Monthly Archives: August 2018

Why It’s Important to Keep USDA ERS Independent

August 30, 2018 – By Carolyn Dimitri, Associate Professor of Food Studies, New York University, Board Member, OFRF

Earlier this month, Secretary Sonny Perdue of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced his intention to move the Economic Research Service (ERS) from Washington, DC and place it under the direction of the politically appointed Office of the Chief Economist. These changes will result in the loss of expertise and jeopardize the quality, relevance, and overall integrity of the agency’s research.

As a federal research agency focused on food and agricultural issues, USDA ERS is a forward looking organization that identifies pressing research questions and engages in analysis to fully understand our food system. The range and quantity of issues ERS analyzes is vast, covering the entire the food system—from farm to table and everything in between.

Overall, the mission of ERS is to provide high quality, policy relevant, national level research on all matters related to food and agriculture. The agency serves as an incredible source of unbiased information about the costs and benefits to stakeholders in the food system. Only an independent, research focused government agency is able to accomplish this task.

The agency’s current location in Washington DC, and placement as a part of the USDA’s Research, Education and Economics mission area reinforces the fact that ERS works for the public interest. Moving ERS outside of Washington, DC and reorganizing the agency to be under the political thumb of the Office of the Chief Economist will likely undermine the integrity of the research, and could potentially jeopardize the operations of ERS for years to come.

Unlike other agencies that are exclusively farmer focused, ERS examines both agriculture and the entire food system. And as a federal research and statistical agency, ERS works with other professional agriculture and research federal organizations in the D.C. area. Having started my economics career at ERS, I enthusiastically developed a portfolio of research that considered the public good, without the constraints of satisfying academic requirements for tenure at a university, or the need to consider profit or partisan politics. While at USDA, I was able to research and report on organic agriculture without outside political pressure, in order to provide impartial scientific analysis for congressional and agency officials as well as the program agencies of USDA that deliver key agricultural, environmental and food system services.

ERS serves the public interest by examining food and agriculture programs for all stakeholders including farmers, producers, consumers, food and agriculture companies, and addresses the types of relationships that facilitate the movement of food along the supply chain. The complexity of these relationships cannot be overstated, and the research and analysis of programs that impact our food and agriculture systems should not be tainted or swayed by the politics of any administration.

Being in Washington, DC, in close proximity with other federal research and statistical agencies allowed me and my ERS colleagues to directly interact with research and economics professionals to efficiently and effectively do our work. Now, sitting in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University as a PhD applied economist, I am continually impressed with the integrity and quality of economic analysis and reporting of ERS . . . but I am concerned about the future. I urge Congress to put a stop to this disrupting move and reorganization that would lead to a dismantling of a government research agency that is respected throughout the food and agriculture community.

By |2020-01-08T18:14:17+00:00August 30th, 2018|News|
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University of Idaho Expands with New Organic Agriculture Center in Sandpoint

August 30, 2018 – Organic and sustainable agricultural research, education, and outreach will be the focus at a stunning new facility donated to the University of Idaho by Dennis Pence of Sandpoint. The Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center features 8 acres of organic orchards, surrounded by 8 acres of organic field plots, as well as a dormitory and a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen.

Michael Parrella, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean, said the new center will help U of I link more effectively with the local community and provide a template for programs that focus both on local food systems and bigger agriculture

in Idaho. “The work that’s been done to advance organic has broader applicability than just the organic community.”

Dennis Pence created the orchard with the vision of supporting local food systems. A huge believer in advancing organic agriculture and the principles, research, and education that goes along with that, he sees the orchard as a way of helping people understand what we’ve lost—the variety and quality of heritage varieties. The orchard includes approximately 65 heritage varieties and 700 trees just coming of age.

Kyle Nagy planted a lot of those trees. He’ll continue his role as Superintendent and Orchard Operations Manager. “Kyle has a phenomenal understanding of all aspects of production from an organic perspective,” said Parrella. “He’s a wonderful ambassador for the orchard and the program.

Hands-on internships for U of I and North Idaho College students will be offered to help boost enrollment in agricultural programs and strengthen the university’s presence in North Idaho. Other U of I colleges will have access to the center as well.

By |2020-01-08T18:14:17+00:00August 30th, 2018|News|
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Three Springs Farm

August 30, 2018 – Three Springs Farm is a certified organic farm located in eastern Oklahoma in the Ozark Hills. Farmers Mike Appel and Emily Oakley cultivate over thirty different crops and more than 100 individual varieties on three acres of land. Their goal is to maintain a family operation that demonstrates the economic viability of small-scale farming.

Both Mike and Emily studied farming in college, then Mike worked at Full Belly Farm in California while Emily finished grad school at UC Davis. They wanted their own farm and thought it would be more affordable to find the right land in Oklahoma where Emily was raised. Finding it just took a bit longer than they thought it would. They looked at more than 100 properties over three years while farming on leased land.

“Oklahoma is really difficult because there’s not a lot of good soil,” Mike explains. “The best land tends to be river valleys, but they’re prone to flooding. Or, there might be really great land but no water. The best land we saw was south of Tulsa but it was too expensive for us. We were at the eleventh hour when we just kind of stumbled upon our place, which is fairly close to Arkansas.”

The land they purchased hadn’t been farmed before so they didn’t have to go through the three-year organic transition period. Mike says the first years were pretty miserable. “But through a lot of grit and determination we made it through. Now, we’re 15 years in and doing well.”

Although they own 20 acres, they only farm three since it’s just the two of them and their five-year-old daughter. “Right now almost two-thirds of our fields are cover crop,” Mike says. “We do a big summer cover crop after all our spring crops are out. We use Sorghum Sudan grass, Sun hemp, and Sunflowers. We used to just do a monocrop, but as we read more about how different plants foster different biological activity, we decided to mix it up.”

“We try to get our winter cover crop planted by the end of September because we’ve noticed that planting it even a couple of weeks later drastically reduces the growth. Over time, we’ve figured out how to sustain the farm as two people; not growing year round is one way to do that.”

Mike and Emily grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, and more. Mike said the onions weren’t great this year because they had a rough spring (like many farmers, they had to deal with extreme cold going straight to extreme heat). Over time, they’ve learned what’s worth it for them to grow and what’s not. It was tough giving up their strawberries and blueberries for instance, but a smart decision for their bottom line.

Most of their produce is sold at the farmers’ market in Tulsa and there’s a Three Springs CSA as well. People still pay up front for the CSA, but instead of getting a pre-packed box, they come to the market stand and pick out what they want. CSA members get a 10% bonus and newsletter. “It’s non-traditional but we still have that community support,” says Mike. “About half of our market sales are CSA so we know we have that market base there.”

Mike says they’ve tried to take what he learned at Fully Belly Farm and pare it down, but it took a lot of mistakes to get where there are now. “You have to think things through and figure it out. With the climate craziness, every year is so drastically different. This year, we had the coldest April on record and then the hottest May on record. Our plants were like, no, we’re not having this.”

His best advice for new farmers? Perseverance. “There’s times I’ve definitely wanted to just throw in the towel. But in the end, things work out. You talk to people, figure out the problems. Each year it gets better, but you’ll still have setbacks, like the weather for us this year. Know that while nothing is static, each year you’ll be able to build on your experience.”

Mike and Emily have also developed a good relationship with Oklahoma State University. “We’ve done some varietal trials with them, which helped us figure out what works,” says Mike. “What’s been interesting is to see the extensionists become more interested in cover cropping. They’re still very conventional, but they’ve become more interested after seeing what cover crops have done for us—the fact that we’re organic, our plants are healthy and our yields are good—without having to put down chemical fertilizers.”

“We’re a bit far away from the university so it makes it harder to collaborate but we’ve told them to call us whenever they do variety trials. We have lots of ideas and have trialed a bunch of different crops. I’m curious to see how the ones we picked match up to ones they’ve done. I’m also happy to provide them with the ones we’ve used.”

When asked whether he thinks consumers understand what the the certified organic label means and the integrity behind it, Mike thinks there’s definitely confusion with people thinking the non-GMO label means something is organic—both at the market and based on personal experience.

He also thinks the bashing of big organics doesn’t do a lot to support the label overall. “When you’re doing that consistently, the consumer doesn’t understand and is going to equate organics as something that is fraudulent. That’s a worry. It has to be a lot more delicate and balanced. There’s a lot of us out there doing it right. When the livestock rules got thrown out, that was a big blow. There’s a lot of concern and I think we’re riding a very fine line of losing consumer support if we don’t make integrity and strict standards the priority.”

Mike’s top reasons why people should choose organic whenever possible start with the obvious. “You don’t want poisons in your food. That to me is fundamental. It’s why we farm. We don’t want to eat food grown with chemicals and we don’t want other people to either. Also, farmworkers shouldn’t be working in fields that have nasty chemicals. We have a long way to go to ensure people have good working conditions, but at least we can ensure people aren’t being exposed to bad chemicals when they’re growing our food.”

Then there are the larger environmental impacts. “Living near a creek and seeing the life that’s there is incredible. While it is resilient, it’s also very vulnerable to our influences. It’s important to make sure your food choices don’t impair that. When we buy organic, we think beyond ourselves. Our choices have huge impacts in other parts of the world. Just try to make the best choices you can with what you have in front of you.”

By |2020-01-08T18:14:17+00:00August 30th, 2018|Farmer Stories, News|
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Common Wealth Seed Growers

In 2018, OFRF awarded a grant to Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers in Virginia to assess resistance to both Bacterial Wilt and Cucurbit Downy Mildew among selected cucumber and muskmelon seed stocks, and to continue with the development of a pickling cucumber that is resistant to both diseases.

Edmund’s first exposure to agriculture was a farm truck that came to his neighborhood on Saturdays from an organic farm called New Morning Farm in Pennsylvania, where he eventually did a short apprenticeship. He gained more experience working at Waltons Orchard in Northern Michigan, a certified organic and biodynamic farm that also grew vegetables. He continued his on-farm education by working at Food Bank Farm in Western Massachusetts, a very large, very efficient farm that ran a CSA for 600 people and supplied the food bank with produce.

Then, his interest in seed breeding took hold. Edmund began working with seeds at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. He started doing contract seed crops for Southern Exposure and a few other seed companies, beginning with a ½ acre of seed crops and expanding to about six acres when he began getting contracts from more places.

His inspiration for thinking about bigger seed system issues came in 2012 after attending an Organic Seed Alliance conference. “I began thinking about how I could make organic seed systems in our region more functional. As a seed grower, I had been doing stock seed selection. I got more serious about that and started focusing on the varieties that stood out. I also started growing produce crops because I thought that would help make me a better seed grower.”

In 2014, he received a SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) grant to do research on Curcubit Downy Mildew with cucumbers, melon, and winter squash. At the same time, he began collaborating with Michael Mazourek at Cornell University to try out some of the stuff he was developing. “Michael was a really good resource to have when I had questions about how to evaluate the crops and how to do the selection and lay out the trials. So, I kept on doing a lot of seed production but also a lot of research and breeding.”

He started Common Wealth Seed Growers to reach people more directly with the trialing and selection work he was doing. “When we were just growing crops for other seed companies, the value of the selection wouldn’t get transmitted to the customer,” he explains. “You put in a lot of work to do a really good job selecting something and then you get less money from the seed company because you were more selective about what plants you saved seeds from.”

He also wanted to have a project that would help bring needed energy and change to the state of Southeast seed systems. “We saw a big unmet need in the Southeast where a lot of organic growers who want organic seeds are purchasing mostly from Northeast seed companies. A lot of the seeds out there aren’t really addressing our needs in the Southeast. Downy Mildew for instance, has been less of a concern in the Northeast, although now it’s becoming more of a concern.” (see related blog, Of Mildews and Men by OFRF Board President Jeremy Barker-Plotkin of Simple Gifts Farm).

“As a seed grower and plant breeder, I focus on the power of varietal choice and varietal development to address disease and pest problems. That’s part of the research I’m doing this year funded by OFRF.”

Common Wealth Seed Growers sells directly to farmers online and at farm conferences. “We’re starting to meet some bigger farmers now and see interest from larger seed distributors. We have a few unique varieties that stand out for Downy Mildew resistance, and people are interested in those. I think that’s the direction we’re headed in, not being a one-stop-shop for seeds but a supplier of a handful of good disease resistant varieties.”

“If I develop a variety that has really good disease resistance, it’s going to result in farmers spraying a lot less herbicides and it will be a lot healthier for the farmers, farmworkers, land and waterways, as well as the people eating the food. Food should be something that increases our health not diminishes it. I think it’s essential that we find ways of farming that are good for the land and good for our health.”

By |2020-03-26T18:57:30+00:00August 28th, 2018|Farmer Stories, News|
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OFRF Funded Researchers Aim to Boost Organic Grain Production in Upper Peninsula

August 7, 2018 – In 2017, OFRF awarded a grant to researchers at Michigan State University to examine organic grain productivity in support of the organic livestock industry in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Organic grain production is virtually non-existent in the area and sourcing outside of the region is quite costly. The goal of this project is to increase knowledge of grain performance in an organic system, leading to the expansion of certified organic grain production and entry into the growing market for natural or organically produced meat.

Results will inform organic farmers of the opportunities and challenges within grain production and identify optimum crops, varieties, and management strategies to improve successful cultivation. The team believes they will see an increase in farmers experimenting with organic grain and that continued research will support these efforts. Ultimately, they hope the project will spur additional acreage of organic small grain in the U.P. to fill the need.

The researchers have developed a framework of research and knowledge of organic grain systems  through variety and crop management research, identification of need and marketing opportunities, and dissemination of findings through field days and outreach materials.

Although they were able to determine which varieties did not perform well, further investigation is needed with additional varieties. The framework they were able to develop as a result of OFRF’s seed grant will be leveraged to obtain additional funding to continue this important research.

By |2020-01-08T18:14:33+00:00August 7th, 2018|News|
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