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Posted January 7, 2005: Keynote speaker Jim
Crawford will open the 6th Annual Virginia Biological Farming
Conference by addressing, “What does it take for organic
farming to evolve into a significant sector of agriculture?”
Drawing on examples from his 30 years’ experience
growing and marketing organic vegetables, Jim will discuss the
right mix of idealism, realism and optimism needed to succeed
in the business of organic farming. He will explore questions
like: “When we say we are sustainable and that conventional
agriculture is not, what does it mean? What has to happen for
us to sustain ourselves?”
For Jim, the definition of ‘sustainable’ is not
something theoretical about pollution, but is “first
and foremost, being able to continue to farm,” he says.
“Will we still be farming when we retire? Idealism alone
cannot make us sustainable; we need a strong dose of economic
realism.” In his talk, Jim will give specific examples
from his farm and others of economic realism in practice.
Jim and his wife, Moie, produce more than 40 different vegetable
crops on their 25-acre farm in Hustontown, Pa., and market
their vegetables from the end of April until midwinter. With
the help of greenhouse and cold frames, they do from four
to 25 successional plantings for the various vegetable crops
they grow throughout the season in order to provide a steady
supply to their customers. Meanwhile, they utilize cover crops,
compost, crop rotation and careful nutrient management to
maintain the optimum soil health needed to sustain intensive
production over the long run.
Initially, the Crawfords sold some produce direct to customers
and the rest wholesale. In 1988, they partnered with several
other organic farms in their area, pooling wholesale marketing
efforts and arranging for one part-time farm employee to make
calls and set up sales. “We made a brochure, selling
the idea of offering produce from a range of farms, all available
in one truck delivery, which is convenient for chefs.”
Their strategy also gave them more leverage than an individual
grower would have so that they could receive organic premium
prices. Thus the Tuscarora Organic Growers’ Cooperative
(TOG) was founded.
“We started small, without a large initial investment,
and it took off well,” Jim says. “By the fifth
year, we became more professional, hired a manager who stuck
with us [for longer than one season], got incorporated as
a co-op, and had a large increase in sales.” TOG now
includes 20 organic growers, operates a fully equipped 5,000
square foot warehouse and office space, and markets about
$1 million in produce annually. They are able to send full
trucks of produce (much more efficient), making twice-weekly
deliveries to restaurants and other retail outlets in Washington,
D.C. and Baltimore, about a two-hour drive from their south-central
Pennsylvania location.
| “[TOG] is small enough so that
all growers participate in managing the co-op. Most important,
we plan the full season’s production as a group
so that we are not competing with each other. We know
what the co-op can take, so that there is no overproduction
and maximum diversity.” |
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TOG is owned by its producer members, so “there is
no ‘us and them,’” says Jim. “It is
small enough so that all growers participate in managing the
co-op. Most important, we plan the full season’s production
as a group so that we are not competing with each other. We
know what the co-op can take, so that there is no overproduction
and maximum diversity.” For example, one year when TOG
already had all the tomatoes they could use, the Crawfords
planted celery root instead. Jim observes, “I could
not sell three tons of celery root myself, but the coop had
no trouble doing so.”
Jim will speak a second time at the Virginia Biological Farming
Conference in a breakout session on Ag Math: Calculating
the Costs and Income from Organic Vegetable Production.
The idea for this workshop evolved as he watched too many
farmers working too hard trying to succeed without the necessary
business accounting skills. “Now that I am 60,”
he observes, “I have seen economic challenges that I
had no idea of at the age of 30.”
In this session, Jim will cover the nuts and bolts of family
farm economics, how to determine what are one’s largest
costs, and what financial factors make the farm profitable.
He will discuss questions such as: What does it mean to borrow
money? What is capitalization? How much is appropriate on
your farm? What does it mean to make a living over the long
run? The workshop will include a set of principles that growers
need to handle financial situations likely to arise in farming,
and “examples of applied economic realism.”
Other conference workshops will include basic and advanced
topics in organic horticulture, pastured poultry and livestock,
CSAs, organic grain and hay, and much more. Jeff Moyer, the
farm manager at The Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pa., will
give an update on organic farming research at The Institute.
For more information on the Virginia Biological Farming Conference,
visit www.vabf.org,
or contact conference registrar Marilyn Buerkens at 540-291-4333,
e-mail biofarmingconf@hotmail.com.
For more information on the Tuscarora Organic Growers co-op,
visit www.tog.coop.
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