January | February 2018

Organic hydroponics not yet on solid ground

Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service

Unique FarmingPartnership

9

Market Farming Podcast

5

Deep WinterGreenhouses

10

RethinkingCSA

7

By Audrey Alwell

University of Illinois introduces new wheat suited for organic productionBy Phyllis Coulter

To Hydroponics on page 6

Volume 26 | Number 1

At the fall meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the board narrowly voted down a proposal to prohibit hydroponic systems in organic production—a move that made national headlines as the “downfall” of the National Organic Program. Dramatic headlines aside, the 8-7 vote did not give a clear stamp of approval to organic hydroponics.

“There was not a decisive vote either way,” said Harriet Behar, who is now vice chair of the NOSB, and one of the seven who voted in favor of prohibiting hydroponics. The board’s rules require a “decisive vote,” which means 10-5. “We haven’t given hydroponics the ‘thumbs up’ or changed the status quo,” Behar said.

Hydroponics have been allowed under the current regulation. Certifiers could certify oper-ations as long as the operations use approved inputs for fertility and pest management. This vote allows that to continue. Eight board mem-bers voted “no” against prohibiting hydroponics, while seven voted “yes” to prohibit.

CCOF is one of the USDA-accredited certi-fiers that encouraged the NOSB not to prohibit hydroponic production. The agency has been certifying over 130 container-based operations, which range from water-based systems to sub-strate container systems.

“Certified organic hydroponic producers, like all organic producers, must use organically approved materials, protect natural resources,

A new, taller wheat variety designed for hardiness and for the organic market has been certified, and was introduced to the public last September during an event celebrating farm-to-fork research at the University of Illinois.

The Erisman soft red winter wheat variety is named after Jack Erisman, an Illinois organic leader, who has been growing high-quality, food-grade corn and other organic crops in Pana in central Illinois since 1990.

The variety was developed by Frederic Kolb, a University of Illinois plant breeder and crop scientist, along with a team including research scien-tist Allison Krill.

“The development of a variety takes a long time. Erisman took 10 years, which is typical,” Kolb said.

Developers said they hope to have it commercially available for planting in 2018.

Development of Erisman wheat started in 2007. It is part of an ongoing wheat and oats breeding program at the university, which is focused on developing taller lines that compete well with cover crops to ease in harvest and to decrease diseases including fusarium head blight. And, of course, increase yield.

The new variety was evaluated at four Illinois locations in 2012-2015.

By 2016, Harold Wilken was growing the seed grain on his organic farm in Steward in

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and foster biodiversity,” explained Kelly Damewood, CCOF policy director. “I understand the call to reserve the organic label strictly for in-ground systems, but CCOF sees room for innovative, new types of systems when it allows the producer to adapt to their unique site-specific conditions and so long as the producer complies with the standards.”

In its comment to the NOSB prior to the fall meeting, CCOF took the position that hydro-ponic systems are not inherently better or worse than in-ground systems, pointing out that “a range of factors contribute to the sustainability, quality, and viability of any organic operation.” The agency addressed concerns brought up by the NOSB Crops Subcommittee about hydro-ponic operations being less sustainable or resil-ient than in-ground systems. CCOF noted that container systems helped many growers survive California’s six-year drought.

The agency’s comment also countered the claim that hydroponic operations use a lot of energy, explaining that some hydroponic grow-ers use renewable energy. CCOF encouraged the NOSB to develop standards that “push all pro-ducers” toward using renewable energy, adding that all producers and handlers should “account for impacts to natural resources through their energy usage.”

“This is a complicated issue, and CCOF

northern Illinois. He grew 80 acres this fall, both for testing in mills and baking, and for seed.

Kolb has been working on varieties that resist fusarium head blight since 1993. The U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative helped with funding to control the blight, which is caused by a fungus. It reduces yield and test weight and produces toxins that can be detrimental to live-stock and humans, Kolb said. Beer brewed with barley containing fusarium has been known

to gush right out of the bottle, he added.

This variety also is meant to be resistant to stripe rust, which was a problem for Illinois growers two years ago. It is designed to have a good test weight to benefit growers and have a short enough season that it could be double cropped with soybeans, for example, to make it profitable.

“It is always a challenge juggling all these traits,” Kolb said. In addi-tion, the wheat must be evaluated for baking quality and tested with chefs, so both agronomic and milling traits are important.

As far as yield goes, Wilken estimates that the organic wheat has been running about 60 bu./acre on his farm.

Riggs Beer Company in Urbana is also growing the new variety. Darin Riggs, brewery vice president, said

the wheat fields give both atmosphere outside the eastern Illinois brewery as well as product that will be used for brewing in the 2018 season. About three acres of Erisman wheat was har-vested June 28 at the brewery, yielding about 70 bu./acre.

“It’s a great variety for malting,” Riggs added.

This is an edited version of a news story published in Illinois Farmer Today. Reprinted with the permission of the reporter.

TM

The new Erisman soft red winter wheat growing at Harold Wilken’s farm in Illinois is taller than other varieties to compete with cover crops planted between rows. Photo by Harold Wilken

Volume 26, #1 January | February 2018

Executive Director John Mesko

Editor Audrey Alwell

Advertising Coordinator Tom Manley

The Organic BroadcasterTM is a bimonthly newspaper published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), a nonprofit that provides education, resources and practical advice to farmers.

Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Inclusion of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of a product. We reserve the right to refuse inappropriate advertising.

© 2018 MOSES

Content may be reprinted with permission. Contact Audrey@mosesorganic.org.

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Please support our programs and this FREE publication with a donation:

MOSES, P.O. Box 339, Spring Valley, WI 54767 Online: mosesorganic.org/donate

MOSES educates, inspires, and empowers farmers to thrive in a

sustainable, organic system of agriculture.

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We all know the business of farming involves more than farmers. While farmers make up a little less than 2 percent of the working popula-tion in the U.S., over 11 percent of all workers in the nation work in agriculture and food-related sectors of our economy. Overall, agriculture, food, and related industries contributed almost $1 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2015.

In addition to farmers, these numbers include everyone who handles farm products after they leave the farm all the way through the food production process until food ends up on a gro-cery store shelf.

But there are others who work closely with farmers to help bring about the highly produc-tive food system we enjoy in the U.S.—the commercial businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and independent non-profit organizations that make up the agricul-ture support network.

Commercial BusinessesCommercial businesses are critically

important to modern agriculture. They supply everything from equipment to clothing, seeds, and loans for farmers. In a market economy, they offer their goods and services to farmers at a price determined by the market. They manage their businesses with an eye toward profitabil-ity, rewarding employees and shareholders. In theory, the more they sell, and the more reliable they are as a support network, the more success-ful they will be.

Some aspects of support in the agriculture community are best supplied by the market in response to supply and demand of capital, goods, and services. Commercial businesses are uniquely set up to best supply this kind of sup-port, and we need them.

Government EntitiesGovernment entities are called on to repre-

sent the greater good desired by the American people. These agencies work to ensure the

MOSES Staff:

John Mesko, Executive Director | john@mosesorganic.org

Audrey Alwell, Communications Director | audrey@mosesorganic.org

Sarah Broadfoot, Data & Registration Coor. | sarahb@mosesorganic.org

Lisa Kivirist, In Her Boots Coordinator | lisa@mosesorganic.org

Lauren Langworthy, Program Director | lauren@mosesorganic.org

Matt Leavitt, Organic Specialist | matt@mosesorganic.org

Tom Manley, Account Service Coordinator | thomas@mosesorganic.org

Jennifer Nelson, Organic Specialist | jennifer@mosesorganic.org

Cathy Olyphant, Donation Coordinator | cathy@mosesorganic.org

Bailey Webster, Events Coordinator | bailey@mosesorganic.org

Board of Directors:David Abazs | Round River Farm, Minn.

Mike Bollinger | River Root Farm, Iowa

Sylvia Burgos Toftness | Bull Brook Keep, Wis.

Dave Campbell | Lily Lake Organic Farm, Ill.

Dela Ends, Secretary | Scotch Hill Farm, Wis.

Charlie Johnson | Johnson Farms, SD

David Perkins, Treasurer Vermont Valley Farm, Wis.

Molly Rockamann | EarthDance, Mo.

Sara Tedeschi | Dog Hollow Farm, Wis.

Darin Von Ruden, Vice PresidentVon Ruden Family Farm, Wis.

Carla Wright, PresidentSavanna Hill Farm, Wis.

country has things like safe, available food, and clean water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plays an important role in supporting agri-culture by providing resources to farmers in support of conservation efforts, collecting and distributing production and price data to the market for use in moving product through the food system, regulating food handlers to protect consumers and many other important roles. State departments of agriculture fit in here, as do county-based soil and water conservation districts. All of these taxpayer-supported enti-ties are in place to ultimately create a produc-tive environment for agriculture, both here and abroad.

Educational InstitutionsLand Grant colleges provide research and

education in science and agriculture in every state. They also provide Cooperative Extension education services directly to farmers and rural communities. These taxpayer-supported institu-tions produce scores of new agriculture work-ers every year with some graduates entering farming directly, while many others work for commercial businesses, government agencies, the educational institutions themselves, or even our next category of support workers.

Nonprofit OrganizationsNonprofits have a long history in agricul-

ture. These groups focus largely on community building, education, and advocacy. Most com-modity groups are 501c(3) nonprofit organiza-tions. Obviously, they advocate for producers of their specific commodity. These groups are often supported by mandated checkoff dollars farmers are required to pay.

Other nonprofits, like MOSES, educate and advocate primarily on behalf of a specific segment of agriculture, such as organic agricul-ture, or the environment, animals, or natural resources. Some of these groups have broad

w w w. s o i l w o r ks l l c . c o m - (605)-260-0784

N U T R I T I O N t o m a k e y o u r

S O I L WO R K

By John Mesko, MOSES

Many groups contribute to success of agriculture

To Executive Director’s Column on page 8

| 3mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775

By Kiki Hubbard, Organic Seed Alliance

Changes in the works to strengthen National Organic Program’s organic seed policy

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Crops Subcommittee currently is tweak-ing its organic seed policy proposal introduced at the fall NOSB meeting in preparation for the board’s spring meeting. The proposal aims to do two things: 1) update the organic seed regulation, and 2) strengthen the National Organic Program’s (NOP) organic seed policy guidance document for certifiers.

The proposal recommends a requirement that farmers demonstrate annual improvements in organic seed sourcing until they reach full compliance. The recommendation allows certifiers flexibility in working with operations to meet this goal and in measuring improvement. The proposal also provides detailed recommendations for improving the NOP’s 2013 guidance document on organic seed and planting stock (NOP 5029), a crucial resource for certifiers who are charged with interpreting and enforcing the organic seed rule. If passed by the NOSB and implemented by the NOP, these changes would result in clearer guidance and more consistent enforcement of the organic seed requirement.

Current organic regulations require organic farmers to use organic seed when commercially available. Because the organic seed supply was insufficient when the rules were implemented, farmers have been allowed to plant conventional, untreated, and non-GMO seed when organic seed is unavailable. This exemption was meant to provide a transition time for the organic seed supply to catch up to demand.

Over the last 15 years, we’ve made much progress in increasing the quantity, diversity, and quality of organic seed available. Though the exemption is still needed given supply gaps, it is more important than ever that organic operations continuously improve their use of organic seed. The benefits of doing so go well beyond meeting a regulatory requirement.

Organic Seed Matters Organic plant breeders and seed producers

are working for organic farmers by focusing on characteristics that are especially important to low-input systems, such as quick emergence, weed competitiveness, nutrient-use efficiency, disease

INSIDE ORGANICS

Editorials by members of the organic community

To Inside Organics on page 8

resistance, and more. Too much of our seed is currently bred and produced under conventional, agrochemical conditions, and with breeding goals that often don’t benefit organic farmers. The organic community has an opportunity to create a path for organic seed that’s distinct from the dominant seed industry controlled by agrochemi-cal interests.

organic seed when appropriate, to communicate ongoing supply gaps and challenges to the organic seed community, and to advocate for collaborative solutions to meet these needs.

It is no one’s intent to advocate for actions or policies that force organic farmers to use organic seed that isn’t a good fit for their production systems and markets. Yet the allowance to use non-organic seed has also proven a challenge to growing the diversity and quality of organic seed available. This modest proposal recommends that organic operators who don’t make an effort to source more organic seed over the years be encouraged to take extra measures to demon-strate improvement. This is a practical proposal that signals to the broader organic community that organic seed is important to organic integ-rity, and that further investments in organic seed will have a positive ripple effect that leads to more high-quality seed options that are well-suited to organic systems.

GMO Contamination in Seed The NOSB is also working to address genetic

integrity issues in organic and other forms of non-GE seed. The unwanted presence of genetically engineered (GE) material in seed used by organic growers remains an unfair burden on the organic sector. Organic crop producers, seed producers, and seed companies are responding to the chal-lenges GE contamination poses through routine testing, prevention strategies, and by redirecting contaminated seed to less valuable conventional markets. These practices result in burdens that go beyond the cost of testing and monitoring the problem, resulting in risks to reputations and breeding projects.

To date, the NOSB Materials/GMO Subcommittee has published three discussion documents and one report on the topic of seed integrity and is currently working on a proposal in advance of 2018 meetings. At the November 2017 meeting, the NOSB invited additional comments in response to these documents. See the documents online at www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/nosb/subcommittees/materials-gmo-proposals.

We all have a role to play in creating this path. As mentioned, increasing the availability of organic seed isn’t just important for helping organic farm-ers meet a regulatory requirement—the benefits are potentially far-reaching. Seed holds endless potential for transforming our food system, espe-cially when coupled with the principles that built the organic movement—diversity, health, ecology, and fairness. We can breed and grow more organic seed that is adapted to organic farming systems and regional climates, and that contains traits important in the field and on our plates. This path is shaped by our individual decisions to choose

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“I have land that has been managed organically for more than three years. Do I still need to wait 36 months to transition it to organic?”

Answer by Lauren Langworthy

Farmers who have been utilizing organic practices for years, but have not been certified, might not have to wait a full 36 months between when they decide to transition to organic and when they can harvest their first organic crop. This is commonly referred to as “fast tracking” land.

It is important to understand that land being fast tracked must comply with all the same rules as any other transitioning land. The land must have been free of prohibited substances and managed in accordance with the National Organic Program (NOP) for 36 months or more.

Farmers who think their land is immediately eligible will need to prove the land’s eligibility to a certifier. The operator (or previous operator) can sign a declaration explaining the land’s use during the previous 36 months, showing that no prohibited substances have been used. The most important fact to include in this declaration is the date when the last prohibited substance was used. Often, this will be the date that a field was last sprayed with an herbicide, pesticide, or synthetic fertilizer.

A common example of “fast tracked” land is grassland expiring from the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to transition into organic pasture land. Because the landowner can provide documentation of how long that land has been under a CRP contract and any waivers for managing undesirable species (through mowing or spot spraying), they can clearly demonstrate

MOSES Organic Specialists answer your questions about organic production and certification.

CALL: Organic Answer Line 888-551-4769 or 715-778-5775

SUBMIT: Click “Ask a Specialist” button at mosesorganic.org/ask.

READ: Browse answers to questions at mosesorganic.org/ask.

DOWNLOAD: Organic Fact Sheets at mosesorganic.org/publications/ organic-fact-sheets.

how long the land has been free of prohibited substances. The landowner can write a short explanation of the land’s previous use, include support documentation (such as an NRCS con-tract, waivers, or a receipt from a custom appli-cator), and submit this all to the organic certifier. Many organic certifiers have forms that can be used to complete this process.

The certifier will then do the necessary due diligence to verify that the land has been free of prohibited substances. The certifier may contact farmers or landowners for additional informa-tion. Once the certifier is satisfied, the certifica-tion agency can help the farmer move forward through the certification process.

Often, farmers have fallow land, hay ground, pasture, small-scale vegetables, or other low-maintenance fields that they manage without the use of prohibited substances. These are all likely candidates for fast tracking. However, it is important to make sure that the land’s his-tory does, indeed, qualify for organic transition. Some farmers believe that they are following the National Organic Program (NOP) rules, but without inspections and a certifier checking in, it is possible they’ve been applying a prohibited substance to their land without knowing it’s prohibited.

If you have questions about whether or not your land might be eligible for certification, you can start by reading MOSES’ Guidebook for Organic Certification to better understand organic production rules. You can also contact the MOSES Organic Specialists at 715-778-5775 with your questions, or contact a certifier about a particular substance that has been applied to your field.

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Farmer to Farmer Podcast brings market farmers closer togetherBy Dana Jokela

Back in 2014, Chris Blanchard had closed down his organic vegetable farm after 15 years, and was in a long-distance relationship with his future wife, Angie Sullivan (who worked for MOSES at that time). During their frequent four-hour drives to visit one another, they both began listening to podcasts. On one particular drive northward—this time driving together from Chris’s farm near Decorah, Iowa to the vegetable farm Gardens of Eagan in Northfield, Minn.—Angie turned to him and said, “Chris, you should make a podcast! I think you would be really good at this.”

Chris’s initial modest skepticism of the idea faded after Angie asked fellow farmer Jennifer Nelson whether she would listen to a farming podcast hosted by Chris. “Oh, yeah, definitely. I would listen to that!” she replied. That evening, Angie and Chris hunkered down at the nearby Froggy Bottoms River Pub and sketched out what that podcast would look like. The Farmer to Farmer Podcast was born.

The first podcast episode went online in February 2015 during that year’s MOSES Organic Farming Conference. With Chris having no background in interviewing, audio recording, or podcast production, the Farmer to Farmer Podcast admittedly had amateur beginnings. Chris recalls needing to re-record some early interviews due to unacceptably poor sound quality, and making last-minute changes to the podcast’s intro and outro at 4 a.m. in a La Crosse hotel room, just hours before the podcast was scheduled to be launched. Chris recorded take-after-take of the podcast’s now-well-recognized welcoming words: “It’s the Farmer to Farmer Podcast, Episode 1, and I’m your host, Chris Blanchard.”

Three years and 150 episodes later, the podcast has matured and gained tremendous popularity among market farmers. For readers not familiar with the podcast, its website describes it as a weekly podcast in which Chris has “down-to-earth conversations with experienced farmers, and the occasional non-farmer … to get at the big ideas and practical details that go into making a farm work. [It] provides a fresh and honest look

at everything from soil fertility and record-keeping to getting your crops to market without making yourself crazy.” As a farmer and regular listener of the podcast, I can attest that it does all of that and more.

I’m not alone in that view.

“Every Thursday morning, I excitedly refresh my podcast player to see who Chris will be interviewing.

It doesn’t matter who the farmer is or whether I’ve ever heard of them, I know I’m going to learn something from the interview,” said Daniel Brisebois of Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm in Quebec. “Occasionally an episode will flip all my assumptions and give me a whole new perspective on an aspect of running a farm. I’ve always read every book I can find on farming, and subscribed to a number of magazines to get new farming ideas, but the Farmer to Farmer Podcast has become my number one source for inspiration and discovery.”

This sentiment is shared by Mike Racette of Spring Hill Community Farm in Prairie Farm, Wis. “I have listened to nearly every one of the Farmer to Farmer Podcasts, and without fail, I learn something every time. Chris’s unique gift is to bring forth every guest’s story. He knows how to get people to talk about themselves, and get out of the way—there are very few who can do this, and Chris is among the best. While the

particulars of the growing and marketing of veg-etables is valuable and interesting, it is the unique story of each guest that touches upon our common joys and struggles as small-scale growers. That is what keeps me tuning in each week.”

Chris has been similarly impacted by ideas and insights brought by his guests. Sometimes guests present farming philosophies that upend defining characteristics of his approach to farm-ing in the past. He recalled being stunned to hear Jean-Martin Fortier, pioneer of the bio-intensive micro-farming movement, state, “We work on our farm from 8 to 5.” Chris admitted never truly attaining balance between work and family life during his farming career, saying “because I defined myself by my work, I was very willing to bury myself in my work.” This mindset, for better or for worse, is shared by many farmers.

Having transitioned his career to focus on consulting, education, and podcast production, Chris is grateful for the role he has been able to take after the launch of the podcast. “I feel really lucky to have something like the podcast at this point in my farming career, to be able to use the experiences that I’ve had in my life, and to lever-age those into something that’s not just about [me],” Chris said. “I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to engage at a deeper level with the organic farming community.”

As a vegetable farmer, I’d like to speak for farmer-listeners and reciprocate this gratitude. Ideas and advice from podcast guests have provided great inspiration to many listeners. Through the podcast, Chris has created a conduit for ideas and made our community of widely dis-persed market farmers a little tighter-knit. In the words of Katie Bishop of PrairiErth Farm—the 2017 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year—the podcast is “like getting invited to grab a beer with a handful of really good farmers, and just getting to listen in on their conversations.”

Find the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or online at www.FarmerToFarmerPodcast.com.

Dana Jokela owns and operates Sogn Valley Farm, a 22-acre certified organic farm near Cannon Falls, Minn.

Chris Blanchard will share insights gleaned from the Farmer to Farmer Podcast about how to balance farm work with other aspects of life when he gives the keynote address Saturday, Feb. 24 at the 2018 MOSES Conference.

Photo by Bob Blanchard Photography

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has put much thought and time into devel-oping our position,” Damewood said. The agency’s 12-page comment is online at bit.ly/CCOF_HydroponicsComments.

Damewood suggested another approach that the NOSB could take rather than trying to pro-hibit hydroponics: labeling.

“Continuing to allow hydroponic systems, but requiring a hydroponic labeling statement would provide transparency to consumers while main-taining the viability of organic producers of all backgrounds and growing regions in the U.S.,” she said.

Several NOSB members mentioned a desire for a labeling compromise before voting on this issue at the fall meeting.

MOSA Certified Organic, another USDA-accredited certification agency, certifies a “small number” of hydroponic operations. Kristen Adams, the agency’s certification team leader, said MOSA was “pleased that these innovative systems were not prohibited from organic certification.” Adams called the NOSB’s vote “adequate for now,” adding that many questions remain for certifiers.

“How do we evaluate the use of inputs (nitro-gen and fertility inputs) in both hydroponic and land producers, size/scale of all producers, and the use of lights and indoor growing environ-ments?” Adams asked. “We are hoping for contin-ued guidance about on-farm recycling and other sustainability issues in the future.”

That’s exactly what the NOSB Crops Subcommittee is working on for the board’s spring meeting. When the board reconvenes April 25-27 in Tucson, it won’t re-examine a ban on hydroponics and aquaponics (which also was allowed to continue under organic regulation by an 8-7 vote). Rather, NOSB Vice Chair Behar explained, it will review the Crops Subcommittee’s yet-to-be-written proposal on field and greenhouse container production. This proposal will clarify guidelines for materials used in both hydroponic and soil-based container production, Behar said.

“This is a unique form of farming,” she added. “Their methods have not really been fully reviewed. We’re continuing to do that.”

The proposal will address use of artificial

light in terms of duration, type, color, and inten-sity; use of synthetic mulches, including plastic and woven fabric landscape cloth; and, disposal/recycling of crops, pots, and substrate materials at the end of the crop’s production cycle.

The public comment period prior to the NOSB’s spring meeting should open mid-March. The proposal on field and greenhouse container production will be posted on the NOSB meeting page at www.ams.usda.gov/event/national-organic-standards-board-nosb-meeting-tucson-az.

The subcommittee presented the discussion document on these topics at the NOSB’s fall meet-ing. (ww.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/CSFieldandGreenhouseContainersNOPFall2017.pdf.) The next step is writing the proposal and allowing public input before and during the NOSB’s spring meeting.

The USDA-AMS still has not posted tran-scripts of the NOSB’s fall meeting. These should be posted at www.ams.usda.gov/event/2017-national-organic-standards-board-nosb-meeting.

Audrey Alwell is the communications director for MOSES.

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To CSA Struggles on page 12

By Katie M. Bishop

CSA farmer struggles to find ways to boost members’ interest, participation

I’m sitting down to write with echoes of our 2017 CSA season still in my head.

“It’s too much food.” “It’s not enough food to feed a family my size.” “I’m the only one that eats vegetables in my house.” “We’re just over it - donate the rest.” “I’m throwing too much of it away.” “I wanted more greens.” “I wanted less greens.” “I always forgot to pick up.” “We got collards in our Blue Apron box so we finally knew what to do with yours.”

In addition to wholesale accounts and two farmers markets, PrairiErth Farm grows 15 acres of organic vegetables for CSA programs. For the past 7 years, we’ve had a traditional 24-week CSA running from mid-May through October, a winter CSA from November through December, and a Roots Box CSA with bi-weekly pick-ups in January and February. We pride ourselves on being the only CSA program in our region that can feed our community 36 weeks out of the year.

This past year, in response to what I feared was going to be a monumental decline of CSA sign-ups, a decrease in farmers market sales, and general disinterest in legitimate local and organic food, I got real with my CSA program. It’s not fitting people’s needs anymore.

I asked myself some important questions: What do my customers need? Who are my cus-tomers seven years later? How can we make this work for them yet stay profitable? How can we stay competitive without compromising quality or our ethics?

I sent my members a survey and brain-stormed with some of the more seasoned, loyal ones. I scoured the internet in search of answers. I watched Simon Huntley’s webinars (Small Farm Central), and read his blog posts repeatedly. I went to CSA-centric workshops and lectures. I solicited members for a “core group” but received no interest. What could I do to keep my CSA alive? I was exhausted before the season had even started.

Two new grocery stores had opened in our town, with promises of fresh, organic, “local” produce. Their doors opened the same month as

our farmers markets started back up and our CSA pick-ups began. Plus, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and whatever other home delivery options were sprout-ing up faster than I could count. In addi-tion, our community in central Illinois is rumored to have the most restaurants per capita than any other place in the country. Dining out has replaced cooking as a hobby.

With the survey results in mind, as well as what I had learned from my research, and the pressure I was feeling from the perceived competi-tion, I decided my CSA program needed a handful of tweaks to stay relevant.

First, my members needed more flexibility. Of course, more flexibility for them usually means more work for us, but I knew they needed alterna-tive pick-up arrangements when they were run-ning late or going out of town. We worked with a locally owned grocery store to allow us to drop off boxed-up shares for those who missed their pick-up. Also, the survey results reflected many members were interested in home delivery. We created a delivery schedule that coincided with our existing wholesale delivery route, charged a $5 delivery fee and offered it to our members. Only a handful signed up.

Next, common feedback from members indi-cated that they didn’t know what to do with all the vegetables they received in their shares. I had already been sending weekly newsletters with recipes and preservation tips, and years ago I had written a cookbook organized by vegetable, specifically for my CSA members, and offered it at a significant discount. In response to their latest

feedback, however, I thought I could do more.I created a YouTube playlist of “Katie-curated”

videos relevant to the items in their shares each week because I knew they weren’t taking the time to read the newsletters. I frequently posted recipes in our private CSA Facebook group and solicited contributions from members. I hosted a food preservation class, exclusive to members, but only 14 out of 175 attended. I made a snazzy infographic on how to store all the produce they’d be receiving. Yet they were still throwing produce away, not sure what to do with it, or not inspired enough to use it.

Third, they wanted the option to order more food to fit their family size. That was an easy fix. We updated our online store each week, allowed them to special order extra veggies, sometimes at a discounted rate, and we’d bring them to the CSA pick-up. We also made arrangements with local organic farmers and food producers to come to our pick-up and offer honey, chicken and duck eggs, beef, pork, lamb, turkeys, goat cheese and

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8 | January | February 2018

Inside Organics — from page 3

Some questions that remain unanswered: • What are the best sampling procedures and

testing methods? • Who bears the brunt of testing costs and the

consequences of rejected seed? • What, if any, threshold is appropriate and

feasible for unwanted GE material in organic and other non-GE forms of seed?

• Who should pay for the costs associated with contamination when it is identified?

Plant Breeding Excluded MethodsThe Materials/GMO Subcommittee is tackling

a seond complex seed issue: excluded methods as they pertain to plant breeding. Crop improvement methods—such as controversial gene editing tech-niques—continue to evolve rapidly and are out-pacing current regulations that oversee new forms of agricultural biotechnology. Understanding and addressing new breeding techniques that may or may not align with organic principles are

important challenges the organic community must confront.

In 2016, the NOSB passed a proposal that includes principles and criteria for evaluating the appropriateness of new methods for organic production systems. The proposal also includes definitions that clarify the broader excluded meth-ods definition, describing terms like “traditional breeding” and “genetically modified organism.” The proposal has a terminology chart for easily referencing which methods are excluded, which are allowed, and which are yet to be determined. Collectively these various pieces serve as a frame-work for reviewing new and existing methods to establish if they should be excluded.

At the November 2017 meeting, the NOSB voted to exclude three more methods—agroinfil-tration, cisgenesis, and intragenesis—and also charged the Materials/GMO Subcommittee to develop clear definitions for these and other meth-ods listed in the terminology chart. The organic

community will likely have the opportunity to review and comment on these definitions ahead of the April 2018 meeting.

Next StepsOrganic seed policy issues are complex, to be

sure, and the NOSB is striving to honor this com-plexity by providing practical recommendations that balance reality on the ground with regula-tory requirements. The next NOSB meeting is scheduled to take place April 25 – 27, 2018, in Tucson, Arizona.

Stay abreast of organic seed policy comment opportunities by following Organic Seed Alliance on social media (Facebook and Twitter) or by signing up for our quarterly enews at seedalli-ance.org. Or contact me directly with questions or ideas at kristina@seedalliance.org.

Kristina (Kiki) Hubbard is the director of advocacy and communications for the Organic Seed Alliance.

appeal and are able to garner resources from a large membership base.

Groups like this are generally not national groups, they focus on a state or a region for the most part. If they have members, they are likely mostly farmers or passionate supporters who understand the importance of farming in ways that improve the environment, farm profitability and rural communities.

When they aren’t membership-based, nonprof-its rely a great deal on the resources available to them through direct donations from constituents. Often the people these nonprofits serve are those least likely to have the resources available to make large donations in support of the overall mission.

Shifting SandsIn the past 20-30 years, we’ve seen a meld-

ing of these various categories of support organizations, leaving nonprofits as the last bastion of support from the people, for the people. As resources for research and education have become limited, for-profit businesses in agriculture, especially the largest groups often referred to as “Big Ag,” are growing in their influence on the land grant system. For years, land grants have prided themselves on being the lone provider of “unbiased, research-based” information to agriculture. With large agricul-ture corporations now routinely funding research at land grant universities, this claim is at best questionable.

Government entities have also become increasingly influenced by corporate agriculture,

particularly at the highest levels. The cycle of high level leaders from Monsanto taking leader-ship roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and then back to Monsanto in the 1990s is well documented. While business experience is certainly useful for working in government, our American sensibilities assume those working in government work for all the people, an assumption which can no longer be safely made.

Nonprofit organizations, by definition, belong to the citizens they serve. With oversight by a board of directors from that audience, nonprofits are truly the lone entities in the agriculture support network which are still connected to the individual. Nonprofit organizations adhere to a strict code of conduct and transparency which is essential to ensure the fair and honest use of tax-deductible donations.

At MOSES, we value greatly the individual donations we receive from our community, both in terms of what those dollars allow us to do to support farmers, and, equally as important, what those dollars represent in terms of com-munity engagement and support. Just like most other nonprofits, MOSES accepts sponsorships for our events from commercial businesses. We also apply for and accept grants from govern-ment agencies like the USDA to fund our work. We will continue to pursue these sources of revenue, as they greatly enhance our ability to support organic farmers and farming practices.

However, in order to strengthen the voice of independence, nonprofits like MOSES need indi-viduals’ financial support, both as a source

of revenue to carry out our mission, but also so we can stand independent of commercial busi-nesses, government entities and educational institutions to carry out our missions.

Roles to Play in AgricultureOur agriculture industry needs all manner

of support organizations. For-profit commercial businesses have the wherewithal to develop and provide key solutions in agriculture, many of which require an entity to take on significant financial risk in order to develop these solutions. Government agencies have a role in protect-ing and encouraging good use of our country’s natural resources. Research and education are keys to forward progress. Land grant institu-tions, even when supported significantly by the commercial sector, play a significant role in this aspect of agriculture.

But nonprofit organizations are the key grass-roots entities that can most clearly represent specific, often tightly held, passionate beliefs and positions about important areas of life, such as food and agriculture production models. We need strong nonprofits working with educational insti-tutions, commercial businesses, and government agencies to help craft the way forward.

I encourage you to identify and get behind a nonprofit organization that directly supports farmers, especially those who farm in ways that are consistent with your values.

John Mesko is the executive director of MOSES. He has worked in many aspects of agriculture, spending the past decade in the nonprofit sector.

His keynote Friday, Feb. 23 at MOSES 2018, “The Organic Movement:Shaping the Future of Farming,” will explore the movement’s influence and how it sets the stage for a bright future for farming.

Executive Director’s Column— from page 2

Tips, resources, and answers to your

farming questions:mosesorganic.orgOrganic Answer Line:

715-778-5775Riverbend Farm, Delano, Minn.

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Riverbend Farm, Delano, Minn.

To Farmers’ Partnership on page 17

Longtime farmer hires young couple as employees with eye to successionBy Jody Padgham

Paul Bickford has come to terms with the fact that farming involves risks. Sometimes big risks.

Bickford, of Bickford Organics in Ridgeway, Wis., took a big risk with his dad in installing a high-tech milk-ing parlor for 300 cows in the 1970s. Another when converting to intensively grazed pasture for 750 cows in the 1990s. And, again when converting to organic row crops after problems with stray voltage in 2011.

“I’m not afraid of change,” Bickford noted in a recent discussion. He pointed out that often change is forced by eco-nomics or external factors. “If you’re not making it with what you’ve got, you have the option of going broke for sure, or trying something new,” he said. He’s OK with the risk and work of trying something new. Not every farmer is.

Soon turning 65 years old, Bickford is in the beginning stages of another big change: partnership with a young couple, John and Halee Wepking, who may even-tually become owners in his 950-acre operation.

“I’m of the age where I want to slow down, work towards getting out,” Bickford explained. But, he also emphasized his eagerness to pass on what he knows to someone who would value it. “I learned from the school of hard knocks, made plenty of mistakes. I’m not sure that what I know will be useful in the next life.”

Farm transition is a complex undertaking, particularly for owners without an obvious heir who is up to the task. Millions of hours and dol-lars go into building and maintaining a successful farm operation. Bickford decided he’d approach transition by first finding the right person to step into the business as an employee, and see where things could go. He scouted around a little in the organic community, but found what he needed through a simple ad posted online on Craigslist.

Here’s the base of what he posted:“I am seeking a forward-thinking individual or

couple to join my 950-acre organic farming opera-tion to assist in all facets of growing feed crops and to assist in marketing of corn, soybeans, small grains and hay….

Ethics and trust are a cornerstone of organic farming and are important to my operation. I want to share my 40 years of farm experience with someone who is willing to work to improve my farm. This position could evolve into a partnership or other long-range business association.”

Several people contacted Bickford in response to his ad. Many had no farming experience, several weren’t a fit for the farm’s scale. Plenty

offered idealism rather than on-the-ground knowledge. And some just didn’t have the right attitude. “You can teach about equipment and production, but you can’t teach nice,” Bickford claimed. “Farming is a very tough, risky business. You have to work harder than anyone else in your class, and be really smart. Only the best employee on a farm will be offered the opportunity to invest.”

Not long after the ad was posted, John and Halee Wepking saw it and applied. The couple was living in a newly purchased home an hour west in Lancaster, Wis., where they were operat-ing a farm-to-table breakfast and lunch cafe, as well as working on John’s family’s 200-acre farm, expecting their first child, and exploring their dreams of working in agriculture.

The Wepkings’ path to agriculture was not direct. John spent his early childhood years on or around the Lancaster farm; Halee grew up in northern Arizona. They met while in New York City, where each had migrated to jobs in the restaurant and baking industry, after advanced college backgrounds that prepared them for other roles. They came back to Lancaster because John “couldn’t see working in a cubicle” the rest of his life. Their experience in the food industry was leading them back to agriculture.

Bickford and the Wepkings started discussions about what was needed for the partnership to succeed. Bickford admired John’s early farm expe-rience, knowledge of computers, his organizational sense, and his positive attitude.

The Wepkings were at first a little cowed

by the scale of Bickford’s operation. Moving from 200 acres of beef to 900+ acres of row crops was intimidating. John was a little shaky about his mechanical skills. They’d just bought a house, and were hoping to stay amidst family, even if working on the home operation was a continual challenge due to extended family dynamics.

But, the young couple brought a diverse set of skills, and an enthusi-asm for the entrepreneurism Bickford felt was needed to move the farm to the next level. John was soon hired and the learning began.

Bickford has always invested back into the operation, and his multi-mil-lion-dollar farm was highly leveraged when Wepking came on as an employee in 2014. The Wepkings had no equity to bring to the operation. But, John brought great ideas, good connections in the restaurant and baking indus-

tries, and an entrepreneurial spirit. The team sees their ideas and partnership as

a mechanism to build equity and develop a viable business to make payments toward a farm trans-fer. “We started by looking at the end goal and are now discussing things we can do to get there. It will certainly include value-added,” Bickford explained.

The team worked together to upgrade an older house for the young couple, with Bickford contributing funds and Wepkings putting in sweat equity. “This will be recognized when we get to the point of a valuation,” Bickford claimed.

The Wepkings purchased a small beef herd with a $50,000 FSA Microloan, and are utilizing marginal land and other forage that otherwise would not be used. As the herd grows, income will be available for equity investments.

Capitalizing on the Wepkings’ connections and interests, production has expanded to food-grade small grains with a local market focus, which the team sees as having huge potential. They have purchased grain storage bins, and plan to invest in a grain cleaning and processing facility as well as a small flour mill. “John has lots going on,” Bickford said with admiration. They have adopted the name “Meadowlark Organics” for the labeled milled products, but keep the name “Bickford Organics” for the farm.

Bickford and John Wepking are quick to point out that their partnership is a work in progress. They haven’t had time to create the legal frame-work yet, but together have a clear vision of where

Paul Bickford (right) is teaching John Wepking (pictured with his son, Henry) how to farm at a larger scale. The two farmers are on a unique path to ensure the long-term viability of Bickford’s farm.

Photo by Halee Wepking

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10 | January | February 2018

University partners with local farmers on greenhouses for winter productionBy Greg Schweser

To Deep Winter Greenhouses next page

On a cold day in late November, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is planting a win-ter crop of baby greens and kale in a University of Minnesota Deep Winter Greenhouse. The OCA, located in the small northern Minnesota commu-nity of Finland, is testing whether it is possible to profitably grow crops in Minnesota winters with as little fossil fuel heat as possible.

What are Deep Winter Greenhouses? DWGs, as they are often called, use passive solar heat collected through a south-facing steeply sloped polycarbonate glazing wall. That heat is stored in an insulated underground thermal mass made of crushed river rock and is available in the above growing area during the colder night hours. Backup heat may be required to kick in when the ambient temperature drops to 35 degrees. The result is a growing environment ideal for produc-tion of brassicas, lettuces, Asian greens, and sprouts and shoots—crops that tolerate and often thrive in low heat and low-light conditions.

Through its Deep Winter Greenhouse initia-tive, the University of Minnesota Extension’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and five producers throughout the state are testing a DWG prototype. (The plan for this prototype is available to the public for free download at z.umn.edu/DWGplans.) Partners include the above mentioned OCA; the Bemidji Community Food Shelf Farm; Grampa G’s farm in Pillager; Alternative Roots Farm in Madelia; and Lake City Catholic Worker farm.

These DWGs will not only be available for producers to grow crops for winter CSAs and food shelves, but also as facilities for University research, public outreach, and workshops. With a DWG in each region of the state, Minnesota farm-ers interested in experimenting with the technol-ogy will be a short trip away from an operable DWG and experienced producers who will be able to answer questions and provide advice.

HistoryThe DWG initiative has its roots in a 2009

UMN collaboration with Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel, a pioneering husband-and-wife team from rural Milan, Minn. Ford and Waibel sought a sustainable greenhouse production method that could withstand dramatic variations in fuel prices, be resilient to a changing climate, and withstand the brutal prairie winds that too often devastate hoophouses. They also wanted to grow crops all winter long, not just in the shoulder seasons around summer. Waibel researched old passive solar greenhouse designs made popular in the 1970s energy crisis, and constructed a small greenhouse on the south side of his garage. Ford, the green thumb of the couple, started up

a winter CSA using the greenhouse. Eventually, their work caught the interest of the RSDP, which helped the couple publish The Northlands Winter Greenhouse Manual as a way to teach others how to build and grow in a DWG of their own. (The manual is $20 through the MOSES Bookstore: mosesorganic.net.)

Several years later, a growing group of DWG producers began to sprout up around the state, offering each other advice and assistance through the Sustainable Farming Association’s Deep Winter Producers Association. Ford worked with the RSDP to identify opportunities to increase awareness and support for the emerging group of winter producers. Ford and the RSDP envisioned creating a stand-alone prototype design that could be utilized, free of charge, to anyone interested in building a DWG on their farm. The University of Minnesota (UMN) could collaborate with producers in each of the RSDP’s Greater Minnesota service regions to build and field test this prototype. This innovative community-university partnership would provide an interactive and educational opportunity for anyone interested in DWG production to come “kick the tires” and meet a DWG producer first hand.

In 2015, architect Dan Handeen of the UMN Center for Sustainable Building Research visited the DWGs and conducted performance tests to identify opportunities to improve on the design. A considerable design change that emerged from Handeen’s research was changing the way hot air fills the solar mass rock bed.

The original Ford/Waibel greenhouse is a thermal mass design that collects

hot air near the ceiling of the greenhouse, which is then pushed into the ground with a fan, and dispersed with a system of perforated drainage tile buried in the rock bed. Loose soil placed atop the rock bed allows the hot air to escape into the ambient above-ground space.

For greater efficiency, the new prototype seals off the rock bed with a hardpan surface, reverses the direction of the fan to pull rather than push the hot air into the ground where it fills the rock bed (without a system of perforated drain tile connected to blowers). Cool air is drawn out of a manifold near the base of the greenhouse creating a circulating system that keeps the thermal mass charged with hot air. As necessary, excess heat is vented out of windows on the side walls to prevent overheating.

With cost-share funding from several agri-cultural lending banks (Agribank, Compeer Financial, and AgCountry Farm Credit Services) and a newly improved DWG prototype, the RSDP released a request for proposals and received 40 applications. Five partners were chosen, one in each RSDP service region. To receive funds, producer partners agreed to allow the University of Minnesota the opportunity to host open houses and workshops, as well as provide a portion of space for research trials.

“We are excited to use the DWG to contribute to the evolution of our farm,” said Brooke Knisley of Alternative Roots Farm. “We will be changing our structure to focus less on summer production and more on fall and winter production with apples and, now, the winter greens. This will help us keep in touch with our customer base through-out the Minnesota winters.”

Photo submitted

This greenhouse, attached to Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel’s garage, uses a fan to push hot air from the top of the building to heat a rock bed under the soil floor.

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The Organic Consumer Association manages this deep winter greenhouse near Minnesota’s North Shore.

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Construction Costs The first project came with sticker shock. The

project team had estimated construction costs by getting quotes for all of the items on the materials list from big box stores and greenhouse supply companies. The team estimated as double the materials costs. All said, DWGs should cost about $30,000 plus electric hookup and water delivery, which could vary dramatically depending on the distance from available electricity and water sources.

OCA was able to construct its prototype during the winter of 2016-17, months before others were able to start construction, and thus served as project guinea pig. After all was said and done, the price tag was slightly more than $65,000. The team poured over OCA project receipts to find a culprit for the higher-than-expected costs. Although material costs were slightly higher than expected, labor and related expenses (delivery) on the North Shore were much more than expected.

The next prototype was built by Brooke and John Knisley of Alternative Roots Farm near Madelia, Minn. They also contracted out all of the labor and had project costs just under $40,000. Still higher than expected, this price tag brings the DWG initiative closer to the goal of being a cost-effective investment in winter production. The Knisleys attribute some of the excess charges to higher-than-expected delivery charges.

The Bemidji Community Food Shelf Farm, which broke ground in mid-2017, was able to save on some of their labor costs through donations of time. Their final project costs came in at just under $22,000. The Bemidji Food Shelf Farm will also reduce costs by utilizing rain barrels filled from a nearby well, rather than have water avail-able directly inside the greenhouse.

The final two DWGs at Grampa G’s and Lake City Catholic Workers Farm will be constructed primarily without hired labor, so project costs for those are expected to be less.

In response to those higher-than-expected project costs, the UMN team is working with established DWG producer Sue Wika of Paradox Farm to identify opportunities to cut costs from the DWG prototype. Wika constructed her DWG on the south-facing side of a milking barn, exten-sively utilizing salvaged materials or materials

that were found on her farm. With an under-standing that decreasing project costs will have tradeoffs (e.g., reduced building longevity or performance), it is essen-tial that farmers inter-ested in utilizing DWG technology have afford-able options. What will emerge from research and experience will be a range of expected construction costs that vary depending on a site location’s available labor supply and capacity of farmers to provide that labor.

Research TrialsNow that several of

the prototypes are completed, UMN researchers Mary Rogers and Claire Flavin will begin horti-cultural trials in the 2017-18 winter production season. While a list of powerhouse Asian greens like Tokyo bekana, mizuna, and giant red mus-tard grow well in the DWG, other popular crops like spinach and arugula have shown a little more sluggish growth. Although these crops may be popular with customers, filling up valuable grow-ing space with slower producing crops reduces overall yields. Researchers will test new varieties of such crops to determine which are suited for cold-climate DWG production.

Researchers also will tinker with seeding densities and substrates to determine if boosts in yield can be achieved. Currently, crops seeded in hanging gutter systems are densely seeded and allowed to grow to a baby green level. After a first cutting, new access to light presumably allows sluggish smaller plants to thrive and grow alongside the previously cut crops for a second or third cutting. While this works well for many crops, some crops, like arugula, have reduced yields on second and third cuttings. Trials with variable seeding density and substrate mixes will help determine whether specific growing practices

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Concurrent with the horticultural research, UMN Extension Educator Ryan Pesch will survey existing DWG growers to determine production costs and revenues to gain an overall picture of the enterprise value for the DWG system. Pesch conducted a similar study in 2015 and determined that average net revenue for DWG producers was $1,862 for a season with a range of a loss of $526 to a gain of $4,491. Labor hours per week from all but one (who worked 45 hours/week in the green-house) ranged from 7-16 hours. A major weakness of this study was that only six DWG producers were interviewed, some at educational facilities that were not producing with a profit motive.

Existing figures and anecdotal accounts sug-gest that DWG production is optimal for small-scale farmers as a part-time winter add-on to an existing farming enterprise. With more DWG producers up and running since the first study was conducted, Pesch will be able to get a more detailed picture of what kinds of economic returns one might expect with DWG.

The UMN recognizes that efforts need to be made to maximize production capacity of the DWG through better use of three dimensional planting areas, boosting product yield, and iden-tifying “off season” uses of the system (e.g., food dehydration in summer). Above all, the University of Minnesota is most interested in providing pro-spective DWG producers with the knowledge they need to make an informed decision about setting up a winter production system.

Greg Schweser is the RSDP Statewide Director for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems.

Photo submitted

Lettuce and other greens grow in the dead of winter inside the DWG at Paradox Farm near Fergus Falls in west-central Minnesota.

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12 | January | February 2018

CSA Struggles — from page 7

gelato, chickens, fresh baked bread using local grains, mushrooms, flowers, blueberries, apples, and pears.

Finally, I really focused on this aspect of a shared space. I wanted our CSA members to remember that we were partners in this. The outcome of our partnership was better quality air, soil and water, more biodiversity, stronger rela-tionships with each other, safer food, protecting the wealth of our rural community, teaching each other skills, supporting farmworkers rights, and so on. To do this, I posted videos to our Facebook group of the farm in action and offered invites to the farm by appointment for individual VIP tours. We brought back the annual harvest party complete with a farm-to-fork meal, live music, hayrack rides and a bonfire. We offered volunteer work days to help harvest potatoes or work the farmers markets. The farm has an open-door policy for our members—I encouraged them to think of it as their farm, too.

I was confident this was going to be the best CSA season yet. We’d return to that 80 percent retention rate we had enjoyed five years ago; I was hopeful we had created a system that would allow this mutually beneficial relationship between the consumer and the farmer to really flourish. I had covered all the bases. What more could they need or want?

With complete frustration I tell you that on November 1 we were at a 30 percent retention rate for the 2018 season. Yes, it was still early, but we typically have a much higher percentage at that point in the year. It would seem like my extra efforts were wasted.

But what kind of story would this be if I just

ended it there? In my opinion, a great farmer is one who is optimistic, relentless, and refuses to give up. One who looks across their fields, their spreadsheets, their soil test results, and their CSA retention rates with some perspective and commits to trying again and again.

Why have we been working so hard to make a program one-size-fits-all and expect our diverse group of customers to be able to accommodate our needs? I was tired of trying to convince my mem-bers that it’s their responsibility to totally change their shopping, food prep, cooking and eating habits just to support my for-profit farm. While I never actually came out and said, “It’s your duty! Put your money where your values are and enjoy this 5-pound head of kohlrabi for the second time this month!” there were times I really wanted to.

It suddenly dawned on me mid-September (when it’s never a good time to make massive overhauls to anything on your farm) that we have to do this. We have to make a bold change to stay competitive. We have to take a risk to be remarkable.

For our 2017 Winter CSA, running from November through December, we gave our members complete control over their shares. Using a CSA management software program, we started offering a “Choice CSA” where members can decide what goes into their share each week, adjust quantities and even place their box on hold. It just made sense to us. While we’re still working out the kinks, and I’m terrified at the thought of packing 175 boxes when the full sea-son starts, I am confident this is the way forward for us.

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this “choice” program, we’ve received fantastic feedback. Just as I had hoped, our members are excited about picking up their boxes each week. While we might not be able to move as much daikon radish this fall as we had planned, our members have begun rushing to sign up for 2018’s full-season program. They’re even telling us they’d be willing to pay more for this service and that they’re saving money in the long run because there isn’t so much waste. I’ve had busi-nesses and physicians offices reach out to host pick-ups. The sentiment I hear most often: “This is the best of both worlds. I get what I want, but I get to support you and Hans, too.”

I sincerely believe we, as small-scale, organic farmers, will stay competitive with the industrial food system because of our unique relationships with our customers and our ability to connect with those we grow food for. But I also believe we have to continue to evolve and be flexible enough to know when the old way isn’t working. I’m so grateful for our CSA members, not only for their support of our farm—5-pound heads of kohlrabi and all—but their feedback and patience and gentle guidance towards success. A true partner-ship is when both parties’ needs are met. What better way for that to happen than within the confines of community supported agriculture.

Katie Bishop, her husband, Hans, and his father, Dave, are the 2017 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year. Their farm, PrairiErth, is in central Illinois.

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| 13mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775

MOSES, partners help beginning farmers boost skills through New Farmer UBy Jennifer Nelson

Photo by Jennifer Nelson

MOSES staffer and seasoned mechanic Tom Manley teaches basic tractor mainte-nance to Illinois New Farmer U participants.

As we cultivate our priorities for the 2018 Farm Bill coming quickly down the field row, one of the many important parts MOSES staff are considering is how to best use federal fund-ing resources to support new farmers growing food. The USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) is an integral piece of that support puzzle. With current 2015 - 2018 USDA BFRDP funding, MOSES and part-ner Renewing the Countryside held two of four New Farmer U events during fall of 2017.

Over the years, MOSES has developed great collaborations that allow us to tap into farming communities outside our home state of Wisconsin. These relationships help foster the farmer peer-to-peer learning and networking that we are known for in our greater organic farming community.

With the overarching goal of preparing farmer entrepreneurs to enter our rapidly shifting agri-culture markets, our content planning team for both events focused on a blend of farm business- and production-related workshops. New Farmer U kicked off Friday night with beginning farmer networking opportunities, and went through Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend training included 12 workshops, with two concurrent workshops per 90-minute session. Workshops covered topics such as design-ing a resilient farm, soil fertility, holistic farm management, organic certification, farm law, land access, and more. Saturday’s general ses-sion included a panel of regional farmers in their first 10 years of farming answering the question, “What would you do differently and keep the same in your first five years?” The New Farmer U events also included exhibit tables showcasing

helpful resources and relevant information for beginning farmers.

With local partner Practical Farmers of Iowa, we offered a New Farmer U in November in Montour, Iowa. We were pleased to tap into the tightly knit community of local farmers in Iowa to get experienced farmers to share their knowl-edge. Jordan Clasen of Grade A Gardens, a produce-retailer-turned-organic-farmer, explained how to work with stores and how to brand and market farm products. Ann Franzenburg of Pheasant Run Farm talked about the timing and steps involved in scaling up production and adding another enterprise to a farm. Jordan and Ann are just two of the many excellent presenters at the event.

The second New Farmer U of 2017 was held in Streator, Illinois in December. Our primary regional partner was Angelic Organics Learning Center. Staff from the University of Illinois

Extension, The Land Connection, and Illinois Stewardship Alliance were among the work-shop presenters, sharing so much great information with participants.

New Farmer U participants evaluated both events as “excel-lent to above average” overall. Here’s what they said about New Farmer U:

• “Very informative. Covers a lot of topics from production to marketing to enable gaining insight and perspective.”

• “It was wonderful! The connections are incredibly valuable to me.”

• “A wealth of information and resources to guide smart decisions for farmers of ANY experience level.”

• “It was enjoyable to be around others who are interested in farming. There was an incredible amount of information presented to us.”

• “New Farmer U had relevant, interesting, and useful workshop topics and speakers in a more intimate setting that allowed for quality interactions be-tween everyone involved.”

The 2015-2018 USDA BFRDP funding sup-ports four New Farmer U events, including those already held in Minnesota in 2016, and Iowa and

Illinois in 2017. The final New Farmer U will be in Wisconsin Dells, April 27-29, 2018. For details and registration, see NewFarmerU.org.

Jennifer Nelson coordinates beginning farmer programs for MOSES.

Nick Olson, Land Stewardship Project, explains how beginning farmers can use their collective voice to encourage the kind of farming they want in this country.

Photo by Jennifer Nelson

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The first compliance date for most produce under the Produce Safety Rule, which is part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), is Jan. 26, 2018. However, the FDA has said that there will be no inspections or enforcement until 2019. The agency is in a period of education and outreach right now, allowing farmers time to understand and comply with the rule without concern about penalties. This is a good time to study up on the rule and understand how FSMA affects you and your farm.

The Produce Safety Alliance is the definitive resource for FSMA. See producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu. MOSES also has put together a

webpage with resources: mosesorganic.org/farming/farming-topics/market/food-safety.

The first thing growers will want to do is understand whether their farm is covered by the rule, not covered by the rule, or eligible to be qual-ified exempt. See the chart below to understand which category your farm falls under.

Not CoveredFarms that are not covered by the rule have

no legal obligation to do anything for FSMA. All growers should follow basic food safety practices, of course. To learn best practices, consider taking a class. MOSES offers two: the Organic University all-day course Feb. 22 in La Crosse, Wis. provides

an overview of food safety, GAP, and FSMA rules and marketing opportunities for farms that achieve certification. See OrganicUniversity.org. We’re also offering a food safety workshop the Friday prior to New Farmer U April 27 in Wisconsin Dells. This workshop takes you step-by-step through develop-ing a food safety plan for your farm. See mosesor-ganic.org/events/food-safety-workshop.

CoveredFarms that are covered by the rule must have

one person on staff who has successfully completed a Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training Course or equivalent training. Growers who have completed the seven-hour PSA Grower Training Course are eligible to receive a certificate from the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO). This certificate does not expire, and belongs to the individual, not the farm. If that employee should leave the farm, another person from the farm would have to attend the training and receive a certificate.

The Produce Safety Alliance website lists upcoming grower trainings in every state. See producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/grower-training-courses/upcoming-grower-trainings.

Covered farms must also comply with the requirements of the FDA Produce Safety Rule. (www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm334114.htm) Inspections and enforcement will be handled differently depending on the state, and will not go into effect until 2019 at the earliest.

Qualified ExemptFarms that are qualified exempt must keep sales

records documenting that they do not reach the minimum sales requirement for covered produce. Qualified exempt farms must also notify consumers of the complete business address of the farm where the produce is grown, harvested, packed, and held. These requirements are covered in Sections 112.6 and 112.7 of the Produce Safety Rule.

State University RepresentativesWhile the requirements of the Produce Safety

Rule are federal, enforcement falls to states. Because the FDA is in a period of education and outreach, states are still in the process of planning their enforcement strategies, which could vary by state.

For questions specific to your Midwestern state, contact your University representative:

Illinois: Mosbah M. Kushad, Ph.D. University of Illinois 217-244-5691 or kushad@uiuc.eduIowa:

Angela M. Shaw, Ph.D.Iowa State UniversityFood Safety Extension515-294-0868 or angelaml@iastate.edu

Minnesota: Annalisa Hultberg

University of Minnesota Extension612-625-1951 or hultb006@umn.edu

North Dakota:Julie Garden-Robinson701-231-7187 or Julie.Garden-Robinson@ndsu.edu

South Dakota:Rhoda BurrowsGroup GAP for Food Safety605-394-2236 or rhoda.burrows@sdstate.edu

Wisconsin:Barbara H. Ingham, Ph.D.University of Wisconsin-Madison 608-263-7383 or bhingham@wisc.edu

Bailey Webster is a certified Produce Safety Alliance trainer, and can answer produce safety questions. Reach her in the MOSES office at 715-778-5775 or email bailey@mosesorganic.org.

By Bailey Webster

First compliance date for FSMA this month, enforcement in 2019

YOU ARE COVERED BY THIS RULE.

| 15mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775

Food activist points out path to more inclusive food systemBy Bailey Webster

At the opening of her 2013 TED talk, LaDonna Redmond tells the audience, “I am an activist. I have always been an activist, and I always will be an activist.” She became a food activist, in particular, when her young son was diagnosed with food allergies. He couldn’t eat eggs, shellfish, dairy products, or peanuts. Like any mother, she wanted what was best for her son. So she started looking for healthy, organic food that he could eat.

What she discovered was that it was easier to get a handgun than a tomato in her neighbor-hood on the south side of Chicago. She highlights this comparison as a warning—lack of access to healthy food is as much a public health emergency as easy access to handguns.

Redmond will address the issues of equity and justice in the nation’s food system during a workshop at the 2018 MOSES Organic Farming Conference (11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 23). She plans to challenge participants to examine their own posi-tions in the food system to explore ways to build a more diverse and inclusive food system.

Back in her Chicago neighborhood, Redmond set out to increase healthy food access by convert-ing vacant lots into urban gardens, where she grew vegetables with and for her community. She also organized farmers markets, drawing farmers in from the surrounding area.

Seven years ago, Redmond moved to Minneapolis and is now the education and outreach coordinator at Seward Co-op. She has continued her food justice work there, focusing on diversity and inclusion as the co-op recently expanded to a second location in southeast Minneapolis.

The most rewarding part of her work is that she gets to make people happy by helping them find their way and identifying fair solutions to food access issues, she said. “Happy people do things they hadn’t thought they could do, get answers that they didn’t think they could get.”

What people don’t understand about food justice, Redmond explained, is that “it’s about dignity—not just about giving people handouts or SNAP benefits. It’s about the right to food, but also about the right to feed oneself. We’re talking about eliminating wealth inequities.”

If she could change one thing about the food system for the greatest impact, she would make sure that there were no hungry people. There is enough food to feed everybody, we just have to find the political will to move it around, and make sure that nobody is hungry, she added.

In food justice work, Redmond said there is an area of concern around the use of the word “they.” There is an “idea that people are speaking for anonymous groups of people, in hopes that ‘they’ receive some fairness or equity without really investing in a dialogue with ‘they,’” she said. “We need to become more curious in all of our assump-tions. When we ask questions, we become more curious. People operate out of their assumptions, and I wish they would check their assumptions more.”

Redmond recalled having had a heated argu-ment with a farmer she worked with in Chicago about bok choy, of all things. This farmer had been used to selling “boutique” vegetables—spe-cialty varieties and sizes that are popular with fancy restaurants. The farmer had brought bok choy (a variety of Chinese cabbage) to the mar-ket, and couldn’t sell it. Meanwhile, people were asking him for regular head cabbage. He was frustrated that no one would buy his bok choy, and felt that he knew what people “should” want. Redmond explained to him that “you can’t assume that people are picking something because they don’t know any better. Who told you that was bet-ter for them? We have deep assumptions around what we think people know and what they ought to do, and we get into trouble with that.”

On another occasion, one of her vendors ran out of spinach at the market. Redmond stir fried some Swiss chard and told people it tasted like spinach, and handed out samples. People liked it when they were able to try it. There was dignity in their ability to choose, rather than just being told what to do. People should have the right to make their own choices, and shouldn’t be judged based on them, she said.

Redmond believes farmers can be part of the solution to food justice issues.

“Farmers aren’t necessarily going to change the crisis of the food system, but they can change

hearts and minds by having conversations where they are,” she explained. She went on to say that farmers need to unlearn the system of indepen-dence, and recognize that we’re dependent on one another. We can’t ignore diversity.

As organic farmers know, if you ignore diver-sity on your farm, you run into all sorts of prob-lems and imbalances. The same is true of human diversity. “People of color are growing food all over the country, and they are really bringing it!” Unfortunately, people of color are often left out of the conversation around food justice because they aren’t in positions of power, she added.

Redmond challenges farmers in predominantly white rural areas who may despair of ever hav-ing a diverse community to find diversity in the people around them. “What’s underneath the label of ‘whiteness,’ and how has it been used to erase the ethnicity of European descendants?”

She suggests beginning on the path to social justice by understanding your own cultural posi-tions and assumptions. “You can only be authentic when you examine yourself, come from a place of authenticity, and come from a place of deep know-ing (of yourself).” There are people of diverse back-grounds in every community, and it’s valuable to understand all sorts of diversity, she added.

For those wanting to take it a step farther, Redmond recommends traveling to new places. “Go to Chicago, have some interactions with folks of different cultures, urban farmers, Latino producers and workers, etc. Migrant workers are really out there hustling!” She acknowledges that it takes a tremendous amount of courage to begin interacting across cultures, but “as long as there is no ill will and good intentions, you can get pretty far. Assume you are getting together with good intentions, and have interactions that are supportive and educational.”

“Cultivating curiosity is the cornerstone of racial equity,” Redmond said. “Unlearning uncon-scious bias is really having curiosity about your own assumptions.”

Bailey Webster, MOSES Events Coordinator, manages workshops for the MOSES Conference.

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I’ll admit I am a bit of mushroom enthusiast. There is nothing more satisfying than bringing home a bounty of delicious, free harvest after a long hike in the woods. The mushrooms change with the seasons and are utterly fascinating (above and below ground). My dog-eared copy of Mushrooms Demystified by David Aurora always accompanied my forage forays.

In that way, Michael Phillips’ new book, Mycorrhizal Planet, already captured my inter-est before I even opened it. Upon reflection, it is a wealth of detailed scientific information on the important ways that fungi and plant roots interact, focusing mostly on the below-ground communities of fungi.

It becomes abundantly clear, even in the first few pages, that Phillips has done an extensive review of scientific literature, but includes enough real-world humility, humor, and Bob Marley quotations to keep you afloat during particularly dense passages. Phillips is a holistic apple farmer (when he’s not reading scientific papers) and his explorations of the intense symbiosis between plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi can always be directly related to things experienced on his farm. He lays it out best in Chapter 6 when he writes, “Turns out that an orchard was the perfect place to observe the connection between plants and microbes that creates lasting soil health.”

Nearly all living plants on earth have associ-ated symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi which aid the plant in water and nutrient uptake. Plants direct 20 percent of their photo-synthetic sugars and 40 percent of all photosyn-thetic production to their mycorrhizal partners in this grand natural bargain. Amazingly, mycorrhi-zal fungi can even confer disease-resistance and immunity to the host plant.

This holistic synergy between plants and fungi gives a unique window into the evolving web of complex biological relationships happening in every landscape we come in contact with; from the apple tree to the alder tree; from the prairie to the potato. When Phillips quotes Thoreau at the beginning of Chapter 3—“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads”—we can feel his sense of awe, excitement, and reverence for these

seemingly small interactions, millions of years in the making.

The author quickly hones in on the amazing interaction of plant cells colonized by arbuscular in Chapter 1. The fungal strands blooming inside a plant cell appear not unlike alveoli in our own lungs or tree branches in winter, further empha-sizing the synergistic approach to living systems that Phillips finds so unifying and fascinating. The mycorrhizal threads that colonize plant root hairs wind their way between plant cells and within plant cells enlarging the surface-area of the plant by 10 to 100 times, and act as the “normal nutrient-absorbing organs of the majority of plant species.” Phillips discusses the different types of mycorrhizal fungi, their life cycles, role in soil nutrient dynamics, and even how plant cells absorb dying fungal networks.

Chapter 2 covers the role of fungi in healthy plant metabolism. Not only do fungi aid in mak-ing primary nutrients available to plant roots, but secondary metabolites can help plants boost photosynthesis and withstand environmental stress, diseases, and pests—they even aid in plant signaling. Fungi are intimately intertwined in every step of plant functioning.

Chapter 3 picks up the thread of Chapter 1 by diving farther into the underground interaction of the soil food web, with the mycorrhizal interaction with plant roots playing a primary role.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 present a how-to guide of building a long-term nutrient reserve by activating the fungal network to work in concert with your farming system. These chapters also provide more practical solutions towards building an active mycorrhizal soil in different farming environments.

There’s even a chapter devoted to edible mycor-rhizal mushrooms for the amateur mushroom enthusiast; just right for me!

My only criticism is the frequency of focus shifting from the most convincing emphasis of the book detailed in the early chapters: that plant roots and fungi are all intimately interconnected at every level of functioning. When chapters range from a discussion of mycorrhizal inoculant products to types of soil carbon, from hugelkultur

Book provides thorough look at role of fungi beneath our feetBy Matt Leavitt

Mycorrhizal PlanetBy Michael Phillips

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mounds to phosphorus types and testing, they can leave one struggling to hang on.

Awareness is growing, both in the scientific and farming communities, of systems-based thinking vs. reductive analysis and the natural balance and wisdom in regenerative agricultural practices. Plants are healthy and thriving when the entire soil system is working together as it evolved to function.

Though the scale of farming practices detailed in Phillips’ book is decidedly smaller and focused on hand labor, the challenge remains to apply these awareness principals on a large scale. If more farmers had the same reverence for the small but powerful interactions happening beneath our feet and tractors, we’d certainly have more progression towards a healthy soil future. Michael Phillips is operating on a fungal wavelength and invites us all, with humor and a wealth of knowledge, to do the same.

Matt Leavitt recently joined MOSES as an organic specialist. He has a master’s in agronomy and plant genetics, and was a consultant for Albert Lea Seed prior to joining the staff at MOSES.

Michael Phillips presents “Successful Biological Orcharding,” an all-day Organic University course Feb. 22, just prior to the 2018 MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wis. The course is $180 through Feb. 8. Seats are limited and filling quickly. Register at OrganicUniversity.org.

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NEWS BRIEFSMOSES 2018

The 29th Annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference takes place Feb. 22-24 in La Crosse, Wis. The event features 66 workshops, 11 all-day Organic University courses, and more than 170 exhibitors—all the stuff you need to recharge your battery for the 2018 farming season! Conference registration is

$225 through Feb. 8; the on-site price is $300. Conference details and registration are online at mosesorganic.org/conference.

Farmers can dig deeper into a farming topic with an Organic University all-day course Thursday, Feb. 22. The 11 courses are each $180 through Feb. 8; on-site price is $220 for unfilled courses. See the course descriptions at OrganicUniversity.org.

Activities for Teens at MOSES 2018Wisconsin Farmers Union has a long history

of developing the leadership and cooperation skills of farm, rural, and urban youth. At the 2018 MOSES Conference, the staff of Farmers Union Camp at WFU Kamp Kenwood will lead educational activities in Teen Space. Youth ages 12-18 are invited to join staff and special guest presenters to make new friends, have some fun, and learn about leadership, cooperatives, and more. Follow the teens on social media with #MOSESyouth to learn about their adventures in education while participating in your own.

New Farmer UMOSES partners with Renewing the

Countryside and Land Stewardship Project to offer a weekend training for beginning farmers April 27-29 in Wisconsin Dells. The event includes 90-minute workshops on topics such as holistic farm management, organic certification, farm law, land access, and more. There’s also a panel pre-sentation featuring experienced farmers explain-ing what worked well and didn’t work in their early years, plus activities and time for network-ing and connecting with local service providers. Cost for the training, lodging, and meals is just $125, with a $25 discount for farm partners. See newfarmeru.org.

Farm Finances WorkshopTwo of the authors of Fearless Farm Finances,

Dr. Craig Chase, Iowa State University, and Paul Dietmann, Compeer Financial, will teach

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Farmers’ Partnership— from page 9

their partnership is heading. They discuss things as they come up, making decisions as they go. They seem to get on very well. “It is in both our interests for this to work out,” Bickford claimed. “I want out and John wants in. If we work together, and succeed, we’ll both get what we want.”

“The farm would have no real direction without John’s input,” Bickford said. “He has a real opportunity to make a huge impact on the local flour and baking industry, as well as in land conservation. This could all be wildly successful.” But, he also admits that he has had to invest a lot in new equipment, and if the Wepkings decide to bail, he’ll be sitting on a lot of stuff that he doesn’t want to run.

Wepking chimed in that it has taken him a while to embrace the concept of larger-scale farming. “At first I was a little embarrassed to tell people that I worked on such a big farm,” he said. “But now I understand the value of farming at a larger scale—the conservation benefits, the presence in the community. I’m really proud now.”

Both farmers are thrilled with their so-far successful partnership, but know the road is not easy for those looking to transition on or off a farm. The economics work against it, they agree. They hope that they can manage this transition in a way that can be a model for others, but agree that they’re not there yet. Several more years of decisions and invest-ments must be made.

The pair was a part of the MOSES Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Program, and see oppor-tunities like that where new farmers can learn directly from established farmers as critical to success. “More aspiring farmers need to quit thinking about buying land and think instead about getting a farm job,” Wepking stated. “We need more young butts in tractor seats to learn. Skills access is critical.”

But, Bickford pointed out, not every estab-lished farmer makes a good mentor. “There are a lot of farmers stuck in their ways. There needs to be a certain mentality, a gracious-ness, for it to work.” And, he said, a giving up of decade-old habits of decision-making.

“We are both committed to doing what we can for this to work,” Bickford said. “It isn’t a success story yet, but it is a good work in progress.”

Jody Padgham writes from her 60-acre grass-based farm in North Central Wisconsin.

an all-day workshop on basic farm financial management April 27, 2018, just prior to New Farmer U in Wisconsin Dells. The workshop is $50 and includes lunch and a copy of Fearless Farm Finances. See details at mosesorganic.org/fearless-farm-finances-workshop.

Food Safety WorkshopMOSES offer a workshop to help produce grow-

ers develop a food safety plan for their farm. The all-day workshop takes place Friday, April 27, 2018, just prior to New Farmer U in Wisconsin Dells. The workshop is $50 and includes lunch and a binder with food safety recommendations and room for storing the farm’s food safety plan. Cost to attend is $50. Register online at mosesorganic.org/food-safety-workshop or call 715-778-5775.

New MOSES Organic SpecialistMatt Leavitt has joined the MOSES team as

an organic specialist. He has a master’s degree in agronomy from the University of Minnesota, and has worked the past eight years as an organic agronomist with Albert Lea Seed, helping farmers select seed best suited to their operations.

Leavitt is fielding farmers’ calls on the MOSES Organic Answer Line (715-778-5775). He’s also coordinating a project to train NRCS conservation staff about conservation practices appropriate for organic sys-tems. He’ll staff the MOSES booth at the 2018 MOSES Conference. Reach him through the Organic Answer Line or matt@mosesorganic.org.

New MOSES Board MembersTwo new members have been elected to the

MOSES Board of Directors: Charlie Johnson of Johnson Farms in Madison, S.D., and Sara Tedeschi of Dog Hollow Farm in Ferryville, Wis. They replace Carmen Fernholz and Melinda Hemmelgarn whose terms ended in November. Johnson and Tedeschi each have a three-year term.

Johnson, the 2013 MOSES Organic Farmer of the Year, operates 2,400 acres of certified organic corn, oats, soybeans, and alfalfa with his broth-ers and a son They also have a 200-head cow-calf operation. He served on the board of the Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society for six years, leading it for three. He is active in Dakota Rural Action, South Dakota Farmers Union, and local politics.

MOSA Certified Organic recently hired Tedeschi as a certification specialist, bringing her “full circle”—she was MOSA’s first certifier and was there when MOSES was created in the 1990s. She worked for years as Organic Valley’s outreach and education manager. She also has been active in farm-to-school and farm policy inititiaves.

18 | January | February 2018

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In Her Boots PodcastThe latest MOSES “In Her Boots” podcast

features Kara O’Connor, government relations director for Wisconsin Farmers Union. Lisa Kivirist, In Her Boots coordinator, interviews O’Connor about how she became an advocate for family farms, and her advice for others who want to champion family farmers.

Recent podcast episodes featured April Prusia of Dorothy’s Range in Blanchardville, Wis. talking about how she got into raising heritage hogs, and how she added farm-to-table dinners to showcase her farm’s pork. New episodes post every other week through the winter. The In Her Boots podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and at mosesorganic.org/in-her-boots-podcast.

Farm in IowaThe Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT) is

taking applications from farmers for its property near Decorah, Iowa that includes 70 acres of pas-ture, organic grain, and timber, several outbuild-ings, and a four-bedroom farmhouse with solar and geothermal. The terms include an opportu-nity to purchase the farm equipment interest-free over time. SILT will provide a 3-year lease on the buildings and land, followed by a 20-year inherit-able ground lease and option to purchase the house and barns. For complete details about the farm and SILT application process, see silt.org/siltluzum-farm-application.

Award for HAFAThe Hmong American Farmers Association

(HAFA) is one of seven organizations in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota to receive the Bush Prize for Community Innovation. The prize recognizes organizations that make great ideas happen. It comes with a grant equal-ling 25 percent of an organization’s budget.

Beginning Farmer Tax Credit in MinnesotaMinnesota is the first state to provide incen-

tives for selling farmland to beginning farmers thanks to a new law effective Jan. 1, 2018. The law provides tax credits for the rent or sale of farm land or a variety of farm assets to beginning farmers. Details are online at www.mda.state.mn.us/grants/bftc.aspx.

The Central Minnesota Young Farmers Coalition, which worked to pass the law, hosts a celebration Thursday, Jan. 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Bad Weather Brewing Company in St. Paul. See www.eventbrite.com/e/bftc-tax-credit-celebration-tickets-41113031183.

Healthy Fields & Farm Economies ActA bipartisan bill introduced in the House

of Representatives by John Faso (R-NY) and Marcia Fudge (D-OH) would provide funding for in-depth monitoring, reporting and identifying measurable outcomes of farmers enrolled in con-servation programs. The Environmental Quality Incentives Programs (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) would all fall under the expanded evaluation framework.

This proposed legislation would provide the USDA with data to quantify the environmental effectiveness of these voluntary conservation programs, increase transparency to taxpayers &

legislators, and identify improvements to existing program. This bill is currently supported by lead-ing conservation advocacy groups.

Grants for Farmer-VeteransThe application period for the Farmer Veteran

Coalition’s 2018 Farmer Veteran Fellowship Fund runs from Feb. 1 to March 1. The fund is a small grant program for veterans who are in their beginning years of farming or ranching. It gives money to third-party vendors for items the vet-eran has identified will make a crucial difference in the launch of their farm business. See details at www.farmvetco.org/fvfellowship.

Survey for VeteransTetteh Effon, a U.S. military veteran and grad-

uate student at North Carolina A&T University is researching veterans’ intention to adopt farming as a means of coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He’s asking veterans to take this survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/6FL28YT.

Illinois Sustainable Ag AwardThe Bishops of PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta,

Ill., the 2017 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year, just received another farming award. The Illinois Department of Agriculture has given the Bishops the annual R.J. Vollmer Award for Sustainable Agriculture.

Specialty Crop WebinarsNorth Dakota State University Extension

Service presents “Field to Fork,” free webinars about safely growing, transporting, and process-ing specialty crops. The first one-hour webinar Feb. 14, 2018 covers buying seeds. The series continues weekly through April 25. Other topics include organic weed management, cottage food law, and safe food sampling. See www.ag.ndsu.edu/fieldtofork.

Minnesota Organic Research FundA new endowment fund honoring longtime

University of Minnesota Extension agent Jim Stordahl encourages farmer-led organic research projects in the northwest region of Minnesota. The fund also provides scholarships for farmers from the region to attend organic conferences. For more information, contact Nancy Frosaker at frosa001@umn.edu or 701-212-2471. Gifts can be sent to University of Minnesota Extension Development, 9 Coffey Hall, 1420 Eckles Ave, St Paul, Minn., 55108.

Awards for Johnny’s Selected SeedsTwo organic seed varieties from Johnny’s

Selected Seeds have been named All-America Selections: Red Ember cayenne pepper and Valentine grape tomato. See details at www. johnnyseeds.com/about-us/news/in-the-news.html.

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EQUIPMENT

Opportunity: Organic Dairy seeking someone looking to start their own dairy. We have nice cows and a nice facility. We will sell the cows, and the facility is available to rent. Wonewoc, Wi. Call Ben 419-294-8598.

Elaine Ingham “Soil Foodweb” 3-day workshop, January 30-February 1, 2018. Ramkota Hotel & Confer-ence Center, I-29 exit 81, Sioux Falls SD. $400 per person, includes complete workshop and meals.Contact 605-649-6327 or wsecker@venturecomm.net Visit http://ociasd1.myfreesites.net

For Sale: Organic Onion Plants. Sedona, Redwing, Candy, White Wing, Safrane, yellow and red Cipollini, and Leeks. Other varieties available upon request. $7 per 100, 1000 plant minimum. Certified by MOSA.Glen 563-379-3951. gitsfresh@gmail.com

CSA For Sale: Built over the past 12 seasons, we have developed a reputation for superior quality organic produce and boxes that are full. With our 2017 share count over 180, we have developed a following in the North and West Metro Twin Cities and have productive residential pick up sites plus highly respected corpo-rate customers. Asking price $180,000. 763-263-8502.

ORGANIC FISH FERTILIZER 15-1-1, 100% dry water soluble, 5-7 times more nutritious than liquid fish. Will not clog drip irrigation. One lb., 5 lb. or 55 lb. packag-ing, can be shipped UPS. Frommelt Ag Service, Greeley, IA, 563-920-3674.

For Sale: Tempered, insulated, double-pane glass. Large panes for sunrooms, solar homes, ag buildings, greenhouses or ??? One hundred fifty thousand sold since 1979; 32” x 74” x 1” double-pane only $49.00. Arctic Glass, www.kissourglass.com, 715-639-3762 or joseph4249@gmail.com.

CW Farm Tax and Accounting. We specialize in book-keeping, payroll, tax planning and preparation, annual and quarterly financial reports, and business planning. Bloomer, WI 715-568-9880.

70 Acre Organic Farm, includes house, farm store setup, dairy barn with parlor, outbuildings. East central WI. For sale or rent. 920-460-1005.

For Sale: Organic hay, big bales, wrapped and dry. Organic straw, big bales. Organic oats and organic corn. Can deliver. 608-574-2160.

Organic hay and straw for sale. Round bales. 1st, 2nd and 3rd crop. Oat and rye straw also available. 507-725-5281.

2017 OEFFA Certified Organic Alfalfa and Alfalfa/Orchard Grass in 3x3 squares. 120-200+ RFQ. 2016 hay testing 140-160 also available at discounted price. Northeast Nebraska. Josh (402)336-8130.

Seeking a Garden Manager to join our eco village in Central Minnesota. Experience in biodynamic or organic practices preferred. Learn more here: http://www.camphillmn.org/gardenmanager/

Certified organic grass calves, 5 to 15 steers. 18 months old. Freeman Bros Ranching at 217-473-7692. Ron.

Crossbred, polled beef cows due in March and April. Bred to 1/2 Angus, 1/4 Gelbvieh, 1/4 Shorthorn bull. Most of the cows and all offspring certified organic. Houston, MN. 507-896-2032.

Organically raised calves, seven steers & seven heifers. 450 to 500 pounds. Clear Lake, SD. Also have 1000 bu. organic winter wheat. $15.00 per bu. Call 605/880/2121.

EQUIPMENT

30’ Kovar Tine Weeder with 2.5’ tines (300 acres on them). 3-point mount, hydraulic, wing fold - $6000 obo @LaGrange IN; 12-row H&S cultivator with side shields and lift assist wheels. $6000 obo @Holly, MI. For photos email fullsirclefarms@gmail.com 269-689-7295.

Green Bean Harvester, older 2 row Pixall, working condition, new brushes in 2017. Includes cleaner and sort conveyor. $10,500 Mason, WI. (715)765-4297 or greatoakfarm@gmail.com

For Sale: 32’ by 96’ Gothic style hoop house, still standing, very good condition, no plastic.$4,500. Walk in cooler, 8’ by 8’ with CoolBot technology, very efficient, used for organic produce.$800 1/2HP irriga-tion pump/pulls $250. Charles Johnson 616-748-0459. Zeeland, MI. 49464, charles.johnson.1123@gmail.com

International Farmall Fertilizer Sidedresser, 101 fits SuperA -140 tractors. Very good condition with new hopper, complete unit. $750. 651-895-3919. Can deliver to MOSES Conference.

Creeper Gear Transmission Reduction System for IHC Farmall tractors. Complete, ready to install. A,B,C,SA,100,130,140 others $2500. Martin Diffley 651-895-3919. Can deliver to MOSES Conference.

For Sale: J.D. FM Cultivator. Four Row. Front-Mid Mounted. Call 715-229-2600.

Hatzenbichler 30’ Tine Weeder, hydraulic tine adjust, around 500 acres. Very good condition. $18,000. Call or text 989-430-3461.

I & J crop roller, new, 2017 model, 15 ft., 3 pt. hitch, $5200. Located 20 miles west of La Crosse, WI. 608-397-4979.

20’ rototiller for sale, Eversman 240 mts set up for full till and in good shape. 701-640-3476.

For sale: IH 183 12R Cultivator $2500 OBO; Buffalo 4630 8R Cultivator $2000obo ; 1998 Ford F700 24’ box truck 175,000 miles $4750 OBO; 80’ fast 3pt spray boom $1250obo. Westfield 80-31 8” truck auger, $1600 OBO Sunco and Sukup 3pt slide hitches with controllers. 319-269-2489.

Model90 Mechanical Transplanter plastic mulch layer. Lays up to 5’ or 6’ wide, extra toolbar. Enables clear plastic to be laid over pre-set hoops. Barely used. Excellent condition. $1200.

For Sale: Farm and Field Equipment. Due to 3 years straight of bottom line losses we are selling off a large portion of our field equipment, packing house equip-ment, greenhouses, farm market items... Our website link is www.deercreekorganics.com/equipment-for-sale.html. Descriptions, pics, and videos. Farm address Deer Creek Organics, 6846 S 2500 E Rd, St. Anne, IL 60964. Jeff email deercreekorganics@gmail.com and cell 815 953 8897.

For Sale: M & W 1930 MT Rotary Hoe, 30 ft., new wheels. Howard HR41 Rotovator, 10 ft. with options, like new. JD 8520T Tractor, new tracks, 3670 hrs. 920-887-7491.

FARMS/LAND

LIVESTOCK

FORAGES

JOBS

MISCELLANEOUS

20 | January | February 2018

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Find details and event links online: mosesorganic.org/community

402-342-3500OrganicGrain@scoular.com

www.scoular.com

OrganicNon-GMO

Identity Preserved

Farmland Ownership & Rental Workshop Jan. 24  |  6 - 8 p.m.  |  $15  |  Golden Valley, Minn. Designed for farmland owners, retired farm men and women, and those inheriting a farmland investment. LSP: 612-722-6377

Twin Cities Soil Health Community Gathering Jan. 24  |  6 - 8 p.m.  |  Free  |  Minneapolis, Minn. Prioritize soil health to address wide-ranging issues from cli-mate change to pollution and diet-related disease. Renaissance Soil: 612-270-8979 LSP Soil Builders’ Farmer-to-Farmer Workshop Jan. 25  |  10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  Lewiston, Minn. Topics covered include cover crops, roller-crimping, no-till, interseeding and grazing covers. LSP: 507-523-3366 Beginning Farmer Tax Credit Kick Off Jan. 25  |  5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  St. Paul, Minn. Join Central Minnesota Young Farmers Coalition in celebrating the passage of Minnesota’s Beginning Farmer Tax Credit law at Bad Weather Brewing Company. Organic Farming Research Conference Jan. 26  |  $  |  Rutgers University, N.J. Featuring talks from researchers, farmers and ranchers, students, and other agriculture specialists on topics related to organic farming and food systems. NOFA-NJ: 908-371-1111 OGRAIN Winter Workshop Jan. 26 - 27  |  $80  |  Madison, Wis. Presentations, panels, and discussions led by experienced organic farmers, researchers, agency personnel and industry representatives. OGRAIN: 608-890-1503 Emerging Farmers Conference Jan. 26 - 28  |  Free  |  St. Paul, Minn. The 13th annual Emerging Farmers Conference focuses primar-ily on the needs and interests of farmers of color and immi-grant farmers. MN Food Assoc.: 651-433-3676 Open Books Group & Orientation Jan. 20  |  10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.  |  Monroe, Wis. Assess your financial statements, organize your finances, and take control of your farm’s financial performance. Angelic Organics: 815-389-8455 Inside Look at Artisan Cheesemaking Class Jan. 28  |  1 - 4 p.m.  |  $85  |  Nerstrand, Minn. Build your cheesemaking knowledge with a foundation of cheesemaking basics that apply to fresh and aged cheeses. Shepherd’s Way: 507-663-9040 SFA Greater Mille Lacs Annual Meeting Jan. 28  |  5 - 9 p.m.  |  Free  |  Hazelton, Minn. Join the conversation and network with area farmers and local food advocates who are working to protect our food-produc-ing resources. SFA: 844-922-5573 Supporting Farmers in Stressful Times Workshop Jan. 30  |  9 a.m. - noon or 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.  |  Free  | Willmar, Minn. Stress factors are on the rise for Minnesota farmers. Learn how to offer your support at this workshop. 651-201-6012 LSP Soil Builders’ Farmer-to-Farmer Workshop Jan. 30  |  10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  Caledonia, Minn. Topics covered include cover crops, roller-crimping, no-till, interseeding and grazing covers. LSP: 507-523-3366 Webinar: Organic Tomato Seed Production Jan. 30  |  1 p.m.  |  Free  | Online This webinar will provide an overview of practices needed to successfully produce quality organic tomato seed. Visit moses-organic.org/community for more details.

Elaine Ingham “Soil Foodweb” Workshop Jan. 30 - Feb. 1  |  $400  |  Sioux Falls, S.D. Dr. Elaine Ingham explains the wonders of soil life, and how to enhance the life in the soil. OCIA, SD #1: 605-649-6327 Supporting Farmers in Stressful Times Workshop Jan. 31  |  9 a.m. - noon or 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.  |  Free  | Marshall, Minn. Stress factors are on the rise for Minnesota farmers. Learn how to offer your support at this workshop. 651-201-6012 Webinar: Melon Medley Jan. 31  |  1 p.m.  |  Free  | Online Learn how organic production practices may improve yield and fruit quality and decrease food safety risk in melons. Visit mosesorganic.org/community for more details.

MOA Conference 2018 Jan. 31 - Feb. 2  |  $  |  Independence, Mo. Learn about organic, sustainable, and alternative agricultural crops and systems. MOA: 660-834-3067

SFA Forage Council Winter Meeting Feb. 1  |  $15 - 25  |  9 a.m. - 3 p.m.  |  Staples, Minn. Topics include grazing management, cover crops, and integrat-ing livestock into cropping systems. SFA: 844-922-5573 Organic Grains Conference Feb. 1  |  $20 - 35  |  9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  |  Champaign, Ill. Explore tools to strengthen the organic grains industry. The Land Connection: 217-840-2128 Farmland Ownership & Rental Workshop Feb. 1  |  6 - 8 p.m.  |  $15  |  Elgin, Minn. Designed for farmland owners, retired farm men and women, and those inheriting a farmland investment. LSP: 612-722-6377 2018 Organic Vegetable Production Conference Feb. 2 - 3  |  $$  |  Madison, Wis. This conference is based on farmer to farmer networking and information sharing. Claire Strader: 608-224-3710 Lake Agassiz Free Hydroponics Workshop Feb. 3  |  Free  |  1 - 4 p.m.  |  Fergus Falls, Minn. Learn the basics of hydroponic vegetable production in a hands-on workshop. SFA: 218-280-5253 SFA Annual Conference Feb. 10  |  $50 - 70  |  9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  |  St. Joseph, Minn. The conference sessions will be tailored around the wishes of the SFA community. SFA: 844-922-5573 Wine Grape Soil Fertility Seminar with Neal Kinsey Feb. 12 - 14  |  $50 - 70  |  9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  |  Napa, Calif. An unforgettable three days of intense training from author and agronomist Neal Kinsey. Acres USA: 800-355-5313 Webinar: Farm Bill 101 for Livestock Farmers & Ranchers Feb. 14  | Noon - 1 p.m.  |  Free  |  Online Learn about key issues being considered as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. Visit mosesorganic.org/community for more details.

Midwest Soil Health Summit Feb. 14 - 15  |  $100 - 150  |  Fergus Falls, Minn. SFA: 844-922-5573 Organic Seed Growers Conference Feb. 14 - 17  |  $$  |  Corvallis, Ore. A full agenda of presentations, panel discussions, and network-ing events. Organic Seed Alliance: 360-385-7192 LSP Soil Builders’ Network Cover Cropping Workshop Feb.16  |  $15  |  11 a.m. - 3 p.m.  |  Stevens Point, Wis. Featuring Iowa farmer Loran Steinlage, as well as a farmer panel. LSP: 507-523-3366 Local Food Fair Feb. 17  |  Free  |  11 a.m. - 3 p.m.  |  Stevens Point, Wis. Over 40 exhibitors from local farms, businesses, and educa-tional organizations. Farmshed: 715-544-6154 NOFA Vermont 36th Annual Winter Conference Feb. 17 - 19  |  $$  |  Burlington, Vt. The program features workshops, 2 keynotes, roundtable discussions, and 6 all-day intensive. NOFA-VT: 802-434-4122 Webinar: Adaptive, High-Stock Density Grazing Feb. 20  | 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  Online The expert presenter is Justin Morris, USDA-NRCS Soil Health Division. Visit mosesorganic.org/community for more details. Supporting Farmers in Stressful Times Workshop Feb. 21  |  9 a.m. - noon or 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  Austin, Minn.Feb. 22  |  9 a.m. - noon or 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.  |  Free  | Mankato, Minn. Stress factors are on the rise for Minnesota farmers. Learn how to offer your support at this workshop. 651-201-6012 MOSES Organic Farming Conference & Organic UniversityFeb. 22 - Feb. 24  |  $  | La Crosse, Wis.The country’s largest organic farming event features 66 work-shops, 11 all-day courses, and more than 170 exhibitors.mosesorganic.org or 715-778-5775

SFA Central Annual Meeting Feb. 24  |  8 - 11 a.m.  |  Free - $30  | Little Falls, Minn. SFA: 844-922-5573 Central US Hemp Growers Conference & Expo Feb. 26 - 27  |  $$  | Madison, Wis. Learn valuable information from industry leading experts. Visit mosesorganic.org/community for more details. High Plains Organic Farming Conference Feb. 27 - 28  |  $50  | Cheyenne, Wyo. See mosesorganic.org/community for more details.

Webinar: Planning Ahead for Turkeys Mar. 6  | 6 - 7:30 p.m.  |  Free  |  Online Expert advise on how to raise turkeys on pasture. Visit mosesor-ganic.org/community for more details. Organic Farming Reasearch Foundation Benefit Luncheon Mar. 8  |  $$  |  Anaheim, Calif. Kicks off the Natural Products Expo West at the Anaheim Con-vention Center in Anaheim, California. OFRF: 831-426-6606 Land Trust Conference Mar. 8 - 10  |  $$  |  Onalaska, Wis. Presentations and round-table discussions on priority topics to propel land conservation forward in Wisconsin. 608-251-9131 Supporting Farmers in Stressful Times Workshop Mar. 14  |  9 a.m. - noon or 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.  |  Free  | Grand Rapids, Minn. Stress factors are on the rise for Minnesota farmers. Learn how to offer your support at this workshop. 651-201-6012