{"id":24967,"date":"2021-04-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodrevolution.org\/?p=24967"},"modified":"2024-11-13T09:16:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T17:16:52","slug":"becoming-certified-organic-challenge-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodrevolution.org\/blog\/becoming-certified-organic-challenge-for-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Becoming Certified Organic Still a Challenge Despite High Demand?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexandra Jones \u2022 The Counter is a non-profit newsroom covering the forces shaping how and what we eat. Read more at thecounter.org<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

When Ola Creston and George Brittenburg started Taproot Farm in 2009, they grew their produce according to USDA organic standards<\/a>. It was important to them as producers and consumers to farm without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and with a focus on building and maintaining healthy soils. But it was six years until the couple went through the process of getting their 25 acres in Pennsylvania\u2019s Berks County certified organic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it took us longer because it has this bad rep of being a difficult thing to do, or expensive,\u201d Creston says. But she found the record-keeping and costs associated with the process were much more manageable than she had been led to believe. Today, she sees certification as necessary in a direct market that\u2019s become increasingly competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhole Foods is our competition. I think that that label is something farmers need,\u201d says Creston, whose business relies primarily on local farmers market<\/a> sales and CSA<\/a> memberships. \u201cI realized that it\u2019s very important to me as a consumer\u2026that certification means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Ineffective Market-Based Approach<\/h2>\n
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Creston runs one of the more than 18,500 certified organic farms in the United States counted<\/a> by the US Department of Agriculture in 2013. But 30 years after the Organic Foods Production Act began the process of defining a uniform set of organic growing practices \u2014 and 18 years since those rules went into effect \u2014 only 0.6% of the country\u2019s agricultural land is certified organic, despite the market for organic products growing to more than $50 billion<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

With such a significant market opportunity at stake, why aren\u2019t more farmers getting certified?<\/p>\n

A small-scale diversified grower like Creston might not see the value in certification because she can market her product as local<\/a> first and organically grown second. A 2014 Purdue University study<\/a> found that \u201c[d]irect marketing enables the producer to gain price premiums and consumer trust for his\/her product without the paperwork and financial cost of certification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comparing rates of organic certification in the US with those in the European Union reveals a stark difference in how well the programs have encouraged growers to certify. The EU, which subsidizes growers who go organic, had 13.4 million hectares<\/a>, or 33.1 million acres, of certified organic and transitional farmland in 2018 \u2014 7.5% of all agricultural land. While the five million certified organic acres tallied by the USDA<\/a> in 2016 don\u2019t include transitional land, it\u2019s clear that the country\u2019s market-based approach hasn\u2019t been as effective.<\/p>\n

Farmers Struggle to Meet USDA Standards<\/h2>\n
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But there can be bigger hurdles to going organic. USDA\u2019s standards exclude most of the synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers<\/a> conventional agriculture depends on, instead requiring naturally-derived substances and other tactics to achieve a similar effect: rotating in nitrogen-fixing cover crops to maintain soil fertility and health, fertilizing with compost<\/a> and animal manure, incorporating beneficial insects for pest control, and managing weeds through cultivation or by hand. These standards must be followed for three years \u2014 the clock starts at the time of the last application of a prohibited substance \u2014 before growers can move forward with certification.<\/p>\n

During that three-year window<\/a>, producers must follow organic methods, but their products can\u2019t command organic\u2019s much-touted price premium, even though organic seed costs more than conventional, and greener practices typically require additional labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest barrier is making it financially work through the three years of transition,\u201d says Mae Petrehn, who works as an organic transition consultant in South Dakota for Dakota\u2019s Best Seed. \u201cIf you\u2019re a larger crop operation, where you haven\u2019t necessarily had a great rotation for a long time, and you haven\u2019t been building up that soil health, you\u2019re going to have a little more risk, some unanticipated issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are systemic barriers, too. Cash-strapped states struggle to support organic through educational initiatives or by offering certification, as a state-level survey by Berkeley Food Institute<\/a> found in 2017. And the Organic Certification Cost Share Program, which once reimbursed farm operations for up to $750 of fees for obtaining or renewing certification, announced in August<\/a> that the cost share would max out at only $500 going forward.<\/p>\n

Certified Organic Processing Hurdles<\/h3>\n
Editor\u2019s note: <\/b>Trigger warning. The next two paragraphs discuss the slaughter of organically raised animals.<\/div>\n

Organic products also require organic processors. As we\u2019ve seen during the pandemic, facilities like grain mills<\/a>, dairy processors<\/a>, and slaughterhouses<\/a> are highly centralized and slow to accommodate market changes or niche producers. There\u2019s also a serious lack of organic inspectors comfortable with livestock, says Petrehn, who has experienced the dearth of meat processing with her own herd of lambs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already a challenge for me to find a meat processor in-state that\u2019s USDA inspected,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd there\u2019s absolutely nowhere for me to take a trailer full of lambs that are certified organic\u2026tracking and managing organic slaughter is a lot on top of a lot of requirements the plants already deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organic Price Premiums Are Enticing<\/h2>\n
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Despite the barriers to entry and higher costs associated with growing organically overall, the price premium that certified organic crops command is a strong enticement. The sometimes drastic difference between prices for organic and conventional produce is obvious at the grocery store<\/a>. And farmers earn significantly more for certified organic products.<\/p>\n

A comparison of terminal market prices in major cities shows this: On December 1st, 2020, according to the USDA\u2019s Agricultural Marketing Service<\/a>, four-pound boxes of organic baby spinach were going for $13 to $14 in Boston, while conventional cases of the same size earned $10 to $11. In Los Angeles, the difference was starker, with 24-count cases of bunched flat-leaf organic spinach commanding $30 to $32 per case, while conventional earned nearly half that at $17 to $18 per case.<\/p>\n

The same is true for commodity crops. A 2015 USDA ERS report<\/a> found that organic corn commanded a $2.83 per bushel price premium over conventional, netting producers an average of $0.56 to over $0.90 more per bushel even with the additional costs of organic practices and certification factored in. Even with fluctuations in both conventional and organic prices<\/a> over the next few years, organic prices remained high. And in 2014, organic corn out-earned conventional by $9 to $10 per bushel. The gap in organic soybeans for both food and feed was even larger, with both commanding $30 per bushel in 2011-2012 \u2014 double the price of conventional soybeans.<\/p>\n

COVID-19\u2019s Impact on Organic<\/h3>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic may punctuate this gradual growth in certified organic farms, too. Retail sales of organic products surged in the early days of lockdown, with the Organic Produce Network reporting<\/a> a year-over-year increase of 22.1% in dollars and 25% in volume between March 2019 and March 2020, outpacing conventional growth by 1.7% and 3.8%, respectively. The increase has been consistent through September<\/a>, with growth in organic produce sales at 16% over 2019 numbers and conventional growth 10% over the previous year.<\/p>\n

Resources for Becoming Certified Organic<\/h2>\n

So, where does an organic-curious producer start? Aside from polling growers in their networks who have completed the process, farmers looking to make the switch can get information, advice, and support about organic transition from a variety of sources. The USDA offers its own organic transition resources<\/a> online, as do organizations like SARE<\/a>. A farmer could hire someone like Petrehn, who heads up Dakota\u2019s Best Transition Toolkit Service<\/a>, for a one-time consultation or a three-year support subscription. And the Rodale Institute, which has advocated for organic practices since it was founded in 1947, launched its Organic Crop Consulting<\/a> from its Pennsylvania headquarters in March 2019.<\/p>\n

Rodale Institute\u2019s Organic Farm Consulting Service<\/h3>\n

Rodale\u2019s program is designed to ease the process with hands-on, ongoing guidance. It\u2019s free to producers in Pennsylvania and parts of the Midwest thanks to a $500,000 grant through the first-ever Pennsylvania Farm Bill<\/a>, a $24 million investment in the state\u2019s agriculture sector enacted in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal as the consulting service is to transition as much acreage as possible to certified organic production,\u201d said Sam Malriat, who heads up the program in Pennsylvania. So far, he says, most producers seeking their services have been grain growers \u2014 notably conventional no-till farmers already taking steps to support healthier soils who are ready to adopt no-till organic practices.<\/p>\n

Michael Connor and Marcie Boettger have expanded into produce, hemp, and livestock after years of growing hay and wheat at Sarah\u2019s Way Farm in Gilbertsville, not far from Rodale in Berks County. For years, they struggled with conventional no-till\u2019s use of herbicides to \u201cburn down\u201d a crop after harvest to avoid tilling the soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just didn\u2019t feel right about that,\u201d Connor says. \u201cI listened to what they say, all the other farmers. \u2018You don\u2019t want to be organic; it costs $20,000 to do it,\u2019 and I got discouraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the couple stumbled upon the Rodale program and found that the institute would fill out their organic paperwork for free, they were in. The initial certification process only cost them $1,200 before USDA\u2019s cost share; now, they\u2019re just waiting for their audit to be officially certified. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s a no-brainer now because people will pay more,\u201d Connor says.<\/p>\n

Farmers Want a More Secure Future for Their Business & Families<\/h3>\n
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To reach producers in the Midwest, where commodity corn and soybeans dominate, Rodale launched Organic Crop Consulting at its outpost in Marion, Iowa over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come to organic for a variety of reasons, whether it\u2019s ecological or family well-being,\u201d says Dr. Kristine Lang, who heads up the Midwest program. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important to start by understanding what\u2019s motivating people and what\u2019s bringing them to the table.\u201d Farmers seek her out because they want to improve soil health, escape the conventional corn market (which has tanked during the pandemic), adopt healthier practices for their families, or ensure the longevity of their operation to pass down to their kids.<\/p>\n

Farmer Jerome \u201cJake\u201d Taylor III has sought support from Lang as he transitions 470 acres of rented farmland in Missouri, roughly a third each year. Taylor grew up in the conventional ag world \u2014 working for nearby farms, studying agriculture in college, working for John Deere, and now selling farm insurance as a day job. But when he launched his own farm in 2016, he knew he wanted to get certified from the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s started out as a way to follow my dream of wanting to farm and seeing that it was economically more rewarding,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get the numbers to work on the conventional side and make it worth the investment, so I made the decision that the route I was gonna go was organic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organic Challenges Are Still Worth It<\/h3>\n

Taylor notes the challenges he\u2019s dealing with: organic requires more labor, and battling weeds and boosting soil fertility on formerly conventional land makes the first year of transition a difficult one. He had to convince property owners \u2014 despite the fact that organic practices would increase the value of their land \u2014 to rent to an organic farmer. And the prices he\u2019s getting for his transitional corn and soybeans on the commodity market aren\u2019t yet enough for the family to live on farming alone.<\/p>\n

But the way Taylor sees it, he\u2019s playing the long game. Like other farmers looking to break out of the conventional commodity mindset, he\u2019s betting that a farming system that promotes soil health, doesn\u2019t rely on expensive synthetic inputs, and fetches a higher price in a growing market will enable him one day to pass the farm on to his 15-year-old son, who\u2019s already learning to cultivate with organic methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say that I\u2019m losing money, but we\u2019ve taken the stance that we\u2019re gonna do this, and we\u2019re gonna get through it and get to the other side,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s just the way we think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell us in the comments:<\/h4>\n