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market-farming - Re: Organic industry vs. organic movement

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Paul Bransky <broadcaster AT mwt.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Organic industry vs. organic movement
  • Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 01:00:53 -0500

Rick wrote:
It seems that the record
keeping cost is a huge factor. You would think that they could simplify some
of that. Especially for the smaller farms that have just as many different
products as a large farm but it sounds like the paperwork would be huge.

Our record-keeping costs for organic certification are insignificant. Record-keeping is just a habit we have gotten used to--a few minutes at the end of each day to record what was done where. Nothing complex--stuff like "Paul planted peas and oats in field one," or "20 trays of Copra onions planted in field three." These notes demonstrate organic soil management and field rotation to the inspector. Financial transactions have to be noted, so the agency knows you have a way of figuring their fraction-of-one-percent cut. (The IRS also likes good records!) Labels and receipts for outside inputs, such as fertilizer and seed, are kept on file for the inspector.

We like having detailed records of our operation. Records tell us what we have done. We can look for correlations between field history and current crop performance. We can more easily plan a budget for each year, based on past spending. We can follow good organic practices in our field rotations.

From what I have heard, large organic grain operations have a lot more paperwork to contend with than we do. They need to keep paperwork for bin storage,trucking, and transactions, as well as the field histories and other stuff we do. Operations that are part organic/ part conventional are REALLY under the microscope to prove there is no cross-contamination. In Rick's case, of course, there is no cross-contamination between conventional beef and organic produce.


Liz and Paul's Farm
51560 Johnstown Rd.
Soldiers Grove, WI
54655

(608)735-4779


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