Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: determining organic

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: determining organic
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 09:01:18 -0400


Joan,

I don't think the state of Kansas has an organic certification program
and I don't know of any private organizations , other than OCIA that
operate there. As
peg said, the first step is to check with the certifying agencies. A
certified organic grower should have a certificate with their
certification number on it and the name of the certifying organization.
ATTRA has a list of these at:
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/orgcert.html

I get the impression that the organic growers at your market are all
uncertified, or you have a mix of certified & uncertified. We had the
same at a market here. What we came up with was a rule that only
certified growers could use the word organic at the market, and others
could use ecologically grown, no chemical, or some other term and would
have to have a farming practices statement on file with the market
manager. Most had a copy with them for customers to read.

A "grower" who is suspected of reselling is another issue. Most
markets, including ours, have a program where someone from the
organization visits each farm just before the market opens (or when they
apply to sell, if mid-season) to see the extent of their operation and
what they have planted. We also have a "surprise visit" provision,
which we've never used, to check up on suspicious sellers during the
market season.

But take heart, Joan! There's always someone who tries to take advantage
of others. My experience of many years in co-ops and farm orgs. has
taught me that any cooperative enterprise needs a set of rules, updated
as needed. This gives the group the authority to exclude deadbeats.
And how you go about it is important, too. It's my opinion that
offenders should be dealt with fairly but firmly- not a series of witch
hunts or McCarthy hearings.

We had a vendor who was snaking customers and bad mouthing others,
trying to improve his sales. A member of our organizing committee went
to him and talked in general terms about the cooperative spirit we were
trying to establish and how we needed to help each other for each of us
to prosper. He was immediately embarrassed, but turned himself around
that day and became a real part of what was going on. And I've had the
experience of confronting people in a nice way and have them continue to
take advantage until their memberships were revoked. It's tough to deal
with these issues, but necessary to keep "users" from ruining a good
thing.

Good luck with your market, and remember that there's lots of us out
here offering support and ideas.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page