Tom Pavich

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Hear more about how Searching for the ‘O’ Word drove OFRF policy efforts

California raisin grower Tom Pavich is deeply rooted in the organic community.  Decades before organic farming emerged as a fast growing segment of our food production system, the Pavich family farm was growing organically. Today, Pavich farms with his sister near Bakersfield, producing jumbo raisins under the Franny’s Organic label (www.frannysorganic.com).

Tom Pavich was among the first organic farmers to join the Organic Farming Research Foundation Board and served as its second president from 1995 to 1997.

“Bob Scowcroft, who was the executive director California Certified Organic Farmers, hatched the idea of forming a non-profit organization to fund on-farm organic research. I thought it was a great idea, so I supported him 100 percent. When he asked me to be involved, I said: ‘Absolutely!’ That’s how it all got started,” Pavich explains.

Pavich says, initially, he was intrigued by OFRF’s idea of funding organic farmers to do research on their farms. Difficulties producing academically rigorous research results soon prompted the organization to alter its approach by pairing farmers with academic researchers.

“The first projects we funded were nice projects, good projects, good farmers, hard-working farmers, but they weren’t that great at documenting their research. Getting that final report out of that farmer was like pulling teeth because, let’s face it, they were farmers, they were busy farming,” says Pavich.

Looking back, Pavich says he’s happy OFRF made the adjustment.

“When we brought in the professional researchers, and had them work with those same organic farmers, we really started to get some good quality research done. It was documented. It was something we could share with other farmers and with academia,” he says.

In days past, the Ecofarm Conference in California offered OFRF board and staff a chance to meet. Here, from left, Tom Pavich, Kathleen Merrigan, Phil Foster, Lew Grant and Bob Scowcroft meet to talk about organic farm policy.

Pavich was at the helm of the OFRF Board when the group expanded beyond research support and into the policy arena.  That move came in 1995 when Mark Lipson joined the foundation to begin researching the federal government’s support for organic farming research. Lipson’s research, reported in the landmark 1997 publication Searching for the ‘O’ Word, revealed that federal investment in organic research was nominal—less than one-tenth of one percent of all agricultural research dollars were directed to organic studies.

Revealing the inadequacies of USDA and academia’s organic support prompted OFRF to hire Lipson as a permanent employee and create a policy department, which went to work advancing organic research in Washington, D.C.

“That was the beginning of opening up a lot of doors for the current level of funding that we’re seeing today. Now, maybe 15 years later, there are millions of dollars going to organic research.  It’s great to see that. I feel that one of our greatest accomplishments at that time was to nudge that giant dinosaur to move in a direction in one way that was favorable to us,” says Pavich.

Pavich ranks efforts to move OFRF into the electronic communications arena by creating an official website as another key accomplishment in his tenure as board president.  Concerns over staff ability to add website management to already demanding schedules created some hesitation, but Pavich didn’t give up. He became the first cash contributor to the project and saw the first iteration of the site go on-line in 1998.

“At the time, I was insisting that we just needed to jump in and get going. So we did, and at first it was rudimentary, but it was a start. Now look at what you are doing. You’re putting audio tapes and video on the web site. It’s interactive, and it’s just great,” says Pavich.

Pavich reflects on his years with OFRF with pride, but he also expresses high hopes for the organization going forward.

“There’s certainly a place for OFRF in the present, and there will be in the future because there’s a lot we don’t know, and there’s a lot to be discovered,” he says.

Pavich says given the organization’s track record of commitment over 20 years, he expects OFRF to remain in the forefront of the organic movement.