Spring 2023
Fair Farms High Tunnel Management Strategies Marketing organic Apples Elevate Your Pasture-Raised Egg Business
Content In this issue
WHO WE ARE Marbleseed, formerly known as MOSES, is a nonprofit committed to supporting the Midwest’s organic and sustainable farmers through farmer-led events and educational resources that help your farm grow.
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Letter from the Executive Director Feature: What are Fair Systems for Farm and Food Businesses? Farm Sucession 2023 Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference Reflections Crowd-Sourcing Livestock Integration Innovation Veg Production: High Tunnel Management Strategies Fruit Production: Marketing Organic Apples Livestock Production: Elevate Your Pasture-Raised Egg Business Farmer Advancement Funds Inside Organics: Midwest Healthy Ag Completes First Phase of Farmer Study Marbleseed Farm Bill Platform Classifieds
ORGANIC BROADCASTER CONTRIBUTORS Editor:
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Jenica Caudill & Jo Facklam
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The Organic Broadcaster is a quarterly magazine published by Marbleseed. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Inclusion of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of a product. Content may be reprinted with permission. Content Submissions:
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COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Nicki Morgan HartBeet Farm, MO
OUR TEAM Lori Stern, Executive Director Alexandria Baker, Communications & Development Manager Sarah Broadfoot, Operations Director Jenica Caudill, Director of Development & Strategic Partnerships Marguerite Rapp, Operations & Events Coordinator Stephanie Coffman, Presentation Coordinator Tom Manley, Program Director Jo Facklam, Communications Coordinator Victoria Ostenso, Farmer Network Specialist Daisy Perez Defoe, Local Food Purchasing Specialist Tay Fatke, Local Food Purchasing Specialist Alex Kmett, Farmer Education Manager Sarah Woutat, Farmer Advancement Program Coordinator
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dela Ends, Scotch Hill Farm, Wis. Charlie Johnson, Johnson Farms, S.D. Clare Hintz, Elsewhere Farm, Wis. Dan Cornelius, University of Wisconsin - Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center, Wis. Darin Von Ruden, Von Ruden Family Farm, Wis. David Perkins, Vermont Valley Farm, Wis. Dylan Bruce, Circadian Organics, Wis. Eliana Pinilla, The Common Market, Wis. Katie Bishop, PrairiErth Farm, Ill. Kattia Jimenez, Mount Horeb Hemp, Wis.
Letter from the Executive Director
From The Executive Director W
elcome Spring! Longer days, baby animals, and new beginnings. I know I am not alone in my enjoyment of this time of year as a favorite season. Uncertainty has an air of positive outcome as we seed and care for the land and animals on our farms. I love the quote about farmers being the ultimate optimists. Spring farm chores are a demonstration of confidence in a bountiful harvest. The technicolor of spring after the black and white of winter makes me blink. Even the soundtrack of our land ramps up the volume, with species chiming in after the dormancy of snowcovered dens and holes. The warming air on arms bare in shirt sleeves, while we discard our jackets and layers, tossing them over tractor seats, stall walls, and on stools in the green house, makes it all seem possible. We feel lighter, more nimble, even flexible as we set to the tasks at hand. The team at Marbleseed has emerged from the 34th Annual Farming conference with the same feeling of possibility. This year’s conference seemed to vibrate with energy and the excitement of connection. We are seeing the fruits of our work to financially resource farmers, in addition to providing education and information. Many of the farmers that joined us in La Crosse this year had never been. We were glad to welcome them, along with new exhibitors and presenters and long-time attendees. In that building, we felt collectively ready to fully explore and support an agricultural system that centers planet, animal, and human health. From conversations about consolidation to conservation, we made connections to each other. There are so many values we share about the way forward for small and medium operations that are of human scale and accountable to their communities and the land they steward. As I write this, we are in deep reflection on how to make the conference a relevant convening for all attendees. I am back from a recent trip to Washington DC with organic farmers and others who rallied for climate and a resilient agricultural system. Semantics can be tricky, but a regenerative system is foundationally organic, building healthy soils and diverse, symbiotic ecosystems. We are in the midst of a Farm Bill process taking place during the largest investment in organic agriculture and conservation we have ever experienced. Some of the farmers with me at the Capitol were there when the 1990 Farm Bill included what is now the National Organic Program. No one anticipated then the overwhelming interest and consumer support for organic that we have today. All this new attention and these resources are amazing opportunities that come with incredible responsibility.
We need to continue to focus on new and beginning farmers who are committed to healthy communities and the environment. Farming has to be accessible and viable. Current agricultural infrastructure and programs have been designed for “get big or get out.” We now see the stark loss of our small, localized food systems that were resilient and created living wage jobs. Wisconsin alone has lost 40,000 dairy farms in the last 40 years. An ever-increasing percentage of our organic food and animal feed is imported rather than grown and produced in the U.S., which not only increases our carbon footprint but also guts rural communities and agricultural jobs. Add to this the fact that one in three farmers is over the age of 65. With rising land prices and scarcity due to climate and development pressure, we have to act to ensure that land access for and transition to younger farmers occurs. Marbleseed is ready to engage in the solutions required to create a food and farming system that will feed people and heal the planet and communities. This spring we are officially launching the Ag Solidarity Network, a collective, democratized space for farmer self-organizing and movement building. We are convening conversations around a business model that makes small meat-processing operations with onfarm, inspected slaughter viable. There is so much experience and wisdom in production in organic and regenerative farm systems, and now we need to learn how to ‘grow together.’ We will be hosting and co-hosting field days on topics related to production but also conservation and networking. We are utilizing the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance Program to pay farmers directly to feed their communities and provide access to healthy food for folks who have not had it. We will be working across the Midwest to help organic and transitioning-to-organic farmers with mentorship and resources to meet the demands of new markets and climate change. These are the seeds of action we bring with us this spring. We hope to see you this summer on a farm or on the Ag Solidarity Network. We want to hear from you about what you need to feed the Midwest community and your own farm families. Please share your stories. This season will beget a fall Farm Bill that will impact every farmer and eater in this country. Policy matters. Your voice matters. Stretch yourself in the warming, longer days, and lean in to make the most of these new opportunities. See you soon!
Lori Stern, Executive Director
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Feature: Fair Farms
What are Fair Systems for Farm and Food Businesses?
By Adam Uttley
In life,
Photo Credit: Sarah Myer, Wolf Ridge Farm, MN
we design systems to have routines in place for many different conditions that are bound to arise. In organics, we prepare Organic Systems Plans to protect soil, water, and human bodies. But what types of systems plans could protect our relationships with employees, buyers, and others we depend on? A three-year grant from North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) has enabled Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) to collaborate in the work of providing resources and assistance to farms building fair systems into their businesses. Through Fall of 2024, this OEFFA Fair Farms Program will 1) provide free consultations and resources
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to farms that complete the self-assessment http:// www.surveymonkey.com/r/fairfarms and 2) conduct demonstration audits of our partner farms to verify their compliance with AJP Standards. For example, Teter Organic Farm in Hamilton County (IN) has agreed to partner with OEFFA to learn the Food Justice Certification Process, while helping us to license new inspectors in the region. The farm has a non-profit structure and community-driven mission, as it’s associated with the Noblesville United Methodist Church. Katy Rogers is the farm manager and driving force behind increasing production capacity at Teter as well as the improvement of educational and community development programs. “I’ve worked in and adjacent to ag my entire life, in several forms. The constant is that the people doing the hardest work are paying for our system from their own physical and mental health. It has to change, and I’m responsible for my role in it,” says Katy.
History of Fair Farms Program
Elizabeth Henderson is an activist, writer, and cofounder of the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP). She is also lead author of Sharing the Harvest, a classic in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) manual
TRANSITION YOUR
genre, recently published in Spanish. Elizabeth also has a history in farming of over 30 years, beginning in 1979, operating one of the first CSAs in the country. From the beginning, Liz had a clear conviction that fair labor standards represented an essential set of values that were missing from the early conversations that would eventually become the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). When the USDA responded clearly that labor standards were not “within our purview,” Nelson Carrasquillo, General Coordinator of The Farmworker Support Committee (CATA), and farmers Michael Sligh and Marty Mesh decided to build standards to keep fairness in organics. In addition to happier, better paid farm workers, AJP also envisions more profitable farm owners. AJP Standards provide guidelines for buyers and sellers to engage in good faith and transparent negotiations that could result in more detailed purchase agreements or even contracts, generating more revenue for all parties in the value chain by establishing predictable and lasting sales relationships. In 2018, Carol Goland, then OEFFA executive director, began talks with Liz and her colleagues at AJP about OEFFA becoming a Food Justice certifier. Carol reflects on AJP history: “Since the establishment of those standards, AJP has
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served as the conscience of the organic movement, reminding us to give equal care to the most precious resource in our agricultural system, the people who farm.” By a decision of the board, OEFFA became the official certification agency for Food Justice Certification (FJC) under the AJP Standards, issuing certificates that authorize use of the “Fair Farm” and “Fair Company” labels for farms and their food purchasers. This certification work is done in tandem with the educational approach of the Fair Farms Program. “This two-pronged approach of pairing education and certification is a hallmark of the work that OEFFA has always done in the organic space. It’s really exciting to extend this successful model now to fair farms,” Carol wrote, before continuing to relate the story of the AJP/OEFFA partnership: “In late 2018, we began a conversation with AJP about the possibility of OEFFA becoming the certifier for the Food Justice label. As that conversation continued, it coincided with OEFFA’s 40th anniversary, which we celebrated in February of 2019. That was an auspicious moment to gaze out to the next 40 years and think about where we wanted to locate OEFFA in the vast landscape of sustainable agriculture.” Likewise, in one of my first conversations with Liz Henderson, she described the importance of OEFFA to this movement, “OEEFA is part of a network with the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA). This grassroots support structure makes family-scale farming possible in the global food system, which has no place for us. We must force our own place and grab our own liberated territory.”
Fair Farms Today
FJC is coming to the Upper Midwest with the support of the NCR-SARE grant. For the next two years, OEFFA will recruit and license file reviewers and inspectors through AJP. Thanks to the technical assistance that the Fair Farms program provides, farms that decide to apply for full certification will have already generated the documentation needed for compliance: written employee guidelines, including a conflict resolution protocol, and a health and safety plan, which combined make up a Fair Systems Plan (FSP). Furthermore, they will know what to expect from the inspection process. Many farmers may also begin the journey of figuring out how to pay themselves and their employees a living wage as defined geographically by the MIT Living Wage Calculator https://livingwage.mit.edu/. AJP Standards state that even if a farm is not yet in a position to pay a living wage, they can make a time-bound plan to do so Organic Broadcaster | 6
with the help of their employees. As current OEFFA Executive Director, Rachel Tayse, describes, “In a truly just future, farms will fully support and sustain the ecological and human resources needed to produce food, fuel, and fiber. The Agricultural Justice Project and Fair Farm program at OEFFA provide leadership, motivation, and training for farmers who want to enrich and align their labor practices with Food Justice Certification. Much like organic certification, the marketing label verifying fair labor practices gives consumers the buying confidence that their purchase is aligned with their values.” As we aim to increase wages and salaries that farmers pay their workers and themselves, we have a chance to leverage powerful resources to analyze business decisions. In December, Ellen Polishuk, who farmed for 30 years and is now principal of Plantto-Profit consulting firm, offered her farming wit and financial wisdom in the three-part OEFFA webinar series, “Calculating the Full Cost of Production.” Our farmers walked away with working knowledge of enterprise budgeting, profitability of sales channels, and introduction to web-based Quickbooks. They also glimpsed the possibilities for growers who might choose to adopt Veggie Compass and Livestock Compass, open-source analytics tools developed by researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison. As webinar participant, Katy Rogers (Teter Organic Farm) says, “We knew we wanted to do better, to be a farm that is living its stated ethos in every way, and that means we have to figure out how to pay a living wage, to give everyone the tools to thrive.”
Future of Fair Farms
Please take between 10 and 30 minutes to fill out our self-assessment survey https://www.surveymonkey. com/r/fairfarms to engage free consultations from
OEFFA and AJP staff, AJP Toolkit resources, and templates to make your own. These include an employee handbook and health & safety plan for your farm. Other resources include video training materials for employees, legal reference guides, conflict resolution plans, and much more. Adam Uttley is the OEFFA Fair Farms Program Coordinator. Prior to becoming an organic crop inspector in Ohio, he was acting team leader at Whole Foods Cincinnati in the produce/floral department, where responsibilities included developing relationships with local farm businesses. Adam also served as production coordinator at a multi-farm CSA cooperative called Great River Organics (OH), farm strategist at Wayward Seed Farm (OH), a nutrition educator (PA), and program director for La Conexion, a bilingual community center (MN).
Future of Fair Farms Take the self-assessment survey at: https:// www.surveymonkey.com/r/fairfarms to engage free consultations from OEFFA and AJP staff, AJP Toolkit resources, and templates to make your own.
Adam looks forward to meeting you, learning about your goals in farming, and hearing how OEFFA Fair Farms Program can support you in your business. Contact him at: adam@oeffa.org
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Farm Sucession
Balancing family and business goals is key to farm succession planning
Photo Credit: Matthew Armbrust, Homegrown Farms at Genesee Lake School, WI
By Joy Kirkpatrick
This article is adapted with permission from an article written by the author and originally published in Hoard’s Dairyman.
Farm succession: exciting and stressful
The possibility of a next generation joining the farm can be an exciting time; yet change, even positive change, can be stressful. Farm succession and its many components can be overwhelming for farm families. If a farm owner is lucky, succession may be something they do twice in a lifetime, once when taking over the business and again when passing it down to the succeeding generation. Early planning provides time for the successor generation to build management skills and equity and for the owner generation to service debt and plan for retirement. A family farm inherently mixes family and business issues. Family and business systems focus on different goals. Families are Organic Broadcaster | 8
concerned with emotions and focus inwardly on the family needs and emphasize maintaining stability or limiting change. Successful businesses focus on performance and external influences and take every opportunity to change to their advantage.
...a common value for those in a family business is family. However, defining how to honor that value can be different between individuals or generations. In a family business, overemphasizing one system over the other breeds conflict. Family farms can acknowledge the differing goals of family versus business while also finding some common values. One way for a farm to begin separating family and business and improve communication is to focus on a three-step process of evaluation and planning. If
farm members are having trouble communicating about farm succession issues, focusing on more tangible aspects of the business can bring the farm members together to address operational issues and improve the business. Building trust through this process can provide a bridge to planning for long-term decisions and succession.
Where is the farm now?
Taking stock in the business as it stands now can help put all members of the farm on the same page. Farm members should: •
•
Determine the readiness of farm members to plan. Is everyone committed to discussing the farm business, devoting the time, and implementing the decisions made? Review the financial statements for three to five years to determine profitability, cash flow, financial position, solvency, and liquidity of the
• • • • •
• •
business. This may also include reviewing each enterprise to find out which is most profitable. Evaluate the working infrastructure (age, condition and adequacy of the machinery and buildings). Review production data, identifying both positive and negative trends. Discuss management skills of the business members and labor needs of the business. Discuss how decisions are made – both operational and strategic decisions. Develop current job descriptions for each farm member, including owners/managers. These descriptions should include areas of authority to make decisions. The quality and quantity of land available to the business. Local and community infrastructure (availability of supplies and services, repairs, markets and labor, community support of agriculture)
Identifying Values
Another component of this step is identifying individual and family values. These, in turn, shape the business’ values. Family culture, education, personal experiences, and world events shape a person’s values. While family members can share similar values, their definitions of honoring those values may be different. For example, a common value for those in a family business is family. However, defining how to honor that value can be different between individuals or generations. The owner generation may feel that contributing long days to the family farm is a way to honor the value of family. The succeeding generation may feel spending time with their spouse and children away from the farm is the best way to honor their family value. With these differences in mind, value exercises should go further than identifying words and encourage people to identify the outcomes and behaviors that indicate if they are living their values. By fully analyzing the current farm business performance and structure, the farm members can pinpoint areas of strength to build upon and areas of weakness to address. Including the next generation in the analysis and evaluation of the farm business allows them to provide input and ideas. It also sets the tone for communicating as farm partners. While this may not immediately change communication patterns established in the family, it can help members focus on common goals to improve the business. A farm family communications consultant or mediator
can be helpful if farm members cannot communicate at the needed level to complete an analysis and address management issues.
Where do we want to be?
The next step is to answer, “Where do we want to be?” This is when farm members envision what they want for their personal lives and for the farm business. Using the time frame of three and five years, each member should answer the following questions: • • • • • • • •
What will you do? Where will you live? What will be your daily responsibilities? Where will you get your income to pay your living expenses? What will your farm business look like? (size, managers, enterprises) How involved will you be in the daily management decisions of the farm? How involved will you be in the long-term decisions for the farm business? How much ownership (%) will you have in the assets of the farm family business?
If goals, visions, and timelines for the farm don’t match, much more discussion is required to determine if a succession plan is possible at this time.
How do we get there?
Information and answers from the first two steps provide farm members the foundation to finally work on the question, “How do we get there?” The two generations can work on solutions together because they’ve identified and agreed on where they want the farm to be. At this time additional team members can be included, such as the farm’s tax specialist, attorney, various production and/or business management consultants, lender, extension educator, and possibly a family communications consultant.
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Agricultural service professionals provide the expertise necessary to uncover and evaluate options for the business. To do this effectively, business members must be able to clearly express their intentions and goals for the business to their service professionals to get the best advice and options for their situation. Businesses may find the use of a facilitator helpful. One of the agricultural service providers may be able to serve in this role. The facilitator provides structure to the discussions and can objectively ask important questions that family members may find difficult to ask themselves. Family businesses that can base their decisions on clear values and a common vision have a strong foundation to weather the inevitable changes that multi-generational or multi-family farms face. Joy Kirkpatrick is the Farm Succession Outreach Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension. She has worked for Extension for 29 years.
RELATED Resources “Cultivating Your Farm’s FuturE” A workbook for farm succession planning in Wisconsin: available at https://farms.extension.wisc.edu/ programs/cultivating-your-farmsfuture/#workbook.
Contact your state’s Cooperative Extension Service
Many Extension educators and specialists can provide strategic planning and succession planning facilitation.
International Farm Transition Network (IFTN)
IFTN is an organization of agriculture service providers who can offer farm succession coordination for farm businesses. Check the website for a professional in your state: http://www. farmtransition.org/
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2023 Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference Reflections
Photo Credit: Justine Bursoni
Reflections on Marbleseed’s 34th Organic Farming Conference Brooke Knisley of Alternative Roots Farm, longtime attendee: It felt good to be back at Marbleseed after a little hiatus. I last attended the organic farming conference three years ago; being back at the conference learning, catching up, and teaching amidst my farmer peers was a refreshing reminder of how important this space is—in your early years farming (or thinking of farming) and as an established farmer. In our twelfth year of organic farming (and with a fouryear-old), I don’t make time for nearly as many conferences, field days, tours, and webinars as I once did. It’s too easy to be too busy. No matter that these experiences are all nearly as valuable as they were when I was greener, there is always more to learn, choices to reinforce, new perspectives to see, and others’ experiences to glean from. What stood out to me this time—more so than in previous experiences—is that it is not just the workshops that are useful. In and around the workshops I made important connections, had meaningful side conversations, Organic Broadcaster | 12
gleaned random tidbits of information and experience, shared stories of hardship or frustration, and laughed. I mean, where else do I get to have so many fun conversations about pigs?! The informal spaces between more formal gatherings filled my cup. It was good to be reminded of this aspect. Building on the benefit of informal spaces, I found great value in the open and free-flowing space created by the Farmer Convergence at the tail-end of the conference. I joined a small group discussing the ‘myth of the independent farmer, pulling himself up by his bootstraps,’ while other small groups in the room were equally as engaged in farmer-driven topics of their own. As the universe does, it pulled this small group together, and real connection was created in a thought-provoking conversation. I capped off my conference experience in a room full of community, connection, and purpose. Community. Connection. That’s really why I farm, and I think that’s
truly what our society needs to move forward, heal, and grow— increased sense of connection and purpose. We are a cohort so infused with these qualities, we have such power to heal the land and the people at a time when it is more needed than ever. I’ll keep this idea of informal spaces with me as the seasons roll forward and continue to use them to nurture more connection, more community, and more purpose wherever I can. Brooke Knisley, of Alternative Roots Farm (MN), grows organic apples/ fruits, winter greens, pastured pigs and more, with her husband, John, and son Leo. She is passionate about growing good food, herbalism, preservation and building resilience.
Eliana Pinilla, Director of Partnerships at The Common Market – Great Lakes and Marbleseed Board Member: This was my second year participating in the Marbleseed annual conference. Last year was my first Marbleseed Conference and a lot was new for me then –
from it being my first time in La Crosse, WI, to meeting new people and learning about their path within the organic agriculture community. It was refreshing to engage in a space like this conference that could balance the importance of “the latest and greatest,” and equally honor the value of the grower’s experiences and how that also supports growth for current and new participants to the world of organic agriculture. Entering this year’s event, both as a participant AND supporter brought a new level of appreciation for this annual event. Having recently joined the Marbleseed Board of Directors, this year afforded a unique perspective on how much work and consideration the Marbleseed team puts into the curation and execution of this space. As a first-generation immigrant, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the thoughtfulness from the organization to invite and recognize the work and participation of advocates and communities of color who have not traditionally had the opportunity to take space in these types of forums as well as their contributions towards a more sustainable ecosystem for all. I look forward to continuing to be part of this group of stewards focused on the viability and advancement of organic farms and the communities that facilitate it. More importantly to continue forging what it has meant for many over the last 30+ years: facilitating and nourishing the vision of a more plentiful, diverse future and healthy community through agroecological approaches - water, land, life. Eliana Pinilla joined the Marbleseed Board of Directors a few months ago and is currently the Director of Partnerships at The Common Market – Great Lakes. She also currently serves as a mentor for the Good Food Accelerator and is the Institutional Procurement working group coordinator for the Artisan Grain Collaborative. Laura Frerichs of Loon Farm, longtime attendee
Laura Frerichs, Loon Organics Farm, longtime attendee:
My first organic farming conference was back in 2006, fresh off my first season after starting Loon Organics Farm with my partner, Adam Cullip. I don’t remember the sessions we attended but I remember scribbling furious notes in my notebook, sharing a hotel room with quite a few farmer friends, eating a lot of cheese curds, and getting snowed in after the conference ended. Somehow, we managed to squeeze a few more folks in our hotel room who were stranded by the winter storm as well: it was like a farmer sleepover! Really fun. Upon arriving back to our rented land, I remember feeling inspired and totally talked-out. The remarkable thing to experience, especially as a 25-year-old beginning
farmer, was that the best learning was happening farmer-to-farmer, in workshops and in conversations, and there were thousands of like-minded folks. I still get that jolt of inspiration and solidarity 17 years later. After that first conference, we were pretty much hooked for the next ten years. In late 2008, we bought our current 40-acre farm in Hutchinson, scaling up our business and learning loads in the process. In 2010, I was honored to be asked to co-teach an Organic University class on Community Supported Agriculture with Barb and Dave Perkins from Vermont Valley Community Farm, and a 90-minute workshop on Getting Started in Organic Farming with Nick Olson from Land Stewardship Project and Prairie Drifter Farm. It was wonderful to be able to give back and share our learnings and financials from our beginner years, and always the workshop audience and their questions and comments are the best part. I always learn something new from the class participants in a workshop. What an amazing, smart, and innovative group of folks! There was a blur of a few years of attending conferences with babies in tow, restless nights in hotel rooms, still lots of chocolate milk and cheese curds, fitting in workshops and presentations, and riding the escalator with the kiddos all day. Both Adam and I have presented on a wide variety of topics over the years. The best part is still the friendly familiar faces and lots of hugs from farmers we often only see in La Crosse and meeting new inspiring farmers and aspiring farmers. In 2023, it was fun to return to the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference after missing a number of years due to Covid and general busy-ness with young kids. In what felt like a full circle moment, I was co-presenting with Atina Diffley, who took a chance on a young person with no background in agriculture or manual labor and gave me my first farm job 20 years ago this Spring. I’ve been farming in some capacity ever since. Marbleseed 2023 coincided with a blizzard (par for the course!!) but didn’t disappoint with the friendly faces and hugs from farmer friends. As a more experienced farmer, I still love to sit in on workshop sessions and keynotes, but the real gem is the connection with community and the reminder that we are all doing really good, really important work. Laura Frerichs and Adam Cullip own and operate Loon Organics Farm, a diversified, small-scale organic vegetable farm in Hutchinson, MN. 2023 will be their 19th farming season.
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Crowd-Sourcing Livestock Integration Innovation
Photo Credit: Sayre Farm, Burlington, IA
Crowd-Sourcing Livestock Integration Innovation
By Laura Paine, Amy Fenn, & Jane Jewett Organic farmers don’t have to be these economic and environmental convinced of the value of diversified benefits for a long time and know farming systems that integrate livethe challenges that come with stock in terms of nutrient cycling, these complex systems. The Match breaking pest and disease cycles, Made in Heaven survey seeks to promoting soil health, and making ‘crowd-source’ innovative ideas from our farms economically resilient. farmers across the Upper Midwest Though viewed by some as impracwith the goal of sharing what works tical and inefficient in today’s era and addressing barriers to restoring of specialization, there are sound diversified systems as a foundation scientific principles underlying of Midwestern farming systems. diversified agroecosystems. Organic farmers have been capitalizing on
Bare ground is the problem
There are a lot of big picture reasons why this is important! From water quality to climate change, the annual cropping systems that dominate our landscape leave vast tracts of ground bare for 70% of the time, leading to soil and nutrient runoff, loss of soil carbon, and plunging biodiversity in the Midwest. This dominant cropping system is one of the big, missed opportunities when it comes to capturing the sun’s energy. In these systems, crops are planted in May and ready to harvest by September, give or take, leaving the ground devoid of living plants nearly 70 percent of the time over the two-year corn--soybean rotation. Cover crops can help (currently about 7% of acres) and bringing forage crops like alfalfa into the rotation can bring the proportion of bare ground down to 30 percent over a four-year rotation. Then there is perennial pasture, which maximizes living cover and energy capture. States that have lost their livestock sector have limited tools in their toolbox to conserve soil and store carbon. In Illinois, 80 percent of
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cropland acres are in corn or soybeans; in Wisconsin, it’s 43 percent. The difference is livestock and the hay and pasture grown to feed them. If you think of this on a continental scale – over 90 million acres of annual crops nationwide – you can imagine how much ecosystem productivity is lost, how much soil carbon storage is missed, and how many calories of the sun’s energy are wasted just warming bare ground.
Starting a conversation about re-integration
The Match Made in Heaven project is about starting conversations, building partnerships, and sharing knowledge on reintegrating livestock and annual cropping systems for the benefit of both! The three-year SARE-funded project is facilitated by Green Lands Blue Waters and is working to engage new and existing partners in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. Just as we’ve seen a trend toward specialization in farming systems, the organizations that farmers belong to and rely on for information have also become specialized. Corn Growers, Soybean Growers, Cattlemen’s Associations, and similar groups, by definition, focus on a single commodity rather than the system within which it’s produced. Match Made in Heaven creates a space for these organizations to engage in conversation around how we can best listen to what farmers need and then collaborate to meet those needs. The project has engaged an active advisory team of farmers and farm-service organizations who are currently working together to publicize and distribute the Match Made in Heaven survey. The project began in late 2021 with development of an infographic (seen left) that explains how integrating crops and livestock can work and why a farmer might want to consider it. Intended as an educational tool for public use, it is downloadable from the Match Made in Heaven website in several forms for online or print use. A second page of the infographic provides a narrative describing the illustration. For organizations wishing to use the infographic in educational programming, the PDF contains space to add your own contact information. The illustration not only highlights continuous living cover options above ground but also demonstrates what’s going on underground. The bright white, healthy, living roots actively cycle nutrients and hold soil in place. Root structure and rooting depth are other factors depicted. Expanding the time that living roots are in the soil each year contributes to soil health and water quality, nutrient cycling, and soil carbon storage.
Learning from farmers
The infographic presents a picture of both the benefits and challenges of integrated systems. The soil health and environmental benefits of integrating livestock into annual cropping systems are clear and well-documented in the research literature, and there is emerging evidence of economic benefits from reduced production costs and diversified income streams. But these systems can be complex and challenging to manage, increasing labor and financial risk. The Match Made in Heaven project is engaging farmers across the crop and livestock spectrum to learn about the creative methods farmers are devising to integrate their systems. The project will capture their learning and innovation through case studies, field days, and the aforementioned survey.
In-depth case studies and field days
The case studies will engage one or more farmers from each of the six states in a deep dive into the unique approaches these farmers have taken to integrate their systems as well as an in-depth look at the financial synergies in these systems. Each farmer case study will include a narrative about their farm, detailing their innovative ideas and the challenges and opportunities they have encountered. A summary of financial learnings across the six farms will be developed and shared. In the final year (2024) of the project a series of field days in each state will highlight what we’ve learned and showcase a variety of integrated farming systems.
Understanding barriers and opportunities
There are significant barriers to making changes to farming operations and the Match Made in Heaven survey will gather farmers’ perspectives and ideas about overcoming the challenges. Many crop farmers have no interest in owning livestock but could consider a partnership with a nearby confinement livestock operation. Such partnerships can allow both operations to benefit from diversified crop rotations, shared equipment, improved animal health, and consistent relationships for buying and selling crops, feed, and fertility. The information we gather through the project will help crop and livestock associations, universities, public agencies, soil/ water groups, and other organizations better understand farmers’ goals and interests to better meet needs. A final activity of the three-year project will involve gathering existing and new information on crop and livestock integration and making it available on the Green Lands Blue Waters website. For more information about the project, contact Laura Paine (608-338-9039, lkpaine@gmail.com) or Project Coordinator Amy Fenn (fennsfolly@gmail.com). To participate in the survey, visit the Match Made in Heaven Survey pag (https://z.umn. edu/MatchMadeSurvey). 15 | Marbleseed.org
Amy Fenn is Project Coordinator for the Match Made In Heaven: Livestock + Crops project, and Board Treasurer for GrassWorks, a farmer-led organization supporting managed grass-based agriculture. She lives near Ferryville, WI with her livestock guardian dogs, graze heifers, sheep, and two goats. Jane Grimsbo Jewett is Associate Director of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota. Part of her role is with Green Lands Blue Waters (GLBW), a multi-state consortium focused on continuous living cover for high-efficiency agriculture, water quality, and soil health. She provides staff support for GLBW’s Midwest Perennial Forage Working Group. Jane also raises grass-fed beef, lamb, and pastured pork and poultry near Palisade, MN and is a meat vendor at the Grand Rapids, MN farmers’ market. Laura Paine is Outreach Coordinator for Grassland 2.0 and co-lead of the Green Lands Blue Waters Match Made in Heaven project. Both projects seek to engage farmers and rural communities in reimagining our food and farming system as a grazing-based agro-ecosystem that delivers clean water, healthy soils, stable farm incomes, and thriving communities. Her 30 years of work experience includes research, education, and market development work for grass-fed and organic farmers. Laura and her husband recently retired from raising grass-fed beef on their 82-acre farm near Columbus, WI.
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Veg Production: High Tunnel Management Strategies
High Tunnel Management Strategies Working with High Tunnels to Meet Production Goals By Joshua Bryceson & Chris Burkhouse
M
any small vegetable farms are growing in high tunnels these days. Increased yield, better crop quality, risk management, and “out of season” sales premiums are usually the reasons for getting into them. Because of the NRCS EQUIP cost share on high tunnels for around $9,000 (depending on the size), it has become easy to obtain and offers a potential high return on investment. But the structure itself, and how you manage it, can really decide the fate of whether or not a farm will benefit. In this two-part series, we will go through some of the decisions we made on both the building and management of high tunnels. In this first article, we will discuss some of the structural decisions we made to achieve the production goals. The second article (forthcoming in the summer issue of the Organic Broadcaster) will cover some management practices and crops to maximize their utilization. We will share our personal experience and perspective instead of an academic view of tunnels. You can also find various resources from universities and high tunnel companies that address the ins and outs of high tunnel structure and management. Hopefully after reading this article, you can get a sense of how two Organic Broadcaster | 18
farmers have worked the structures into the intended goals for production in a main-season CSA and Winter CSA model as well as other direct marketing.
Overview of Structures and Goals
Turnip Rock Farm uses three high tunnels: 30’ x 60’ Quonset from Farm-Tek, 30’ x 72’ Poly-Tex gothic, and 30’ x 96’ poly-tex rounded peak with 6’ high side walls. All were purchased in used condition and improved while standing. Turnip Rock’s intended goal was: First, be able to have a summer crop of tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers longer than four weeks (zone 3-4). Second, be sure that they can hit a target delivery date in the early season with consistency, such as the first week of June for first CSA delivery. The third goal was to establish and harvest cold-hardy greens for occasional winter market sales. The first of the four high tunnels at Foxtail Farm was a 30’ x 96’ Quonset style from Farm-Tek. This was obtained through the NCRS program, which required construction on land already in production. The farmers quickly realized the benefits in production, yields, and
quality, as well as the ability to have a longer growing season. They could harvest more ripe produce earlier and longer, which was particularly important with those high value crops. Ultimately, they put up three more high tunnels, all 30’ x 96’, and a moveable ‘farm-made’ low tunnel 15’ x 200’ made with pipe from top of chain-link fence in sections with baseboards. The rounded tops of the Quonsets were great for shedding snow (especially if the plastic was nice and tight!) and, because of the increased air space, had more forgiveness with temperature fluctuation. They also liked the high side walls for human access and ventilation. After construction of the first one, they learned to site the following hoophouses in higher, drier locations with better drainage.
Doors and End Walls
In Turnip Rock’s first years of putting up tunnels, they used wood for end walls, which were stick-framed with plastic cover. They used large swinging doors for equipment access and sometimes used storm doors for people access. They found them to be very susceptible to wind penetration and lasted under 10 years. In addition, because of wind penetration and blowing snow, the
ground would freeze deep inside the tunnel and delay spring seeding. Snow interfered with opening the doors that swing out. A big improvement was the switch over to 4-7’ sliding doors on the interior of the structure and polycarbonate cover for both stability in the wind and ease of opening. All end walls at Foxtail were initially stick-framed with just a few uprights on the sides to allow tractor access. End walls were then covered with Farm-Tek’s woven plastic fabric. Zippers incorporated in the fabric allowed easy access for both tractors and people and were terrific for ventilation. However, those zippers did not last long without a baseboard all the way across the tractor opening, and there was too much air exchange and loose fabric. As a result, soil temps stay colder longer, which delayed growth and reduced yields. They ended up needing to put in more framing (removable to allow tractor access), including person-size doors on two of the houses. Another option is framing doorways and using channel and wiggle wire with poly for covering. Tightening up the end walls drastically reduced frost creeping into the hoophouse corners, which meant maximizing yields, planting earlier, and harvesting later into the season.
Side Wall Issues Including Weed Creep
Once Turnip Rock got end walls and doors fixed, they wanted to address perennial weed creep from the sides of the tunnel and, in some cases, water that wanted to flow into the houses from the side, leaving outer-edge beds soggy and full of quackgrass in the spring. The obvious thing to do is level the site before you install the structure to prevent water running in, which they did, but the amount of water coming off the sides when the outside is frozen and the inside is not can still create more water infiltration than you’d like if there are gaps in the side boards and ground. So, they replaced the side boards with metal galvanized square tubing, polycarbonate cover, and then trenched along the outer structure 1’ deep, installing 1.5” foam board insulation along the posts and then dropping in landscaping fabric into the trench to backfill with gravel. This created a barrier for weeds, while improving drainage and keeping the outer beds drier. Now the outer beds do not freeze unless there is some very persistent cold with no snow cover. This idea came from Neversink Farm in NY state. At Foxtail, the sidewalls were all roll-up curtains with hand cranks, which were great for ventilation. These were quite secure and quick and easy to get up and down in case of storms. The hand roll-up cranks employed a long rod so that sides could be rolled up or down from a comfortable standing position. They also
had a channel at the corner roll-up point that kept one end secure and close to the baseboard. In addition, they used a heavier gauge pipe for the base of the curtain so that it did not blow away from the baseboard. Hip boards on these houses were wood, lasted about 10 years, and the curtains were attached in the same channel as the hoop-covering poly which was 6-mil single layer.
Air and Water and Support
Ventilation and watering were the next things to tackle at Turnip Rock. They had gotten by for years with rolling up sides and end doors for ventilation. They use hand crank roll-up devices and some homemade contraptions to roll up side curtains. Their 30’ x 72’ gothic house is low to the ground, with only 4.5’ side walls, which makes it heat up easily in the spring and is overly hot in the summer. They installed a peak fan in the end wall that is automated to a thermostat, and now all houses have a fan and thermostat. Running electricity and water to the house and automating the ventilation made management easier and more consistent. With automated vent fans, you can leave your sides down on those cold, partly cloudy days and rely on the fan to pull out the excess heat and not blow cold air across your plants from raising a curtain. Turnip Rock’s high-side 30’ x 96’ tunnel has great natural ventilation but nothing to trellis to. In the gothic style 30’ x 72’, they use trellis wire and tomahooks in the cross bracing (width of the house) for trellising summer crops, but none of the other houses have that style of cross bracing. The solution is to put cross bracing in all the houses to standardize trellising the same way in all the houses. Cross bracing and having hoops spaced at 4’ vs the catalog recommendation of 6’ also provides wind and snow load protection. Additionally, Turnip Rock intends on adding overhead watering systems in the cross bracing to prevent moving sprinklers around when establishing direct seeded or transplanted leafy greens, increasing automation and reducing the steps needed to get a job done. Drip irrigation will still be used with all summer crops, but with leafy greens and direct seeding, being able to control the temperature and humidity by overhead watering really saves time over moving drip around and patching holes. With the Quonset-style high tunnels at Foxtail, ventilation was effective with both side- and end-wall options. This required them, however, to be available to close or open if weather demanded. Over time they added electricity to two of the high tunnels. Peak ventilation fans with louvers at the opposite ends with a thermostat would have been a great next step. This would minimize 19 | Marbleseed.org
plant shock on a cold but sunny day when the hoophouse temp rises fast, but bringing cold air in at ground level can damage those tender plants during the shoulder seasons. They used the three purlins of each house for trellising as that gave them the most height and stability. For watering, they had two sets of five mobile wobblers that they could easily move to water the entire house. They also found that drip under landscaping fabric worked the best for cukes, tomatoes, and peppers (most transplanted crops) and reduced most disease and pest issues.
Cover Options
One place where there is constant maintenance over the lifetime of a tunnel is with the plastic cover. There are four primary options for covering the house: 4-mil poly sheeting, 6-mil poly sheeting, 8-mil woven poly, or 11mil woven poly with 4- and 6-year warranties, respectively. Turnip Rock uses double-layer poly with a 6-mil poly sheeting on the bottom and 11-mil woven as a top sheet with inflation fans to stop billowing. These woven covers are heavier and will not rip or puncture like poly sheeting. It makes them more resistant to hail and wind ripping them if they come out of the channel. There has been no noticeable light transmission problems with the woven poly, and it has reduced the amount of flapping in the wind even with just the extra weight of the poly. Turnip Rock has seen a few hailstorms that have resulted in replacement of single layer 6-mil poly. The hope with the higher initial cost is that the 11-mil poly will last longer and resist more of the extreme weather events inevitably coming our way. Billowing and flapping is the enemy of longevity in greenhouse covers. Getting and keeping them tight is very important to getting the most out of them. When possible, install poly in warm weather with low wind. If you cannot install in warm weather, be prepared to pull it tight when it warms up. For northern climates, high tunnels are important tools to having a profitable farm. The overarching lesson for us has been do not skimp on the end- or side-walls; tight doors and sides will help keep out the cold; and automation will help increase your capacity to do more and be more consistent. With increased wind and extreme weather, building it right the first time will pay off. No insurance plans that I know of will cover the poly blowing off or hail damage. Having a plan for improvements over time as you learn to manage them will help you be more effective at doing the things we all like the most, growing and harvesting great quality food to eat!
Organic Broadcaster | 20
Josh Bryceson runs Turnip Rock Farm and Cosmic Wheel Creamery, a 200-member CSA on three acres and 12-cow farmstead creamery on 80 acres in Clear Lake, WI. Chris Burkhouse was co-owner/operator of Foxtail Farm, a Winter and Summer CSA farm, before transitioning it to new farmers Emmalyn Kayser and Cody Fitzpatrick. She now has the joy of working on other farms including Turnip Rock, Blackbrook, and Burning River in Polk County, WI.
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Fruit Production: Marketing Organic Apples
Where will I
organic apples? y m l sel
By Rachel Henderson
This might not be the first question you ask yourself when you think about planting trees or purchasing or renting land that already has apple trees. After all, getting fruit takes time, and there’s a lot to do before you get to the marketing stage. At the most recent Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference, I co-presented on Apples 101 with Tom Rosenfeld of Earth First Farm in Berrien Center, MI. As we prepared for our workshop, Tom commented that when people approach him with questions about starting their orchards, folks often want to dive right into technical questions about production and land management. These are important, but the decision about where your fruit will ultimately go drives all the other choices you’ll make along the way.
Location
We don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to location. When we find available land that meets our needs and price range, to buy or rent, we take it! While we can’t always choose, it’s relevant to think about the conditions before going ahead with the orchard plans. This can influence market decisions. Some areas around the Midwest are rich in apple production. Farmers markets may already have apple vendors, or Organic Broadcaster | 22
residents might already have a favorite orchard to visit. On the other hand, if the area is known for apples, this brings customers in ready to look for more. There are also management questions that come from your location. A farm near a lot of apple production, especially conventional orchards, will immediately see a lot of pest and disease pressure. You will need to be prepared to address common issues right away.
Variety Selection
There are so many exciting varieties of apples out there, and a lot of us get into growing them for this reason. Think about whether your market will support unusual and unfamiliar varieties and if your interests and skillset include educating consumers. Some of the most commercially popular varieties can be challenging to grow organically or require a lot of management and attention. Decide if it is worthwhile for you to put in that effort for easily marketable fruit. There are many apple varieties that have been bred for resistance to common diseases, especially apple scab and fireblight, that are best for organic growers if you can sell them. Apples are obviously a fall fruit, but their season can span August
through winter (in storage). You can select varieties that ripen over the course of that long season, which means weeks of harvest, post-harvest handling, marketing, and cold storage. Alternatively, you could narrow your season and look for varieties that ripen over a shorter period. When working with wholesale buyers, it is better to have large quantities of a few, familiar varieties.
Rootstock Selection and Tree Size
When buying new trees, choosing rootstock can be confusing. It is worthwhile to learn about the various characteristics of rootstock, including vigor and disease resistance, but the primary decision is about the ultimate size of the tree. This will determine how many trees you can plant in a given acreage, how soon after planting you will harvest fruit, the size of equipment you will need to manage the orchard, and the way that fruit will be harvested. This will also depend on your available resources. Dwarf trees, planted in a high-density system, will require a significantly higher cost per acre to establish. This includes the cost of the trees themselves, stakes and trellises, irrigation, and weed control. They will also start to bear
fruit much earlier than larger trees and will rarely require ladders or large equipment.
Management Plan and Sprays
Whether or not you intend to be certified organic or are willing to incorporate some conventional inputs or methods, apples require intensive management in the Midwest. Fungal diseases are common and spread easily, and several major insect pests can do varying degrees of damage. How you intend to market your fruit impacts your approach to management. Wholesale markets tolerate much less superficial damage than, say, farmers markets or on-farm sales, which in turn requires more complete pest management. On the other hand, most direct-market options will allow flexibility on apple varieties, including those that are bred for disease resistance and are therefore easier to produce organically.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Market Options
For most growers, the best approach is to have multiple marketing channels. On our farm, we focus primarily on a CSA-style fruit share, farmers markets, and small wholesale. I think of these as buckets. Year-to-year, there is some variability in how much product, time, and effort goes into each bucket, and it has taken some time to figure out the right mix. That will be different for everyone, but there are some positive and negative considerations to each option.
Farmers Markets
There is a reason that many small farmers start out here. When you do not yet have a clear idea of your production or have uncertainty about how weather conditions will impact your harvest, farmers markets offer flexibility — you take what you have. It is also an effective way to receive feedback on your products. You can learn in real time what customers are interested in. For growers with uncommon varieties, it is also an opportunity to educate people. Markets offer the chance to tell people what is great about the apples you grow, and your enthusiasm can lead people to try something they would not select in a store. Over time, that leads to regulars who ask for those varieties by name. Farmers markets are also challenging. A day of bad weather can ruin sales. As a vendor, you have little control over how well the market attracts customers. Even on a good day, farmers markets take a lot of time! For that reason, a lot of farmers transition out of farmers markets once they establish other market channels. With realistic expectations, they can continue to be part of the mix for many farms.
CSA
Applying a CSA model to a fruit share has become popular and offers many of the advantages of a vegetable CSA — farmers receive payment up front, are able know their needs for the growing season, have some flexibility in timing and beauty of the produce, and build relationships with a community of members. When we consider marketing apples this way, it also offers an opportunity to introduce members to some of those unusual varieties as long as you have a member base that is interested in trying new things. One drawback to this model is directly related to the challenges of growing and marketing perennials. In the case of a light year or crop loss, which can happen due to spring frosts, hail damage, excessive pest pressure, or other weather events, there is no option to re-plant and replace the lost crop. If you have pre-sold shares based on assumption of a full crop, you may be left with unfilled boxes. On our farm, I address this by being conservative with the number of shares I sell at the beginning of the season and counting on other market channels for sales during a good year. This works best when you have planned for a variety of market alternatives.
On-Farm
Pick-your-own (PYO) orchards are common and popular. This method of marketing is not something that every farmer wants to take on, but for many it is an effective way to connect with the community, sell apples at a premium price, and avoid traveling to market. It is not the case that PYO will save on labor costs, as farms often require as many or more hours of labor to effectively manage such a business as they do to harvest all the fruit themselves. Some farms establish a farm stand or other options for on-farm purchases that do not include PYO. To be successful with on-farm sales, you must be in a location that customers are willing to travel to. There are a lot of legal and accessibility considerations to hosting customers on your farm, and it is important to
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understand those well and have very clear plans in place before you start.
Wholesale
Marketing apples directly to consumers involves a set of skills and tasks that are, in some ways, otherwise unrelated to farming. Many small farmers start out with the mindset that this is part of the work. However, if you find that unappealing, or do not have the capacity in your operation to take on the work of marketing, wholesale offers an alternative. When it comes to apples, most wholesale markets will involve selling massive quantities of few varieties and will be most amenable to common or familiar varieties. If your farm sells entirely or mostly wholesale, you will also have to consider options for second-quality fruit.
Processing
Some people choose to grow apples exclusively for a processed product, be it fresh (sweet) cider, hard cider, apple sauce, or others. Apples grown specifically for processing do not need to be beautiful and blemish free. Some diseases can have a lasting impact on tree health, though, and some pests can cause enough fruit dam-
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age to make apples unusable even for processing. Pest management may require lower labor and material costs this way but won’t be completely unnecessary. It is important to look at market prices for processing, whether you want to sell your apples to a third party or create the product yourself, and make sure that those prices will support the costs of your orchard. It is exciting to start growing apples and tempting to spend your winter thinking about what you will plant and how to plant it. Dedicating some time to your marketing plan up front will help you be successful through the life of your orchard. Rachel Henderson is a Marbleseed Organic Specialist. Rachel and her husband, Anton, own and operate Mary Dirty Face Farm near Menomonie, WI. They grow 9 acres of certified organic berries, apples, pears, and plums. They’ve recently added livestock as an additional enterprise for the farm. Rachel is past coordinator of the Organic Fruit Growers Association.
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Livestock Production: Elevate Your Pasture-Raised Egg Business
By Michael Gutschenritter With winter barely behind us and spring foliage greening up the landscape, I encourage all of us pasture-raised egg farmers to think a little differently than previous years. It’s easy to get caught up in the hurried, high-energy spring tasks like spreading compost on the garden and getting animals out to pasture. It’s fun to do that. I would know. I’ve done it, to some extent, every April of my life. But as farmers, it’s easy for us to let things get out of control this time of year. Before we know it, we’re putting out fires instead of building a business. I’d like to offer a way to funnel that energy into creating a steadier, more sustainable farm life, specifically for the pasture-raised egg producer. I will identify three habits that will take your egg enterprise to the next level and three technical production elements to consider this spring that will set you up for success this season.
Three Habits to Elevate Your Egg Enterprise
When I think about how we grew Organic Broadcaster | 28
our flock to 2,800 pasture-raised hens, I can confidently say that it’s a result of diligently asking questions and focusing on continuous improvement. While it’s important to focus on the future, it’s equally important to examine your current systems and determine whether they’re serving you and your business to the highest degree. With your new spring energy, it’s time to take a look at the following three elements of your business: last winter’s production, labor solutions, and developing an improvement system.
Look At Winter Production
You may not want to hear this right now, but being proactive and taking some time to assess how winter production went will pay off in spades. Did egg production plummet? Did you have frozen eggs? Were your customers forced to buy someone else’s eggs? Did you spend the coldest days of the winter fixing water issues or did you get to have a
break this winter and take a wellearned vacation? I’m not suggesting tackling all of these issues right now, but it would be wise to write everything down in fine detail before the grazing season takes off. I suggest writing it on a computer and saving pictures of the issues in the same folder. This way, you can be clear with yourself about what needs work without forgetting the fine details. It’s always easier to work on systems when hens aren’t around. So, schedule the winter improvements for a slower time in the summer. Write it on your calendar or set an alarm on your phone to ensure that you take the time to focus. This is a very simple system to keep you proactive about improving your business. For too many years, I would finish the repairs the night before the hens went into the winter coops, even though the coops were empty all summer.
Labor
working and I notice something that could use some work or I think of a better way to do something, it immediately goes in the notepad. I’ll often take a picture to confirm I remember the details of that circumstance. Think about how often you’re working on your farm and think, “I’ll take care of that tomorrow.” Then a few weeks pass, and you say the exact same thing. If you write it down on paper (or even a text to yourself), you can look at your notes at the end of the day and schedule time to take care of it. This is how small ideas start to create real change on your farm. Even if you schedule yourself to work on it six months later, the improvement is still happening. For example, we dealt with freezing water every winter. It was the cause of a lot of frustrations and headaches. I wrote it down, waited until summer to focus on it, and a week later had built a freeze-free water system that has only continued to improve over the years. The point here is that the mind is great at generating ideas but terrible at storing them. Write down your thoughts, and act on them later.
Carry a Notepad
Three Technical Details for Strong Egg Production The three habits I listed above have led to serious changes on our farm. With focus, they tend to compound into a profitable, enjoyable enterprise. They certainly demand some discipline, but they lead to very practical improvements that make your farm life more enjoyable and your business more profitable. Below are three technical production details that have come from consistently improving our egg enterprise.
Labor is a huge part of egg production. Like a dairy farmer, the egg farmer has daily chores that demand energy and time. I spend a lot of my time figuring out how to reduce labor because time equals money, and intense labor leads to burnout. Labor on a pasture-raised egg farm needs to be simple, effective, and enjoyable. We found that the most labor-intensive (and frustrating) part of raising hens was moving poultry netting. It’s cumbersome, time-consuming, and often ineffective when conditions aren’t perfect. With support from a SARE grant, we designed a fence system, now named the HenPen, that slides with our coops and gives our hens ample space to forage. This eliminated our need to handle netting, improved our pastures, and cut our time to move four coops with 2,800 hens from 75 minutes a day to 17 minutes a day. If you focus on labor issues and implement simple systems like this, your frustrations plummet, your pastures bounce back beautifully, and the eggs become more profitable. Farmers tend to love tools. I sure do. And possibly the most useful tool I have is a notepad. It’s chock full of ideas and issues I identify in the field. Whenever I’m out
Buying Pullets
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In our experience at Three Brothers Farm, it pays off in a big way to buy 18-week-old ready-to-lay hens instead of raising chicks. It may appear at first that raising chicks is less expensive. But if we value our time to any degree and are honest about the economy of scale with feed, pullets are in fact less expensive. My recommendation is to buy pullets from a farmer who also raises them for
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29 | Marbleseed.org
Organic Broadcaster | 30
their own egg-laying operation – not just a hatchery. An egg farmer will likely raise pullets with the attention to detail that is necessary for strong egg production. Buying pullets in the fall and immediately placing them in their winter housing is a strategy that will give you more control over the most important stage of the pullets’ time in your production system. Right now, is the time to call pullet producers and confirm that you can get pullets in the fall. If possible, set up a recurring date to receive pullets every year.
Quality Feed
Only after years of subpar egg production rates did I discover the real impact of high-quality layer feed. I love to support local businesses, but the small scale of a neighborhood feed mill can translate into flock issues on your farm. Often, a small mill will buy a bulk pre-milled feed base, then add corn to establish a certain percentage of protein. If that base sits around the mill for a few months, the quality deteriorates sharply. A larger mill, like Cashton Farm Supply, makes its own feed as it’s ordered. Therefore, they can deliver a fresh, higher quality product at a lower cost. This also facilitates using organic feed at a price lower than most non-GMO feed. Be sure that your mill uses a roller mill instead of a hammer mill, as the feed particles will be more consistent, and the hens will eat the ingredients more evenly.
Lighting
In terms of egg production, possibly the most important factor is lighting. A flock of hens needs 16 total hours of light, whether artificial or natural, to achieve an acceptable lay rate. Late summer is when folks tend to ignore the lighting and the egg production starts falling. Keep the lighting regimen at a strict 16 hours of total light per day while they’re laying eggs. However, when you first get your 18-week-old pullets on the farm, they should only have 11 hours of light on them (which is why it makes sense to bring them on in the fall). Then add a half hour of light per week until they have a total of 16 hours of light. Adding light to the morning is better than evening. Slowly adding light allows the hen’s frame to bulk up without triggering the reproductive cycle. This leads to you collecting large eggs sooner without going through the dreaded pullet egg stage. Going beyond 16 hours of light will negatively impact your flock’s health. These three production details help us maintain consistent production year-round. It’s important to understand, however, that these types of improvements only came after I slowed down and established simple habits to make sure I was proactive. As in most farming
practices, the more the farmer can slow down and learn from the past, the faster they’ll grow their business. This spring, prioritize improvements. Make your farm and your life more enjoyable and profitable. For more free information on pasture-raised egg production, join our farmer-to-farmer email community at www.3brothersfarmwi.com/manuals. Michael and his family own and manage Three Brothers Farm in southeastern Wisconsin. He recently began writing manuals and a newsletter for farmers to create profitable and enjoyable egg enterprises. www.3BrothersFarmWI.com/ Manuals
Farmer Advancement Funds
Farmer Advancement Funds: Direct financial support to farmers Photo Credit: Plymouth Orchard, Plymouth, MI
By Sarah Woutat and Jenica Caudill
In 2021 Marbleseed was awarded funds from the USDA Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) to support farmers through culturally relevant education and assistance with accessing federal funding programs via enhanced mentorship. Included in that award were two rounds of $10,000 for a total of $20,000 to provide direct financial support to “Historically Underserved Farmers” as defined by USDA. This group includes beginning farmers (farming 10 years or less), military veterans, and USDA’s termed “Socially Disadvantaged” farmers, meaning those who have been intentionally excluded from the agricultural system through years of government-sanctioned policies and practices created to advance the upward mobility of white farmers and create barriers to Black farmers and other farmers of color. Recognizing the need for systemically excluded farmers to access funds, the funding was designed to provide stipends through an application process for these farmers and ranchers to address needs identified; these could include travel to training, attending educational events, and infrastructure needs on their farms—particularly for those on rented or leased land. These funds were to be distributed to farmers Organic Broadcaster | 32
in the Upper Midwest in amounts ranging from $250-$2,000. Within 5 days of opening the application in 2022, we had 76 applications. A week later we had 118, and when we closed applications, we had 198 applicants asking for a total of $323,188.
FUNDING FARMER ADVANCEMENT
With an enormous need demonstrated that far outstripped our initial gifting capacity of just $20,000, our team was determined to find additional funds. During the first round of funding, we revaluated the BFRDP grant budget and were granted permission to reallocate an additional $13,000. This additional funding allowed us to grant an additional 26 farmers—but we wanted to do more. By this point in time, we found ourselves in what we call conference season—the 6 months of the year where our small but mighty team takes on the herculean task of organizing the largest organic farming conference in the country. Key to this conference is our partnerships that help make it happen—namely our sponsors and exhibitors who provide a good portion of the funds needed to make the event happen each year. These partners, by in large, also
support the Marbleseed community throughout the year: they’re advertisers in this very publication; providers of donation-matching for our annual fundraising appeals, and funders of some of our grant programs. So, when it came time to find additional funding for the Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund, we reached out to a few of those partners, including Organic Valley, Patagonia Workwear, and Annie’s who agreed to gift more funds to support farmers, providing an additional $11,000 to the second round of awardees. For Organic Valley, the decision to participate was an easy one to make. Since 1988, Organic Valley has been progressive, idealistic, and independent with an interest in protecting and promoting those who care and shepherd the land. “To ensure all farmers have access to training, funding, and resources, Organic Valley is happy to partner with Marbleseed in the Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund to continue the mission of creating a stable economic model for organic farmers,” said Holly Mahan of Organic Valley. Honoring their mission to save our home planet, Patagonia Workwear felt they must support those willing to put in the hard work to do things
right. Damien Etchaubard of Patagonia Workwear added, “By partnering with Marbleseed in the Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund, we’re supporting historically underserved and beginning farmers and ranchers with the tools and know-how to work the land for generations to come, giving us a fighting chance to save our home planet. Together, we can prioritize the dignity and purpose discovered through hard work done right and support them in the educational events, training, and infrastructure they need to succeed.”
AWARDING FUNDING, SUPPORTING FARMERS
With funding secured, a team of three Marbleseed Organic Specialists, who also provide education and assistance to their respective farming communities, served as the review committee for the funds. Rodrigo Cala of Cala Farms Origines in Turtle Lake, WI works with LatinX vegetable and livestock producers; Naima Dhore of Naima’s Farm near Alexandria, MN., and founder of the Somali American Farmers Assocation, works primarily with Somali vegetable farmers; and Beatrice Kamau of Multiple Harvest in Chicago, IL., works primarily with beekeepers in the Chicago area as well as around the world, providing education on beekeeping. While the majority of applicants requested the max amount of $2,000, the review committee opted to give smaller awards to more farmers. Thanks to the support from our partners and funders, we were able to raise an additional $24,000, further expanding the impact of this fund and awarding a total of $46,000 to 92 farmers. Awardees included military veterans, new and
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Gloria Iacono from Taproute Urban Gardens.
beginning farmers, and systemically excluded farmers, all ranging in a variety of production types. Funds were used to cover the costs of everything from fencing to irrigation, small machinery, tools, education, storage, and the list goes on. Hear stories from just a few of the awardees below about the impact that the Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund had on their farms:
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Hannah Frank from Rue de Bungaloo farm using the sprayer funded by the Farmer Advancement Funds.
Blue oyster, pink oyster, and lion’s mane mushrooms grown by Tsehaynesh Abebe from Teashine Farms in Waterloo, IA.
Taproute Urban Gardens
“Receiving the Farmer Advancement Funds made a huge difference to our operation by helping us to streamline the harvest and packing process with new harvest crates and packing totes. We also used the funds to buy t-posts for trellising tomatoes which took less time to set up than our previous system, were sturdier, and ultimately led to healthier plants and a better harvest.” Gloria Iacono, Taproute Urban Gardens, Minneapolis, MN. Learn more at taprouteurbangardens.com
Better Greens, LLC.
“At Better Greens farm, we have been farming ethnic African vegetables since 2016. The Farmer Advancement Funds helped our farm weather some of the challenges posed by the drought conditions we experienced in the past two farming seasons. More was needed to help irrigate our crops and the funds did come in handy for that.” Funwi Tita, Better Greens, Montrose, MN. Learn more at bettergreensllc.com
Teashine Farms
“The Farmer Advancement Funds impacted our farm in lots of ways! We have been able to incorporate formally in the State of Iowa! We were recently accepted into a local farmer’s market and will be selling organic ready-to-fruit mushroom blocks to the community, so they can fruit at home and help normalize mushrooms (similar to how someone may have a basil plant on their counter). We will be the first to do this at the farmer’s market, and we’re excited! In preparation for the farmer’s market, the remaining funding will help us with purchasing high-quality substrate and related supplies. We’re grateful for Marbleseed believing in us.” Tsehaynesh Abebe, Teashine Farms, Warterloo, IA Organic Broadcaster | 34
Danielle Cantrell of Ever Favor Farms.
Ever Favor Farms
“Ever Favor Farms’ mission is to promote food security and sustainability by producing humanely raised meat products with superior taste and quality. We raise organic pastured poultry with a focus on heritage breeds. Over 500 pounds of the poultry we produced in 2022 benefited food-insecure communities in the greater Chicago area. Farmer Advancement Funds were used to purchase a 21.7 cubic foot chest freezer to safely store our meat products.” Danielle Cantrell, Ever Favor Farms, Woodstock, IL. Learn more at everfavorfarms.com/
Rue de Bungaloo Farm
“We are extremely grateful to have been awarded $500 from the Farmer advancement fund! We used the funds to purchase an upgraded 35 gallon sprayer for our orchard. We focus on “holistic” sprays of neem, beneficial microbes, whey, compost tea, and liquid fish for our fruit trees and bushes, and we also plan to use the sprayer to foliar feed our garlic crop. We were able to use the sprayer in fall 2022 and it was a greatly improved experience over using our old 4-gallon backpack sprayer. We are getting better coverage, more even mixing, and are able to do the spraying in a fraction of the time it used to take. It’s also so much easier on our bodies because we can haul it on the tractor versus our backs. Thank you for helping support the success of our small farm!” Hannah Frank, Rue de Bungaloo Farm, Athens, WI. Learn more at rue-de-bungaloo-farm-llc.square.site/
THE FUTURE OF MARBLESEED FARMER GRANTS
The 2022-2023 fiscal year was Marbleseed’s first year awarding mini-grants and in 2023-2024, we look forward to growing the fund and providing an annual grant cycle that continues to work with beginning farmers, military veterans, and farmers who have been systematically excluded. We’re grateful to the Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program for providing the initial funding needed to initiate the Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund and to Organic Valley, Patagonia, and others who helped grow the impact even further. In the future, we’re looking forward to expanding the kinds of projects that will qualify for funding, including on-farm buildings and other infrastructure. Stay tuned for more news in the coming months as we continue to build out the next phase of Farmer Advancement Mini-Grant Fund. For more information about Organic Valley’s giving program – The Power of We, visit: organicvalley.coop/why-organic-valley/powerof-we/. For more information about Patagonia Workwear, visit: www.patagonia.com/workwear/.
Jenica Caudill is the Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships at Marbleseed. She has been involved in the movement for regenerative agriculture and trade justice for small-scale farmers for over 10 years, working with Equal Exchange and Fair World Project. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her partner, Cody, and their daughter, Elsie. Sarah Woutat is the Farmer Advancement Coordinator at Marbleseed. After nine years on her own certified organic vegetable farm in Minnesota, Sarah moved to Minneapolis where she and her daughter have been getting used to city life and trying to grow veggies in a small shady yard. Sarah loves to cook (it’s what led her to farming), she’s learning to knit, and is trying her hand at various fermented concoctions.
35 | Marbleseed.org
Inside Organics: Midwest Healthy Ag Completes First Phase of Farmer Study
Midwest Healthy Ag Completes First Phase of Farmer Study Hundreds of participants voiced their opinions on Midwest agriculture in study that originated at the Marbleseed Conference Photo Credit: Kyle Zenz, Old Oak Family Farm, WI
By Carolyn R. Betz A seed sown at the Marbleseed 2018 Conference has finally borne fruit. Farmers and other conference attendees that year established Regeneration Midwest, an organization aimed at promoting regenerative agriculture across the entirety of the region. The participants envisioned a future where “food production is the reason we move forward to help clean water, rebuild soil, remove toxins from food and land, and where families can thrive.”
attitudes about climate change and community health. After three years of farmer-initiated research, the first phase of the Midwest Healthy Ag (MHA) project is complete, and a final report, Across the Fence, is now available.
Conventional to regenerative practices Midwest Healthy Ag aims to better understand regenerative and conventional agriculture
from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives: that is, by a combination of data collection and statistical analysis and by interviewing farmers and local communities. Midwest agriculture isn’t black and white. Many farms use a combination of regenerative and conventional practices. Regenerative agriculture uses practices that help enhance the soil by integrating animals onto the land, using their
In one of its first efforts, Regeneration Midwest linked up with the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps to better grasp the bigger picture of the region. In late 2019, the team secured a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the country’s largest philanthropic organization dedicated to health care, public health and health equity. The team’s project aimed to map Midwest agriculture and talk to farmers—regenerative and conventional both—to learn how production impacts farmer Organic Broadcaster | 36
Characteristics of conventional and regenerative farming. One county from each end of this spectrum was selected in each of the six MHA study states where farmer interviews were conducted.
Midwest Healthy Ag developed an agricultural index using the descriptors in the first table. The darker the green in the map above, the more regenerative the county. The lighter counties were tagged as more conventional. The blue circles show the more regenerative counties where MHA interviewed farmers for Phase 1 of the project and the yellow circles the more conventional counties identified by name in the table below.
manure as fertilizer and planting cover crops after harvest to prevent soil erosion, enhance water-holding capacity, and reduce nutrient leaching. Regenerative ag can also help build thriving communities by bringing local people to work together and keeping revenue close to where it’s generated, for example, by selling produce and goods through Community Supported Agriculture programs or at farmers markets. Conventional farming, in contrast, uses inputs imported from beyond the county boundaries, like GMO seeds for corn and soybean crops, synthetic fertilizers, proteins for animals, and chemicals to control weeds. Products like corn and soybeans may be shipped abroad, and meat may supply large packing plants that distribute final products all over the country and the world. The table shown on page 36 shows how conventional and regenerative management practices were categorized for purposes of the MHA study.
Methods used
Midwest Healthy Ag wanted to interview both regenerative and conventional farmers in different parts of the Midwest. But where?
MHA created a formula using data from the 2017 USDA Agricultural Statistical Census to categorize more than 1,000 counties in the Midwest and show which use more regenerative farming practices and which use more conventional practices (see map to right). The project selected six of the twelve Midwest states for the interviews: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. A coordinator was hired in each state who, using the map, helped select one regenerative and one conventional county for their state. From these two counties, the state coordinators helped identify the farmers, county experts, and focus group participants that MHA’s two researchers could interview. As with most aspects of life in 2020 and 2021, the pandemic interfered with the original plan of MHA researchers visiting each of the 12 counties to meet the participants, so interviews were conducted using Zoom instead. The interviews began in December of 2020 and concluded in September 2021 with participants ranging 37 | Marbleseed.org
from 29 to 84 years old. About 77% were male and 23% female, and about half had associate or bachelor’s degrees. About 53% said they use regenerative practices, and the rest farmed conventionally. All farmers were asked the same questions so their responses could be compared. Each interview was about two hours in duration.
Midwesterners fared in the face of the first serious global pandemic in a hundred years. Opinions about public health interventions, like masking and vaccinations, were mixed and often split families and polarized communities. One Minnesota farmer commented that there was “too much mixing of the pandemic, politics, and the election.”
One mental health specialist we spoke to said that she taught farmers to meditate to help with these issues and that one farmer followed through by meditating every day in the cab of his truck on the farm.
Some interviewees chose to avoid wearing masks or were not interested in getting vaccinated. Some farmers who grew organic crops and ate “healthy” thought their own immune systems would protect them from the virus. Other farmers were eager to be among the first to be vaccinated due to rampant numbers of people in their communities getting sick from the virus.
The 94 farmers interviewed were asked a variety of questions about their farm management practices, the history of their farm and plans for its future, their health and that of their families, COVID-19, and their views on the changing climate. To get a fuller picture of rural life beyond the farm, MHA interviewed 35 subject area specialists such as school district superintendents, health care specialists, or agricultural educators and professionals. The project also conducted 14 focus groups made up of people of common backgrounds or interest, such as farmers of color, women farmers, or health care administrators. To date, the researchers have been able to dig deep into only some of the major themes from the farmer interviews. The topics analyzed thus far include how rural farmers and their communities fared financially and otherwise during the pandemic; what kinds of health care and health insurance participants use; and what their experiences and opinions are related to our changing climate. The full agricultural map MHA made for the Midwest can be found in this scientific report.
Wide-ranging results
As expected, the themes that have emerged so far out of the mapping interviews are wide-ranging. “The results reflect the varied differences in the kinds of landscapes and farming conducted from place to place,” said Dr. Rob Wallace, project co-director. “While that wasn’t entirely unexpected, we learned that opinions didn’t just separate out into ‘conventional’ farmer here, ‘regenerative’ farmer there. The kinds of farming practiced and people’s visions of the world are both much more complicated and nuanced than that.”
The pandemic
Midwest Healthy Ag was most interested in how Organic Broadcaster | 38
Some of the study participants live in communities that were particularly hard-hit by COVID-19—those with meatpacking plants or prisons—where the virus first spread quickly in the rural Midwest. All study participants observed that seniors living in care homes suffered from social isolation and that a lack of reliable internet prevented many rural students from going to school remotely. “Kids don’t see life out of COVID,” said one Kansas participant. “Two suicides were acknowledged in two towns on the same day, only 20 minutes apart from each other, and they will take their toll on the whole community.” We also heard from people who found the pandemic to be a “gift of time” to learn new skills and be at home, focusing on farm, family, and their children. Some started growing more of their own food and cooked at home more often, buying food at farmers markets. Several respondents in Iowa articulated a romantic view of the pandemic for fostering home life and traditional family values. Contrary to expectations, many farmers in the study experienced some of their best financial years on record during the early pandemic. Those who sold meat and vegetables directly to consumers saw a high volume of sales as people cooked more at home. Some benefited from Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government that were eventually forgiven. Those who grew crops and raised animals on a large scale benefited from federal subsidies. On the other hand, many were not able to sell their animals on schedule due to shutdowns at packing plants.
Healthcare and health insurance
The pandemic underscored the importance of rural access to healthcare.
shared that they saw excellent results weathering the new extremes of too much or not enough precipitation.
“Some of what we learned verified things we suspected,” said Ann Wolf, Iowa farmer and project co-director. “Almost 75% of those we interviewed said they have private or other insurance from off-farm work.” The remainder were on Medicare or Medicaid, but a few had no insurance at all.
Next steps
Study participants shared that farming is a hazardous occupation because of accidents with animals and machinery. Other issues that can be harmful to a farmer’s health include dust from grain and plowing, inhalation of pesticides when spraying, contaminated groundwater with bacteria or nitrates, and the other “unknowns.”
“We weren’t there to judge or try to persuade anyone to switch up what they were doing. We hope that providing the analysis to those we interviewed will allow them to make their own decisions about how to go about doing what they do on their own land, farm, or community to everyone’s benefit.” Like most plants at this time of year, the project is in a period of dormancy but hopes to regrow given new funding. “There is much more work to be done,” says Dr. Rob Wallace. “We hope that additional grants will allow us to complete our data analysis, revisit farmers for a followup, and study the other six Midwest states.”
“Health insurance is protecting us from cancers,” one Nebraska farmer said. He and his brothers who farm together each pay $2,700 per month for health insurance. “One million dollars to treat cancer would bankrupt us,” he added. Mental health care is often difficult to receive in rural areas. Many people in the study benefitted from the creation of telehealth that permitted them to access mental health care for the first time, particularly when anxiety and depression loomed. One mental health specialist we spoke to said that she taught farmers to meditate to help with these issues and that one farmer followed through by meditating every day in the cab of his truck on the farm.
Climate change
Participants were also asked about weather-related experiences on their farm over the past five years. Many experienced extraordinary flooding, excessive soil moisture prohibiting planting or harvesting crops on schedule, and increased soil erosion. Others spoke about drought and the suffering that went along with crop failure. At the same time, when asked about climate change, more participants than not shared that they didn’t see climate change as an issue that affected them. But other interviewees stated they were already changing some of their farm management practices just in case. One Illinois farmer said she was “buffering against whatever comes my way.” She is building soil health by growing organic grain and using chicken manure for fertilizer. Those who use regenerative farming practices
Since Midwest Healthy Ag is an ongoing research project, it is not presently providing policy recommendations. Learning and sharing are the first tasks. “Our job was to listen to what people had to say,” said agricultural researcher Carolyn Betz.
The Midwest Healthy Ag team is available for interviews, workshops, and other outreach opportunities. Please reach out to Wallace at rwallace@midwesthealthyag.org. Carolyn Betz is an agricultural researcher whose 39-year career involved working for the University of WisconsinMadison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Her areas of expertise are water quality, dairy production systems, and climate change.
Marbleseed Farm Bill Platform
2023 Farm Bill Platform
Every five years,
we have the opportunity to influence the food system, from the farm field to our store shelves, school cafeterias, and home tables. The Farm Bill, legislation in twelve titles, covers all the ways we farm, and utilize farm products. It also addresses rural communities, conservation, energy, and nutrition programs. Critical research, education and extension programs that farmers rely on are also supported by Farm Bill Programs and Titles. As a farmer-led, education non-profit, Marbleseed actively engages with several of the titles in the Farm Bill. As we head into the season of marker bills (legislation that will likely become part of the comprehensive Farm Bill), we want to be prepared to tell our story of human scale, organic production that feeds our communities. In identifying our main priorities for the Farm Bill, we looked at current Farm Bill funding that continues Marbleseed programs and supports farmers in the upper Midwest. But we also want to use the platform to propose solutions to ongoing challenges that the Marbleseed community has identified and that act as barriers to getting more organic farmers on the land. Organic Broadcaster | 40
The four priorities of the Marbleseed Farm Bill platform do not represent ALL the issues that we care about. Instead, they are focused on our strategic plan as well as current programming that is making a difference for organic farmers in the upper Midwest. These priorities also create deeper partnerships with allied organizations and advocacy coalitions where Marbleseed is a member, adding our voices to the solutions needed to make organic farming at human scale accessible and viable as an enterprise, while improving the health of people, planet and communities. Marbleseed’s Four Main Priorities: • Support Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers, Including Access to Land and Capital • Fund Organic as a Climate Solution • Increase Local Food Procurement and Localized Food Systems • Strengthen Continuous Improvement and Research Programs in Support of Organic Farming and Farmers
Support for Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers, Including Access to Land and Capital
USDA programs should be accountable for accessibility
to historically underserved producers and take steps via both policy and agency practices to improve access and services. Programs like Farm to School/Institutions and Local Food Purchase Assistance should continue with a focus on socially disadvantaged producers including small and medium farms. This approach is also consistent to increasing access to local food and local food systems. These programs create expanded market opportunities for farmers and are economic drivers for rural communities. Banking, grants, and investment solutions that provide capital and credit for beginning, BIPOC, and underserved farmers should be included in the Farm Bill. These solutions could include reliance on current systems and infrastructure through Farm Credit or Community Development Financial Institutions, and private investor pools of patient capital. Additionally, there have been successful famer grant programs administered by farmer-facing non-profits that are able to also provide wrap-around education and technical assistance to farmers receiving grants. These organizations have high trust with underserved farmer communities and can prepare these farmers to engage with more conservative lending institutions.
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We are already witnessing the impact of climate pressures in the western United States on agricultural operations. As those businesses look to move to the Midwest, we will continue to see rising prices and land scarcity here. It may be necessary to explore tax models that facilitate and benefit land transfer to the next generation of farmers to keep human scale, organic farms on the landscape. Funding must be maintained for the Beginning Farmer, Rancher Development Grant Program and other Farming Opportunity, Training and Outreach (FOTO) programs that develop the next generation of farmers. These grants support beginning farmers as leaders.
Fund Organic as a Climate Solution
Organic allocation in programs that resource farmers like conservation programs (EQIP/CSP) and Crop Insurance will be necessary to ensure that we are incentivizing agricultural systems with climate benefits rather than paying to mitigate the impacts of industrial farms and bad actors. The payment limit for the EQIP Organic Initiative is significantly lower than the payment limit for the general EQIP program pool. This payment limit inequity has been a disincentive for organic farmers to participate in the EQIP OI. The Farm Bill should include a 41 | Marbleseed.org
provision to require the same payment limit, whether a farmer participates in the general EQIP pool, or the EQIP Organic Initiative. Climate benefitting practices utilized by organic producers and those transitioning should be allowed within RMA programs (Crop Insurance) and be considered “good farming practices”. Crop insurance should actively promote conservation by eliminating barriers to organic farming practices and linking premium subsidies to stewardship practices that protect our land, water and human and animal health.
Increase Local Food Procurement and Localized Food Systems
Considering that every dollar spent on local food generates up to an additional $2.16 in economic activity, the purchasing power of school districts alone has the potential to generate over $1 billion in local economic activity. (USDA Farm to School Census 2015). Marbleseed supports local food processing, procurement efforts and funding that prioritizes small to medium sized, organic operations that provide healthy food and jobs in local communities. We need continued support for the Local Food Promotion and Regional Food Systems Programs as well as the Value Added Producer Grant for farmers, in addition to other efforts as identified, to build the local food infrastructure needed to support a non-consolidated, resilient food system. This includes explicit funding for Organic Processing Infrastructure Loans and Grants, such as Organic Meat, Poultry, and Dairy Processing Facilities and Flash Freezing Plants for Organic Fruits and Vegetables. These efforts enable local eating year-round in the Midwest’s shorter growing season. There must be continued vigilance around anti-trust and anti-consolidation efforts, including around meat processing and increased inspectors in rural areas. Creating economic opportunities in rural communities where most of the food is produced and processed will create thriving rural communities and a less vulnerable food system. Farmers will again capture more of the food dollars while giving consumers better access to healthy food and choice. For example, the bipartisan, bicameral Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA) lays out a national strategy for sustained investment in our small and very small meat processing plants. The SLPA increases states’ ability to opt-in to cooperative interstate shipment, provides guidance on how to ensure food safety across small and very small plants, and invests in developing the highly Organic Broadcaster | 42
skilled workforce necessary for local processing plants to thrive. Reauthorization of federal nutrition programs should provide funding and pathways for the purchase of local, organic food. Tax dollars should not be working against the health of people, communities and the planet. Healthy food should be accessible across these programs and available in schools, child and adult care, farmers markets, and through other supplemental nutrition programs.
Strengthen Continuous Improvement and Research Programs in Support of Organic Farming and Farmers
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program is the only program that funds farmer led research on sustainable farming. This program allows farmers to formulate research questions and share what they learn with their peers. These funds are administered regionally and can respond to the most relevant needs geographically. In 2023 we saw unprecedented investment in Organic with the multi-faceted Organic Transition Initiative. This Farm Bill should make these investments permanent across USDA. This will provide ongoing funding for farmers directly, support conservation practices and promote the transition to organic systems. The current agricultural system and subsidies are based on large, mono-crop or singular production systems. Human scale organic farms tend to be diverse and include integration of livestock in cropping and vegetable operations. Reward for the stacked ecosystem benefits, along with the reduced risk of reliance on multiple income streams does not exist in current programs. Even Organic Cost Share requires these diverse farms to pay for certification in each production type. We need to increase cost share payments to reflect true operations and continuous improvement, including added scopes, on organic farms.
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Photo Credit: Karl Hakanson
We are looking forward to hosting an array of Field Days across the Midwest this spring and summer, on topics ranging from integrated livestock conservation planning to grain rotations for climate smart agriculture to foraging. Subscribe to Marbleseed’s monthly e-news for updates on specific dates, locations, and how to sign-up. See below for an example of an early season Field Day we are excited to host. We can’t wait to see our farming community in the field!
Blue Ox Farm Field Day
Pack your camp chair and join us for a summer’s afternoon in June at the farm of one of our very own WiWiC Conservation Coaches, Lauren Langworthy! We will take a walk around Blue Ox Farm to see what Lauren along with husband Caleb are doing and how they’re doing it. They raise grass-fed sheep, sell lamb, and have a small beef herd doing restoration work on their farm. See first-hand how they have worked with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to implement several conservation projects, with a special focus on grazing. This event is focused on women farmers, landowners, conservation educators, and conservation supporters. Register at wiwic.org/upcoming-events. Location: Blue Ox Farm, N11253 WI-25, Wheeler, WI 54772 Time: Thursday, June 1, 3 – 6 pm Focus: Implementing grazing on your land with the help of NRCS and other conservation agencies and organizations.
Classifieds
Forages For Sale: Certified Organic Hay
Certified Organic Hay for sale, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Crop. Delivery May be Available. Sno Pac Farms, Caledonia, MN 507-725-5281 For Sale: MOSA Certified Organic Hay & Baleage MOSA Certified Organic Hay & Baleage, 1st, 2nd, 3rd crop alfalfa grass baleage. Forage tested 63 ton dry hay, 275 ton baleage. Westby, WI 608-634-3860 or cjburke@outlook.com For sale: Certified Organic alfalfa/grass For sale: Certified Organic alfalfa and Certified organic alfalfa/grass 3x3x8 square bales. Nice quality. Tests available. Located by Linton, ND. Delivery available. Dave Silbernagel 208-867-9939. dsilbernagel1960@gmail.com
Grains For Sale: OCIA Certified Organic Yellow Corn Certified Organic Yellow Corn – Food/Feed Grade – (641) 751-8382 For Sale: Organic Forages Individual and inline wrapped. Some lots made “hayin-a-day.” Moisture adjusted pricing. Same dry 3x3x8. Tested, delivery available. 715-921-9079 David
Livestock For all your large animal processing needs, including vacuum-sealing and smoking, contact Integrity Meats. Federally inspected. N3825 County Road P, Elroy, WI 53929. Call Sandy 608-572-4303.
Equipment For Sale: Best Bat Houses Best Bat Houses as seen at MOSES pre-pandemic. Bats are an enviromentally friendly means of insect control saving farmers billions of dollars annually. Bestbathouses.com to order. For Sale: 2019 Weed Zapper Organic Broadcaster | 46
2019 weed zapper for sale. It has a 30 ft wide working width the bigger 200 kW generator. It has approx 430 zapping hours on it and has subsequently run over about 4000 acres. Stored inside and ready (608) 359-1800 For Sale: Raised Bed Plastic Mulch Layer
Northern Illinois - Rain-Flo 2470 mulch layer for sale - $4500. Only one season of use. Makes raised beds while laying plastic mulch and drip tape. More info and photos via link below. https://chicago.craigslist.org/ nch/grd/d/grayslake-raised-bed-plastic-mulch-layer/7562527727.html For Sale: Yetter Cast Spike Planter Yetter Cast Spike Planter Closin Wheels. Eliminates potential for sidewall compaction and air pockets. Shuplfo 12vdc diaphragm pump, used for organic liquid fertilizer on planter. 920-887-7491 For Sale: I & J Roller Crimper $27,000 This is a lightly used 2018 I&J Cover Crop Roller 30’, 190” Transport width, 128” Transport height, 62” Working height, 190”
Land Seeking: Beginning Farmer We are seeking a beginning farmer to partner with to start a agricultural business on our 8-acres, housing and startup finances included. 754-302-6101 or fogletb2@ gmail.com FOR SALE PLYMOUTH COUNTY, IA – CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMLAND
Contact KELSEY BAUERLY LANGLE ATTY Kelsey@ btbattys.com 712-546-8813 https://threesimplequestions.blogspot.com/2023/03/yeager-organic-farmland-for-sale.html
Organic Veggie Farm Incubator Opportunity in SE Wisconsin Start your organic veggie business on our land, using our resources! Incubation allows you to get your business off to a good start. 1 spot available for 2023. email tim@ lotfotl.com for more info LAND AUCTION: CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMS 216.42 ± total acres certified organic farmland to be auctioned 4/20/23. Available in 3 parcels. Hollywood Twp, Carver Co, MN. For information, contact Hertz Farm Management, Inc. at 507-345-5263.
For Sale: Organic Maple Syrup Farm 158 acres Ashland Co. Maple tubing system w/7000 taps. Includes RO system, holding tanks, 10,000kw generator, vacuum system, garage w/electricity, 3-stall garage. pattersonsugarbush@gmail.com
Miscellaneous For sale: “When Weeds Talk” Too much manure or compost can trigger broadleaf weed that herbicides cannot control. The book “When Weeds Talk” lists over 800 weeds and gives tips for their control. 143 pages. $25 ppd. McCaman Farms, PO Box 22, Sand Lake, MI 49343-0022
CLASSIFIED AD PLACEMENT Reach 15,000+ organic-minded readers! Includes a free listing in the Online Organic Classifieds at marbleseed.org Submit ads online or write out your ad and send it in with this mail-in form and payment to: Marbleseed, PO Box 339, Spring Valley, WI 54767 Ads must be submitted by the 25th of the month prior to Organic Broadcaster publication date. Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Phone: Email: $20 UP TO 30 WORDS. $5 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL 10 WORDS. PLACE MY AD IN: (price is per insertion) � Winter (December-February) � Spring (March-May) � Summer (June - August) � Fall (September - November) Word rate x number of insertions = PAYMENT INFORMATION:
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47 | Marbleseed.org
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 131
PO Box 339 Spring Valley, WI 54767