Market Farming

["Del Williams" <delannw AT dlogue.net>]

This issue of certification is something that I have turned around on.  Lucy
Owlsely, a couple of years ago made some very good arguments about the value
of certification.  For my part, I am a small grower planning to 'grow' an
organic market farm.  Certification is prohibitive in cost for me even
though I would prefer to be certified.  Originally, I hoped that a small
group of 'cooperative' growers could contract with a specific certifier and
share travel costs, etc.  to reduce overall certification expenses.
However, most of the vendors at our market are not organic or sustainable or
biointensive or interested in it.

I think at this juncture that certification is important.  Not just because
there are producers who have gone the extra mile to get that certification,
but because it 'legitimates the product to consumers.  I am a consumer
advocate and can't be a hypocrite about organic produce.

I do wish that there was a way to reduce costs for smaller growers and
producers.  Instead of allowing us to opt out because of the small size of
our sales, it would be better for us and the buying public if we were
inspected and certified.  It would help us provide confidence to the
consumer.  Furthermore, it would promote running the farm or the operation
like a business.  I know that many of you object to the presence of
hobbyists and peddlers at markets.  They don't necessary derive their income
from farming.

Who wants to compete with vendors who are not really interested in running a
business?  We have, most of us, competed with market vendors who have no
understanding of profitability.  They think that every dime they take in at
the market is profit.  It is maddening!

Some vendors will call their produce organic and they have no comprehension
of the meaning or  certification rules that do provide guidelines even for
the uncertified.  (In fact I recall one who was growing in a field that had
been treated with atrazine the previous year.  He thought that if he did not
use chemicals that the produce was organic.  He and I had a long talk about
atrazine.)  This example should provide some concern about allowing some to
opt out of certification and still call their produce sustainable or
whatever.

"A word means what you choose it to mean.  Neither more nor less."  The
Caterpillar speaking to Alice in Through the Looking Glass

Del Williams
Farmer in the Del
Clifton IL