The Illinois Specialty Growers Conference included various types of growers including conventional and hydroponic as well as organic growers. The attendees raise fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains and livestock. The topics range from irrigation, pest and disease issues, hoop houses, marketing, agritourism, and enterprise management. In short, it covered a wide range of farmers, topics and growing methods. One noteable feature of this conference was maximizing income. While I would like to get to a point that I am not paying money to farm, my main passion is to provide good, safe food for our community and protecting our environment.
For some time, I have been toying with the idea of getting certified Organic. Since we have the CSA and a close relationship with our members, I haven't felt the need to be certified. I check to be sure the any inputs on the farm are listed on the Organic Materials Resource Institute (OMRI) List. I attend conferences to understand which practices are organic and I use those practices. I feel that our relationship is important because I hope that you trust me to do as much as I can to be a good grower of your food. So, the cost of certification isn't necessary.
Another group that I have been involved with is Western Illinois Sustainable Agriculture Society (WISAS). We have been reviewing our mission and focussing on whether we are fulfilling that mission. We are talking about a range of focus from being an organization that promotes just locally-grown agricultural products to being an Organic organization. I think that if we use the word "sustainable" in our title that it ought to mean something and that something should communicate what we mean to people outside our organization. In the past, WISAS had a difficult time defining sustainable and has somewhat thrown up its hands saying: our customers all have a different definition and each of us has a different definition of sustainable. I think this approach leaves us not communicating at all.
Our recent discussions have centered around a three pronged definition of what sustainable means: environmentally sustainable, economically sustainable, and community sustainable. We are still discussing this issue, but I think we will ultimately land somewhere between just local and Organic. (Consumers are welcome to join WISAS and the discussion: wisas.org.)
I am also catching up on some reading. I was sent a blog link by one of our members. (Zweberfarms) This farmer outlined why she and her family eat organic. It included some research about pesticide residue in children and how quickly a change to an organic diet reduces the pesticide residue in their bodies. It is a good blog entry worth reading. We will be seeing more research about Organics as the taste, nutrition content, safety issues for us and the environment are just being studied. I think some will confirm and some will debunk what we have thought about raising Organic food.
For me, I think I have made an important decision. After attending the Illinois conference, because the discussions that we are having within the WISAS, and the recent research, I am beginning to believe that I will transition to Organic certification. I still have a lot of research to do, to look at what it costs and the timeline.
Take good care and enjoy the snow while we still have it!!
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