Market Farming

[Leigh Hauter <lh AT pressroom.com>]

>   Most of the organic farms in our state are small,
> and many will not be able to handle the red tape of USDA certification -
> especially when it comes to tracking sales.  The other big issue is seeds.
> I'm not sure where I read it this week, maybe newfarm.org, but the general
> consensus seems to be that you must buy organic seed, if it is available, as
> long as it is not more than 3-5 times more expensive!  So, for us, with an
> annual seed cost of $600-$700, we could conceivably have to spend as much as
> $3000 for seed. Now, in reality, it wouldn't come to that much.  Many of the
> seeds we use are not available at all as organic seed, and much of the
> organic seed available is reasonably priced.  But, it illustrates another
> good reason for small, diversified growers to market directly, and forget
> about the USDA label.

Alison, a very succinct argument for not certifying'usda organic'

I think I'm changing our webpage  to say something like:

'Locally grown! Fresh! Our vegetables are grown by us on our farm 
without chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers.  Our 
vegetables are chemical and gmo free.'

I just finished surveying my subscribers and 90% said not to certify 
and of the 10% who said we should, only 1% said that it mattered to 
them, the other 9% was afraid no certification would deter others 
from signing up to our CSA in the future.