----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 1:40
PM
Subject: [Market-farming] USDA vs
Naturally Grown
Hi I have a small organic five acre farmer here in the Desert outside of
Palm Springs. I am also a certified Naturally Grown Farm. What I have learned
is this - the USDA program as it WAS created- served as a tool for small
farms to become educated and re-learn how to create a healthy system to
produce food. The "stamp of approval" certified organic was in it's purest
form a dynamic way to market our small farm products. Today, as with any
government maintained program the 'third house' in Congress has gotten hold of
the incredible value to the words Organic. It has been manipulated to be used
by the largest producers who want the marketing value without the
overall process of returning to a different way of farming. The USDA
certified program has been eroded to suit large corporate processing
methods.
Organic should mean a couple of things the first being locally produced.
All things considered, true organics is not just a marketing tool but a way to
reduce costs of energy ie trucking costs, cold storage energy, wasteful
packaging, etc, etc by providing food direct to the consumer or at minimum to
a market that is a small part of the cost of providing healthy food to the
consumer. Secondly, it is a method that creates responsibility to soil
and and water conservation as well as open spaces for agriculture.
Thirdly, organics gives back the power to the real producers in this
country SMALL FAMILY FARMS. The whole co-op movement that became the 'company
store' small farms owe their souls to is very much like the newest USDA
program.
Corporate farms have created this mess we are in - in terms of
disease in animals over crowding ,feeding dead ground up contaminated animal
parts to food animals. Since when did ungulates (cows) eat other cows? Since
when did chickens lays eggs without a resting period. Doesn't anyone else
wonder how it is that pros trate cancers are rampant, pet deaths due to
cancer, allergies and breathing disorders are at the highest measured levels?
Ever wonder why they call the stuff in say diazinon, malathion, and other
poisons are called organophosphates? Corporate farm lobbyists are now
in charge of the USDA program.
Small farms are small business. Small farms create community, invigorate
labor markets or all kinds, skilled and unskilled, small farms employee
PEOPLE. Farming has an critical opportunity to change the playing field.
Consumers are demanding their food not be chock full of chemicals - they want
flavor not shelf or trucking life, they are suspicious of genetic altering. We
are on the cusp of something dynamic as farmers. The thing is we have to agree
to disagree about politics and come together concerning process. We must be
responsible, educated, discerning questioners of practices we have been taught
and have taken for granted. Organics began as a grass roots movement that has
proven it's market value which is why the big guns are now stacking the deck
in their favor. So, as small farmers we can also adapt and so an end run
around their watered down rules. Certified Naturally Grown is a method in
response to this issue. Join it, participate check out the SLOW FOOD movement
join it participate.
Organics cannot be reproduced on enormous corporate farms. Because as my
grandmother wisely ingrained in me - haste makes waste - food is not a widget-
except at McDonald's. Food is the one thing all of us have in common. It is an
enormous power let's not sit back and say we can't be heard. The consumers
have told us what they want we have an opportunity to respond. For all the
nay-sayers about organics being too expensive, etc, etc check out this
fact.
There is a larger consumer demand for organics than there are producers.
In fact, this country is IMPORTING organic food from other countries. This is
ridiculous and poor economic policy.
Big corporations get this they have used their powerful
lobbyists to re work the USDA organic rules to fit their needs the new
rules allow them to call their products organic when in fact they are able to
skirt many requirements. As farmers we needs to realize organics is no longer
a 'Hippy dippy' movement of a select few but a reality in farming. It is our
moment to actually make a profit and a living.
Is there anything good about the USDA program? Absolutely. ATTRA,
the best part of the USDA program is a gateway of information on every subject
of organics and conversion and we should fully support the funding of ATTRA.
Here is why I am now certified Naturally Grown.
Farmers, real farmers not politicians run the program. It has not yet
created its own monstrous self promulgated bur eaucracy so what you pay for is
actually what you get. What you participate in with the program is what you
may expect a return on. The rules are still the former (not the revised) tough
organic standards. There is no fudging because it is expensive to use IPM or
alternative ways to provide nutrients for production however, like the
USDA rules if you can make a valid case for say- basic sulfur or an iron
product for soils without available iron it will not prevent you from using
things not on the List. What I find is Naturally Grown paperwork is MINIMAL
you must keep good records as all business should but the crap and
expense and fees is nominal. The labels and logos are consumer friendly and
easily distinguishable to market your produce,the standards are high and most
importantly it is run by actual farm people.
Business is business and those will the largest market value
win - family farms should be no different. You must be prep ared to
educate yourself. Understanding soil and water is key, not
just how to irrigate or fertilize but what happens when you add or
subtract something to your crops. What happens if you scrape away
all the soil and dump a load of Round up to control weeds. An overall farm
plan not for the bank ,but a workable idea of the health of your business that
you and your workers can follow is vital. Everyone working for you must be
infected with the drive towards a healthy goal. What I have learned from
belonging to a third generation farming family is this - information is the
key to innovation and innovation is the key to success. Bigger is not always
better. Intensive farming is manageable, you can get off the farm welfare
train, and you can provide a future for the inhabitants of this planet while
providing a living for your own family.
WSBaroli
19800 Diamond Ave.
Sky Valley, CA 92241
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