WHO SHOULD OWN ORGANIC?
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
The rapid expansion of organic agriculture presents us with tough choices. CSA pioneer Elizabeth Henderson argues in her keynote address at the Upper Midwest Organic conference that we must make a decision about our identity: are we an industry? Or are we a movement?
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/ehenderson.php

ISSUE

THE ORGANIC OCTOPUS
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
At least four workshop presenters at the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference opened their sessions by putting Phil Howard's "Organic Industry Structure" chart up on the screen. Look, they said. This is what we're up against. It's a chart that's worth a thousand words. It graphs organic brand acquisitions and introductions by 13 of the world's largest food and beverage companies.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/philhoward.php

CERTIFICATION

STATE AND REGIONAL CERTIFIERS WEIGH IN ON NOP
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
When National Organic Program (NOP) Manager Richard Mathews was a no-show at the recent Eco-Farm Conference workshop dedicated to a discussion of federal Organic Rule implementation from certifiers’ perspectives, the absence set a theme of sorts that ran throughout the hour-and-a-half question-and-answer session. (According to conference organizers, Mathews was unable to attend due to USDA budget cuts and related travel restrictions.)
What came out of the discussion was that, while some parts of implementation of the federal Organic Rule are working, agency leaders say there’s plenty that still needs fixing.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/ecofarmnop.php

ETHICAL WILDCRAFTING--OXYMORON?
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Wildcrafting provides a “simple” life full of complex ethical and practical considerations. Bruce Buren, an ethical harvester of wild plants, ponders the best way to preserve and protect the wild plants he values and depends on.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/wildethics.php

COMPOST

TRASH OR CASH?
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Pennsylvania pioneers a permit that diverts tons of trash weekly from the landfill and turns it into “black gold” for farmers…and that’s only the pilot project! They're recycling food waste into compost. Ken Gehringer’s Four Springs Farm, a cash grain operation in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, receives up to 10 tons of food waste weekly from the produce, bakery and other departments of Wegmans, a local high-end grocery store, for composting.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/papermit.php

PROCESSING

MINNESOTA FARMERS MAKE THEIR OWN MARKET
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
For farmers transitioning from conventional to organic production, the switch is perhaps made easier by the lure of eager markets and premium prices. But while such markets and prices do exist, physically reaching them can often be a challenge. Four years ago, a group of farmers in northern Minnesota were having trouble accessing markets for their organic grain crops. So they bought a processing and storage facility in their own backyard.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/marketmake.php

CONFERENCE

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES CATTLEMAN FROM MAD COW
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
IFO president Charlie Eselgroth urged farmers in Ohio to prepare to take new steps toward sustainability to weather the inevitable challenges to come. As he shared during opening comments at the recent Innovative Farmers of Ohio (IFO) annual conference, Eselgroth's preparation not his luck was key to finding sleep at night when other cattle farmers were caught up in the mad cow fallout. His customers knew the origin of their products, keeping Eselgroth’s markets more stable.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/ifoprepare.php

THREE GENERATIONS OF BIG-LITTLE CEREAL FARMERS CAN GROW ORGANIC
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Three generations of cereal farmers in Saskatchewan grow organically on 3000 acres. Small by Saskatchewan conventional farming standards, the Bodera farm is large for an organic farm in the region. Father, son and grandson have been growing flax, wheat, barley, oats and mustard organically since 1989. They're the heart and soul of the North American breadbasket, as well as its future – farming sustainably, on the free market, and liking it.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/saskatchcereal.php

MARKETING

NOW IS THE TIME FOR SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
He can't plant, cultivate or harvest--the fields are a swamp--but Mariquita's Andy Griffin can sell shares and hustle publicity. “Why,” you ask “would you aggressively make promises about future harvests just exactly when you feel uneasy about your ability to produce them?” Easy. It’s like this. He does have some product overwintering in the ground and the vision of fresh veggies are an easy sell to customers tired of the grocery store's deep-winter wares. Plus, everyone's trying to figure out how to keep that New Year's resolution to "get healthy."
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/selfpromo.php

ORGANIC FOR 37 YEARS
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Sustainable farming’s pioneer couple Dick and Sharon Thompson shared the basics from their Iowa farm at the recent Innovative Farmers of Ohio Conference. They want the insights from their 37 years of hard work, head scratching and research to encourage other farmers to adopt and adapt for greater sustainability.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/ifothompson.php

FROM COURTROOM TO FOREST
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
A one-time lawyer trades in his legal practice to nurture and harvest wild medicinals. Ginseng, goldenseal, black cohosh, skull cap, snake root … Eastern Ohio’s Bruce Buren makes a decent living off of what most farmers dismiss as weeds and wasted land.
www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs2/wildcraft.php

NEWS

DAIRY FARMERS WIN BACK THEIR FREEDOM OF SPEECH
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has ruled the dairy check-off unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The challenge was brought to the court by Pennsylvania farmers Joe and Brenda Cochran, who argued the check-off violated their freedom of speech by forcing them to pay for advertising with which they did not agree. But the fight isn't over yet.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/cochran.php

SEED: THE ACHILLES' HEEL OF ORGANIC
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
The growing evidence in this country that much of our seed stock is GMO-contaminated raises tough questions about the future of organic—what it is, what it should be, and how we can reduce our vulnerability and preserve our integrity and vision as organic farmers.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/achillesheel.php

RETOOLING FOR INNOVATIVE COVER CROP SEEDING
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Innovative farming techniques often call for innovative tools. At Dutra Farms, just like many farms across the country, that means that the field crew pulls double duty as equipment engineers. A wonderful example of this ingenuity is the seed driller retrofitted by farm manager Virgilio “Hilo” Yepez and his team.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/hilo.php

THINKING WARM WHEN IT'S COLD MEANS BETTER VARIETY
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
It may be cold in the north, but flower farmers should have their minds soaking in the summer sun. Time to get a move on, dust off the seeding benches, clean up the greenhouse or basement, get some more of those seeds started and plan for starting other seeds into spring. Having a good variety of flowers for summer harvest depends upon it. There’s plenty of time to think about sunflowers and zinnias, the summer garden workhorses, but they only go so far. Some of the best summer sellers need to be started NOW!
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/summerharvest.php

FOOD SAFETY, BUSINESS PLANNING AND LOCAL FOOD ADVOCACY TAKE CENTER STAGE
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Food safety, business planning, and local food advocacy take center stage at the Practical Farmers of Iowa conference in Des Moines, IA. PFI speakers call for scrupulous post-harvest handling to keep food safe, careful planning to guide farm entrepreneurship and persistent advocacy to re-localize community food purchases.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/pficonf.php

PROFILE

MORE THAN JUST MOVING VEGGIES AT A FURIOUS PACE
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Veritable Vegetable—80 percent women, $22 million in annual sales—does more than move veggies at a furious pace. Somewhere between a for-profit business and an advocacy group, it gives fair prices and an increasingly rare wholesale outlet to smaller-scale organic growers. And it's working. They are one of the country’s original organic produce distributors and still going strong.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/veritveg.php

PROFILE

COFFEE CO-OP BEATS SLUMPING MARKET
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Biodiverse plantings provide secondary crops for small, mountain-side farmers in Finca la Puebla, reducing dependence on income from fluctuating coffee prices.The promising beginning of this Costa Rican coffee cooperative offers a glimmer of hope for small farmers everywhere who can join forces and link up with collaborators interested in their sustainable future.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/fincalapuerta.php

CONFERENCE

LOOKING TO PRACTICAL TOOLS AND SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINING FAMILY FARMS IN THE SOUTH
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
The workshops at the 13th Annual Conference of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in Gaineville, Florida ran the gamut from hands-on farming techniques to soil biology and community food systems. Practical tools were the focus and an uplifting environment was a result.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/sawgconf.php

PROFILE

TAKING A MAGIC BUS RIDE TO SUSTAINABLE FARMS OF MANY SCALES
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
From a modest hillside of kiwifruit, to hundreds of acres of organic and IPM raspberries, a sprawling ranch where holistically managed grass-fed beef cattle are raised, to a 20-acre valley of intensively cultivated vegetables, each farm—and farmer—has a unique story.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/magicbus.php

ON FARM

HUNGRY FOR SPRING
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Most of the repairs are done, the re-certification paperwork is almost finished and the vetch and rye covers are pushing through the stubble. If only the mud would go away. Jeff Moyer, farm manager at The Rodale Institute, shares the seasonal woes and wonders on the farm.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/jeffspring.php

GUERILLA GARLIC
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
Battling the influx of cheap Chinese garlic—even in to Gilroy, the “Garlic Capital of the World”—Mariquita Farm is “thinking outside the box” and using “appropriate technology.” They're growing green spring garlic and banking their garlic dollars long before the garlic festival in July.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/guerillagarlic.php

AGRITOURISM HITS HAWAII
From The New Farm®, www.newfarm.org
From 2-acre coffee growers to 15,000-acre sugar plantations and 225,000 acre ranches, Hawaii's farmers get on board with the state's tourism industry and boost their farms' viability.
http://www.newfarm.org/redirect/cs1/agritourhawaii.php