a soils map partners that can play an important role in getting meetings and conferences. Ask around; get plugged and ask for or obtain soil tests. Consider the ways in new farmers onto farmland. These partners partici- into the network. Sometimes a new farmer will say, which microclimates, wetlands and other sensitive pate in creating tenure “packages” that can make “There’s a farm in my town with an elderly farmer features may contribute to the overall health of the secure and affordable tenure a real option for new (or non-farming widow). Can I knock on the door?” farm or constrain it. What is the lay-out of the farm farmers. If you do you homework and are very thoughtful and any structures? Is it workable or adaptable to and diplomatic in your approach, it might work! your business interests? Where are the boundaries? For example, some land trusts are very interested in What size and shape are the fields? In what condi- “working landscapes” and are active in obtaining The most common complaint from farm owners tion are the buildings, fencing, culverts, woodlands? easements — meaning a restriction prohibiting the who are approached by a “transferee” is that the land from being developed — on agricultural land. new farmer is “starry-eyed” and does not have his or What about housing? Some land link seekers They want farmland protected, and sometimes have her ducks lined up. Why would he entrust his fantasize about their ideal house in their farm search: specific stewardship goals. The Vermont Land Trust beloved farm and farm business to someone who “3 bedrooms, southern exposure, energy-efficient, is a leader in this area. A few land trusts own land doesn’t have a clue? So, it’s important to be knowl- hardwood floors”, etc. etc. Others are satisfied with and offer secure lease agreements. More often, they edgeable, professional, and prepared. And, be the prospect of living in a mobile home, above the own an easement. The easement makes the land realistic about your level of experience. You may be barn, or down the street in rented rooms. more affordable because it removes the development better off to learn about farm management as a farm value. The land trust can be an important partner in It is very important to inquire about the history of employee or assistant manager before you take on the farm. What were the past uses? Where are any negotiating tenure terms that allow “sustainable” your own farm business. farming practices. underground storage tanks? Where were chemicals What to look for in a farm property? There are so stored and used? Were there any non-farm uses of Publicly held open space — properties acquired or many considerations in looking for land that it can the property? Are there any liens or other encum- protected by municipalities or states can be a source feel daunting. Sometimes it helps to divide the brances? Of course, the questions you ask will of land for new farmers. The new farmer will never variables into three categories: necessary, desirable, depend somewhat on the tenure model you select. If own the land, but innovative long-term agreements and optional. you plan to rent some acreage, many of these can benefit both parties. Shareholders in commu- questions are not as critical as if you are planning to nity supported agriculture (CSA) farms can be For some new farmers, it is necessary to live in a purchase a functioning farm with farmstead. among the most powerful partners in a farmer’s certain area, for example if a partner has a job there. search for secure tenure. In some cases, sharehold- For others, a necessary feature might be high quality You can find land to farm! And, there is help to do ers raise money to buy the land, or to contribute to a soils for specialty crops, or a visible location for a so. Check the Growing New Farmers web directory fund that enables the farmer to purchase the land. retail outlet, if these business choices are firm. It (www.northeastnewfarmer.org) or contact any of the Other community interests such as recreational clubs might be desirable (but not necessary) to find a linking programs (New England Land Link at or schools may be willing to invest in preserving a property with a barn in good condition. It might be [email protected], Land Link Vermont at piece of property for farming if they also derive desirable to have existing well water, but possible to [email protected], NY Farm Link at direct benefit from the arrangement. They may dig your own well. It might be necessary to have a [email protected]; for NJ contact contribute in exchange for the right to use riding or house on the property, or it might be an option to [email protected]; in PA contact snow mobile trails. Equity Trust, an organization in live nearby. [email protected]) The National Farm Transi- Voluntown, CT, is a pioneer and leader in promoting tion Network can be found at and packaging these types of arrangements. Regarding location, consider access, both by you, www.extension.iastate.edu/nftn/. the farmer, and your customers, if you want them to 14 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Beginning Farmer Feeds 60 Families by Jack Kittredge
New Hampshire is not known for its farmland. It stands to New England the way New England stands to the rest of the United States: a little rockier, a little colder, a place where you have to be picky about where you grow things.
But there are anomalies — small spots where old river currents, glacier action, or perhaps just unal- loyed Providence put great soil. One of these appears to be where the Pitcher Mountain CSA garden is — on a high ridge a few hundred feet below the summit of Pitcher Mountain, a half hour northeast of Keene.
Tim Wichland, now Pitcher Mountain CSA’s farmer for the second year, thinks the site where the garden is was a glacial soil deposit. “For some reason,” Tim says, “when the last glaciers came over there were spots where isolated pockets of good soil were dumped. There’s not much good soil in the whole town of Stoddard. Mostly it’s rocks. But when I looked on the soil map I saw that the good soil roughly mimics this pasture here I’m on. That’s why it was pasture. It grows well. There are almost no rocks in it. For New England, it’s damn good soil.” photo by Jack Kittredge Tim Wichland has been the farmer at New Hampshire’s The land is at 1800 feet, in the high country of Pitcher Mountain CSA for two years now. Cheshire County. Its elevation protects crops against grew out of a visioning session by Antioch College like the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts. A full many frosts, which tend to settle into the valleys. of New England, in Keene, with people in the share was only $300 last year, but I had to do a half Last year the killing frost was 3 or 4 weeks later Stoddard area around how they want the area to share because a lot of members thought $300 was than nearby Keene. On the other hand, the average look in 20 years. They talked about what kind of too expensive. This year the shares were $350 and temperature never gets quite as high as in the low community-building projects could be started that $185. Now most of my shareholders see how much lands. This makes it great for lettuce, the cabbage would ensure their vision becomes reality. One they get and have a hard time finishing it.” family, and anything which doesn’t require an early woman, Gail Mitten, who knew about CSAs pro- start or a lot of heat. On the other hand, the eleva- posed starting one there. That first year they had One of the best aspects of the Pitcher Mountain tion makes it quite windy. Some crops like corn are only 10 families, a part-time farmer for two months, CSA is its organizational strength, Tim feels. “I’m at risk of being blown down, and it’s too harsh an and a lot of volunteering. really lucky that I have that core group of about 10 environment for a greenhouse. people. We meet once a month and they’re very At the same time, a woman named Jennifer Mayo supportive. We have a treasurer, secretary, they Somewhat curiously, there are five CSAs in about a was starting the Beginning Farmers of New Hamp- design the brochure — they help me so that I can 30 mile radius from Pitcher Mountain, (including shire. As a starting farmer in the mid 1990s she just worry about farming. We have promotional pot Temple-Wilton, one of the earliest CSA in the couldn’t get much help from the various govern- lucks, advertise in the winter and spring. We had our country at more than 100 shares) making it the most ment farming agencies: FSA, USDA, NRCS. So she potato harvest pot luck last night. I showed people concentrated area for CSAs in New Hampshire. organized a support group of starting farmers. Right who were new how to harvest potatoes. I love the now there are chapters in 6 New Hampshire coun- community aspect of this – connecting people to Tim is a native of Keene. He didn’t discover he ties. They meet once a month , having members talk their food. Then they understand how much work it wanted to be a farmer until moving back to New or inviting others they know. Each month there is a takes, too!” Hampshire in the fall of 1999 after completing a different topic. college degree in Geography in Montana. Although The CSA isn’t incorporated and right now doesn’t his father had a garden when Tim was a kid, he says So in September of 2000 Tim went to a founding have a tax status. They are at the threshold of he doesn’t remember helping him much. “I was a meeting of the Beginning Farmers of New Hamp- figuring out whether they should be a non-profit, pretty typical kid”, he admits, “watching TV and shire in Cheshire County. Gail showed up at the based on all the educational work they do, or have a eating junk food.” same meeting and said the CSA was looking for a regular tax status. farmer for the next year. “I was getting done with But at college Tim started eating organic food and Stonewall Farm and living in Stoddard at the time,” Distribution takes place on Mondays and Thursdays, loved it. During his senior year he did a little recalls Tim. “So it was uncanny timing, and hard for anytime from 4 to 6 pm. It happens on tables set up volunteering in a community garden, half a day on me to take lightly. This was a young farm and I was at the garden site. Tim puts out baskets of produce Saturday. He liked it, and when he came home he a young farmer. They hired me. With the help of my and people weigh out their portion and fill their own and his brother often talked about how unsustain- mentor at Stonewall Farm I figured out how many bags. The more labor-intensive and perishable crops able our society is and tried to figure out a different row feet of crops I needed, how much seed to buy. are pick-your-own. They always have a bed of way to live. Their father had bought a big piece of We planned it out over the winter.” flowers and mesclun mix going, and seasonally land in Nelson, NH, so they got to thinking about peas, beans, cherry tomatoes and herbs are pick- raising food. In 2001 the CSA had 35 families (getting an equiva- your-own. At the beginning of the year Tim has to lent of 23 full shares). This year they added some do a little educating of members about how to As he tells it: “My brother and I were convinced we new land and now they have 60 families getting an harvest mesclun, (with scissors). had to grow our own food. So he started a mush- equivalent of 40 full shares (40 half and 20 full room operation, growing gourmet mushrooms on shares). Many of the half shares are couples or If it rains, the beef farmer from whom they lease the logs. Over the winter of 1999-2000 I read Bill younger people who can’t afford a full share. The land has offered them a stall in his barn. But Tim is Mollison’s Permaculture book. I found out that members come from the local area – Stoddard, reluctant to use it. “I think having distribution right Stonewall Farm, a non-profit farm in Keene, has a Hancock, Peterborough, Nelson, Harrisville, at the farm is important”, he stresses. “During my CSA and an internship program. So I did an intern- Marlow, Hillsboro, Washington, Keene. internship at Stonewall Farm, distribution was 400 ship there in the summer of 2000. That was going feet away from the garden, and you couldn’t even from not knowing much to being thrown into a big “There are still a lot of gardeners up here”, says see it. With just that little distance people were CSA. I started volunteering twice a week in April, Tim. “A lot of my shareholders have their own stopping and picking up their produce and not doing and May 1 was my official start date. I went until gardens. But I can give them more consistency in the you-picks, not going out to the garden. I really the end of the season at the end of September.” things that they want — and that they don’t want like having people here. They can see it change a too, like kale (laughs). In terms of my share price, little every week, see how much work it is. I get At that point the paths of Tim and the Pitcher though, the local agriculture movement isn’t as really nice compliments and that’s really good for Mountain CSA crossed. Pitcher Mountain CSA strong up here as in other parts of New England, me (laughs). Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 15
The biggest production problem the CSA has is that down. there is no easy access to water at the garden site. It’s just a fenced pasture along the road. About 400 On the flat areas which haven’t been made into feet away is a pond that is fairly clean – the beef beds, such as where he has squash, Tim admits to cows haven’t been near it for a long time, Tim says. using black plastic this year. “It’s just night and The CSA has acquired a solar pump and solar day”, he says, “comparing the output to last year! It panels, and next year they are hoping to draw a line holds back the weeds, warms up the soil, and keeps from the pond (sending it under the road through a the moisture in. I also use row cover – Remay – culvert) and pump it up to the site into a large early on for help with bugs. Even though it’s windy, storage tank. Then they could gravity feed it to use I can keep it down with rocks and boards.” for irrigation. Tim says his soil has 9% organic matter in it. He has So far Tim has managed without it, however. The been adding compost , and the beef farmer gives last two summers have been really dry, but except him some manure, but most of that has been built up for eggplant and cabbage the garden has produced over the years because the land was all pasture. well. The soil is heavy and has a high organic Right now the garden takes up about 5/8 of an acre, content, having been used as a pasture for so many but a new section was just disked up in September years. — although Wichland said in July that he wasn’t going to expand! The garden was plowed up by the beef farmer initially, and now Tim maintains it. Ever since going The CSA leases 2 1/2 acres right now, for $1 a year. to a raised bed workshop at NOFA Vermont two or They lease it from the Faulkner family, which owns three years ago, Tim has been sold on them. “In the about 11,000 acres in the area. The family started spring”, he says, “sections of the garden are crazy buying it up in the 1930s and have been putting it wet! The raised beds definitely help me to get a under conservation easement. They want this land to jump start on the season. I like not disturbing the be actively farmed and love the CSA being there. soil once the bed is built. Just adding nutrients every year. I also like it that once the bed is built I don’t The Pitcher Mountain Beef Farm, which the photo by Jack Kittredge have to roto-till it. I can plant intensely on them. I’m Faulkners own, sells Scotch Highland beef. At some Tim holds a carrot (Danvers) he interplanted young and the raised beds are one-time work of of the CSA pot lucks Tim has their beef to sample. with lettuce in a raised bed. labor! And the farm pushes CSA memberships in the Tim, the only paid person at the CSA, gets a salary springtime. Tim figures the beef cows grazing of $9100 for working from mid April until mid “I have a little one-row pinpoint seeder I got from around the garden, being big and furry, keep a lot of November. That amount is considerably up from the Johnny’s”, he continues. “It has a little trough you critters away. Despite being surrounded by 11,000 $6000 he got last year. Nevertheless, it’s still put the seeds in. You can seed really close together. acres, he says they have never had a deer in the financially tight for him. He’s looking for an You rake the bed first and get it smooth. Then I can garden. apartment to share but its hard finding something at do a 30 or 40 foot bed of lettuce – 7 rows — in 5 what he can pay — $400 a month. The CSA doesn’t minutes. As great as raised beds are, though”, he The most challenging problem Wichland faces with have a big overhead. Some of the tools are Tim’s, grins, “I think I’ll always want to keep some space the current operation is how to get the labor he some the farm paid for (they got the roto-tiller with hogs like squash and potatoes not on raised beds. needs. The CSA offers a working share discount: a a grant to the farm). But they do have to buy trans- That way I’ll always have a big area I can roto-till full share goes to $300 for 12 hours of work, and the plants, seeds, seed potatoes, compost (Tim buys and plant in.” half shares go to $150 for 8 hours. Already almost from Ideal Compost in Peterborough and loves it) half the shareholders take advantage of that. Next and other inputs. Wichland doesn’t plant cover crops on the beds. year Tim wants to increase the share prices and also Instead he adds a good layer of compost to each bed the hours of work needed. But producing enough So the economic realities of the CSA are somewhat in the fall. “I don’t want to try winter rye if I’m not produce for 60 families, and mostly doing it by challenging. Tim figures they spend about $2000 or going to till it in come the spring,” he vows. “I have hand, is just pretty daunting. $3000 more each year than they make by selling several flat sections where I use it, and it’s a pain shares. The difference they raise in various ways. even with the tiller. I’d like to try oats on the beds, This year a supporter sold a tractor and put $1000 but they have to be well established before the frost up as a match for them if they could raise another hits. thousand. They did. They also look for grants. About half the garden’s seedlings are bought from Tim admits that the finances are a challenge. “I want NOFA farmer Dave Trumble. But Tim has been to stay here. I love it here. But I have to get more working with the kids at the Stoddard Elementary next year. I’m trying to figure out the financial School, where there’s a small greenhouse. They help ways. I’ve taught as a substitute teacher during the him start seedlings, then they come up to the garden winter the past three years. But I’m starting to look during the growing season and help. The school is for another winter job that will help me cover a expanding the greenhouse because the kids pretty bigger piece of the income I need so I can do this in much take it over in late March. the summer. I haven’t really used my geography degree. I had experience taking data for the Forest The idea with Wichland’s raised beds is to put Service and could do that. I learned some surveying, mulch in the pathways. But he has been having but to get work doing that you have to go back and trouble getting enough organic matter to use that get your masters! I’m looking into doing some way. One woman who has a chemical-free lawn carpentry. That seems the best route for me – to gives him her clippings, which work well. He tried learn another skill. But it’s a little difficult finding leaves last year, but they all blew away because it’s someone to hire me who doesn’t mind my leaving in such a windy site. Hay has so much seed in it that April.” he’s hesitant to use it. So mostly he buys straw for mulch, which is a big expense he’d like to bring 16 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 “Earlier this year”, he recalls, “when I was putting in everything and getting a late start, I was feeling the limits of doing everything by hand. I think I need to figure out ways to get more help. I had a high school internship program this year. They volunteered and would get a small stipend and a full share in the garden and they could get some inde- pendent study course credit. But it bombed. Out of four interns, none of them followed through.
“I think I need to rework that”, Wichland continues. “I don’t want to give up on it. The year before I had one intern, Eric, and he was great! He worked above his hours, got his stipend and a full share, got a course credit. Now he has a great reference from me and we have a potential farmer on our hands! Those kids are out there. They’re just hard to find.”
As far as changes for the future, irrigation, seed- lings, and perhaps a distribution structure are at the top of Tim’s list. “It seems like you shouldn’t have to have irrigation in New England”, he muses. “We get 40 to 60 inches of rain a year. That should be enough. But uncertain weather patterns hurt us. Also, I think growing all my own transplants would save us some money. We could pay me to do that instead of somebody else. And then building some structures to do distribution under if it rains would help.”
Building a structure poses some legal problems, however, so it may take more thought. Right now there are no structures at the garden, and since the land is zoned for current use, building anything permanent would take rezoning the land under them. Tim thinks they may be able to build some- thing on skids, which would keep it from being permanent.
Wichland also is thinking about adding strawberries or raspberries. The Faulkner family does wild blueberry management on Pitcher Mountain, so the CSA probably wouldn’t want to raise blueberries.
As far as Tim himself, he’d like to stay on. “I like this here”, he is glad to admit. “I kind of see this as photo by Jack Kittredge my own – it wasn’t my original idea, but my energy Wichland says he does well with brassicas like this kohlrabi. has made it what it is, more bountiful and success- ful. I don’t feel vulnerable — even though I don’t own the land — because it’s all protected. It would be neat to make this work.”
As far as earning what he needs, he is trying to think creatively. “Maybe finding chickens or other products to sell would help”, he suggests. “The easy thing is a meat share with the beef farm. We could buy a couple of cows. Maybe getting more involved in the beef farm — diversifying things down the road — might be a neat possibility. But if things don’t work out here I have enough experience that I could go to another CSA. I’d have to work for somebody, though. As a young farmer I just don’t have the capital to start out on my own, and with this job I’m not able to save much. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 17 Resources for Beginning Farmers by Eric Toensmeier (800) 346-9140 or at www.attra.org. and self-study workbook which aims to assist • Magazines are available covering virtually every aspiring farmers in deciding whether or not they As the coordinator of the Small Farm Development type of farming you can imagine. They offer infor- want to farm as a business. Developed by the New Center at the New England Small Farm Institute mation on the latest trends, profiles of successful England Small Farm Institute specifically to meet (NESFI) and co-instructor for its Exploring the growers, and contact information for suppliers. Here the needs of those who are thinking about starting a Small Farm Dream course, I talk to a lot of begin- are two of my favorites: Growing for Market, farm, Exploring the Small Farm Dream covers goal- ning farmers. I also have many great resources come covering direct-marketed vegetables, herbs, and setting and self-assessment, enterprise and market across my desk. I would like to take this opportunity flowers, is one of the best and is definitely required research, financial considerations for start-up, and to share some ideas, books, websites, magazines, reading if those enterprises are interesting to you. It development of an action plan. The Exploring the and organizations that the beginning farmers I work regularly includes articles on record-keeping, Small Farm Dream workbook is available in a self- with have found to be most useful. liability, and other real-world farming issues rarely guided study format. A network of advisors is being covered in magazines. Contact (800) 307-8949 or developed to assist self-study users to plug into On-Farm Education and www.growingformarket.com for details. The resources in their local communities. Classes are Employment Opportunities Stockman Grass Farmer plays a similar role for currently taught in Massachusetts and will be Beginning and established farmers agree that grassfed livestock operations, including beef, lamb, offered in locations across the Northeast in coming working on a farm is the best way to learn skills and dairy, and sometimes poultry. Contact (800) 748- years. The website offers excellent resources as see if farming is for you. For those interested in 9808 or www.stockmangrassfarmer.com. well. Check out www.smallfarm.org/explorer or call organic farming, there are a number of organizations • The New American Farmer by John Ikerd This (413) 323-4531. that can assist you in locating a farm for apprentice- book is a collection of profiles of farmers who are • Farming Alternatives: A Guide to Evaluating ship, employment, or farm management opportuni- successful and sustainable. The profiles are broken the Feasibility of New Farm-Based Enterprises ties. down by region, and there are numerous profiles by Nancy Grudens-Schuck. One of the most • Northeast Worldwide Opportunities on Or- from the Northeast. In a world where so many popular resources in our library, this guide is written ganic Farms (NE-WWOOF) publishes a list of farmers are struggling, it is an inspiration and a for established farmers who are thinking about farms in the Northeast that are seeking apprentices. pleasure to read about these operations. It can be adding a new enterprise to their mix. It is also of NE-WWOOF can be reached at (413) 323-4531 or ordered from www.sare.org or (802) 656-0471. Also great use to beginning farmers – it covers the basics at www.smallfarm.org. available online at the same website. of enterprise selection and business planning in a • The Collaborative Regional Alliance for • Finding the Niche: Case Studies of Beginning farmer-friendly manner. A new revision specifically Farmer Training (CRAFT) is a network of farmer- Small-Scale Farmers This book profiles beginning written for beginning farmers is under development. mentors whose apprentices get together regularly farmers from Wisconsin. Although from a different Available from NRAES, (607) 255-7654 or for trainings and farm tours. Look in the NEWOOF region and written in the early nineties, the issues www.nraes.org. descriptions of farms to see if they are part of faced by these farmers are remarkably similar to • You Can Farm: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to CRAFT or check out www.brookfieldfarm.org/ those faced by Northeast beginning farmers today. Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise by craft.html. The conclusion presents an excellent summary of Joel Salatin. This is one of the few books targeted • ATTRA (see below) maintains a national list of the obstacles faced by beginning farmers. Out of specifically for beginning farmers, and is definitely farms offering apprenticeships, which is available print but available from NESFI at (413) 323-4531 or one of the most fun to read. Salatin, keynote speaker online or by phone request. at www.smallfarm.org/library/virtual.html. of this year’s NOFA Summer Conference, is cer- • The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners tainly outspoken and somewhat controversial. I Association (MOFGA) runs an excellent apprentice Get Plugged into Organizations that Assist would recommend taking the advice in this book program with structured learning opportunities. Beginning Farmers with a grain of salt. With that said, it is a great Contact (207) 568-4142 or www.mofga.org/ There are many Northeast organizations that serve introduction to the topic. Salatin lets you know what apprinfo.html. beginning farmers. Sometimes finding out who can you are getting yourself into, and gives advice • You can also find apprenticeship opportunities assist you in your state, or with areas in which you which will help you avoid a lot of common pitfalls through magazine classifieds, including right here in need assistance. The Growing New Farmers Project for beginning farmers. The chapters on getting to The Natural Farmer. (GNF) sponsors a network of over 150 organiza- know and respect your neighbors should be required tions throughout the Northeast that are committed to reading. Of particular use are his chapters on How to Keep Up With the Cutting Edge serving new farmers. Its web-based directory can enterprise selection, where he offers excellent Before you decide on your desired location, enter- help you find organizations, links and other re- criteria for choosing centerpiece and sideline prises, or marketing strategies, do some research. sources to help you get started. Make sure to visit enterprises. Salatin is writing for people interested Find out what successful farmers are doing. What the farming questions, online directory, regional in sustainable, small-scale, diversified farms with are the latest sustainable production techniques? events calendar, and publications pages. Check out direct marketing strategies, which makes this a very What are consumers buying now, and what will they www.northeastnewfarmer.org or call (413) 323- valuable book. Available from Acres USA Books at be buying soon? Keeping up with these trends can 4531 to receive a printed version of the Northeast (800) 355-5313 or www.acresusa.com/books. help you carve out a niche for yourself in an New Farmer Programs and Services Directory. economy that is not especially friendly to small • Find Organizations in Your Region. By using Develop a Business Plan farms. the print or online directories you can find organiza- If you are looking at farming as a business, rather • Conferences are a fantastic place to learn about a tions in your state or region that serve beginning than self-sufficient homesteading or working for an variety of topics, and get contact with experienced farmers. These will include an array of types of educational farm, it is crucial to develop a business farmers. Going to conferences will help you keep up services. Local organizations are an important plan. Things are just too tight for new farmers not to with what is hot now and what will soon be. In resource because they can help you get tapped into pay close attention to ensuring that the enterprise addition to NOFA’s fantastic Summer Conference, local networks of farms, service organizations, farm meets business goals. most of the NOFAs offer winter conferences. Check supply companies, and like-minded folks, which • Tilling the Soil of Opportunity: If you are the events calendar of your favorite magazines, and could otherwise take you years to learn about. thinking about starting a farm business, the Tilling keep an eye on calendar listings in magazines and • Find Organizations that Offer the Topical the Soil of Opportunity course is a great investment online. Try www.northeastnewfarmer.org, Assistance You Need. If you need help with spe- of your time. This ten week business planning www.cals.cornell.edu/agfoodcommunity, and cific issues, you can also use the Directories to find course for farmers is spreading rapidly across the www.smallfarm.org. assistance. There are organizations which provide Northeast. At the end of the course you will have a • ATTRA is one of the best resources for farmers of assistance with: access to land and capital; appren- workable business plan (if you have kept up with any stage, yet few people seem to be aware of it. ticeships and hands-on training; information on your homework!), and you will have had a struc- ATTRA is a library specializing in alternative crops, planning, business, and production aspects of tured forum in which you can think through a vast production techniques, and marketing strategies (the farming; assistance in entering markets; and legal array of issues related to your farm business, from acronym stands for Appropriate Technology Trans- and regulatory information. They may or may not be market research to financial planning to researching fer for Rural Areas). Their website has close to two located nearby, but are worth contacting to take legal requirements. To find out if there is a course hundred excellent publications. Don’t limit yourself advantage of their expertise. offered in your area check out www.nxlevel.org or to their website – the publications posted there are call (800) 873-9378. just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what ATTRA Decide How (and if) You Want to Farm • NRAES Business Management for Farmers can do for you. They have a free phone line and they There is a lot to think about before you decide to Series: Part IV – Acquiring and Managing will answer your questions and put together custom- start a farm. The following resources will walk you Resources for the Farm Business; Part V – ized information packets for you. All for free! through some important considerations. Getting Established in Farming; by Kenneth Whatever you are investigating, it is worth giving • Exploring the Small Farm Dream: Is Starting Thomas. These are part of a six-part series on farm ATTRA a call. ATTRA can be reached toll-free at an Agricultural Business Right for You is a course business management. Acquiring and Managing 18 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Resources for the Farm Business covers renting, www.smallfarm.org leasing, and purchasing of farmland; information on • New Jersey Farm Link 609-984-2504 making decisions about what machinery to purchase • New York FarmNet 1-800-547-3276 or and how to manage and maintain it; as well as www.nyfarmnet.org determining labor needs and hiring and managing • Pennsylvania Farm Link (717) 664-7077 or labor. It is written both for beginning and estab- www.pafarmlink.org lished farmers. Getting Established in Farming is • Vermont Land Link (802) 656-0233 or written specifically for beginning farmers. It focuses www.uvm.edu/landlinkvt on different options for start-up including becoming a partner in an existing business, gradual farm Stay Out of Legal Trouble! transfers from a retiring farmer to a new replace- Farms face a large number of legal concerns. ment, and going the solo route. While the tone of Acquainting yourself with these issues before you both of these books is somewhat dry, and very much get started can keep you out of expensive trouble oriented towards mid-western conventional com- later on. modity farms, they contain much valuable and up-to • Legal Guide for Direct Farm Marketing by date information for beginning farmers in the Neil Hamilton. Believe it or not, this is a very Northeast. Available from NRAES at (607) 255- readable and enjoyable book about legal require- 7654 or www.nraes.org. ments and liability issues. It covers much more than • Marketing on the Edge: A Marketing Guide for direct marketing issues, including labor, zoning, and Progressive Farmers is a fantastic guide to the permits. Required reading for anyone thinking about latest direct marketing strategies. Overview of a photo courtesy Eric Toensmeier starting a farm operation – this book could save you wide range of marketing strategies with special Eric has helped to develop NESFI’s library tremendous amounts of trouble if you set up your focus on roadside stands. Available from (413) 520- into a one-stop shop for beginning farmers operation legally in the first place. Available from 0386 or www.nafdma.com. Drake University Agricultural Law Center, (515) • “Farmers and Their Diversified Horticultural tions are best suited to your marketing strategies and 271-2065. Marketing Strategies” is an excellent video desired crop and livestock enterprises? How are the featuring some of the most successful farm market- soils on that cute-looking farm? Land-linking This list is a good starting place, but not intended to ers in the Northeast. This video lets you hear direct organizations can help you sort these issues out. be comprehensive. To close I would like to re- from farmers how they manage to be profitable in a Land Linking Organizations are active in many emphasize three points: tight farm economy. All the farmers profiled are areas of the Northeast. They specialize in making 1) learn everything you can from established vegetable, herb, and/or flower growers. It would be connections between landowners (often retiring farmers, preferably by working or great to see a video like this on successful farmers farmers) who are looking to sell, lease, or rent their apprenticing for them; with other enterprises like livestock products or on- land, and farmers (often beginning farmers) who are 2) take advantage of the resources at farm food processing. Available from (607) 255- looking for access to farmland. Many of these www.northeastnewfarmer.org; 7654 or www.nraes.org. organizations also provide other services to begin- 3) don’t forget to contact ATTRA! ning farmers including assistance in obtaining If you would like further information, contact me at Find Some Land credit, writing a business plan, and technical assis- (413) 323-4531 or [email protected]. Good luck! Many of the beginning farmers I talk to want to rush tance regarding the purchase, lease, and rental of right into buying land. There are some important farmland. Eric Toensmeier is the Librarian and Program issues to think through first. Is purchasing land your • Maryland Farm Link (410) 841-5770 or Coordinator of the Small Farm Development Center best option or should you investigate alternative www.mda.state.md.us/farmlink.htm for the New England Small Farm Institute in tenure options like renting or leasing? What loca- • New England Land Link (413) 323-4531 or Belchertown, Massachusetts. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 19
byWho Kathy Ruhf and Gaby Immerman, New England Willto huge, diverse markets is one great appeal,Farm? par- are not defined by scale or volume or income, but Small Farm Institute and Growing New Farmers ticularly to those new generation agricultural by their position on the farm development con- Project, and by Eric Toensmeier and Judy Gillan, entrepreneurs who see direct marketing and value- tinuum. At the same time, many new farmers start New England Small Farm Institute added approaches as key to their success. The small, have lower revenues, and farm part-time. A Northeast’s rich customer base seeks a wide range smaller, part-time developing farmer is not a failed Perhaps you’ve heard the startling statistics. There of products, which is compatible with farming full-time, “big” farmer. are twice as many farmers in the U.S. over the age practices that are founded on diversity. The North- of 65 as under 35. Twice as many farmers retire east consumer is particularly drawn to organic and In 1998, several Northeast organizations (FarmNet/ every year than are getting started in farming and sustainably raised products, a booming “niche” that Cornell University, Pennsylvania Farm Link, ranching. Over 400 million acres of farmland will many new farmers are committed to. While the Rutgers University, and the New England Small change hands in the next twenty years. At stake are climate and topography in parts of the Northeast Farm Institute) came together in a project called the our productive farmlands, bucolic landscapes, local present challenges, it is a rain-fed region, with Northeast New Farmer Network (NENFN). Their economies and food systems. In the face of these diverse micro-climates and soils, inviting new goal was to stimulate regional thinking and new daunting trends, the question is: who will farm? farmers to create viable farms on smaller acreages. programming to improve the number and success of And although institutional supports for Northeast new farmers in the region. NENFN worked with Young farmers used to learn the trade at their agriculture may be eroding, many new farmers from focus groups of farmers to develop a more flexible parents’ knees, or from relatives. Traditionally, farm outside the region say they come to the Northeast to and inclusive definition of a “new farmer,” and to succession included the passing on of skills and farm because of its reputation for nurturing progres- gather information about their learning and assis- knowledge as well as the farm business. Land grant sive, supportive farming communities. tance needs. These groups, held in three states with institutions and vocational high schools and colleges next-generation family farmers, high school stu- taught agricultural skills much more extensively. At the same time, starting to farm in the Northeast dents, college students, “career-changers”, and Extension agents traveled from farm to farm, does present unique challenges. New farmers young “start-up” farmers from non-farm back- providing one-on-one technical assistance and mention the high costs of start-up (most notably the grounds, convened a rich and promising spectrum of spreading the latest farm techniques and news. cost of purchased land), as well as the costs of new Northeast agricultural producers. Flourishing farm organizations such as Future production (e.g., higher prices for feed and supplies) Farmers of America and the Grange nurtured new as formidable obstacles. Others will say the main One important conclusion was that “new” farmers farmers into a vital community where sharing of hurdle is getting into markets, or obtaining credit include both people who have started farming, and resources and advice was standard. from lending institutions that no longer do any those who are considering a farming career. NENFN agricultural lending. Of course, the main challenge developed a “typology” that described different Nowadays, it is much harder for next generation all farmers face is the slim profit margin in farming categories of new farmers: farmers to acquire contemporary farming technical due to our nation’s cheap food policy. For new and business skills. Many rural communities in the farmers to survive — to thrive — in the Northeast, a Prospective farmers have not yet begun to farm. Northeast are no longer centered around farming, beginning farmer support network must be rebuilt to There are three phases of prospective farmers: while educational institutions and community-based provide serious new-entry farmers with access to the “Recruits” might consider a career in production organizations have been decimated by budget cuts technical, natural, and capital resources they need to agriculture, for example, students in vo-ag high and priority shifts. Today, in Wisconsin, for ex- succeed at a commercial farming career. schools. ample, only 20% of next generation dairy farmers “Explorers” are investigating a farming future, and remain on the family farm. People who grew up on What is a “new farmer”? may be gathering information, but have not yet farms are more likely to leave the farm, often with made a commitment to farming. the blessing of their parents who discourage their We begin with some basic terms and definitions. “Planners” have made a choice to pursue some sort children from farming. Much of the traditional of commercial production agriculture, but are not “support infrastructure” — suppliers and services — According to the US Department of Agriculture actually farming yet. has vanished. (USDA), a beginning farmer is one who has oper- ated a farm for ten years or less. This is the defini- Beginning farmers also fall into several categories: Nonetheless, there are people who want to farm. At tion used for USDA’s Beginning Farmer Loan “Start-ups” have been farming for three years or the New England Small Farm Institute and other Programs. Some loan programs require that a less. organizations that serve farmers, calls come in every beginning farmer also have at least three years’ “Restrategizing” farmers, typically in their fourth to day from people who want to pursue a career of experience. seventh years, are making adjustments to their some sort in production agriculture. Many creative, farming enterprises. These include changes in farm brave, and committed people want to get into or A young farmer is a farmer under the age of 35. The size, crops, enterprise type, market outlet, and land have begun farming in the Northeast. But traditional Farm Bureau and the Farm Credit System have tenure. sources of information and learning don’t meet the young farmer programs. A young farmer may be “Establishing” farmers are stabilizing their farm needs of today’s new farmers. Yesterday’s new working with the older generation on the family enterprise in years eight to ten of the beginning farmers were the sons of established farmers, heirs farm. farmer phase. to their land, their knowledge, and their support networks. Today they are more and more from a Next-generation farmer is another term used to This expanded concept of the “new farmer” goes wide range of backgrounds - young men and women describe young people who will be the next genera- beyond the traditional definition provided by in their twenties and early thirties who were raised tion of farmers. Sometimes – but not always — the USDA. It encourages regional service providers to in the suburbs, immigrants from tropical Asia, Latin term specifically refers to the next generation of the develop a more comprehensive understanding of America, and the Caribbean where agricultural family to take over an existing farm. their new farmer “customers”, and to develop more traditions remain strong, people who grew up on carefully targeted support services to meet their farms and hope to take over the family farm or New farmer and small farmer agendas are some- different needs. People who are exploring the strike out on their own, and mid-life career changers times confused in policy discussions. New farmers possibility of farming, and those who are planning and early retirees including high school teachers, carpenters, attorneys, and military officers. Their enterprises and marketing strategies run the gamut from traditional commodities to organic produce, grass-fed livestock, and organic dairy.
These next-generation farmers may be interested in owning and operating their own farms, creating a farm business on leased or rented farm land, or becoming salaried employees of farm businesses or agricultural education centers. They may have adequate capital, but no practical farming experi- ence. They may have great agricultural skills, but poor English, or poor credit. Each of today’s new farmers brings a unique set of skills and needs to his or her farming career, and requires support and services that are responsive to these differences.
While the Northeast as a farming region does not receive the same national attention as other parts of the US, the twelve Northeast states — Maine to West Virginia — offer unique opportunities that new farmers are finding attractive. Access and proximity 20 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 to farm are our future; they need special attention A prospective farmer’s current situation considers new farmers. A general farm business planning and services to nurture them along the farming who you are and what you bring to your decision to course, on the other hand, will not be very useful to career path. farm. What sort of background do you come from? a start-up farmer with no financial or market history. Do you have any farming skills, knowledge, or Who are the new farmers in the Northeast? management expertise? What are your assets and It is clear that more targeted programs are necessary available resources, including tangibles like land to meet new farmers’ particular needs. Individuals New farmers come from all backgrounds, are in all and capital, and “soft” resources like family, com- in their first year of farming will have very different stages of development, and bring a wide range of munity support, peer networks? questions and needs than those just exploring the resources and talents to the task of launching a farm possibility of farming, or those of more established enterprise. From data gathered in NENFN’s new A person’s farming vision considers where you’re farmers. farmer focus groups, as well as other sources, we going and what you want. How much time do you can make some observations: want to spend farming? What’s your desired Capital and credit: One of the greatest obstacles for income and standard of living for you and your beginning farmers everywhere is access to capital. • Most Northeast new farmers are young, although family? How much decision-making power (and Low farm income and slim margins make it difficult some are older, “mid-life career changers.” therefore, risk) are you willing to shoulder? What to qualify for loans (or to pay them back), afford • More and more new farmers are coming from non- are your goals for the farm operation in terms of land and equipment purchases, weather the inevi- farm backgrounds – in other words, they did not production system, marketing strategy, enterprise table setbacks or mistakes, and find the time to grow up on farms. Some still come from farming size and philosophy? Each new farmer will answer devote to learning new techniques, developing families; they may be the next generation on an these questions in a unique way, making it inadvis- markets, or even to enjoy the lifestyle and rural established family farm, or may move onto a able and nearly impossible to respond to new living that makes farming attractive to begin with. different farm. farmers with a cookie-cutter approach. Most new farmers have a low net worth and few • In our region, new farmers are ethnically and assets. If they are just planning or beginning to culturally diverse; there are new farmers of Asian NENFN gathered all of these finding in a report farm, they won’t have a track record or a business and Hispanic origin, but there are relatively few called Listening to New Farmers: Findings from plan with any financial history. Traditional lenders African-American new farmers. New Farmer Focus Groups. You can download a will be reluctant to take risks on “unproven” entre- • Northeast new farmers are interested in an ex- copy of this report online, and find other informa- preneurs, particularly if they want to farm with tremely diverse range of farming enterprise types, tion and resources at www.northeastnewfarmer.org. “non-traditional” methods, crops or markets. New crops, production approaches and marketing strate- farmers need creative new strategies to access the gies. What’s the typical career path for a new farmer? capital and credit necessary to launch a farm enter- • Many new farmers will start out farming part-time, prise. New loan programs may help some new and some will continue part-time for a variety of Unlike other careers where the path is fairly farmers, but developing entry strategies that do not reasons. straightforward (i.e., school, followed by more require high capitalization may be an even more • New farmers who want to farm or have started to training, possibly a trade-specific apprenticeship, effective way to address this barrier. farm in the Northeast come from urban, suburban some kind of certification, entry-level employment, and rural backgrounds. They come from every and on up the ladder), the path into and through Education and training: New farmers bring a wide Northeast state, and some come from outside our farming is complex and variable. Some farmers range of educational backgrounds, experience and region, drawn to the Northeast for its markets, begin to learn farming skills as children. Others skills to their decision to farm. They need both support for alternative agriculture and diversity of pursue farming alongside another career. Successful knowledge and skills to launch farm businesses. farming opportunities farmers acquire their skills and resources in a New farmers from farm backgrounds may be variety of ways and sequences, suggesting more of a familiar with farm machinery and equipment, but Each new farmer comes to the farming career door career lattice than a ladder. Successful farmers need may never have been exposed to financial manage- with a unique combination of attributes and ideas to pass through critical steps in the lattice — touch ment on the farm. Career-changers may have about farming. As with the definition of “new all the bases — but the sequence is idiosyncratic. background in business management and marketing, farmer,” NENFN worked to create a useful frame- but may never have cultivated a field or selected work to help understand new farmers and their Also, there are many different ways people make a seed varieties. Education, experience and extent of service needs. living farming — farm operators and farm employ- “pre-launch” research vary greatly; in some cases, ees; part time and full time farmers; people for farmers don’t even know what it is they don’t know whom farming is a primary or a secondary occupa- when first starting out. There’s no shortage of tion. Yet another important variable to consider is general production information – field days, exten- the farm career cycle, which moves from “new” sion and other publications, workshops, etc. – once farmer to established farmer to retiring farmer. Each you know what questions to ask and what you need stage in the cycle has important implications for to learn. But new farmers require targeted program- farm entry and farm succession. For example, for a ming that first helps them define these questions, new farmer to take over an existing farm, the exiting and then directly connects them with the answers farm family must negotiate a successful transfer, they need. whether the new farmer is an heir or an unrelated person. To learn more about “farming careers,” you Focus groups, interviews, and surveys of both can download the NENFN report, Exploring the beginning and established farmers by NESFI have Concept of Farming Career Paths at generated a list of priority topics for which training www.northeastnewfarmer.org. is needed. As a first step, NESFI convened a panel of established farmers to develop an “occupational What do Northeast new farmers need? profile” of small-scale Northeast farmers in 1999. The profile described the types of work performed New farmers in the Northeast face barriers in four by farmers (business management, crop and live- major areas: stock production, equipment maintenance, etc.). • Access to training, education, and technical Focus groups of beginning farmers offered input on assistance; which farming tasks would be most important in a • Access to land; training curriculum. Established farmers were sent a • Access to capital and credit; and survey with the revised profile, requesting input on • Access to markets. training needs. Beyond these fundamentals, they often experience inadequate social supports from family, community, The results were interesting! While the popularity of and existing farmer and service networks. Ann some topics, such as pest management and soil Topham, a livestock farmer, remembers that, “When fertility, could have been predicted, the expressed we started (in the early 1980’s), there were only two need, by both groups, for training in planning and people in the U.S. making goat cheese, so it was business skills was not anticipated. From beginning hard to get information…. A bank would never farmers, the most highly requested training topic have given us a loan. There was no precedent for was “research legal requirements” – not what one what we were trying to do, and it was certainly a usually thinks of as a new farmer training need. risky proposition.” (Finding the Niche, p.5) The organizations involved with the NENFN project Training and education need to be delivered in a reached an important conclusion: to serve new wide range of formats. The appropriate format farmers most effectively, programs must be targeted depends on both the subject matter and the trainee. specifically to the new farmer audience. New farmers can learn business planning in an evening course, but learning to plow must take place Targeted programs are specifically developed for in a field with the proper machinery. Some prospec- and offered to new farmers, and sometimes more tive farmers will gather information in a classroom particularly to certain kinds of new farmers. Work- while gaining academic credits. For others, an shops on farm start-up or finding land are consid- academic setting is not desirable or possible; for ered targeted. Relevant programs and services are them, useful formats include self-study guides, not specifically designed for new farmers. Many weekend workshops, and one-on-one mentoring. In general programs — for example, a workshop on a study by the Wisconsin Rural Development crop rotation — may be relevant and valuable to Center, new farmers identified experienced farmers Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 21 as the single most useful resource when launching family preferences. For start-ups, their volume may programming will be appropriate for all types of their farm enterprise. This finding was confirmed be small, and quality irregular, so markets that are new farmers. However, some programming ex- in both the NESFI and other NENFN focus groups. more “forgiving” are a better starting choice for cludes certain categories of new farmers. A few some beginners. For some start-ups, going it alone federal loan programs, for example, require at least As farmers retire, the farming community loses its is a handicap. Options that encourage collective three years’ experience. most vital source of farming knowledge. This marketing such as cooperating CSA farms, or serious challenge to the transfer of knowledge and aggregating produce for the restaurant trade may Program accessibility: Not all types of programs are skills from one generation to another needs to be mean the difference between success and failure in available in all parts of the Northeast. Geographic addressed by augmenting traditional, informal the marketplace. accessibility is one important variable. The type of mentoring relationships with more conscious, delivery is important too. Classroom-and-credit? structured networks of on-farm mentors. Several Access to land: There is no easy way to get onto Weekend workshop? Printed or Web-based publica- organizations have risen to the challenge of build- farmland. Even for next-generation farmers who tions? Distance learning? On-farm experience? ing a mentoring infrastructure. The international stand poised to take over the family farm operation, New farmers vary greatly in their learning needs network of “WWOOFing” (World Wide Opportu- farm succession is fraught with interpersonal, preferences. For example, someone who is working nities on Organic Farms) programs, including the financial, and legal complexities. For those without a full-time job, has a family and wants to explore Northeast WWOOF program managed by NESFI, farms, the process to acquire secure tenure is farming won’t be able to take an academic course, matches interested apprentices with on-farm daunting. Whether to own or rent, where to farm, or a season-long apprenticeship. A young farmer experience. The Maine Organic Farmers and how much and what kind of land, whether land is working on her family’s farm may want to experi- Gardeners Association has a strong network of on- viewed as a legacy or a working asset are questions ence life on another type of farm, but would have farm training opportunities in Maine. Several with enormous implications for all other farming scheduling and travel challenges. Outreach is Northeast groups of farmer-mentors in the North- decisions, as well as for the lives of the farmer and critical. New farmers need timely information about east have formed CRAFT (Collaborative Regional his or her family. services and programs scheduled to their conve- Alliance for Farmer Training) networks, meeting nience and learning preferences. regularly throughout the growing season to offer How well are new farmers’ needs being met? structured trainings and farm tours to their appren- Program content: There are several major categories tices. NESFI is developing a network or associa- In 2001, NENFN published a Directory of Programs of programming for new farmers: introductory; tion of trained on-farm mentors throughout the and Services for Northeast New Farmers. The access to land; hands-on skills development; pro- Northeast. Directory is the result of a region-wide inventory of duction; financial and credit services; marketing; programs that were targeted or relevant to new business planning and management; and special Access to markets: Identifying and reaching farmers in the Northeast region. The Directory, now interest. On-farm apprentice networks exist through- markets is a particular skill, one that some new available on the web at out the region, but they vary as to the training they farmers have in abundance while others may be at www.northeastnewfarmer.org, contains over 300 provide. Similarly, high school and college courses a complete loss. One complicating factor for all organizations located throughout the twelve states. may be more or less useful to the prospective or farmers is time – starting a farm, often while Despite the number of entries, significant gaps in beginning farmer. working two jobs in order to capitalize a new services for new farmers exist in several areas. enterprise, leaves little time for market research, For a more detailed version of this analysis, you can outreach, or the maintenance of relationships Targeted vs. relevant programming: As mentioned, access the NENFN report Gaps in New Farmer required to hold onto a market niche. Sound targeted programs are specifically developed for and Programs and Services on the web at business planning at the early stages can make an offered to new farmers. Relevant programs and www.northeastnewfarmer.org. enormous difference in the success of new agricul- services are not specifically designed for new tural ventures. New farmers need appropriate farmers, but they could be of interest. There are very What’s being done help new farmers? guidance in identifying and meeting market needs, few targeted new farmer programs; this is not news way before they polish their logo. New farmers are to readers who are beginning farmers. While it might seem obvious that next-generation at a market disadvantage. Often, they don’t have farmers need support, there is no history of attention enough information about market options. Or, they New farmer audiences: Programs may be directed to to new farmers and ranchers by the federal and most haven’t given enough thought to how a particular a particular type of new farmer (such as “Explor- state governments. For the first time in its 140-year market strategy meshes with their personal or ers,” or those from immigrant backgrounds). Some history, the USDA now has a Beginning Farmer and 22 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Rancher Development Program. Authorized in the about new farmer needs, spread the word about NYC area. Administered by a Peer Committee, this 2002 federal Farm Bill, this grant program provides effective programs, and encourage collaboration and fund will provide small loans for such necessities as funds to develop a wide range of eligible programs effective referral. One way this is happening is fencing, rototillers, or other vital equipment without for beginning farmers. This achievement is the through the Growing New Farmers Service Provid- which a low-income new farmer cannot establish a result of over a decade of work by a national ers Consortium. Over 150 organizations signed on new enterprise. GNF also has a project to promote network of beginning farmer advocates, including as Consortium members to participate in network- state-level programs to help new farmers to obtain several organizations in the Northeast. This is good ing, professional trainings, electronic discussions, financial assistance. news. The bad news is that there is no money policy development, and regional conferences. attached to the program; the program must be Consortium members share tools, information, Access to Environmental Resources: Pennsylvania funded by Congress every year in its annual appro- resources and insights, and work together on Farm Link is leading the effort to strengthen the NE priations process. New farmer advocates must advocacy and services for new farmers. Members network of “land linking” programs, which focus on persuade the appropriators to fund this important can apply for mini-grants for innovative program farm succession and transfer. Through several program for the next fiscal year — and every year development, and participate in specialized profes- projects, GNF is working to strengthen the link thereafter. sional training activities. between farm transfer and farm conservation plan- ning, so that long-term strategies of land stewardship The first response to the critical lack of new farmers In April 2002, GNF launched an innovative, interac- are not disrupted when farms change hands. The began at the grassroots level in the early 1990’s, tive website for new farmers and service providers Intervale Foundation is promoting alternative land when Nebraska’s Center for Rural Affairs estab- at www.northeastnewfarmer.org. The “one-stop” tenure models (e.g. rentals and long-term leases) that lished the first “land linking” program. Other land site serves as an information clearinghouse and are coupled with stewardship standards. The linking programs followed (now totaling 18), virtual meeting place for new farmers and their Hartford Food System, Working Lands Alliance, sponsored by non-governmental organizations, service providers to connect with one and another NOFA and others in CT will place new farmers on university extension, or state departments of agricul- exchange ideas. Features include: a searchable land protected by conservation easements. ture. Originally conceived as matching services to directory of programs, resources and organizations connect farm seekers with exiting farmers, many of aimed at or helpful to new farmers; an event calen- Access to Markets: New farmers often struggle to these programs now provide a wide range of ex- dar; on-line learning, where farmers and service identify and enter appropriate markets and then to panded services for new farmers, including start-up providers can create, teach, and take on-line meet the product quantity demands of certain market business planning, skill-based curriculum develop- courses; and publications, links, and other useful outlets. Addressing this, NOFA-VT is exploring the ment, technical assistance and referral, as well as information for and about Northeast new farmers feasibility of a multi-farm CSA, where new farmers succession and transfer planning for retiring farm could pool product in order to supply subscription families. In addition to GNF’s broad goals of network build- customers consistently throughout the season. At ing and resource-sharing, the project also is spon- Rutgers University, a print and web-based decision- In the Northeast, three leading organizations with soring the development of an impressive array of making tool is being developed to help new farmers land link programs (New England Small Farm new programs, products, and services. These new select appropriate market outlets. It will address Institute, Cornell’s NY FarmLink, and Pennsylvania programs seek to address barriers in the four key variables of risk and time management to help Farm Link) came together in 1999 to form the areas discussed above — access to knowledge, farmers evaluate market options and make appropri- Northeast New Farmer Network (NENFN), the first financial resources, land, and markets. Some ate choices. regional project in the US to focus on new farmers. highlights include: Its findings have provided the basis for much of this Original Research: The Growing New Farmers article. NENFN was followed by the Growing New Access to Knowledge: With support from GNF Project and other efforts to help new farmers are Farmers Project, a four-year initiative funded by among others, the New England Small Farm Insti- breaking new ground. There really isn’t a lot of USDA. tute is developing curricula and tools for on-farm study or information in this area. This is particularly skills development. Based on DACUM “occupa- true when it comes to solid research about new The Growing New Farmers (GNF) Project was tional profiles” developed for both small-scale new farmers. There are so many questions that need conceived as a comprehensive regional initiative to farmers and on-farm mentors, learning guides on well-considered and investigated answers. provide future generations of Northeast farmers such topics as obtaining land, selecting farm with the support and expertise they need to succeed. enterprises, developing a farm mechanization Three original GNF research projects will study GNF brings together service providers from across strategy, and researching legal requirements for several factors that contribute to successful farm the Northeast who are committed to working with farm start-ups are under development. A set of entry. The first evaluates different “learning and advocating for new farmers from Maine to West guides for on-farm mentors to build their teaching systems” for new farmer training. This research Virginia. and mentoring abilities will also be created. project studies and compares six types of structured NESFI’s first set of products, recently released, learning systems for new farmers, using a frame- GNF is addressing the need for a strong, responsive includes the “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” work that considers how adults learn best, and how service network for new farmers on many fronts: by self-study and classroom guides, with accompany- learning is transferred to new farmers. funding and promoting new programs, generating ing instructor, advisor, and program manager new services and information, and creating a guides. “Exploring the Small Farm Dream” courses The second project compares farm succession supportive, well-connected community of service soon will be taught by a network of delivery part- strategies, examining recent farm transfers in several providers to welcome, support, and meet the needs ners throughout the Northeast. cultural contexts. The findings will help us under- of the Northeast’s new farmers. GNF is a special stand both particular and universal barriers that project of the New England Small Farm Institute, In another Access to Knowledge project, Cornell families face when passing on the farm. The third the grant recipient. The Institute is a private non- Cooperative Extension, Washington County, is using study will develop “longitudinal profiles” — studies profit organization serving beginning, small scale, GNF funds to create an alternative knowledge- over time — of hundreds of farm start-ups in every and limited resource farmers since 1978. Three- delivery system for new farmers, including print NE state. Investigators will chart farmers’ evolution dozen collaborating organizations and individuals resources, workshops, and on-line research, through and major decision points from their beginnings work with GNF as Project Partners. local libraries in the Mohawk Valley. Librarians will through the three years of the study. (If you started a teach new farmers how to do research using the farm since 1992 and are interested in completing a Highlights of the Growing New Farmers Project internet. questionnaire for the study, please contact Sue Ellen Johnson at 413-323-4531 or GNF works on two levels to strengthen services for Access to Financial Resources: The Council on the [email protected].) new farmers. At the “macro” level, it is building a Environment/Greenmarket is creating a New Farmer network of service providers to raise awareness Revolving Loan fund for immigrant farmers in the For people who want to farm or have started farming in the Northeast, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Despite the challenges, which can appear daunting, there are abundant opportunities, growing support, heightened awareness and new programs and services for new farmers. In the non-farming community, from CSA shareholders to land trusts to farm equipment dealers, more people are making the connection between the future of agriculture and future farmers. “It’s not farmland without farmers”, reads American Farmland Trust’s bumper sticker. There’s no food or other farm products without farmers, either.
New farmers will be the stewards of our land and the producers of our food and fiber. New farmers will contribute to local rural economies; new farmers will invest in land conservation; new farmers will innovate, take risks, and be entrepreneurial in order to thrive. Their survival depends on the resources provided by a complex and engaged support net- work. The future is theirs. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 23 Credit by Kathy Ruhf, New England Small Farm Institute recruit and serve new farmers to reach their targets. A survey of farmers in western Massachusetts and Growing New Farmers Funds not spent on lending to new farmers go back several years ago revealed (or confirmed) that into the general pool. They want you! established, larger and more conventional farmers Most farm businesses borrow money. Obtaining do not experience much difficulty in obtaining capital to launch or develop a farm business is … Another lender to beginning farmers is the Farm credit. But start-up and non-traditional farm busi- possible! As any lender or farm financial consultant Credit System is a national farmer-owned lending nesses more often rely on “family, friends and will tell you, there are sources of credit for those cooperative. It is overseen by the US government. others”, personal credit cards or line of credit from a who do their homework. Homework includes FCS has a mandate from the government to serve home mortgage for loans. The New England Small preparation of a business plan and/or other docu- “young, beginning and small farmers and ranchers”. Farm Institute experimented with a “peer lending” ments that demonstrate that you know what you are Recently, the FCS has come under some scrutiny program for start-up micro-loans, in trying to fill the doing and have the means to repay the debt. Farm- regarding their performance in this area. While they gap in small loans for start-up farm businesses. In ers who arrive at the bank with their finances in a do not have specifically targeted funds for new fact, the Farm Credit Foundation, an arm of the shoebox or all in their heads are much more likely farmer loans, they want (and need) to reach and FCS, recommends that a micro-loan program be to be turned away — and for obvious reasons. serve new farmers. FCS also offers financial developed, perhaps by the federal government, in Check www.northeastnewfarmer.org for programs planning and management, tax, and farm manage- response to this identified need. The Growing New and organizations that can help new farmers prepare ment services. Farmers Project is fostering the development of business plans. several community-based lending models. With the A 1992 federal law established a federal-state existing programs and some exciting new ones That being said, there are challenges to finding and partnership loan program for new farmers and under development, diligent and prepared new obtaining loans. Fewer and fewer commercial ranchers. Commonly known as the “aggie bond” farmers will find it possible to meet their credit lenders are in the ag lending business. Loan officers program, it offers low interest loans from money needs. who are not familiar with farming are less inclined bonded by participating states. In the Northeast, to make farm loans. New farmers and those who only Pennsylvania has such a program. The Grow- While most farm businesses borrow money at some want to develop “alternative” or non-traditional” ing New Farmers Project is working to encourage point for operating or to purchase land, equipment products or markets have an even tougher time, as more states to participate in this program or others or livestock, debt is a slippery slope. Our entire they are perceived as higher risk. to provide financial assistance to beginning farmers. agriculture is built on a model that encourages farmers to get deeper into debt by getting bigger — There are several agricultural loan programs to help Some community-based economic development acquiring more and bigger equipment, more acre- new farmers. The USDA’s Farm Service Agency organizations offer small business loans. For age, more inputs just to try to stay even. Farm entry has several loan programs targeted to beginning example, in Hampshire County (MA), the Valley models that minimize debt, such as renting instead farmers and ranchers. They offer direct and guaran- Community Development Corporation offers loans of purchasing land right away, or using your own teed loans for operating expenses and real estate. to small businesses, including agricultural busi- and family labor instead of fancy equipment and They have a unique downpayment loan program nesses. Coastal Enterprises, Inc. in Maine, has a other inputs, should be encouraged. Smart planning that helps new farmers package an affordable program devoted to agricultural lending and busi- will help you make the best decisions about the role mortgage for farm property. FSA has a mandate to ness development. of credit for your farm enterprise. 24 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The CRAFT of Farmer Training by Casey Steinberg
The CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) program offers many opportunities The CRAFT of for young farmers to gain valuable experiences in sustainable agriculture. This morning, the crew here at Brookfield Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts has stopped our daily routine to travel to today’s work- shop. On any other morning, my coworkers and I would get up early and harvest greens while they are Farmer Training still cool from the night air. We would take an hour for breakfast and return to the farm to continue the harvest. On any other morning we would know the day would be spent in our own beautiful corner of the Pioneer Valley. This morning, however, is different. It is Saturday morning, a “CRAFT” morning. The shop is set up for distribution and I have my breakfast in hand, tea on my lap, and an excited but bleary-eyed co-pilot decoding the usual cryptic directions to today’s host farm. We are looking forward to seeing yet another corner of our agricultural community.
CRAFT is a program designed by an evolving community of organic and biodynamic farmers in the Pioneer Valley, the Hudson Valley, and the Berkshires to create educational opportunities for their farm apprentices. Every two weeks from April through October, a different participating farm invites the apprentices from all the other farms and provides a tour and overview. They also speak more specifically about one aspect of their operation. These specific topics include: rotational grazing, seed saving, greenhouse management, cover crop- ping, tractor maintenance and safety, orcharding, mechanical weed control (cultivation), tillage methods, compost making, dairying and livestock, planning and record keeping, marketing, budgets and finances, value added products, CSA manage- ment, and getting started on your own farm.
CRAFT has its roots in the excitement and dedica- tion of a handful of influential farmers who were photo by Pete Lowry committed to and joyful about their work. They Erica Marzak demonstrates Roxbury’s Washing system. were also very concerned about who would train the been revised over the years, based on feedback from Today, we are visiting Roxbury farm in Kinderhook, next generation of farmers. In 1994, Jean-Paul participants, but fundamentally it has remained what New York. It is a large, well-systemized CSA Courtens and Dave Inglis called a group of farmers it was started to be: a series of on-farm workshops (Community Supported Agriculture) with 675 together to discuss ways to train their apprentices. during the growing season which serve to shareholders and a large wholesale account. The By the end of 1994, a core community of farmers collaboratively train all the apprentices in an fields are spread out around the wooded rolling hills formed. Some of these farmers included Sam and efficient manner. The farmers meet once in Decem- and down to the flat Kinderbrook creek flood plain. Elizabeth Smith from Caretaker farm, Michael ber to evaluate the past season and plan the new The focus of the workshop is “farm systems”, of Docter and Linda Hildebrand from the Food Bank one. Administration is kept to a minimum and the which each apprentice is assigned specific responsi- Farm, Dan Kaplan from Brookfield Farm, Hugh farmers do all work for the program on a volunteer bilities. Roxbury’s well-honed systems reach from Williams from Threshold Farm, Rachel and Stephan basis. The program is meant to be simple to manage seeding to washing and distribution. Apprentice Schneider from Hawthorne Valley Farm, and and effective in its training of apprentices. The Todd Niemeier demonstrates how seeds are planted Christa and Martin Stosiek from Markristo Farm. energy of this original group continues to be conta- into flats with a vacuum seeder and placed on trays, gious and the network of CRAFT farms has grown. which can then be moved around on custom made The group decided to cover the “essentials” of a In addition, there are now other CRAFT groups in metal frames. Land is prepared for transplants and farming education and set it to a schedule that Eastern Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and California direct seeding using equipment that provides a worked for the growing season. The schedule has (and maybe more we don’t even know about!) beautifully clean, smooth surface.
Pete Lowy shows us the various cultivation tools he uses to keep the weeds to a minimum. Irrigation is streamlined and efficient. Alyson Taylor takes us into perfectly straight, plastic covered rows of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and summer squash, all irrigated with a drip line system. A large travel- ing reel is used for most other crops, removing the wonderful task of hauling pipe or troubleshooting stubborn sprinkler heads. Erica Marzak, the assis- tant harvest manager, explains the harvesting/ washing system. They harvest into handled lugs, load them onto a truck which in turn takes them to the washing area where they are placed on roller tracks, dunked in super cooled water, and rolled right into the walk in cooler.
We also learn about Roxbury’s covercropping system, a topic of which farmer Jean-Paul is very passionate. He and the Roxbury crew show us beautiful fields in various stages of production and rest. As Jean-Paul speaks the overall goals for this land become more clear, as well as the importance of the right covercrops to achieve them. Though many of the systems here are familiar, others are new and inspirational and I will certainly use them in planning my own operation.
Earlier in the season we visited Ol’ Turtle farm in Easthampton, Massachussetes. Farmer Eileen Droescher, once an apprentice herself, facilitated a photo by Pete Lowry Tod Niemeier dazzles the group with the vacuum seeder. well-organized, thorough presentation on getting a Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 25 farm started by sharing her own success story. During a tour, assistant manager Courtney Hennessey and assistant grower Lisa Argersinger helped explain and answer questions we had about the CSA. We were impressed by meticulous rows of healthy vegetables, covercrops, inventive live- stock ideas, customized tillage and cultivation equipment choices, tight greenhouse operations, and a beautiful farm shop. After the tour, we gathered under a beautiful old maple and discussed in more detail the finer points of “getting started”. Eileen had prepared a list of notes on everything you might need to consider when obtaining and planning a farm. The list included land recourses, what to look for when searching for land, markets, financial planning, where to find money, and what your start up tools and equipment may be. She emphasized photo by Pete Lowry the importance of having a five, ten, twenty, fifty, Apprentices study soil structure and organisms at Caretaker farm even one hundred-year plan for the farm. It is in his usual candid way, “Does epiphany mean ‘sore brings a new group of apprentices, though many refreshing to see the evolution of the program in back’ in Latin?” We can’t all be so lucky. Dan will work for multiple farms in the program. Dan action. Eileen has been farming for six years, and is Perkins of Caretaker says that CRAFT added to his Kaplan of Brookfield points out that it is important wrapping up her fourth year on her farm. overall learning experience, and gave him many that the CRAFT visits be useful to experienced new ideas. Chris Cashen of The Farm at Millers apprentices, while at the same time not talking over Looking for a farm on which to apprentice can be Crossing in Hudson, New York, says, “When you the heads of those who are new. Hendrick Klopper dizzying. How do I know when a farm or farmer take advantage of the CRAFT program, the value of of Millers Crossing says it would be beneficial to will be a good match for me? Will this farm teach your apprenticeship is realized. If you don’t, its just visit a conventional farm, and also suggests me what I need/want to learn, or will I simply be a hard work and low pay”. It provides many sources weeklong work exchanges with other participating laborer? What am I willing to risk to be a farmer? for future placement, consulting, and general farms would enhance the apprenticeship. The input Will this farm provide a low risk setting for me to networking. Most importantly, it provides commu- from this evolving community helps the program to make some mistakes? Many of the apprentices in nity. It provides a structure for the next generation grow and improve. the CRAFT program have addressed these questions of young farmers to connect on a social level as well again and again, and decided that a CRAFT farm as an academic one. This year’s group has become The idea of starting a farm can be terrifying. The will be committed to education as well as hard close, often gathering after workshops to swim, play CRAFT program is an excellent tool for inexperi- work. If a farm is involved in the program, it is a music, celebrate a birthday, or venture to a local pub enced people to get involved in agriculture as well strong sign that they are committed to teaching new to escape the urge to talk about farming. We were as broaden the skills of someone with an agricul- farmers. Sam Smith says that having access to all of even fortunate enough to help celebrate the marriage tural background. It provides hands on training in these farms broadens your horizons because you can of two of the apprentices. Congratulations to an environment that is supportive and encouraging. pick and choose aspects of each when designing Andrea and Brian! CRAFT will connect you with others who share your own operation. Elizabeth Smith says the some of your goals and values and to those who can program provides the farmers another way to give The program is constantly evolving and growing, in help you realize your own goals. Most importantly, back as much as they receive from their apprentices. its apprentices as well as its farmers. Treesha its just a whole lot of fun! She adds, “The best way to learn/teach is to work Lizotte, a farmer at Still Point Community farm and shoulder to shoulder”. former apprentice of Brookfield Farm, says CRAFT If you are interested in learning more about the sparks interest and new energy in the apprentices CRAFT program and the participating farms, look When asked about the program, Brian Strom, one of that they in turn bring back to their own farm. Chris us up on the web at www.brookfieldfarm.org/craft. Sam and Elizabeth’s apprentices, says all farm visits Cashen says, “We can live vicariously through our were beneficial in some way. I asked if he had had apprentices when they report back to us about their Casey Steinberg is currently an apprentice at any epiphanies while in the program. He responded visit. How many weeds do they have?” Every year Brookfield Farm. 26 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Beginning Farmers in Vermont: Priorities for Action Identified at a Beginning Farmer Forum summarized by Vern Grubinger, Director, UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Background. Over the last century Vermont has been slowly changing from a rural to a suburban and urban society. Today, only few percent of the popula- tion is engaged in farming and according to the agricultural census the average age of farmers is slowly increasing and now stands at 52 years. Yet, nearly 6,000 farms remain in Vermont, stewarding almost 1.3 million acres of land, and farming continues to play an essential role in rural economic develop- ment, food security, and the maintenance of open space for tourism, wildlife habitat and recreation. To assure a bright future for agriculture in the state, it is critical that efforts are made to encourage new entrants to farming and to help them succeed.
The good news with regard to beginning farmers is that the lifestyle and working environment associated with farming are attractive to many young people as well as to people seeking a change of careers. Despite the relative un-attractiveness of farm versus non-farm earning opportunities, anecdotal evidence suggests there is an ample pool of people willing and eager to enter
into farming as a business if they can overcome the initial obstacles. The bad new is that these obstacles can be significant, and they include: access to financial capital, access to land, access to markets and access to farming knowl- edge and information.
Farm businesses have relatively high capital requirements. A new farmer can use their own money, have it provided by others, or borrow it. Many people that aspire to start a new farm or take over a farm are not eligible for the loans they need, despite their good character and experience, because they lack sufficient financial assets to secure these loans.
In places like Vermont, where land prices are steadily rising and development is slowly reducing the amount of available farmland, finding an affordable place to farm is a serious challenge for beginning farmers. Sale of development rights has been helped some beginning farmers acquire land, but funding is limited and the smaller parcels desired by many new entrants to agriculture are not usually attractive to land trusts.
While commodity market prices pose a serious challenge to most farmers, including beginning farmers, opportunities abound in specialized wholesale markets and direct markets if a producer can identify their niche and provide premium quality products along with customer service.
A beginning farmer must rapidly acquire information about how to farm, how to manage a farm business, and how to adhere to regulations. Those who grew up on a farm can obtain much of this specialized knowledge from their family and experience. For others, this expertise must be acquired through a combination of hired work on farms, internships, education, and technical advice. Technical advisors and trainings are relatively plentiful, but beginning farmers often struggle with locating the resources that address their specific needs.
Types of beginning farmers. Beginning farmers are a diverse group. They include recruits (people with an aptitude or interest in farming that have not considered it as a career option); explorers (those actively researching farming as a career option); aspiring farmers (committed to becoming farmers but haven’t started commercially); start-up farmers (in their first few years of commercial production); re-strategizing farmers (in their first few years and in the process of reassessing their operation); establishing farmers (well on their way to stabilizing production and marketing). Programs and services need to be clear about which type of beginning farmer they are targeting. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 27
Identifying Priorities for Action. On March 13, * More Youth ‘Technical’ Ag Programs aimed at * Establish a Price Reporting System on the Web for 2002, a forum was held to identify and prioritize diversified farming enterprises. small farm direct marketers. actions that would promote the success of beginning farmers in Vermont. Funding was provided by the * Start a Farmer ‘Technical Assistance Provider * Engage in Recruitment of New Farmers Northeast SARE program and UVM’s Robert P. Association’ as a Davison Memorial Endowment. Seventy people non-profit corporation. * Set Up a Mentoring program for Beginning attended; about half were farmers and half were Farmers representatives from public and private agricultural * Change Land Trust policies to better assist begin- organizations (Farm Service Agency, Intervale ning farmers get on small land parcels. * Discussion Groups for Small and Beginning Foundation, New England Small Farm Institute, Farmers Natural Resources Conservation Service, NOFA- * Offer a Hands-On Beginning Farmer Practical VT, UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture, UVM Skills Course * Fund a Retirement Program for Farmers as an Extension, Vermont Land Trust and Yankee Farm incentive for new farmers. Credit). Presentations about access to loans, land, * Hold a ‘Farm Affordability’ Forum and establish a markets and technical assistance were given by both task force to identify key issues. * Start a ‘Venture Capital’ Fund for investors beginning farmers and agricultural service provid- seeking to support beginning farmers. ers. Participants generated the list below, and at the * Conduct Market Research and Analyses about end of the day these actions were prioritized. products generated by small farms This list is just a starting point. Since the forum, several organizations have been meeting to begin Top Priorities: Other Priorities: implementing some of these ideas. We are calling ourselves the Vermont New Farmer Network, and * Beginning Farmer Program Coordination. De- * Lender Training to help them more effectively all interested parties are welcome to join in our velop capacity to advise and counsel individual meet beginning farmer financial needs. efforts to assist the next generation of farmers. beginning farmers; facilitate communication among Contact Allen Matthews at 802-656-0037 for more agencies that serve beginning farmers; educate information. agencies and organizations about beginning farmer needs; compile resource lists of programs and services available for beginning farmers; enhance linkages between technical advisors and beginning farmers.
* Low Interest / Zero-Interest Loans and Grants for Beginning Farmers. Obtain funding and develop a process for offering financial assistance to promis- ing new farm enterprises.
Secondary Priorities:
* Ongoing Business Training Sessions for Begin- ning Farmers. Expand the availability of existing programs (NxLevel, Growing Places) and new programs across the state.
* Beginning Farmer Resource Packet. Compile a comprehensive list of programs, services, agencies and individuals that serve beginning farmers. Provide contact information as well as brief descrip- tions.
NOP Overrules NOSB Thus the outcome of this issue raises a basic continued from page 1 question about the shape of organic farming under the NOP — will organic “factory farms” director announced that the NOP had overruled be allowed to drive out family operations as they the NOFA/Mass Organic Certification Program have in conventional agriculture? The NOFA/ on a case involving a Massachusetts egg pro- Mass Organic Certification Program certifies ducer. The producer, Mathews related, had several organic egg producers in Massachusetts, applied to the Massachusetts program for certifi- but none on the scale of The Country Hen. cation and been presented with a list of ways in which his operation was not in compliance, Although The Country Hen has not been granted including that the farm did not provide adequate certification by the NOFA/Mass Organic Certifi- access for the chickens to the out of doors. The cation Program, the company’s eggs have been producer came back with corrections to all the on the market for weeks in local stores in boxes other points, but not the access one. Instead of that bear the notation: “Certified Organic by coming into compliance on that issue, the pro- NOFA Mass”. When questioned about this an ducer appealed it to the NOP. Mathews said that, official of the NOFA/Mass Organic Certification based on advice he received in a letter from a Program said it was likely that Mr. Bass believed poultry expert, he decided on a “compromise” — his eggs were certified, given his appeal to the to require the farm to provide access to the out of NOP. doors only in the months from May through September. He also said the NOFA/Mass Organic NOFA/Mass has not yet taken any action against Certification Program needed to certify the the egg facility, hoping for a positive resolution facility in question or lose accreditation for three of the certification dispute. But the organization years. Labels both inside and outside the egg boxes tout is concerned about the situation because of its certification by NOFA/Mass larger implications. According to the The farm in question, The Country Hen, in association’s president, Jonathan von Ranson, 3) he calculated the cost of land and buildings which Hubbardston, Massachusetts, had been certified “If NOP can, this early in the program, usurp the would be required to adequately rotate his birds so as by Quality Assurance International for several authority of the NOSB and flout basic rules not to pollute and arrived at a total of over years. Owner George Bass has actively promoted about fairness and objectivity, then public trust $5,000,000. his view that outside access for hens is, in many in the value of the organic label may be perma- cases, detrimental — including to the health and nently jeopardized.” The question of organic eggs takes on a larger signifi- safety of his 67,000 birds. In May of this year he cance when one realizes the importance of eggs in testified at an NOSB hearing on animal access. The NOFA/Mass board voted to provide finan- virtually all baked and many processed products. If a He made three arguments: cial and staff support in this dispute to its processor is to have the preferred label of 100% organic, 1) he cited a recent outbreak of avian influenza in certification program — which is now adminis- then organic eggs are required. But for chickens not only Virginia which killed 2.2 million birds and tered by a separate organization, composed of to have access to the out of doors, but to be encouraged argued that danger from such infection is long-time NOFA/Mass members, known as to go out when they feel like it, as the NOSB standards greater in a range-reared flock, Massachusetts Independent Certifier (MIC). In a require, is hard to arrange in a large, centralized, multi- 2) he explained that he has only 13 acres of land move which shows the concern with which the storied “industrial” chicken operation. It is much easier and his birds produce over 80 tons of wet group views this conflict, the board also voted to to do on smaller farms which move their birds around on manure a month, thus reasoning that allowing research and publicize other options than the use pasture, as Virginia’s Joel Salatin does, in covered pens. them outside would produce environmental of the USDA controlled term “organic” to damage to the surrounding watershed, and market food from chapter members’ farms. 28 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Learning on Five Acres by Jack Kittredge
The Finger Lake region of New York is prime agricultural land. Its rolling hills are gentle enough to work with tractors and seldom does one encoun- ter a rock capable of enforcing a detour from the straight line. Yet the region is far enough from urban areas that development pressure is low and open land is available for farming. photo by Jack Kittredge Hector holds just picked cucumbers. He will sell these in New York City On 5 acres in Tyrone, NY, west of Lake Seneca, new farmer Hector Tejada is learning his craft. Using at the Greenmarket, to which he goes twice a week. land of a beekeeper friend, Hector pays just enough Tejada has become a reasonable mechanic out of a parking lot, or a school back yard. But the to cover the property taxes on his acres of mixed necessity. “I can fix things a bit,” he says, modestly. Greenmarket is the biggest one, with 28 markets vegetables. During my visit in late July he was Not too much electronic, but if it’s mechanical I can throughout the city. They’ve been there 26 years.” harvesting cucumbers and squash. The first toma- see how it works. I have a 1942 tractor! But I keep it toes were turning orange. Melons and eggplant working pretty good.” “On Tuesday, I go to Poe Park in the Bronx, at looked good while the beans, garlic and corn were 190th and Grand Concourse. It’s a good market for still small. Being located next door to a sheep farm, Hector me. There are a lot of people using the WIC cou- uses sheep manure plus fish emulsion for fertility. pons there, which I take. My Thursday market is not “It was a cool spring,” he explains, “but now we’re He’s used rotenone for trouble with striped beetles too big. There are 4 big farmers there who have the getting heat. There are a lot of ripe tomatoes coming in his cucurbits, and flea beetles in his cabbage. But same things. Then there are two fruit farmers – in from Jersey and Pennsylvania now, but not yet managing five acres by hand organically, he admits, apples, peaches, berries. Then there is the flower that many from New York.” is more than he can take sometimes. seller, the fish guy, the honey guy, the Amish with bakery goods, and another baker from New Jersey. Tejada does a lot of heirloom tomatoes and squash, “I feel bad about having five things going on at This market is on the upper West Side at 175th and which he feels attract ethnic buyers at his table in once,” he sighs. “And then I have to go to the Broadway. It’s Washington Heights — a Spanish New York City’s Greenmarket. He grows most of market. If I don’t go, nothing is going to happen! neighborhood — so I do pretty good there with my his crops on black plastic, which gets the ground Everytime you go there it’s a day — a long day! It’s Spanish,” he laughs. warm earlier, as well as keeping in moisture from hard to make it up the next morning. I can’t get sick. his trickle irrigation system. I get kind of tired. At this time I would like to have The markets start at 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning a vacation!” and go to 3 or 4 in the afternoon – although some Hector laid down the plastic mulch with borrowed markets will go to 7 p.m. It’s a long day for Tejada, equipment last spring. Unfamiliar with the tractor Tejada sells in New York City’s Green Market twice especially since he has a four and a half hour ride and mulch layer, he had trouble getting some a week. He picks on Monday, leaves Monday night home. He enjoys talking to the customers, however, sections covered with dirt. In those areas the plastic for New York, and gets there early Tuesday. He sells and feels that even if they don’t buy, talking with has blown away and weeds have given stiff compe- all day Tuesday, then comes back Tuesday night. them gets them to feel comfortable with you the tition to the crop plants. Picking again Wednesday, he leaves Wednesday next time you come. night for Thursday sales. Not a driver himself, His lack of the proper machinery has been a burden Hector pays a friend to drive him the 4 and a half “It’s nice to be in the market and talk to the people in getting going this year. “Here I have a tractor,” he hours each way in a pick-up truck. about why you’re growing,” he says. “You can explains, “but the only equipment on it is a disk answer them when they ask you what you use. harrow. I use a rototiller and do most everything by “When I get to the market each week,” he says, “I People get satisfied when they get answers. They hand. I don’t have the equipment I need – a sprayer, check the prices. We all try to keep the same prices. trust you because they see how you are.” a cultivator, a plow. I had to pay somebody to plow In the Greenmarket you can’t buy stuff in. You have this land when I came here. And nobody else does to raise it or work for the farmer. Some other He likes to have heirloom vegetables and produce work like you would do it yourself.” markets don’t care. Sometimes an independent that is interesting or looks different from the con- farmers market will be organized by a merchant for ventional varieties. When he finds an interesting product at the market he’ll take a sample if it’s thrown away at the end of the market and save seeds from it.
Hector’s grandparents were country people in the Dominican Republic. They had a farm where they raised pigs and cocoa beans, for chocolate, as well as plantain and crops for the family. He used to visit a lot on weekends. By the time he was 21, Tejada was a husband and father of a baby boy.
“We were too young,” he admits. “We were living with my parents and her parents. That doesn’t work too well. There needs to be some distance, some independence. At that time I was a musician — I play guitar and bass. Most of the music that was my inspiration was coming to me through cable TV from the United States. So I came to the US on a tourist visa when I was 24. I came to find a way to take care of them better. I tried to be a musician in New York. But distance doesn’t work in a marriage. I stayed here for eight months and it killed the relationship. I went back and got a divorce and started over.”
When he first came to the US, Hector got a job in a photo by Jack Kittredge supermarket to support himself while finding With the greenhouse he built in the background, Hector stands by his tiller, holding some of occasional gigs. Soon he found an opening playing the heirloom tomatores he does well with. Most of his work he does by hand. with a band. But he found it was hard to be a Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 29 The Greenmarket is a much-imitated privately- rain, when to plant, what to plant. But nothing about funded program of the City’s Council on the Envi- bugs or bug control. That’s something basic, if you ronment. It maintains farmers markets throughout want to be organic. You can lose your crop.” city neighborhoods and uses its limited funds to help farmers and consumers work their market magic on His training by the Amish farmer didn’t help. The each other. The NFDP is a brand new program. farmer considered growing organic for one market a Whereas some farmland has been protected by couple of years ago, but one of his sons told him it various land trusts and state purchases of develop- was a mistake, that the produce wouldn’t look good ment rights over the past decade or so, no programs and people wouldn’t buy it. So Hector didn’t learn existed to protect and sustain the human resources any ways to prevent insect predation. needed to make that land productive. “I was picking cucumbers for him,” he recalls, “and The NFDP hopes to identify individuals, often they sprayed them. You had to stay away for four or immigrants with backgrounds in agriculture, to five days. I got a little allergy on my hands! There replace the area’s retiring farmers. Offering market are different kinds of Amish, and they all have opportunities through the Greenmarket is the different practices. Between Mennonites and Amish NFDP’s major incentive, but they also have I know five different kinds. Some will use batteries, mentoring programs and can find small financial others won’t. Some will have bathrooms in their assistance in the right circumstances. In Tejada’s house, others will have them outside. Some will use case, they got him his Greenmarket locations, helped steel wheel tractors in the fields, but buggies to go with the paperwork involved in accepting WIC to church. Down in Pennsylvania they don’t use photo by Jack Kittredge coupons, and gave advice on selecting a greenhouse. tractors. Just horses. They have Mennonites who Hector grows okra, as he does many of his drive cars, but can’t have any electricity. The ones crops, with black plastic mulch to prevent While appreciative of the program, Hector realizes around here have tractors and electricity and weeds and conserve moisture. the restraints that govern such opportunities. The phones, but don’t drive cars.” NFDP has a little fund to help farmers in emergen- musician and also have a paying job. You have to be cies. “A few weeks ago,” he says, “I had a big beetle available to go with the band. Tejada is concentrating on doing as well as he can problem. I was starting in the market and I didn’t before the frost. His goal is to break even and let the have any money. I called and they said the lady that “We got occasional jobs,” he recalls, “but we experience be his profit. But he is also toying with signs the checks was on vacation! They said: ‘We couldn’t count on that to pay the bills. You can the idea of going back to Pennsylvania and learning have the money here but we cannot give it to you.’ I spend your whole life just doing that. But I have a more. said: ‘But I’m going to lose my cucumbers.’ So I son and have to treat it like a business.” called my extension agent. He bought me some “Maybe I can make a really good deal with my ex- rotenone. He’s a nice guy!” Then, in 1997, Tejada started working at a farmers boss,” he sighs. “and focus on the not-too-far future, market selling fish for two days a week. He found like 4 or 5 years. I’d like to learn about the horses. I Asked what would make it easier to get started in he liked to talk to the buyers and worked there for a don’t have a religious reason not to use machines, farming, Tejada said: “Money! Or the things that year and a half. Then he met an Amish farmer at the but I think there’s a real value in using animals to money can get you – machines, equipment, supplies. market who offered him a job. farm. It’s a skill that’s getting lost. Also, I’d like to And Markets –- good markets where you can get get my own land. He has 11 sons, but none of them good prices for your stuff. I checked around here. “He’s a big farmer and also has a bakery and makes wants to farm. I think it was a problem because the Farmers have an auction in Penn Yan. It’s not much, cheese,” Hector says. “His farm is in Pennsylvania kids saw how hard he worked. He’s hurt by that. He man, what you can do there. The prices are way but somebody drives him in. He saw me working doesn’t see his farm going anywhere after he retires. down. At least I’m familiar with the Greenmarket!” for his neighbor, the fish guy. He told him I was honest, he never missed his money. The Amish guy “I was talking to my dad about business,” he I asked him what advice he would give other new did many markets and was always looking for continues, “and he told me there’s an old saying in farmers, but Hector feels like he’s still learning so people. So he asked me to work for him at the my country: ‘Don’t try to be the head of a mouse much he can’t give anyone advice yet. But he would market in the summer. I did that, and the next year when you can be the tail of a lion.’ Because you feel say: “It’s hard! If you don’t love it, you’re not going he asked me if I would like to work for him at the proud of being your own boss, don’t try to go too to make it. I don’t think someone can just farm farm. He said he had a lot of work at the farm.” far. Be a little patient. If you can wait a little and because it’s a business. It’s too hard. The money will learn more, it will stay with you your whole life.” not pay you. You need something else, to make you “When I went to Pennsylvania I liked it,” he contin- feel good about what you are doing. If you’re ues. “It was a change. I was in New York City for a But another possible future also interests Hector. somebody who wants to have a good life, who likes couple of years, and it’s hard to live there – too “Sometimes I think about my country,” he confides. to work hard and loves the country, who likes to see many people. Pennsylvania had open space. It was “All the young people want to leave the countryside things growing, maybe yes.” hard work, but I liked it. I learned a lot from him and go to the city. They don’t see no future in hard about farming.” work on the land. In this country you can get lots of Although he was too late to get certified this year, equipment easy, if you have the money. You can get Tejada grows using organic methods and the land he Tejada used to take care of the Amish farmer’s something that will pay for itself pretty soon. But in in on would qualify – it has not been in use for 18 tomatoes. Most of the farm’s help were girls, he my country the situation is very different. We don’t years. He feels having organic produce helps in some says, who were great at planting and picking, but make tractors. They’re very expensive. For a small markets, but not much in others. had a hard time doing heavy work. The farmer farmer it’s a dream. It’s possible to buy a tractor and taught Hector how to put in poles and tie tomatoes, lose your farm trying to pay off the debt. His main problem with organic methods is that he when and how to water them, how to keep too many has not learned ways of managing bugs. “What I tomatoes from developing at once, so they will all “I would like to spend some time in my country and need is time to learn by doing,” he says. “This year be good size. maybe do something for farmers there,” he says. will be a start, next year I’ll learn more and eventu- “The horses that the Amish use for work, we don’t ally I’ll know how to do this. I think organic is better Ultimately, however, the drive to be his own boss have that kind of horse. We have small horses. Big for everybody. For me working, for you buying.” pushed Hector to try farming on his own. He took ones might be useful there. I’d like to work with an beekeeper Dewayne Newcomb up on his generous organization to help farmers there find ways to The New Farmer Development Project provided offer to farm on Dewayne’s land in Tyrone, NY. He make a living. There’s no way they can afford training on how to be organic, but Hector feels they first came to the land last fall to look at it and get tractors and gas and everything like that. They need didn’t talk enough about bugs: “They talk about soil, someone to plow it. Then he came back in late a different way to farm.” February to live – to put together the greenhouse and get the seeds, equipment, drip irrigation and other inputs necessary for a farming venture.
Tejada used his savings from work to get started, and also borrowed money from his mother back in the Dominican Republic. He bought the greenhouse and raised virtually all his own seedlings there. Since there is no electricity to the field where the greenhouse is, he heated it with a wood stove and installed windows on the ends for ventilation
“It took me longer than I thought it would to put the greenhouse together,” he reflects. “The Amish farmer I worked with had five of them, but I never put one together with him. Companies came and put them up.”
Instrumental in helping Hector get started farming on his own was the New Farmer Development photo by Jack Kittredge Program (NFDP) of New York City’s Greenmarket. Hector with his International tractor (which he uses only for harrowing) 30 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 A New Farmer 10 Years Later by Tim Belknap
In 1992, I bought a house and barn in central Vermont on 20 acres that had been the upper pastures of a farm that folded in the 1950s. A decade later, we’re not quite there yet, but Millennium Farm is taking shape as a little dynamo of a working operation. I would like to share my successes and mistakes with those considering taking up farming with limited means but big dreams.
First, about those dreams: If you travel down the Champlain Valley along Route 22A in Vermont, you will pass one magnificent dairy farm after another. In the foggy early mornings on my weekly commute out of state, they seem like starships—clusters of lights amid the vast, mist-blanketed pastures and fields. Some of the newer structures, each housing hundreds of cows, look more like Mazda assembly plants than barns, but so be it, nothing need be locked in time.
I’ve visited some of those farms with a friend of mine making his rounds as a U.S. Dept. of Agricul- ture loan officer, and fascinating places they are, the farmers as handy with a laptop computer as with photo courtesy Tim Belknap any of their other machines. Some of the more Sitting down on the job -- weeding asparagus beds, using an aluminum lawn chair whose prosperous families are Dutch—not old Dutch stock legs I cut down. Rocks insulate the beds from temperature and weed invasion. I weed every- but immigrants who came over in the 1950s for affordable land. thing but clover. Every 10 minutes or so I move the chair a few feet, but it’s amazing how much youp can reach from one spot. No patent pending! Should any of these industrious folk visit my tiny deposits of just about everything here and there, involve weekly Saturday trips to the dump for the operation, they might well laugh to themselves and including sand. If you see majestic white pine, lush next two years. Pulling that junk, often half-buried, mentally add quotation marks to the word farm. berry patches, or eye-catching splashes of Indian out of the puckerbush was a warmup for the hard After all, where’s the acreage, the machines, the paintbrush, don’t wait for a soil test, you’re looking work of clearing. credit line, to say nothing of the endless work- at the sort of acidic land I bought. weeks? “Commuter” and “hobby farm” might be If you follow the same path I did, you will be doing two terms that would come to mind. Alas, I have The property backed up to the east to the Green gritty land-clearing labor the likes of which most debt just like they do, and I don’t have their poten- Mountain National Forest and massive Mount Yankee farmers haven’t experienced in two centu- tial subsidies. (Not all of them accept subsidies, Abraham. Little of the land had remained cleared— ries or more. Just tell your doubting friends it’s like unless you count milk prices as inherently subsi- less than three acres. Beaver ponds, unheard of a visit to the gym—for free! The primary tools I dized.) But at least I have a business model that will locally back in the 1950s, now graced the southern started out with were a pickup truck, shovel, shears, be debt-free in spring 2004, when I anticipate edge of the plot. There was a barn partly sheathed in a crowbar and other levers, handsaws, and a piece of ending all startup outlays. Am I in business just as galvanized steel, and two horses fenced in by barbed what is now barely mobile scrap metal that deserves much as they are down in the valley? Nope, I’ll wire. Also, lots of pioneer growth had emerged as a place in the Wheelbarrow Hall of Fame. Soon admit, since only a small fraction of my income pastureland turned to woods—the place was a after came a chainsaw and eventually a four-wheel- comes from the land. But no one is going to define grouse hunter’s dream—and maturing woodlots: drive tractor with front-end loader and brush hog. for me what farming is and isn’t these days. The mostly young maple and popple, but also birch, way I look at it, whether you’re milking 400 cows, apple, beech, and spruce, in addition to the pine. But for a year, I relied on just the wheelbarrow, as the flatlanders are, or, as I am, trying to perfect a hand tools, and insect repellent. Plus, an old power raised asparagus bed, producing food is a serious Here’s what I’ve found significant in all that. The mower I used as a brush hog by doing wheelies and endeavor. big mountain, Abe, blocks off the morning sun, using the blades vertically. (Tip No.1: Buy hand shortening an already short growing season at our tools in high-visibility colors or paint them that way. I grow apples to make cider, keep bees for honey latitude (about that of Middlebury, Vt.) and altitude Nothing worse than misplacing a crowbar only to and pollination, and raise asparagus. One reason I (1,400 feet). But it also gives me first shot at a find it three years later with your brush hog.) picked these products is that I find all three deli- dependable water supply via three feeder streams cious—a prerequisite to effective marketing, I tumbling down its slopes to the beaver ponds. And Another tool I recommend is a camera. Photograph figure. It makes me my own best critic and makes 4,000-ft. Mt. Abe sometimes makes eastbound rain your acreage before you start, not only as a histori- friends and family a handy test group. Besides, I clouds linger on my side. As for the beaver ponds cal record but as a great boost to morale when, after already had wild apple trees—young and old— on themselves, they supply silt, water in droughts, a year or two, you may be astonished to see the the property as a start. Wormy-looking wild apples moist mist every morning in the growing season, visible progress of your labors. added to cultivated apples—obtainable initially at and a never-have-to-mow clearing right where I local orchards, later from planted trees—can make a need one, in front of sunny, southern-exposure I’m not kidding when I talk about historical record. good cider into a great cider. As for the bees, their slopes—an orchardist’s delight. Meanwhile, the You should log all activities daily in a datebook, attraction is that they don’t require much room, nor rain-trapping steel sheeting on the barn and the year after year, and eventually make notes about really all that much labor. Asparagus has two pluses: horse-unfriendly fencing were tip-offs that the seller harvest figures, weather, and anything affecting the Even in central Vermont, it can be harvested as early wasn’t exactly Vermont Farmer of the Year and that farm. It will be of great help in planning seasonal as late April, and it doesn’t require fencing, since not all of his tips would be solid gold. As for all the activities and rationing out your most important deer and other animals seem to have no appetite for hardwood, I didn’t realize at the time, but I was asset: time. Also, find out as much as you can about it—important when you border wild tracts, as I looking at some startup capital. the previous activities on your land—setbacks and would find out with bears and bees. triumphs, what worked and what didn’t. The previ- The owner wouldn’t budge on price—turned out it ous owner told me he tried everything from poultry Since this article is directed at people short on was his wife who wanted to move, he loved the to potatoes, and his most profitable venture turned capital, the land you will “subdue”—to aptly use the place. I tried everything, including turning my back. out to be rabbits. His father before him tried sheep, word cited in the book of Genesis that Jehovah used Nothing worked. He just showed me his previous cows, and wood-cutting and never made a go of in his first instruction to man—will likely be of ads with higher prices and pointed out that he had anything, remaining a subsistence farmer. Forget marginal soil quality, unlike expensive bottomland. dropped the Realtor, thus saving the commission. about a folksy New England family farm: The land But just as good soil is only a short-term asset (But, I found out later, he had promised the town was bought on contract from a man who specialized unless its replenished, poor soil is only a short-term clerk a kickback if she steered a buyer his way—just in seeing families go broke, then keeping both their liability if it is replenished. And of course, initial what happened.) If he didn’t get his price, he payments and the land. This was common practice soil quality is not the only factor in what constitutes couldn’t rebuild. I gave in, but not before noticing until surprisingly recent times and was often broken good land. In fact, for small, intensively managed that underneath all the berry thickets and underbrush only by having family members toil off the farm. operations like mine, it’s not even a major factor, in was a lot of junk. The larger stuff had to be removed Knowing this background serves as a cautionary my hard-earned opinion. by him or no deal. tale: Small-scale farming is no pursuit for dilet- tantes. The soil on the acreage I bought was, by and large, Done! He was a man of his word and hauled out the quite acidic and, down only a couple of inches, big stuff, a trailer, refrigerator, rotted chicken shack, Get to know every square foot of your property mostly clay, although the glaciers made random etc. The little stuff—literally tons of it—would intimately before you do anything major or make Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 31 any big decisions. Think of what would go best where in terms of sun, drainage, predation, and ease of access. If you don’t want to rush decisions—the master scheme will fall in place eventually—I suggest working on clearing the most marginal, dubious part of the acreage. Instead, I took some of my most prime land and planted and fenced in vegetables there, only to figure out later that that was where the heart of my orchard should be.
Take all advice with a grain of salt. That’s because no one else faces the same problems you do. Farm- ing is very, very localized. You have your own little climate, your own little ecosystem (or two or three). You will in very short order be the world’s leading expert on your piece of property. That’s not to say that Web sites and small-farming guides aren’t useful. Better yet are cooperative extension agents and the like who agree to visit your land and give advice. Workshops are good, too—as much for what you pick up informally shooting the breeze as for formal instruction.
First, I cleared around the house, expanding what was little more than a horse-chewed clearing into a lawn and ringing it with about one-quarter mile of stonewall—thicker than it was tall, one-quarter of it photo courtesy Tim Belknap underground to mitigate frost mischief. New Mowing and brush-hogging is best done slowly and carefully -- note where I’m looking and England’s reputation for growing fine rocks is well- note where the bucket is positioned as an early warning system against stumps and rocks founded. I got back in the kind of shape I had been hidden in the grass or brush. This is a fairly well-chewed pasture -- in brushier areas you 20 years earlier working construction. The stone- can’t go too slowly, and it’s often best to go in reverse. It’s the old story: any job worth doing walls turned out to be a great idea, although they is worth doing right. only really look good if the grass below them is while drunk, judging from the turkey tracks in- footprints that will soon make your place look like a hand trimmed—nothing else I’ve tried works. For scribed in the cement floor like a poor man’s tank battlefield. And it can’t be hurried without one thing, the walls turn into garter snake condos in Hollywood Celebrity Sidewalk. mishap. If you need a field cleared of boulders and the warm months, which keeps the mice population stumps, I highly recommend hiring an excavator down and thus keeps apple trees alive, among other While I worked, I thought. Despite its reputation to with a capable operator. For less than $400, I had a benefits. Also, they make great borders for strips of the contrary among some people, farming is very pastured cleared and leveled—and the makings of a berries that can then be easily picked and thinned. much a thinking person’s pursuit. Actually, thinking superb stonewall—in one morning. It would have Or you can just pile the rocks like the old New through every task, big or small, comes naturally taken weeks with the tractor, and even then, some of Englanders often did. Later, they can be used to line when the work is belt-tightening hard. Not only the boulders could not have been removed. ditches, protect culverts, and insulate raised beds does your body demand that your brain figure out from both temperature and weeds. Waste not, want all shortcuts but also that each task, if possible, But even if you can’t afford to hire an excavator, let not. serve more than one purpose. alone buy a tractor, you can achieve much with muscles, willpower, and a little know-how on the This even goes for another byproduct of clearing: This intensity of effort brings up an essential matter. use of levers and gravity. Let nothing stop you. brush piles, which quickly can become house-sized. Other than your own mindset, there is only one At first, I made the mistake of just locating them thing that will dash all your dreams of farming: a where it was most convenient, figuring I’d get serious accident. Do not work with dangerous around to burning them in due time. Trouble is, big equipment—for me, the chainsaw and the tractor— brush piles don’t burn that easily, especially when when you’re tired or up against a deadline. Do it there’s snow on the ground, which is the only time first thing, when you’re fresh and alert. If you have often either wise or legal to burn them without a a close call, stop. Analyze what went down—hard to special permit. Nor do they dissolve into the land- believe how you just did something so stupid. Brain scape after a few years, especially hardwood slash. fade comes from being too tired or too hurried and On the plus side, they make fine trellises for berries, overconfident. Never do anything with dangerous and a long-term supply of kindling, and they equipment if you cannot visualize what will happen discourage sun-blocking growth (although some next—where the tree will fall, what will the tractor trees will make it through, and good luck trying to do if the boulder shifts in the bucket as you go over reach them anytime soon.) Also, wildlife love them, a bump. And what will you do if your best guess is which may or may not be desirable. So take great wrong? Have an escape plan in mind. If you’re too care locating brush piles. I used them to visually tired or too busy to go through this thought process, screen off two neighbors houses, then screened the well, there’s always some harmless task that you can piles off in turn with a line of quick-growing white do instead. pine. Other piles I hid in low spots behind contours. Make no mistake, though, a tractor with loader and For two winters, I worked on the barn, from roof to brushhog is a wonderful tool if you can afford one. floor, although, unlike the land, the barn had been in It is capable of many, many jobs and will eventually fairly good shape to begin with—just minor repairs save your back. But it is a tool best used sparingly, and major cleaning, since the previous owner had especially in the spring, because it leaves big dabbled in rabbits, chickens, and turkeys, sometimes 32 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Organic Integrity - (Continued from page 1) a farmer-to-farmer verification process resembling certifiers under their purview with a check list of The fanfare announcing the implementation of the what the NOFA’s did 20 years ago as we started into criteria and a program manual so that the certifiers NOP did produce some surprisingly positive press certification. have a clear understanding of the accreditation for organic products. Newsweek devoted 7 pages to process. So far, the NOP has not taken these steps telling its readers about the growth in organic sales The NOP makes life much more difficult for the to make its process transparent. At the same time, in glowing terms that emphasize exactly the aspects small non-profit organic certifiers like the Northeast the NOP staff is resisting appointing a Peer Review that worry us: “Nearly 40 percent of U.S. consumers Organic Farming Association of New York, Ver- Panel which would examine its accreditation now reach occasionally for something labeled mont, Massachusetts and New Jersey that have been process for fairness and for adherence to interna- organic, and sales are expected to top $11 billion doing a good job of certification for many years. tional norms. this year. Could dusty neighborhood coops sell that The NOP does not deal directly with farms; it To prod the NOP into fulfilling this requirement of many wormy little apples? Well, no. That was the accredits the certifiers which certify the farms. the OFPA, on October 15, 2002, a group of five old organic. The new organic is all about bigger While the NOP’s standards for production on the organizations submitted a Citizen Petition to USDA farms, heartier crops, better distribution and slicker farms are acceptable, its procedures for accreditation requesting the appointment of a Peer Review Panel packaging and promotion. Conglomerates as big as are unfair to the farmer-consumer run certification for the NOP. The petition asked the Secretary for a Heinz and General Mills are now launching or programs and favor the state and for-profit pro- series of 6 actions: buying organic lines - and selling them in main- grams, including new ones with no track record at “*Establish the Peer Review Panel as a standing stream supermarkets.” Although the article includes all. The most unsettling example so far is the new committee of the National Organic Standards Board, the mandatory bow to Dennis Avery with his dire USDA accredited Georgia certifier which allows pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act; warnings about the dangers of manure in organic Fieldale Chicken to label its chickens organic while *Create a three member Peer Review Panel with production, most of what Geoffrey Cowley writes is using only 10% organic feed, instead of the 100% one alternate member; accurate and positive. The New York Times actu- requirement in the Rule. Over the summer of 2002, * Direct the National Organic Standards Board to ally printed an editorial warning of the need to the Georgia Congressional delegation put the recommend, by majority vote, members for appoint- protect organic standards and welcoming the new squeeze on USDA to make an exemption from the ment to the Peer Review Panel; day in organic farming. Rule for organic chicken feed. Counter pressure * Mandate that all appointees to the Peer Review from our committee and the Organic Trade Associa- Panel must have expertise in organic production and MANDATORY CERTIFICATION tion helped avert that weakening of organic stan- handling methods and certification procedures; dards. Veneman announced that USDA would hold * Allow current and former members of the Na- The NOP, as by now TNF readers realize, makes to 100 % organic feed, while ordering a national tional Organic Standards Board to serve as appoin- certification mandatory if you want to use the label assessment of its availability. tees to the Peer Review Panel; and “organic.” This is why we hear voices declaring * Establish that appointees to the Peer Review that USDA has stolen the organic label. Making Troubles lie ahead in the organic chicken coop over Panel may serve up to two 3-year terms and that all certification mandatory may reassure some consum- the definition of access to the outdoors. USDA appointments will be made on rotational basis.” ers and make product selection easier for retailers seems to accept the argument that chickens are more This petition was filed by the Center for Food and processors, but it places a heavy burden on likely to carry salmonella and e-coli if they scratch Safety, the National Campaign for Sustainable small farms. Previously, farms had the choice to around in the sunshine than when they are locked in Agriculture, Rural Advancement Foundation certify or not. If a farm is growing food on a few small crowded cages, despite a Humane Society International, Beyond Pesticides, and the Union of acres and grossing between $5,001 and $50,000, study which definitively proves the contrary. Concerned Scientists. USDA will have to open a paying $300 to $500 for certification may not make docket for public comment. I urge all TNF readers business sense, especially if the farm is selling IMPLEMENTATION ROCKY to be generous in the quantity and volume of locally to stores and individuals who know and trust comments you submit to the NOP on their perfor- the farmer. Only farms with sales under $5,000 are During the development of the NOP Final Rule in mance so far. exempt from mandatory certification: most farms 2000, the USDA identified 49 existing organic that want to use the organic label must certify or risk certifying agents, including 13 State programs. The To keep the organic label meaningful, the National a $10,000 fine (though it is not clear than anyone number of certifying agents seeking accreditation far Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture Organic will be enforcing this law!) Just like northeast surpassed this number with a total of 122. The Committee continues to monitor USDA, testifying conventional farms, northeast organic farms are in Fieldale example raises the concern whether the at NOSB hearings, checking on what different competition with much larger farms in California NOP can properly assess this large volume of certifiers experience with the NOP, making sure that and Colorado which can mass produce food more applicants and ensure that they are not seeking to organic groups around the country stay abreast of cheaply, even including the cost of shipping thou- manipulate and minimize compliance with organic developments. USDA may control the legal defini- sands of miles. Over the past decade, industrial standards. When certifiers contact the NOP with tion of organic in the U.S., but it cannot define scale farms have moved into organic production. questions, the answers they get are contradictory, organic agriculture. Millions of farmers and garden- Grimway Farms, one of the largest corporate when the NOP bothers to give answers at all. The ers all around the world define organic by their vegetable farms in the country with over 44,000 NOP has not yet done rulemaking on “reasonable values, practices and life styles. The long-term goal acres, recently purchased Cal-Organics — gaining security,” a requirement of the OFPA that has made of the Organic Committee is to put standards control of 1600 certified organic acres. private sector certifiers nervous since 1990. The development and accreditation back in the hands of NOP staff claims that International Standards a democratically run movement. This legal petition Unfortunately, farmer response to the NOP is Organization (ISO) standards are “embedded” in the is a small step in that direction. We have a long way scattered. Many farms are continuing with certifica- Final Rule, while in fact some parts of the Rule are to go. Every reader of TNF can contribute to this tion despite increased fees to cover accreditation at odds with ISO. Certifiers that are trying to be effort! costs. Others are dropping out. Michael Ableman, both ISO compliant for international trade purposes who was never certified, has declared “beyond and NOP compliant are running into serious snags. Please send in your comments in support of the organic,” referring to the many values of the organic ISO requires stakeholder participation. The Rule Legal Petition calling for USDA to appoint a Peer movement beyond the standards for ecological says no farmers on certification boards, or even the Review Panel! Request that your letter be added to production. Eliot Coleman has adopted “authentic” boards of the non-profits that sponsor certifiers. ISO the docket on this issue. to characterize his farming. Ron Kosla, who briefly requires a quality manual, a complaints log and Write to: ran the Natural Foods Association certification procedures for dealing with complaints. The NOP Richard Matthews program, has launched “Certified Naturally Grown,” auditors have told some certifiers that having quality USDA-AMS-TMP-NOP manuals and complaints manuals amounts to having Room 4008-S a “higher standard,” in violation of the Rule. ISO 14th and Independence Ave. SW Fallon to Keynote requires accreditors, like the NOP, to provide Washington, DC 20250-0020 (continued from page 1) [email protected] • Working with teens on a special project during such as this, this is an opportunity not to miss. And and policy, appropriate technology, food and family, the pre-conference on Thursday afternoon and our potluck lunches are great! international agriculture, land care, of the spirit and Friday morning. practical skills. Presenters will receive free registra- • Selecting 8 workshop presenters and topics for The children’s conference coordinators, Justine tion and 1 meal per workshop plus a $25 stipend teens during the weekend(Friday afternoon Johnson and myself, Steve Lorenz, are seeking and copying and/or animal hauling costs. On site through Sunday afternoon). creative and enthusiastic kid-loving individuals to workshops with animals and practical skills/hands • Hanging out with the teens during this period. present workshops. If you’d like to present, or even on workshops are particularly popular among • Attending NOFA Summer Conference meetings if you have an idea for a workshop, please contact conference attendees. If you are interested in doing to be held January 12, February us at [email protected] or 413-527-1920. a teen workshop let Julie know. • 16, April 27, June 1 and July 27 and participat- ing in the overall work of the committee We took much satisfaction in the mostly positive We have reshuffled our conference jobs a bit and • Attendance at the conference from August 7-10. evaluations we received from 2002 conference- happily welcome Randall Shaw on to the committee goers (we were especially happy that so many of as Entertainment Coordinator. We also are welcom- The fantastic pay for this job is $400, free registra- you liked our skit!). Still, we’d like to do better. So ing Tricia Cooper on the committee as Fair Coordi- tion to the conference, two meals and your housing take this opportunity to think about what you’d like nator. while at the conference. Contact Julie Rawson at to see at the conference this year, in entertainment [email protected] or (978) 355-2853. We will fill the venues (theater, films, bands), at the fair, or on the We still are in need of a Teen Conference Coordina- position as soon as we can. If you are coming to the menu. Feel free to pass your ideas along to Julie tor. So here’s the scoop: NOFA Summer conference conference anyway, like kids, and want to learn Rawson. In the meantime, have a nice holiday seeks Teen Coordinator. Job responsibilities include: from the best about how to put on a major event season, and when you get that 2003 calendar, mark off August 7-10. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 33 representatives from all seven state chapters as Contact me, Camilla Roberts, with questions or stakeholders will review the past, re-examine our suggestions at [email protected] or phone 802 457- mission and structure, assess threats and opportuni- 1531. Please be part of this growth process! Either Strategic ties, and develop a focused work plan. Because the email your response to me or cut out the survey seven states are widespread, this process is costly, section, answer the questions and mail to: and we are actively seeking funds and grants to support the project. If you are in a position to help, I Camilla Roberts Planning hope you will do so by sending a donation to the 1215 RT 12 address below. Woodstock VT 05091 For MEMBER SURVEY FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING From the NOFA statement of purpose: The purposes for which the corporation is to be formed are: To educate its membership and the NOFA: public about the benefits of natural, organic, ecological agriculture, including the implications relating to the health of all life on earth; to provide marketing and agricultural buying services for growers; to provide educational and informational services pertaining to the natural husbandry of Include Your Voice! the earth that is permanent, renewable, and sustainable; to promote the growth of local, cooperative farm organizations which emphasize ecologically sustainable agricultural principles; to demon- strate through pilot projects the feasibility and benefits of restoring local and regional agriculture. by Camilla Roberts 1. What would be the highlights of an ideal Northeast farm/food scene 5 years from now? Recently all seven state chapters of the Northeast Organic Farming Association Interstate Council agreed that it is time to undertake a strategic plan- ning process. NOFA’s original vision of a sustain- able food system has succeeded in widely 2. What are the major blocks and hurdles facing us in the farming/food realm popularizing––and commercializing––organic a. In the next two years? agriculture. Now that the federal government has created national rules that standardize all regional certification, the role of the original state chapters is at a watershed. b. In three to five years? We ask ourselves “What next?” This crossroads moment can be liberating of NOFA’s energy, or it can draw us into a morass of confused purpose. 3. What 3 issues are of the highest priority for NOFA as a collective voice? How appropriate is either the letter or the spirit of our original vision today? The NOFA Interstate Council is initiating a process with an experienced facilitator to update and refine NOFA’s vision and develop ideas to channel the wisdom and passion of 4. What would you expect a Council of the combined NOFA chapters to do that the state NOFA cannot? local people and organizations.
To launch this visioning process we are hereby inviting members to let us know about your vision, priorities, and the actions that are needed for the What other comments do you want to contribute to a Strategic Planning process? next chapter of NOFA history (before it is written!). We are asking you to help assess our present focus of activities, emerging issues, and what we need to look at in the next 5 years or longer. The survey responses will enter the process right from the beginning, to help the representatives from the ____ Please check here if you would like a Council member to call you, and put below: seven state chapters keep the full picture in mind.
The planning process will culminate in a two-day ______(_____)______workshop in February 2003. During that time, name phone # Reverence for the Future by Nathan McFall – Assistant Director Natick is what makes how we live our lives so crucial to how discussed whether or not synthetic chemicals shows Community Organic Farm we will realize our future and the future of our chil- up in the fruit of plants. The answer is simply seen in dren. Current practices in political policy and indus- the reaction of the plant to the chemical. When Miracle Organic Food: Is it Organic? What’s in it? Do I want trial agriculture are solidifying a future for our chil- Grow is applied to a plant, it grows faster and it pro- to eat it? Do I want to buy it? What industry does it dren that includes a scarcity of open land, a lack of duces big fruit fast. Is this chemical then not present support? Is it sustainable? There are a thousand ques- understanding of where their entire sustenance comes in this fruit? And incidentally, the warning label on tions that can go into a purchase these days as we weigh from, a separation from the earth, the reality of ram- Miracle Grow does not suggest that the product be all the different options, choices, costs, benefits and pant disease and over-medication to combat it, and consumed. everything else there is to consider. But I wonder how mass extinctions of species which ensure our system many people who support us and our movement to- works the way it was intended. In conclusion, the point I’m trying to get across is that tally know what it is all about it. My 16-year-old of reverence. Reverence for the Earth. Reverence for brother recently asked me, “what is organic?” Well, As organic farmers, we are concerned with systems. the inhabitants of the Earth. Reverence for our chil- organic is a way of life. It is a way of thinking, of Systems learned from the passage of time and the us- dren and ourselves. Reverence for life as it occurs being, that considers all actions and their reactions age of resources that occur naturally. Conventional over that which we simulate in laboratories. Copies before making a choice as to how we will enact our agriculture is mostly concerned with plants. Organic are very rarely, if ever, as good as the original, and in lives. It is not just about eating the right foods that agriculture is 100% concerned with soil. Soil is the this case, it is a matter of life that makes the differ- will be the best for our bodies or our health. It is not basis for all life on this planet, and the sun is the en- ence. I ask you just to consider and be aware of your just about a concern for any one aspect of the planet’s ergy that feeds it. Organic agriculture feeds the soil, footprint on the world knowing that your children will health. It is a much grander vision that includes the which in turn feeds the plant. Synthetic fertilizers are have none but yours to live into. What would you health and well being of the planet as a whole system. immediately available to be absorbed by plant roots, have for them? It is a concern for the processes put forth by nature, but they also are immediately available to be leached and it is a respect for the fact that Mother Nature knows out of the soil into the sub-soil, out of the reach of the best; that Mother Nature always comes out in the end. plant roots, making further inputs of these poisonous chemicals a necessity in order to achieve the produc- Nature has set forth for us an environment rich and tion/economic threshold they are looking for. Organic fertile to allow us to flourish and reach this point in farmers have the same threshold, but our way of evolution. But if we are to destroy the bounty that has achieving it is, we feel, more aligned with how Mother been set forth for us, Nature will not blink to see us Nature intended. pass along on her surface. We have been given choice. That is the beautiful thing about being human, but that In my environmental education classes in Africa, we 34 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Organic Agriculture and Human The IFOAM and Ecological Values: General A Report from the 2002 Congress of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) Assembly and by Kimberly Stoner human values? One factor is the power of indi- CT Agricultural Experiment Station vidual consumers to choose according to their own values. Especially in Europe, conscious consumers Social Justice I went for the first time to this international meeting want to know if their food is locally grown or fairly by Elizabeth Henderson in order to present the work of the Organic Land traded, and new labels are springing up to provide Care committee and to see how organic agriculture more information. Organic movements can cooper- “Cultivating Communities” - in the soil and above fits into the worldwide picture of food, land care, ate in making sure these labels are reliable and it, among earthworms and fungi, among human and community. What I saw was inspiring. Organic meaningful, and that they include organic standards beings in localities and around the world - was the agriculture moves forward through the work of a as a baseline. Another factor is the desire of most theme of the 14th IFOAM World Congress of 2002 truly worldwide community of organizations and organic farmers to continue to improve their sys- in Victoria, British Columbia. IFOAM, the Interna- movements. It is not merely a luxury that only the tems and practices, and the need for better informa- tional Federation of Organic Agriculture Move- wealthy nations of the world can afford. Indeed, for tion and tools for them to measure and evaluate the ments celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Con- the cash-poor farmers of the rest of the world (even results. One of the most interesting presentations I gress. Members of the US organic movement were more than for the cash-poor farmers of the U.S.), saw was by a scientist from Cuba. His group of active in IFOAM during the 70’s and early 80’s. avoiding the trap of purchased inputs (synthetic scientists and government officials had created a Then interest flagged as people put their energies fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically engineered long list of indicators of ecological, economic and into building organic organizations and certification seeds) through an organic approach is essential to social sustainability they could accurately and programs here at home. IFOAM appeared to be too economic survival. One example of this came from objectively measure, and then they went to the Euro-centric, dominated by academics and traders. the Philippines, where organic rice production was farmers and discussed the farmers’ priorities - What Whether that image was accurate ten years ago compared to conventional production and to a low- did the farmers want more information about? What could be debated. These days, however, IFOAM input intermediate alternative. In both regions of did they think was most important to measure? has a renewed vitality. Participation by Latin the Philippines studied, the organic system required Several presentations talked about organic agricul- Americans, Asians and Africans is on the increase. less capital and was more profitable, as well as ture as a process of continuous quality improvement The impressive growth of organic farming in using less fossil fuel energy per ton of rice produced - with the philosophy that you can only manage the Europe has brought organizations of organic farmers - in one region because the organic rice plants were characteristics of the system you can measure. into IFOAM. Among those active in IFOAM, the sturdier and did not lodge, so the harvested yield Ideas were presented for methods of monitoring advocates of organic farming for rural development was higher, and in the other because, even though characteristics of organically managed soils - outnumber the green entrepreneurs. The city of the organic yield was slightly (7%) lower, the cost systematically studying the soil profile, including Bonn has recognized the importance of IFOAM by of production was still 23% lower per ton. the physical structure, the biological activity of granting it 25 years of free rent, worth $1 million, earthworms, and penetration of roots, as well as the on a new headquarters! While moving farmers away from expensive chemistry (described in English at the website http:// synthetic inputs can be a worthy goal in itself, a www.isara.fr/fr/profilcultural/profile.htm); or using The day before the Congress, Michael Sligh, diversity of speakers from around the world yearned electrical conductivity as an inexpensive way of Richard Mandelbaum and I convened a meeting on for organic agriculture to strive for more. The monitoring losses of nitrate and nutrient cations, as social justice in organic agriculture. For three years, advocates among us presented values that they hope described by David Patriquin of Nova Scotia. we have been working on a document defining what can be embodied in organic agriculture movements, social justice would mean for farmers, farmworkers, and there were many. Ecological values: long-term The theme of the conference was ‘Cultivating indigenous people, and children on farms. In balancing of nutrients to avoid waste and pollution, Communities,’ and it was clear from the presenta- Victoria, we expected 19 people to attend. To our reduced use of energy and production of gases tions that developing community on both local and surprise, 51 people from 40 countries came. We implicated in global warming, and preserving global levels is a key to moving the values of spent an intense day sharing news of the many habitat for wildlife. Social values: access to land organic farming forward: Human communities of projects devoted to social justice in the food system for the landless poor; fair trade; pride, dignity and a farmers, consumers, teachers, researchers, environ- currently underway around the world. IFOAM is decent living for farmers. Humane values: concern mentalists, organizers, and others must operate cooperating with the Fairtrade Labelling Organiza- for animals to be raised with adequate space and through respectful dialogue and democratic partici- tion on Social Accountability in Sustainable Agri- access to the outdoors so that they can behave pation both locally and across the world. On a local culture. The goal is to merge organic and fair trade normally and be healthy. level, Anne Schwartz, an organic farmer in Wash- certification so that producers in developing coun- ington State, reminded us of the continuing need to tries do not need to go through two certifications. The scientists among us evaluated the certification educate the public and support local community (For details, you can visit their website: standards of different nations and the real-world food systems (Community Supported Agriculture, www.isealalliance.org/sasa) The Soil Association in practices and results of various groups of organic Farmers’ Markets, local buying clubs) as small England has developed Ethical Standards for farmers to see how they are doing in relationship to farms and regional marketers fight for survival Organic Trade, with the eventual goal of certifying these values. Generally, the results of the many against the growth of the industrial corporate that every ingredient in organic foods has been studies presented were that organic agriculture is organic food sector. On a global scale, Rob Sacco produced under conditions of social justice. In the doing well according to these values, better than of Zimbabwe spoke of his efforts to connect organi- Philippines, Masipag presses for the rights of the their conventional counterparts, but there is room zations of small farmers across the ‘two-thirds smallest farmers and the landless. In Brasil, the for improvement and reason for concern. Organic world’ to organizations of consumers, using the Landless Movement is forcing the government to certification standards around the world have not power of computers to set up a community among fulfill its promises of land reform, and groups of been successful in moving beyond input substitution these groups in a ‘global teikei’ - a CSA-like organic farmers have created an internal control to reflect many of these values. Farmers who alternative to the corporate trading system. Fred system without external certification. In Zimbabwe, practice the minimum required by organic certifica- Kirschenmann, also of the U.S., spoke of the PELUM is training newly resettled people in tion standards in order to gain access to the organic necessity for farmers, and for all of us, to see permaculture and organic farming. In Thailand, market or European subsidies will be watched with ourselves and the land under our care as part of the GreenNet fosters local marketing of organic prod- concern: Will they move forward to embrace more ecological community, both the local bioregion and ucts through farmers markets and value-added of these values? the global ecosystem. He spoke of us all as citizens shops. of the ecological community, but the metaphor that There are certainly some examples of farms that are speaks more deeply to me is that of Jonaki The consensus of the meeting was that the social technically organic, but do not embrace some of Bhattacharyva, a Canadian researcher who spoke of agenda is central to organic agriculture. We agreed these other values. Factory chicken farms that the spiritual and emotional connection between to encourage IFOAM to place greater emphasis and provide a tiny amount of access to land for huge people and the lands we inhabit and cultivate. It is resources into the promotion of social justice and numbers of chickens can be certified organic in the from that source that many of the values and self-reliant communities, and to organize a gather- U.S., as can farms in the dryland of Washington that principles of organic agriculture spring. ing specifically on social justice issues in organic convert large areas of the endangered wildlife habitat of sagebrush steppe to irrigated farmland. A I attended only the World Congress, where these French scientist studying organic grain farms in presentations and discussions took place, and not Europe found that as they specialized in grain, they the actual General Assembly, where decisions are minimized crop rotation and diversification, in- made. I figured that I was not officially represent- creased purchased inputs of organic fertilizers and ing any particular organic agriculture group, so I manure, and had increasing problems with weeds was free to leave and explore the lovely city of and leaching of excess nutrients. Victoria, British Columbia. But, I would be inter- ested to know how the principles of the Congress As the organic agriculture movement grows, how were implemented in the business of the General can it continue to remain true to ecological and Assembly. Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 35 and sustainable agriculture to be held in Bangkok in November, 2003. In the meantime, a committee was formed to survey certifiers on their experience with the implementation of social justice standards. If you would like complete proceedings of this meeting or a copy of the current draft of Social Stewardship Standards for Organic Agriculture, you can contact me at [email protected].
IFOAM Farmers’ Group
IFOAM structure allows groups of members with similar concerns, such as trade, seeds or farming, to form special groups. Internationally, farmers have an even harder time getting organized than on the local level, where it is hard enough. After a day long discussion about how to increase farmers’ voices within IFOAM, a steering committee formed. Since I had sneaked off to the beach, the others volunteered me to be the representative from North America, joining two from Africa, one from Asia, one each from Central and South America, and two from Europe. Our main purpose is to get farmers associations around the world in touch with one another, and to articulate the issues that organic farmers face whether they live in the US or in developing countries. The Farmers Group will photo courtesy Michael Glos facilitate discussions of a series of issues: agricul- Eli Kaufman demonstrating lettuce seed cleaning to interested kids tural policy, certification and standards, education at the Common Ground Fair in Maine and training, funding, gender sensitization, land and livelihoods, production and processing, seeds and breeds, and trade and markets. If you would like to participate in one of these international discussion Public Seed Initiative- groups, please let me know and I will put you in touch with the convener. The General Assembly 2002 update Delegates from 196 of the 750 member organiza- tions attended the IFOAM General Assembly in Victoria to establish policy, vote on certification by Michael Glos workshops and then is left at a farm for a week for standards and elect a new World Board. During the farmers in the area to clean their seed. Many people two or three years between General Assembly The Public Seed Initiative (PSI) is a 3-year USDA have had a chance to see the equipment and clean meetings, the World Board governs the organization funded collaborative project working with growers their own seed. Workshops and demonstrations and oversees the paid staff, which has grown from to strengthen our regional seed supply. With the have been done across the region including Empire one to five full time people. The General Assembly reduction in the number of large seed companies, Farm Days (Seneca Falls, NY), the NOFA summer lasted three days to allow time for a visioning the creation of new regional seed companies, and an conference in Massachusetts, the MOFGA Common process. The two previous Presidents, Herve La ever-growing demand for organic seed, the time is Ground Fair in Maine, and Molasses Hill Farm in Prairie and Linda Bullard, handed the gavel to ripe for farmers to learn more about seed produc- Nunda, NY. A full day hands-on workshop was just current President Gunnar Rundgren with the admon- tion. held in Geneva where participants learned about ishment, ‘listen to farmers and listen to women.’ seed cleaning and were able to run their own seed After greetings from the Food and Agriculture On January 24th, 2003 there will be an all day seed through the equipment. There was also a tour of the Organization (FAO), the International Union of production workshop in Albany, NY. This is one of New York State Seed Testing Laboratory. On-Farm Conservationists, and Slow Food, groups with the pre-conference workshops being held in con- workshops and seed cleanings will continue this fall which IFOAM is working closely, much of the junction with NOFA-NY annual winter conference and for the next two years. assembly was taken up with reports from IFOAM held January 25th-26th. Come learn about Seed staff, committees, and working groups. Executive production in the Northeast. In addition to updates Cornell’s Public breeding program, Organic re- Director Bernward Geier put together another of his on several seed projects in the area, participants will search farm, and specialty crop trials were high- charming and witty slide shows with images of hear from seed growers, small seed companies and lighted in September during the PSI Field Day held IFOAM meetings and members around the world. researchers on some of the many aspects of seed at Cornell’s Plant Breeding Department of Horticul- IFOAM is moving to new and larger headquarters production. Topics covered will include an over- ture Research Farms. The morning tour included and hiring several additional staff members. A view of our regional seed supply, growing high Professor Anu Rangarajan’s heirloom tomato variety major initiative, ‘IFOAM- Growing Organic,’ quality organic seed, the economics of seed produc- trials (over 80) and specialty crops ranging from nicknamed ‘I-GO,’ provides grant funding for tion, and regulations affecting seed production. We ornamental basil and bitter melon to nine varieties projects that strengthen organic agriculture, particu- will also discuss next year’s opportunities for of Radicchio. Professor Margaret Smith showed larly in developing countries. Most of the funding involvement. Check our webpage for a detailed Open pollinated Field corn plots and described her comes from HIVOS, Netherlands and the Dutch agenda at www.nofany.org. SARE funded project being done on farms across government. For one final time, the entire assembly the state. Professor Molly Jahn and colleagues went through the IFOAM Basic Standards discuss- This year, organic growers from New York and showed demonstration plots of new Cornell variet- ing proposed changes and voting on them line by Pennsylvania trialed new unreleased cucurbit ies being grown along side standard comparisons. line. At this assembly, the members approved a varieties developed by public breeders at Cornell In the afternoon there was a tour of the breeding change in procedure so that henceforth most of the University. Although these varieties had been research plots for tomatoes, melons, cucumber, and standards revision process will be done by mail and evaluated on conventional fields at Cornell they had squash. Researchers explained how they were email. Many delegates were hesitant about giving never been grown under organic conditions. The breeding new varieties for many characteristics up the power of the assembly to control the stan- goal was to determine whether these varieties including disease resistance, size, and taste. Look dards, and it was with relief that members voted for performed well under organic management and for workshops in the spring dedicated to on-farm my compromise proposal that any changes to the whether organic growers liked them. Over 40 vegetable breeding. basic principles of organic agriculture would have to organic growers performed unreplicated trials on come before the assembly. An important piece of their farms and there were 9 replicated trials on Check the NOFA-NY website (www.nofany.org) for business was the election of the new World Board. organic farms across New York State. Results from additional information and a schedule of events. We Gunnar Rundgren wept when he announced that all the trials are currently being collected and are looking for growers to trial varieties and farms Vice President Suzanne Vaupel from the US would analyzed. Look for our results at the NOFA-NY to host the mobile seed-cleaning unit for the 2003 not be able to continue on the board because of her conference in January. season. Contact Michael Glos struggle with cancer. Sheldon Weinberg, Vice ([email protected] or (607) 657-2860) of President of Small Planet Foods, will be the only The Mobile Seed Processing Unit (MSPU) housed NOFA-NY if you have any questions. North American on the new board, along with 3 at the USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Europeans, an Australian, two Asians, an African Geneva, NY is up and running. It consists of an The Public Seed Initiative (PSI) is a joint project of and a South American. The board designed the day enclosed trailer full of small-scale seed cleaning NOFA-NY, Cornell University, Farmers Cooperative long visioning process and a ‘motion bazaar’ to equipment- both manual and motor-driven. This Genome Project, and USDA-ARS Plant Genetics increase member participation in creating policy includes a clipper cleaner, belt thresher, wet veg- Resource Unit (Geneva, NY). Funding for PSI is directions for the organization. In the next TNF, I etable seed processor, column blower, velvet roller, provided in part by a grant from the USDA Initiative will write a report on the members’ visions for the and more. The unit travels the state for half-day for Future Agriculture and Food Systems. future of organic agriculture on a world scale. 36 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 Book Reviews You Can Farm: the Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise by Joel Salatin published by Polyface, Swoope, VA 480 pages, paperback ,$30 plus $3 shipping in US available from Acres, USA 800-355-5313 reviewed by Jack Kittredge
Joel, as most readers of this journal know, is an ardent (some would say lyrical) proponent of family farming. He is also a practical farmer who has built a thriving business selling animal products directly to consumers. Although this book came out in 1998, we thought it would be appropriate to review it in this issue since it speaks so clearly to those consid- ering a new life in farming.
While Joel is passionate about farming, he doesn’t suffer wannabe’s lightly. A few lines from his chapter “Do It Now” should make this point: “You see, most folks I’ve dealt with, who really want to farm, have the notion that if they just had some land, or if they just had more land, they could farm. It’s as if an elusive something – land, equipment, buildings, markets – is always just beyond their animal systems and monoculture crop systems are No Risk Ranching: Custom Grazing on grasp and they are just stuck until they can acquire among the latter. Frugality, integrity, liking people, Leased Land that magic ‘thing’. Farming is not a ‘thing’. It is a and energy are right at the top of Joel’s list of by Greg Judy life, and a business…Chances are if you have no qualities necessary for success in farming. Green Park Press, division of Mississippi Valley desire to grow anything now, you probably never Publishing will. You can grow something, even if it is a plant in The bulk of the book is the consideration of key Ridgeland, MS 39158 a window box.” Basically, if you are not already components of a farm and how to manage them. He $28.00 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. starting out in farming, however small or part-time, devotes a chapter each to grass, soil, water, the 800-748-9808 Joel is skeptical if you ever will succeed at it. His seasons, labor, and biodiversity. For those who are reviewed by Richard Murphy basic premise is that the crucial thing needed in convinced by his advocacy of animal products, he farming is experience. There are lots of ways of has chapters on livestock sanitation and mobility. ‘No Risk Ranching: Custom Grazing on Leased using other people’s land, getting free seed, borrow- For the business minded, there are chapters on Land” is the story of a man who saw the light. High ing equipment, etc. What you can’t really get in any accounting, filing, cost control, complementary debt on farm and equipment nearly did Greg Judy second-hand way is experience. If you can go along enterprises, and pricing. in. What did he do? He took up grazing other with Joel on this basic approach, you will probably people’s cows on other people’s land. Renting land get a lot out of “You Can Farm”. You have the right This is no formula book to follow by the numbers. and managing cattle for others allowed him to hold, mind-set. In fact Joel says that any such approach is inherently if not own, land without heavy interest payments doomed to fail. By the time any farming venture has and it gave him an income stream almost immedi- The book starts with the importance of mind-set, of been reduced to the point where it is easy to get in ately. developing a vision and a philosophy which will and follow the rules, so many people are doing it guide your approach to farming. Joel’s is one of that all the profit has gone out. As he puts it suc- A Missourian, Mr. Judy is a devotee of the Stock- practical boot-strapping: do it now, use what you cinctly, “…as soon as you see the item addressed in man Grass Farmer (http://grassfarmer.com/) already have, good enough is fine, get something a USDA publication, you’re too late.” Magazine’s school of thought that Management- going on a small scale that works, and add to it. He Intensive Grazing (MiG) is the way to go. Basi- tells plenty of humorous stories to make these And if you are into farming because you want to get cally, MiG means rotational grazing such that points, and he gives wise (from my point of view) away from people, Joel’s not the mentor for you. grazed areas recover before again being pastured. It advice about where the opportunities and sinkholes Almost all his approaches require direct marketing fits in with the current interest in grass fed beef. of farming are. Pastured animal products (broilers, and other people handling skills. But he believes The grazier concentrates on just that, grazing, and eggs, beef, dairy products) market gardens, baker- that there is such a demand for honest, clean, local does not invest in equipment. Hay is bought off ies, custom sawmills and U-pick small fruit are food and farm products that anyone can produce farm. among the former. Breeding stock, exotic plants and such products and sell them at a profit if serious animals, horses and pet livestock, confinement enough. The book is well organized and the author touches on it all. He tells you how to search for land, how to As with all books, Joel glosses over a few hard write the lease, put up the fence, control costs, realities. His number one farm venture – broiler winter graze and other aspects of the trade. No Risk production on pasture – makes it sound bucolic. But Ranching is not an advanced study, but neither is it in reality the numbers he is suggesting condemn the for the absolute beginner. farm family to hours every week in an on-farm poultry slaughter facility. This is not everyone’s idea Though his reasoning on avoiding debt is airtight, it of a good time and should be dealt with honestly. begs the question, what if everyone ends up thinking his way? Who will go into hock to buy the equip- And he makes mistakes. In a comparison intended ment to cut the hay sell to the converted world. It is to show the profitability of animal products com- probably not a realistic fear as there are surely pared to fresh vegetables he says that if the average enough people who cannot stop themselves when customer spends $600 per year on fresh vegetables they see a John Deere ad. you would need 500 of them to gross $30,000 (and says his farm can gross that amount on fewer than Can we do it here in the Northeast? Maybe. We are 100 animal protein customers.) Fine, except the real close to profitable markets and there is the New number of vegetable customers needed to gross England Livestock Alliance $30,000 is 50, not 500, which kind of destroys his (www.nelivestockialliance.org) that is actively point! promoting grassfed. There is land in APR that may be available as it can’t be developed and the farming Despite occasional errors, however, Salatin has put population is aging and shrinking, despite the efforts together a full and deep repository of wisdom about of organizations like NOFA educating people to the becoming successful at farming. I can’t think of a joys of becoming a peasant. Owners may see a better book to buy if you are considering this life, or benefit to renting out unused ground and being to give to someone in such a situation. eligible for Section 61A tax abatement (at least in Massachusetts). Unfortunately here, if property is Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 37 not APR and is improved, there’s no dearth of developers who audibly salivate when they pass land and picture mcmansions on it.
The situation in our region is different in that one suspects most of the land Greg sees is not as over- grown with brush and has less of a forest canopy. Here in many cases, for the first couple of years, cattle would be clearing low growing stuff. In concert with the landowner, trees would have to be harvested to let in sun. Depending on the state of the land some timber might have a return, but things like immature pine and paper birches would not be of any value and if they have to be removed, might incur too much in costs to be worth it. A lessee would have to emphasize the Timber Stand Im- provement (TSI) aspects of Mr. Judy’s thesis. Of course, such a service should lessen the cost of the Larding the Lean Earth: Soil and Society in Carter-like with a lot of energy and became a lease. Nineteenth-Century America spokesperson for sustainable agriculture. In an 1818 by Steven Stoll address he strikes some tellingly modern points. His chapter on winter grazing is the one most of us published by Hill & Wang, 19 Union Square West, Madison supposes “…that all the elements and northeasterners might have some trouble with. Greg New York, NY 10003 combinations of elements in the earth, the atmo- grazes cattle through the cold months without 287 pages, hardback, $30.00 sphere and the water…could be withdrawn from the housing. Where he lives the temperature range is reviewed by Jack Kittredge general destination and appropriated to the exclusive from -20 F to 40 F, averaging in the mid 20’s. support and increase of the human part of creation.” Snowfall is anywhere from 10 to 30 inches, snow- This is a narrowly focused scholarly work by a This would result, he thought, in a profusion of “the fall staying as much as thirty days, but sometimes history professor at Yale, not a general dissertation few grains and grasses, the few herbs and roots, and only a week. I asked the author how he got away on 19th century agricultural practices and their the few fowls and quadrupeds which make up the without putting the stock inside and he replied, “My influence on our culture. But that said, it does short list adapted to the wants of man.” farms are in rolling hills and most have access to develop a very interesting point. The author’s cedar trees for shelter. The last place you want cattle contention is that some 50 years after the founding Madison goes on to enunciate a few points which I in my area is inside a shelter. Keep that manure out of the US, eastern seaboard soils had been farmed to believe any NOFA farmer could recognize and on the pasture where it belongs.” For the few cows exhaustion. The crisis was widely recognized and elaborate upon. I have, I’ve always considered the morning chore of two schools of thought emerged as to the proper 1)“Any system…or want of system, which tends to cleaning out the shed, at worst, not unpleasant. I solution — schools which framed the foundations of make a rich farm poor, or does not tend to make a can see his point and must admit, having to muck American conservationist debate. poor farm rich, cannot be good… The profit, out after a few hundred cows would be a tad more where there is any, will not balance the loss of than most of us want to handle and distributing the The “improvers” stood for rebuilding the soil intrinsic value sustained by the land.” manure his way is far more efficient. (largely with carefully collected and managed 2)“…ploughing up and down hilly land has, by manures) and developed plant and animal combina- exposing the loosened soil to be carried off by When necessary, he feeds the winter pastured tions toward this end. They tended to be the more rains, hastened more than anything else the waste animals unrolled round bales using a bale unroller affluent farmers, ones with market crops and of fertility.” he designed himself (I do wish that there were at proximity to urban areas, often supporting tariffs 3)“The neglect of manures is another error…the least a drawing of the implement, if the book had and national developments like canals, and opposing annual exuvae of the trees and plants replace the only one illustration, that should have been it) that squatting. They would be offended at the title fertility of which they deprive the earth.” he drags behind his pickup truck. The cows eat yeoman and often answered to the name of “Whig”. through the bales and leave a lot of manure on them, The improvers, by staying where they were and thus adding to the fertility of the land. They are The “emigrators” felt that remaining on worn out working locally, also hoped to stave off the impend- then moved to another spot and the same thing is soil was folly when free lands to the west could be ing great conflict about slavery. As any college done. Most of the winter there is enough grass due had, covered with timber and rich with the fertility history student knows, the Civil War was unleashed to his method of stockpiling that, with a lower from centuries of self-manuring by trees. These less by where slavery existed as by where folks stocking rate, keeps the cows going and ready for farmers were more self-sufficient, wore homespun wanted or didn’t want it to become established. the compensatory growth come springtime. rather than manufactured cloth, bartered for what Various battles in Congress during the 40 years they couldn’t make or raise, and were more likely to preceeding that conflagration centered around the His sober tome goes over the top only one time. On support Democrats. issue of western expansion and whether those states page 83 he writes, “There is nothing wrong with would be slave or free. drinking a cold beer, but 12 hours everyday of your The debate did not take place in a vacuum, of life, I think is excessive.” Really now. I must, course. It took place in a virgin continent, vastly The price of western lands, the vigor with which however aver that might have had something to do underpopulated and with seemingly infinite re- federal troops expelled Native Americans from areas with my failure to be named a Rhodes Scholar as sources of land. The same debate had taken place in which would ultimately be opened up to settlement, well as the obscene gains of brewery shares during Europe, where these realities were stood on their the speed with which new lands became available my so-called undergraduate career. head – cheap labor and dear land — and the improv- before older open ones had been settled – all these ers had won. They enclosed their commons and became contentious political battles. Missouri ‘No Risk Ranching’ is a valuable how to which created manors geared to maintaining fertility and Senator Thomas Hart Benton attacked the Foot touches on most aspects of graziering. It does serving the market. Resolution, sponsored by Connecticut’s Samuel Foot expect a small familiarity with the terms, but to limit western land sales, as a “measure for supply- sufficiently touches on all topics of the subject, But in the US the improvers ultimately lost. Despite ing the poor people which the manufactories need. It though most of us will have to do a bit more re- the agricultural journals which they created and proposes to take away the inducement to emigration. search on subjects like pond building. The book is labored lovingly to sustain – journals like the It takes all of the fresh lands out of market. not heavy on theory, but it does make the case for Albany Cultivator, the American Farmer, the It…annihilates the very object of attractions – breaks leased grazing. Farmers’ Register, the Southern Agriculturalist, and destroys the [magnet] which was drawing the Niles’ Register and De Bow’s Review (ed: we like to people of the Northeast to the blooming regions of think The Natural Farmer would have been on the the West.” list!) – not enough people saw the economic ben- efits of caring so devotedly for a place. On the other hand, South Carolinia Representative George McDuffie put the case opposing emigration This debate transcended the growing divide about well. He saw: “Deserted villages, houses falling into slavery. There were plantation owners who picked ruin, impoverished lands thrown out of up lock, stock, barrel, and slaves to move to new cultivation…I believe that, if the public lands had land in Mississippi or Texas, just as New Hampshire never been sold, the aggregate amount of the na- farmers boarded up the door and left for Illinois. tional wealth would have been greater at this mo- Stoll particularly studies Pennsylvania and South ment.” Carolina, finding in both places the emigrators and the improvers. There is much to be pondered in Larding the Lean Earth, not just about our past and how we got here, The improvers, as is the case with most folks but also about where we are going. We ran out of attached to losing causes, felt they had a moral free land over a century ago (exhausting the “infi- mission. Not just to return to the soil what had been nite” west in three or four generations) but the robbed from it in the few short years of human debate is as valid now as then. We have, perhaps, exploitation, but to build a society content with what replaced the unsustainable place of free land with could be gathered by reasonable means from nature. that of cheap petroleum in the economics of modern No less a luminary than James Madison, father of day farming. But how we value nature and care for our constitution and fourth president, retired Jimmy our various places in it is still the central question. 38 The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The truth is, with so little information available, we do not and cannot know the nutritional and ecologi- Biotechnology: The Risks to cal effects of GE foods.
With all of the continuing uncertainties about human Small Farmers and Gardeners and environmental safety, it may be wise to think by Peter Shorett backyard plant varieties have entered the late stages twice before planting genetically engineered seeds of field trials by biotechnology companies. Two in our backyard gardens and farms. Luckily, a Every day, millions of people visit nurseries, garden years ago, Monsanto released the Russet Burbank movement has developed within the seed industry to stores, and farm supply outlets to buy seeds for the potato, first GE variety targeted at gardening meet the growing consumer demand for biotech-free upcoming growing season. The selection on the consumers. This variety contains an inserted gene options. Over 100 seed companies, in conjunction shelves offers a wide variety of options for every called Bacillus thurigensis (Bt) which produces a with the Council for Responsible Genetics, have quality—color, texture, and growth performance. As pest-controlling soil bacterium. vowed to not knowingly buy or sell genetically a result, we as gardeners and small farmers may feel engineered products. This pledge is available in a assured that we know what to choose from. Bringing these products into your backyard and number of catalogues, and will soon appear in dinner table could have unforeseen consequences. commercial seed inventories. For more information But a lot gets left out of package labels. For all of Genetically modified foods has been shown to cause or to join the Safe Seed Project, visit the Council for us, it may be worth asking: where do our seeds allergic reactions, as gene transfer often allows Responsible Genetics website www.gene-watch.org come from and how were they cultivated? allergens to pass from one species to another. or send a self-addressed envelope to: Council for Normally, individuals with food sensitivities can Responsible Genetics, Safe Seed Project, 5 Upland This is a question that most have not had to ask steer clear of allergenic risks by reading product Road, Suite 3, Cambridge, MA 02140. before. Seed saving has been the hallmark of our labels. But with GE foods, there are no labels of any nation’s agrarian heritage. Up until the turn of the kind, much less ones that identify the origin of the The Safe Seed Pledge 20th century, most farmers and gardeners secured new genes and proteins. Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon annual supplies of seeds through either self-conser- which our lives depend. We must protect this vation or seed reserves provided by the federal Furthermore, there is no evidence that genetically foundation as a safe and genetically stable government. Today, much of our seeds are produced engineered crops are more nutritious or better source for future generations. For the benefit of by a multi-billion dollar global industry, controlled tasting. One of the only peer-reviewed nutritional all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want in large part by six multinational corporations— studies on this topic, conducted on Roundup Ready Monsanto, Seminis, Aventis, Dupont, Syngenta, and soybeans, indicated a 12 to 16 percent decline in an alternative, we pledge that we do not know- Dow. plant-based phytoestrogrens, a compound that helps ingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or combat a number of diseases and degenerative plants. The mechanical transfer of genetic All of these companies share a similar goal for the health conditions. Neither have long-term animal material outside of natural reproductive meth- future—the consolidation of agricultural markets feeding studies been conducted to show the effects ods and between genera, families or kingdoms, through uniform, high-yield genetically engineered of consuming genetically engineered food. Its safety poses great biological risks as well as eco- (GE) crops. While this has become the dominant has been based almost exclusively on acute toxicity nomic, political, and cultural threats. We feel trend in some sectors of industrial agriculture, such experiments. that genetically engineered varieties have been changes in the composition of food and plant insufficiently tested prior to public release. supplies have only begun to reach gardeners and The primary institution that claims to regulate More research and testing is necessary to small farmers. genetically engineered food and plants—the FDA— further assess the potential risks of genetically has not gone far enough in testing the long-term engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support This is in part because biotech companies are wary safety of these products for human consumption. of putting their products before a skeptical public. For the majority of GE foods, they have not con- agricultural progress that leads to healthier The track record of test-marketing tells its own ducted clinical trials of any sort. An FDA ruling in soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosys- story. The Flavr-Savr tomato, which Calgene 1992 determined that genetically engineered foods tems and ultimately healthy people and commu- introduced to supermarkets in 1994, was eventually were “substantially equivalent” to non-genetically nities. pulled off the shelves due to safety concerns and engineered foods. Thus, they do not fit within the lack of consumer demand. Monsanto’s New Leaf currently defined powers of the FDA to regulate potatoes met a similar fate after McDonald’s and food additives. other chains refused to serve them in their restau- rants. Even industry figures confirm the widespread Basic monitoring has also been inadequate. In some public skepticism. In a 1997 poll conducted by cases, GMOs have been released into the environ- Novartis, another leading agricultural biotechnology ment without any prior approval. It took vigorous company, 93 percent of respondents said that they inquiries through the Freedom of Information Act supported the mandatory labeling of genetically- for the Center for Food safety to discover that GM modified food. canola seeds had entered the US seed supply without any government oversight. Nevertheless, biotech seeds have quietly begun to enter into the $63 billion seed industry. A number of NOFA Contact People Connecticut Vice President: Karen Franczyk, 683 River St., Canterbury, NH 03224, (603) 783-0036, NOFA/CT Office: P O Box 386, Northford, CT 06472, Winchendon, MA 01475 (978) 297-3644, [email protected] phone (203) 484-2445, FAX (203) 484-7621, Email: [email protected] Secretary; Elizabeth Obelenus, 22 Keyser Road, [email protected], website: http:// Secretary: Rita Horsey, PO Box 246, 137 Hopkinton Meredith. NH 03253, (603) 279-6146, www.connix.com/~nofact/ Rd., Upton, MA 01568 h: (508)529-6148, fax: [email protected] President: Peter Rothenberg, 53 Lanes Pond Rd., (508)529-2801 email: [email protected] Office Manager: Elizabeth Obelenus, NOFA/NH Northford, CT 06472-1125 (203) 484-9570 (home), Treasurer and Executive Coordinator: Julie Rawson, Office, 4 Park St., Suite 208, Concord, NH 03301, [email protected] 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 (978) 355-2853, (603) 224-5022, [email protected] Vice President: Kimberly A. Stoner, 498 Oak Ave. #27, Fax: (978) 355-4046, Email: [email protected], Newsletter: Craig Federhen, 50 Little River Rd., Cheshire, CT 06410-3021, (203) 271-1732 (home), Administrative Assistant: Elaine Peterson, 92 New Kingston, NH 03848, (603) 642-5497, Email: [email protected] Westminster Rd., Hubbardston, MA 01452 (978) 928- [email protected] Treasurer: Judy Rothenberg, 53 Lanes Pond Rd., 4707, Email: [email protected] Organic Certification: Vickie Smith, NHDA Bureau of Northford, CT 06472-1125 (203) 484-9570, Email: Webmaster: Paul Kittredge, 1921 19th St. NW, Markets, Caller Box 2042, Concord, NH 03301 (603) [email protected] Washington, DC 20009, (202) 588-7414, paul@ 271-3685, [email protected] Secretary/Membership: Erin Amezzane, 332 Front St., asarya.com New Haven, CT 06513-3206, (203) 787-7417, Email: MICI Certification Administrator: Don Franczyk, 683 New Jersey [email protected] River St., Winchendon, MA 01475, (978) 297-4171, President: Stephanie Harris, 163 Hopewell-Wertsville Newsletter & Certification: Rob Durgy, P O Box 17, Email [email protected] Rd., Hopewell, NJ 08525, (609) 466-0194 Chaplin, CT 06235-0017, (860) 455-0881, Email: Website: www.nofamass.org, Email: Treasurer: William D. Bridgers, c/o Zon Partners, 5 rdurgy @canr1.cag.uconn.edu [email protected] Vaughn Dr., Suite 104, Princeton, NJ 08540, (609) Organic Education and Advocacy Coordinator: Bill 452-1653 Duesing, 153 Bowers Hill Road, Oxford, CT 06478- New Hampshire Newsletter Editor: Lisa Kelly, KDA Associates, 15 1756, (203) 888-9280, [email protected] President: Larry Pletcher, PO Box 204, Warner, NH Millbrook-Stillwater Road, Hardwick, NJ 07825 (908) 03278, (603) 456-3121 [email protected] 362-1181, [email protected] Massachusetts Vice President: Cindy Porter, RR3, Box 503, Executive Director: Karen Anderson, 60 So. Main St., President & Newsletter Editor: Jonathan von Ranson, Claremont, NH 03743, (603) 543-0549, PO Box 886, Pennington, NJ 08534-0886, (609) 737- 6 Lockes Village Rd., Wendell, MA 01379, (978) 544- [email protected] 6848, fax: (609) 737-2366, Email: 3758, Email: [email protected] Treasurer: Paul Mercier, Jr., 39 Cambridge Drive, [email protected] Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3 The Natural Farmer 39 Erich V. Bremer, 60 So. Main St., PO Box 886, Erin Amezzane, 64 Sheldon Ter., 3rd floor, New Pennington, NJ 08534-0886, (609) 737-6848, Haven, CT 06511, (203) 787-7417, Email: [email protected] [email protected] website: www.nofanj.org Marion Griswold, 29 Hollow Rd., Woodbury, CT Calendar 06798 (203) 263-3681, [email protected] New York * Tom Johnson, Whole Foods Liaison, 87 Wells Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773 (781) 259-0070, Thursday, December 12, 2002: 3rd annual President: Richard de Graff, Grindstone Farm, 780 Norhteast Local Food and Farm Initiatives Gather- County Route 28, Pulaski, NY 13142 (315) 298-4139, [email protected] * Michael O’Bannon, 45 Birch St., Greenfield, MA ing, New Marlboro, MA for more info: 413-623- fax: (315) 298-2119, [email protected] 6053 or [email protected] Vice President: Scott Chaskey, Quail Hill Community 01301 (413) 773-1794, [email protected] Farm, PO Box 1268, Amagansett, NY 11930-1268, * Larry Pletcher, PO Box 204, Warner, NH 03278, (603) 456-3121 [email protected] Tuesday, January 14 to Thursday, January 16: (631)267-8942, [email protected] commercial vegetable grower meetings on Organic Secretary: Mary Racinowski, 58 Marion St, Roches- * Polly MacNicol, 282 Bible Hill Rd., Francestown, NH 03043 (603) 547-6201, Vegetable Production, Geneva, NY, for more info: ter, NY 14610, (716)482-8697, [email protected] 315-787-2422 or [email protected] Treasurer: Alton Earnhart, 1408 Clove Valley Rd., [email protected] Hopewell Junction, NY 12533, (845) 677-9507 Elizabeth Obelenus, 22 Keyser Road, Meredith. NH 03253, (603) 279-6146, [email protected] Tuesday, January 21 to Thursday, January 23: [email protected] 2nd annual NOFA/Mass course in Organic Land Newsletter Editor: Stu McCarty, PO Box 70, 632 * Karen Anderson, PO Box 886, Pennington, NJ 08534, (609) 737-6848, [email protected] Care, West Boylston, MA for more info: Tunnel Rd., Tunnel, NY 13848 (607) 693-1572, fax: [email protected] or 617-576-0810 (607) 693-4415, [email protected] * Stephanie Harris, 163 Hopewell-Wertsville Rd., Hopewell, NJ 08525, (609) 466-0194, Executive Director: Sarah Johnston, 661 Lansing Rd. Saturday, January 25: NOFA/Mass Winter #A, Fultonville, NY 12072-2630, (518) 922-7937, fax: [email protected] * Steve Gilman, 130 Ruckytucks Road, Stillwater, NY Conference and Annual Meeting, Barre, MA for (518) 922-7646, [email protected] more info: 978-355-2853. [email protected] Office Manager: Mayra Richter, PO Box 880, 12170 (518) 583-4613, [email protected] Cobleskill, NY 12043-0880, (518)734-5495, fax: Richard de Graff, Grindstone Farm, 780 County Route 28, Pulaski, NY 13142 (315) 298-4139, fax: (315) Saturday, January 25: Seventh Annual Vermont (518)734-4641, [email protected] Grazing Conference, Randolph Center, Vermont, NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC, 840 Front Street, 298-2119, [email protected] Sarah Johnston, 661 Lansing Rd. #A, Fultonville, NY for more info: [email protected], or Binghamton, NY 13905, (607) 724-9851, fax: 802-656-5459 (607)724-9853, [email protected] 12072-2630, (518) 922-7937, fax: (518) 922-7646, [email protected] Farm Education Coordinator: Brian Caldwell, Hem- Friday, January 31 to Sunday, Feb 2: 3-day lock Grove Farm, 180 Walding Ln, Spencer, NY Elizabeth Henderson, Policy Rep., 2218 Welcher Rd., Newark, NY 14513 (315) 331-9029 workshop on Organic Vegetable Systems from 14883, (607)564-1060, [email protected] Seed to Market Workshop. Ballston Spa, NY. for website: http://www.nofany.org [email protected] * Fritz and Pat Vohr, 51 Edwards Lane, more info: [email protected] or 518-427-6537 Charlestown,RI 02813 (401) 364-0050 Rhode Island * Enid Wonnacott, 478 Salvas Rd., Huntington, VT Saturday, February 15: NOFA-VT Winter President: Fritz Vohr, In the Woods Farm, 51 Edwards 05462 (802) 434-4435 [email protected] Conference, Randolph, VT for more info: 802- Lane, Charlestown,RI 02813 (401) 364-0050 * Camilla Roberts, 1215 VT Rte 12, Woodstock, VT 434-4122 or [email protected] Vice-President: Isabel Barten, 69 Lenox Ave., Provi- 05091 (802) 380-2961, [email protected] dence, RI 02907, (401) 941-8684 Kirsten Novak Bower, 65 Wortheim Ln., Richmond, NOFA Membership Secretary: Jeanne Chapman, 25 Yates Ave., Coventry, VT 05477 (802) 434-5420, [email protected] RI 02816 (401) 828-3229, [email protected] John Cleary, 407 Rt. 15, Underhill, VT 05489, (802) You may join NOFA by joining one of the seven Treasurer: Dan Bohannon, 71 Lionel Pierson Rd., 899-3808. [email protected] state chapters. Contact the person listed below for Coventry, RI 02816, (401) 392-0168 Kay Magilavy, Virtual Rep, 212 18th St., Union City, your state. Dues, which help pay for the important NOFA/RI : 109 Somerset St., Providence 02907 (401) NJ 07087, (201) 863-1741 work of the organization, vary from chapter to 274-4547, fax: (401) 273-5712, website: http:// Jonathan von Ranson, Manuals Project, 6 Locks chapter. Unless noted, membership includes a users.ids.net/~nofari/ Village Rd., Wendell, MA 01379, (978) 544-3758, subscription to The Natural Farmer. Email: [email protected] Give a NOFA Membership! Send dues for a friend Vermont Paul Kittredge, Webmaster, 1921 19th St. NW, Wash- or relative to his or her state chapter and give a NOFA-VT Office, P. O. Box 697, Bridge St., Rich- ington, DC 20009, (202) 588-7414, paul@ asarya.com Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson, The Natural Farmer, membership in one of the most active grassroots mond, VT 05477 (802) 434-4122, Fax: 434-4154, organizations in the state. website: www.nofavt.org, [email protected] NOFA Summer Conference, 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, Executive Director: Enid Wonnacott, 478 Salvas Rd., MA 01005 (978) 355-2853, [email protected], Connecticut: Individual or Household: $35, Busi- Huntington, VT 05462 (802) 434-4435 [email protected] [email protected] ness/Institution: $50, Supporting: $100, Student NOFA Financial Manager: Kirsten Novak Bower, 65 (full time, supply name of institution) $20 Wortheim Ln., Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434-5420, Interstate Erin Amezzane, 332 Front St., New Haven, CT [email protected] 06513-3206, (203) 787-7417, Email: Newsletter Editor: Heidi Racht, 4501 Main Road, [email protected] Huntington Center, VT 05462 (802) 434-2690, Certification Massachusetts: Individual: $30, Family: $40, Low [email protected] income: $20, Supporting: $100 VOF Administrator: John Cleary, 407 Rt. 15, Elaine Peterson, 411 Sheldon Road, Barre, MA Underhill, VT 05489, (802) 899-3808. [email protected] Contacts 01005, (978) 355-2853, [email protected] Dairy Tech Coordinator: Lisa McCrory, 848 North Randolph Rd., Randolph Ctr, VT 05061, (802) 728- John Cleary, 407 Rt. 15, Underhill, VT 05489, (802) New Hampshire: Individual: $25, Student: $18, 4416, [email protected] 899-3808 [email protected] Family: $35, Supporting: $100 Elizabeth Office Manager: Stephanie Meyers, 213 North Sarah Johnston, 661 Lansing Rd. #A, Fultonville, NY Obelenus, 4 Park St., Suite 208, Concord, NH Winooski Ave, #4, Burlington, VT 05401 802-860- 12072-2630, (518) 922-7937, fax: (518) 922-7646, 03301, (603) 224-5022, [email protected] 4942, [email protected] [email protected] Erich V. Bremer, 60 So. Main St., PO Box 886, New Jersey: Individual: $35, family/organizational: Ag Education Coordinator: Abbie Nelson, 137 Lost $50, Business/Organization: $100, Low Income: Nation Rd, Essex Jct., VT 05452, 802-878-4087, Pennington, NJ 08534-0886, (609) 737-6848, [email protected] $15* *does not include a subscription to The [email protected] Natural Farmer FEED Local Purchasing Coordinator: Elizabeth 60 So. Main St., PO Box 886, Pennington, NJ Zipern, 29 Metcalf View, Underhill, VT 05489, 802- 08534-0886, (609) 737-6848 899-3586, [email protected] New York: Student/Senior/Limited Income $15, Individual: $25, Family/Farm/Nonprofit Org. $35, Business/Patron: $100, Corporate Sponsor $500, NOFA Lifetime Sponsor $1000 Mayra Richter, NOFA-NY, P O Box 880, Cobleskill, NY 12043, voice: (518) 734-5495, fax: Interstate (518) 734-4641 [email protected] Rhode Island: Student/Senior: $20, Individual: $25, Family: $35, Business: $50 Pat Vohr, 51 Edwards Lane, Charlestown,RI 02813 Council (401) 364-0050 * indicates voting representative Vermont: Individual: $30, Farm/Family: $40, Business: $50, Sponsor: $100, Sustainer: $250, * Bill Duesing, Staff, 153 Bowers Hill Road, Oxford, Lifetime: $1000, Basic: $15-25* *does not include a CT 06478, (203) 888-9280, subscription to The Natural Farmer [email protected] Kirsten Novak Bower, NOFA-VT, PO Box 697, * Peter Rothenberg, 53 Lanes Pond Rd., Northford, CT Richmond, VT 05477, (802) 434-4122, 06472-1125 (203) 484-9570 (home), [email protected] [email protected] The Natural Farmer Winter , 2 0 0 2 - 0 3
Winter 2002-03
photo by Jack Kittredge Hector Tejada, a native of the Dominican Republic and now a new farmer in Central New York, inspects his heirloom tomatoes. These are what enable him to do well in New York City’s Greenmarket each week. News, features, & articles about organic growing in the Northeast, plus a Special Supplement on Beginning Farmers