May | June 2019

To Open-Pollinated Corn on page 6

Community-based food systems support organic markets

Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service

On-Farm Events

Page 5

CSA Tips

Page 7

Resilient Specialty Farms

Page 9

Hoop House Insights

Page 10

Open-pollinated corn growing strong on Midwest farmsBy Frank Kutka

Volume 27 | Number 3

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This article is based on the MOSES 2019 workshop presented by the authors. The first part in this story, “Commodity system creates persistent losses,” from the previous issue of the Organic Broadcaster, is online at mosesorganic.org/commodity-system-losses.

Organic food sales are the fastest-rising sector in the grocery industry, growing from $13 billion in 2005 to $47 billion in 2018 (Organic Trade Association). Moreover, dedicated advocacy has expanded markets far beyond the co-ops and smaller stores that initially launched organic sales. By 2011, more than half of all organic food items were sold through traditional retailers.

Despite sales growth, there are difficulties in each of the largest organic markets in the U.S.: vegetables, dairy, and grain. As you’ll see, busi-nesses that have created a basis of community support are best situated to weather these difficult times.

Organic VegetablesThis chart shows the acreage devoted to organic

vegetable production in recent years. Acreage declined in 2010 and 2011 after peaking briefly in 2008, likely because the global housing finance crisis interrupted consumer fascination with purchasing healthier foods. After 2012, acreage began to increase again, but reached a new plateau in 2015-2016.

Open-pollinated corn, like this vibrant orange Dziekuje, offers growers a wide range of colors, flavors, and nutritional profiles as well as the possibility to save seed or obtain it at a reasonable price from another grower.

Photo by Frank Kutka

To Organic Markets on page 8

By Ken Meter & Megan Phillips Goldenberg

boxes at the Tsyunhehkwa Center this winter. It makes great corn soup!

There are many OP corn growers in the Midwest. Tom Jerde, from western Wisconsin, has developed a variety on his farm that he calls Jerde’s Maize, a high-protein dent corn with resistance to multiple diseases and pests. He also grows and sells Jerde’s Red, a sweet corn with kernels that turn wine red.

Stanley Smith from southeastern Minnesota recently completed a USDA-SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) grant project growing six variet-ies of OP organic corn. His goal was to find a suitable variety for livestock feed that could yield well enough with its higher nutritional traits so as to be financially feasible. He found that all but one of the varieties he

With the advent of hybridization more than 100 years ago, who would have imagined that open-pollinated (OP) corn would still exist in the 21st century? Hybrid corn breeders have produced hundreds of varieties that stand well, tolerate difficult conditions, mature all at the same time, and yield impressive quantities of grain or forage. So why are genetically diverse varieties from which farmers save their own seeds still out there?

Some farmers—organic and conventional—like the process of growing seed from our own selections. This type of independence suits us and creates seed at a very reasonable price, which is especially appealing when grain markets are down.

The diversity of corn is also incredible. By saving seed of traditional and newer varieties of OP corn we are able to enjoy their flavors, nutritional quality, colors, and the stories behind them. There are just so many possibilities among varieties that do not have to be purchased every year.

Some Native American communities have been hunting for, finding, and increasing seed of traditional OP varieties that had been lost to them during forced relocation and the decades of mandatory boarding school that altered farming traditions for many. In recent years, Facebook has had many posts about happy growers taking part in these successful rematriation efforts. A new collaborative organization, the Indigenous Seedkeepers Network, has been formed to facilitate this process and to promote education about seed-keeping among Native communities.

Thankfully, traditional OP corn has been with the Oneida in eastern Wisconsin for a long while. Last year they had a particularly large harvest of their white corn. It was lovely to see the dozens upon doz-ens of braids hanging to dry amid many full gravity

Source: USDA Economic Research Service. No data were reported for 2009, 2012, or 2013. Data for 2014-2016 are from USDA National Agricultural Statistical

Service Organic Survey, which reports numbers different from ERS.

Yet growth in organic food sales did not consistently spark the planting of new produce fields in the U.S. Instead, produce imports have risen, fueled by produc-tion in countries such as Mexico, where land and labor are less expensive. This represents both a market failure and a failure of policy to create infrastructure and incentives that connect more consumers to U.S. farm-ers to meet rising demand.

Now that organic vegetables are widely available at Walmart, Aldi, and other stores, shoppers can easily access food with an organic label on it, but gain very

Every year, I make a point to get out onto a couple of other farms to see their operations. I’m always looking for innovations that I could glean from others to further my grazing operation. Last summer, I visited the Holm Boys Dairy in Elk Mound, Wis., where they raise certified organic, grass-fed custom heifers utilizing managed graz-ing techniques. As the group toured the farm, we learned how the Holms have used managed graz-ing to improve the health and productivity of their soil.

A DNR Wildlife Biologist pointed out rare grassland birds in the pasture and buffers around the farm. At the homestead, our local soil conser-vationist used a rainfall simulator to demonstrate the infiltration and erosion potential of soil from the pastures in managed grazing, as well as soil from neighboring fields under different man-agement. The organic farm’s managed pasture absorbed the most water, had the least run-off, and filtered the most clear water. These are all measurements of good management.

On the Holm farm, it was clear that managed grazing meets the needs of the producer, encour-ages local wildlife, and contributes to productive soils, plants, animals, and clean water. The same management that led to their productive organic farming system also addresses several natural resource concerns that farmers can look to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for technical and financial support. So, if you’re working to improve your farm in similar ways, consider taking advantage of NRCS programs in order to achieve your goals.

Soil health is the foundation on which suc-cessful organic farming systems are built. The National Organic Program (NOP) actually requires certified producers to “maintain and improve the natural resources of an opera-tion, including soil and water quality” (7 CFR § 205.200). The goals of improving soil health and water quality overlap with the USDA-NRCS mission “to provide resources to farmers and

Conservation initiatives can support organic livestock managementBy Caleb Langworthy

To Grazing Support on page 4

Volume 27, #3 May | June 2019

Editor Audrey Alwell

Advertising Coordinator Tom Manley

Digital Content Producer Stephanie Coffman

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

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

© 2019 MOSES

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

Display & Classified Advertising:Thomas@mosesorganic.org or 715-778-5775

Content Submissions or Inquiries: Audrey@mosesorganic.org

Free Subscription: mosesorganic.org/sign-up or 715-778-5775

MOSES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit qualified to receive tax-deductible donations.

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

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

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

sustainable, organic system of agriculture.

I’m humbled and honored to be stepping into this new role at MOSES. Four years ago, my husband and I decided that an off-farm job would help our farm’s cash flow. Since then, I’ve

been steeped in the MOSES mission and mindset as its Program Director and Organic Specialist.

However, my journey with MOSES really began years earlier when I was a beginning farmer. Our farm would not have experienced the success it has without the support of this organization and its network of amazing farmers.

Even before we started to farm, we went to the MOSES Organic Farming Conference to collect tools and resources and develop relationships that we would eventually put to use. The event sent a jolt of excitement and hopefulness through me. As we began farming, we stayed with friends and leaned on the volunteer discount in order to get the most out of the conference on our limited budget.

We also took advantage of MOSES free field days and found ways to participate in other learning oppor-tunities. Every farm we visited offered something we could learn, whether it was a creative handmade latch design or a new cover crop. We never walked away empty-handed.

Our MOSES mentors were one of the biggest gifts the organization ever gave us. Kim and Rich took us under their wing and shared everything they could to ensure our success. From warming a cold lamb and helping it learn to nurse all the way to a sheep feed ration calculator, they gave us so many tools that

MOSES Staff:

Lauren Langworthy, Interim Executive Director | lauren@mosesorganic.org

Audrey Alwell, Communications Director | audrey@mosesorganic.org

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

Sophia Cleveland, Development Coor. | sophia@mosesorganic.org

Stephanie Coffman, Presentation Coor. | stephanie@mosesorganic.org

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

Caleb Langworthy, Organic Specialist | caleb@mosesorganic.org

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

Jennifer Nelson, Organic Specialist | jennifer@mosesorganic.org

Stacy Shealey, Office Assistant | stacy@mosesorganic.org

On-Farm Organic Specialist Team | specialist@mosesorganic.org

Board of Directors:

David Abazs | Round River Farm, Minn.

Mike Bollinger | River Root Farm, Iowa

Sylvia Burgos Toftness | Bull Brook Keep, Wis.

Dave Campbell | Lily Lake Organic Farm, Ill.

Dela Ends | Scotch Hill Farm, Wis.

Clare Hintz | Elsewhere Farm, Wis.

Charlie Johnson | Johnson Farms, SD

David Perkins | Vermont Valley Farm, Wis.

Molly Rockamann | EarthDance Farm School, Mo.

Sara Tedeschi | Dog Hollow Farm, Wis.

Darin Von Ruden | Von Ruden Family Farm, Wis.

TM

could only come from a relationship with more expe-rienced farmers. They gently guided us away from expensive mistakes and were available to diagnose issues as they arose in our young operation.

That’s the thing about MOSES—it encompasses an expansive network of amazing people with an almost endless store of knowledge among them. The MOSES community is focused on making things better for the next farmer who walks the path. MOSES farmers teach and share openly. MOSES farmers are always looking for the next innovation, the next improvement to their system, the next practical step that they can use to make everything better.

That is why I am so honored to step into this new role of leadership at MOSES. This community is simply invaluable and I look forward to fostering connections and helping farmers grow.

Just think of everything you’ve learned since you started your farming journey and how much value that could be if you offered it to the next farmer down the line. MOSES provides the space for you to do that, whether it’s through our Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Program, our organic field days, the MOSES Conference, or this newspaper. Look for your opportunity to become involved. Together, we can build the future we want, with strong and profitable farms that care for the land, water, and communities around them.

The MOSES board and staff are headed in the same direction with shared goals and values. Our mission—to educate, inspire, and empower farmers to thrive in an organic and sustainable system of agriculture—remains our heartbeat; the community remains our focus; and the improvement of our food and farming system remains our goal. I’m glad to have you with us on this path.

~ Lauren Langworthy, MOSES Interim Executive Director

From the Executive Director

| 3mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

By Melissa Hughes, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative

New label assures integrity of grass-fed farmingEarlier this year we joined with our friends at

Maple Hill to launch the Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program and certification mark: a new, third-party certification that creates a universal defini-tion and verification of grass-fed organic farming standards and products. Today, certifiers are training to uphold the integrity of grass-fed organic dairy farm-ing through the new program. And, in just a couple of months, consumers will start buying dairy products featuring the new seal that helps ensure they are getting what they pay for when they buy grass-fed products.

When the journey toward this grass-fed organic seal started years ago, one thing was for sure: any seal created to protect the integrity of grass-based livestock farming must have the USDA organic program at its core. We all wanted to empower the farms and certi-fiers that are already on the ground, with mud on their boots, ensuring organic standards. Anything created had to work for the farmers, the certifiers, and, ulti-mately, the people buying and drinking grass-fed dairy.

From the start, the Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program was designed to use the same certifiers and farmers that are already going through the certified USDA organic process. The program currently has about a dozen USDA organic certifiers ready to do inspections and verifications on nearly 400 farms. This grass-fed organic certification process is incorporated into the regularly scheduled USDA organic inspections—it’s not an entirely new process.

The Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program is not run or endorsed by the government. It is not verified by the USDA, and is also not beholden to the USDA. Instead, the program and certification mark are governed by Organic Plus Trust Inc. (OPT), a pub-lic benefit entity created to advance organic agricul-ture. This program is administered by EarthClaims LLC on behalf of OPT to ensure unbiased and trans-parent management and distribution of the certifica-tion mark. The certification mark is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and will only appear on packaged products that take part in this end-to-end certification process.

INSIDE ORGANICSViewpoints from members of

the organic community

The program is voluntary and open to all interested organic farmers and organic. It creates a universal definition and verification of grass-fed organic farm-ing standards and grass-fed organic products that were, until now, non-existent. We believe that pasture-based, grass-fed farming deserves to be protected as a way of life, and that attempts to water down the mean-ing of grass-fed creates instability for family-scale farms that are currently successful in their grass-fed farming businesses.

Grass-fed organic dairy should always be built with the USDA organic certification as a base requirement. This program’s foundation was built with farmers at the center of the process. Any certification needs to work for farmers and shouldn’t be an extra burden to already stressed farm families. The Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program is designed to keep farm-ers farming and give consumers what they are looking for. There are new requirements for farms and brands to meet, but they are all achievable and clearly set out in the program. This program will help grow and build the foundation of grass-based farming with integrity and transparency.

Balancing between what will work for farmers and certifiers is no simple task. That is why the certification focuses on farming practices like time on pasture, forages, and dry matter intake. And, after balancing between farmers and certifiers, OPT is also focusing on creating a seal that meets industry and consumer demand.

Program DetailsTo be certified under the new OPT standard, dairy

cows must be fed a grass diet, with zero-grain, and given plenty of pasture for grazing. Any farm claiming grass-fed organic certification must first be certified organic to participate in the program. The Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program criteria also require all animals receive 60% of their dry matter intake from pasture over at least a 150-day grazing season.

This program requirement is double the dry matter intake minimums in the organic standard, but any grass-fed claim needs to be set apart as a distinctly different type of organic dairy farming. Rotational grazing, pasture management, and preventive care are all essential parts of organic dairy farming, but grass-fed takes those skills to the next level.

And what makes grass-based farming distinctly different shows up in the milk. People can literally taste the difference. Current research on the benefits of grass-fed dairy products shows higher levels of omega-3s and higher levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). The difference is there. Grass-fed dairy buyers are listening and looking for the difference that grass-fed organic dairy provides.

Organic buyers are demanding different animal care and diet standards for farm animals. In fact, we’ve seen 300% growth in the organic grass-fed dairy industry just since 2015. Stores are looking for dairy products that bring people to the store, and right now grass-fed organic dairy is doing just that. People are voting with their dollars, and we believe they will vote for a verifiable standard for grass-fed that is trustwor-thy and meets their high expectations.

The Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program is unique from other grass-fed certifications in that it also requires a full supply chain verification to use the certification mark, creating a much higher level of transparency. The farm and dairy processor are certi-fied to ensure grass-fed milk is segregated and authen-tic all the way to the packaged grass-fed dairy product.

Although the first two organic dairy brands to join the program were Organic Valley and Maple Hill, Natural by Nature is already committed to using the seal as well. We expect 50 different dairy products will feature the seal on packages by the end of this year.

The Certified Grass-Fed Organic Livestock Program is built with organic as its foundation. Organic farmers focused on grass-fed dairy deserve to have a standard that protects their way of farming. People who buy grass-fed dairy deserve to have a transparent standard for the grass-fed organic products they buy for their families. The new grass-fed organic livestock program creates higher standards on the farm that will help farmers deliver what the market demands.

For more information, see organicplustrust.com.

Melissa Hughes is Chief Mission Officer at Organic Valley.

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This seal will soon identify dairy products that meet standards for grass-fed production under a new add-on certification to USDA organic certification.

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landowners to aid them with conservation.” The agency’s goal is to ensure private lands are in harmony with the environment.

The 2016 NOP Guidance on Natural Resources and Biodiversity Conservation provides recommenda-tions of conservation practices that a producer may use to meet the requirements of the 205.200 mandate about natural resource maintenance and improve-ment. That guidance also addresses the availability of USDA-NRCS assistance to implement many of these practices.

A farmer’s interest in creating productive, organic farming systems—through soil building, increased soil organic matter, erosion control, and plant and animal productivity—may coincide well with conser-vation goals of NRCS. NRCS works with landowners across the country through conservation planning and assistance to address natural resource concerns unique to the property.

I’ve worked closely with my local NRCS conserva-tionist to identify and address conservation priorities on my own farm. Utilizing support from the agency, my wife and I have been able to invest in necessary infrastructure for grazing much faster than we could have done on our own.

Practices that might address the shared goals of NRCS and a grazier could potentially include covering the soil with a diverse mix of productive vegetation and well-managed integration of livestock. In particu-lar, popular programs that might support a grazing operation include several Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) conservation practices such as fencing, livestock pipeline and watering

facilities, prescribed (or managed) grazing, forage and biomass planting, and forage harvest management. An NRCS conservationist or a Technical Service Provider (TSP) can work with you to plan and design these practices to meet your objectives.

The best way to start the conversation about what practices might work for your grazing operation is to visit with the conservationist at your local USDA Service Center. You and your local conservationist can work together to determine your shared objec-tives. Then, through the development of a plan, you and a grazing lands specialist can assess the operation and formulate workable solutions to natural resource concerns. This plan is required to access funding for many grazing-related conservation practices.

Both NRCS conservationists and TSPs can com-plete a Grazing Management Plan. NRCS provides funds for farmers and landowners to retain the ser-vices of a TSP who can do the work of developing the plan and submitting it to NRCS.

Pasture management and grazing provide good examples of potential overlap between organic system requirements and NRCS programs. Organic ruminant livestock operations must graze pasture during a growing season. That grazing season cannot be less than 120 days in length. During that time, pasture must make up a minimum of 30% of the ruminant animal’s Dry Matter Intake. Farmers must manage their pasture as a crop and develop a pasture manage-ment plan, submitted with their Organic Systems Plan (OSP), to their certifier in order to comply with the rule.

Organic livestock producers can create a pasture

management plan to submit with their OSP while also utilizing the technical assistance that NRCS has to offer by contacting their local USDA Service Center. The pasture management plan that needs to be submitted to your certifier can be developed by you and a NRCS grazing specialist in collabora-tion through a “Grazing Management Conservation Activity Plan” (CAP 110). The “Conservation Plan Supporting Organic Transition” (CAP 138) may also be an option for livestock producers transitioning to organic production. The CAP 138 Organic Transition Plan will also allow a producer to access certain NRCS programs. These plans may include grazing as a com-ponent, but they may also be more broadly focused on transitioning to organic production. Completed CAP 138 Organic Transition plans may also be submitted by a farmer to their certifier to satisfy the natural resource and pasture management plan part of their OSP.

In the development of the Grazing Management Plan (CAP 110), a grazing planner from your local service center will visit your farm and observe it with you. They will provide recommendations based on what they are seeing and what they understand of your goals as a producer or landowner. The TSP will provide you with information about the various soil types in your fields, as well as the potential forage productivity you can anticipate. Together, you will evaluate each potential pasture, consider goals for animal units, and identify major plant species. Your TSP should be able to help you understand your pasture’s major plant species and how palatable they are to your preferred livestock species, how they would respond to graz-ing, and how plant productivity might be enhanced through specific managed grazing techniques.

Your TSP can also serve in a consultation capac-ity to offer advice to you, as a producer, as necessary. Unfortunately, many regions lack enough available TSPs to meet the demand of producers seeking NRCS support. You should plan to schedule a TSP who is certified to complete Grazing Management Plans as soon as you are approved through your local office. Some states where there’s a shortage of TSPs, the NRCS office can work with producers on a plan.

A producer can access EQIP assistance after completing one of these grazing or organic plans. Producers can access assistance with a 528 Prescribed Grazing conservation practice directly through the NRCS office.

As you can see, the goals of NRCS and the produc-ers working in organic systems have many potentials to overlap and support each other. Through working with your local NRCS service center, you may be able to access both technical and financial support that can further your operation’s goals.

Caleb Langworthy is an organic specialist with MOSES who is working to help USDA-NRCS agents understand organic production and how the agency’s programs can support organic producers.

Grazing Support — from page 1

| 5mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

Field days highlight organic farming practicesMOSES offers a dozen field days in 2019 to show

farmers how organic production works. These events are free unless noted. Register at mosesorganic.org/organic-field-days or call 888-90-MOSES.

Begin a Farmstead Micro-CreameryMay 23, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Cosmic Wheel Creamery | Clear Lake, Wis.

Learn how and why these successful CSA farmers established a micro-creamery and carved out a niche by making a sought-after product—artisanal cheeses. See how they manage their 20-cow herd to keep costs under control and create the most benefit for their farming system. The event includes lunch from Farm Table Restaurant, featuring Cosmic Wheel Cheese and other locally grown, seasonal food. This event is sponsored by Wisconsin Farmers Union.

Organic Weed ManagementJune 12, 5 to 8 p.m. | Big River Farms | Marine on St. Croix, Minn.

Learn strategies to control weeds—even invaders such as thistle and quackgrass—to grow high-quality organic vegetables. This field day is organized by Big River Farms with support from MOSES. Cost is $20.

Promote Soil Health with Small Grain/Legume RotationsJune 12, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Mapleton Community Center | Oconomowoc, Wis.

Explore how crop rotations with legumes, manure, and other organic-approved fertility inputs improve soil health and crop yields. Presenters include Sandy Syburg of Purple Cow Organics, and Gary Zimmer, founder of Midwestern BioAg. This is an OGRAIN event put on by the University of Wisconsin in part-nership with MOSES. Cost is $10 and includes lunch.

Grow & Mill Small Grains for Artisan BreadmakersJune 25, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. | Janie’s Farm | Danforth, Ill.

Harold and Ross Wilken farm more than 2,400 acres of certified organic grains. They will share how they successfully grow food-grade small grains and showcase The Mill at Janie’s Farm, their certified organic milling operation. This is an OGRAIN event put on by the University of Wisconsin in partnership with MOSES.

From Grain to Plate – Small Grains Field DayJune 30, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Meadowlark Organic Farm | Ridgeway, Wis.

Learn how to build rotations with small grains and how to access the food-grade grain market. This event, organized by Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, includes lunch and information for consumers about how they can help clean up the environment by sup-porting good farming practices.

Grow Row Crops for DistillingJuly 10, 1 to 4:30 p.m. | McHugh Farms | Onalaska, Wis.

Learn about organic growing techniques, crop rotation, and fertility management to grow the grains needed by artisan distillers. This is an OGRAIN event put on by the University of Wisconsin in partnership with MOSES.

Organic Row Crops in South DakotaAug. 1, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Johnson Farms | Madison, S.D.

Tour by bus a 2,800-acre organic farm, showcas-ing organic methods for growing corn and soybeans. Learn about weed management and soil-building strategies. MOSES sponsors this event, which is organized by Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society and includes lunch.

In Her Boots: Success Strategies from the Soil SistersAugust 2, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Riemer Family Farm | Brod-head, Wis.

This workshop features several farmers from the “Soil Sisters” group that hosts the annual farm tour weekend in southeast Wisconsin. (See the next listing for details.) The workshop will focus on how to raise a variety of livestock for meat as well as offer insights to help women get started in farming. This MOSES In

By Audrey Alwell

A portion of t-shirt sales will go to MOSES and Farmer Veteran Coalition

Learn more at gemplers.com/pages/locallygrown

Gempler’s is Proud to Partner with MOSES

Support farmers AND veteranswith Locally

Grown t-shirts!

gemplers.com • 800-382-8473Wisconsin Based Farm and Home Store

Her Boots workshop costs $25 and includes lunch.Soil Sisters WeekendAugust 2 – 4 | Southern Wisconsin

Take classes, savor farm-fresh goodies, and tour women-owned farms during this jam-packed, award-winning culinary event celebrating rural life in the farming communities of south central Wisconsin.

In Her Boots: Diversifying with Flowers, Pizza, and Summer CampsAugust 13, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Ladyfern Farm & Two Pony Garden | Long Lake, Minn.

Glean insights and inspiration from a trio of women farmers who run several businesses out of the same farm. This broad-based workshop includes tips on growing, harvesting, and arranging flowers, a look at on-farm conservation practices, plus great tips on ways to diversify farm income. This MOSES In Her Boots workshop costs $25 and includes lunch.

Cultivating Farm Resilience for a Changing ClimateAugust 16, 1 to 4:30 p.m. | Rosmann Family Farm | Harlan, Iowa

The Rosmanns, the 2018 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year, will highlight how they work small grains into their field crop rotations, use cover crops for rotational grazing, and discuss their farrow-to-finish swine operation. MOSES co-sponsors this Practical Farmers of Iowa field day.

Add Unusual Fruits to Your FarmAugust 21, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Blue Fruit Farm | Winona, Minn.

MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year, Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford, showcase how they grow all things blue. Focus is on unusual fruits, overhead netting, native plants, and mechanical weed control for orchards. Lunch will be provided.

Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field DaySept. 18 | Gwenyn Hill Organic Farm | Waukesha, Wis.

Learn about soil health and low-impact cultiva-tion and see a variety of tools for precise mechanical weed control in both crop and vegetable fields. See in-field demonstrations of specific weed management equipment. This event is organized by The Land Connection.

MADISON

SOIL SISTERS

August 2 - 4, 2019 www.soilsisterswi.org

3 Days • 5 Unique Components • 20+ FarmsCreate Your Own Farm and Culinary Adventure

Bus Tour of Farms Friday, August 2 & Sunday, August 4Enjoy a guided bus tour showcasing a diversity of women-owned farms. Ticketed event.

Green Acres WorkshopsFriday, August 2 to Sunday, August 4Learn how to launch your own farm, make cheese, spin fiber, preserve the harvest and much more! Ticketed events on various farms.

Taste of PlaceFriday, August 2A local food & drink celebration.

Farm-to-Table DinnerSaturday, August 3Farm-to-table dinner at Dorothy's Range in Blanchardville featuring heritage meats. Ticketed event.

Dine Fine at RestaurantsFriday, August 2 to Sunday, August 4Sample “locavore” specials throughout the weekend.

6 | May | June 2019 TM

Open-Pollinated Corn — from page 1

trialed had protein levels over 10% while the hybrid he grew had only 8.41%. He figured the increased protein in the OP corn would save $1.16 per 100 pounds of a 16% feed ration. (Read more at bit.ly/SARE-OPcorn.)

While grain yields of OP corn varieties, often 75-150 bu/acre, are generally lower than the very best hybrids, whole plant production can be competitive with many of the hybrids. Also, the quality of OP corn silage is often good, and the seed price of OP varieties can be very reasonable.

Growing for silage, especially on smaller farms, represents the bulk of the OP seed that is sold. Many of OP varieties grown in the field (Reid, Moore, Krug, Minnesota 13, Wapsie Valley, Rainbow Flint, Silver King, Bloody Butcher, etc.) are also very reasonable for silage, and there are more seeds of more varieties available in quantity today.

OP seed markets have been rediscovering colorful varieties from across the Americas and beyond. Varieties like Glass Gem have reminded many that corn can be stunningly lovely, and they have proven the value in saving seed. Varieties with red, purple, blue, or spotted seeds have also been making a splash in recent years. One of my favorite new varieties has little eagles on the tops of the seeds, and was bred in Montana.

A few of us breeders are releasing or will soon release new orange varieties that have ancestors from South America. Tasty flint types from Italy, some of them orange, too, are also finding places in the expanding list of available OP varieties.

Some of the colorful types of corn are high in antho-cyanins (blue colors like in blueberries) or carotenoids (yellow and orange colors like in squash and carrots), valuable phytonutrients. They make colorful dishes that delight the senses. Gardeners certainly appear eager to try more of these colorful varieties.

New MarketsThe local foods movement has opened up some new

market opportunities for OP varieties. In some loca-tions, folks have rediscovered eating corn as grits (mush, polenta, mamaliga) and cornbreads. Cornbread recipes now are not just buttery and sweet, but also savory to serve with soup, chili, or spicy salsa. Many traditional varieties, like the flints and flours once commonly grown across the northern U.S. and into Canada, are very flavorful when prepared in these ways, although many could use improvement for modern growing situations. Some of the Italian varieties that have made a big splash in these markets are late maturing, which is a problem up north. Along with the traditional varieties, I antici-pate seeing some new OP varieties developed to meet the needs of these specialty markets for high quality corn grown locally.

Another area where high quality is especially important is sweet corn. The immature grains we prize are sweet and delicious, and they need to be tender. The plants also need to be healthy and productive in the field. There are many traits to stack up when breeding up a good sweet corn. Who Gets Kissed is one recent

introduction that has been successful. It was developed here in the Midwest via Participatory Plant Breeding, a process where farmers take part in the selection and development of the variety with assistance from profes-sional breeders. (Read more on how they developed Who Gets Kissed at mosesorganic.org/organic-sweet-corn.)

A few years ago, Jonathon Spero bred and released Tophat and Tuxana, two OP varieties with the flavor, “mouth feel,” and productivity many of us look for in sweet corn. His newer projects include bicolor, orange, and multicolored varieties. Other sweet OP varieties coming along include earlier super sweet types and even a purple-seeded variety. Older classics like Golden Bantam, Ashworth, Aunt Mary’s, Sunshine, small-statured Yukon Chief, Orchard Baby, and more continue to flourish in the garden seed trade.

Popcorn remains a popular type of corn, and there are great OP varieties in the marketplace and among seed savers. Dakota Black is an old variety from North Dakota that has been showing itself to be productive in many locations. Some of the traditional popping types from Mexico, especially Chapalote varieties, are also moving into some catalogs and seed-saving projects further north. I have a multicolored variety that contin-ues to be selected for earliness and popping expansion, and there are others coming from other breeders, too. A beautiful thing about popcorn is that no matter the color of the seeds, it always pops in a familiar color.

Breeding IssuesThe introduction of transgenic hybrid varieties con-

tinues to be a huge problem for those who want OP and hybrid varieties with the natural genetic variation corn has had since it originated. Pollen flies a long way, some-times several miles. This has always been an issue for growing pure varieties, but now there is also the constant

irritation of having bacterial and other modified genes popping up in our seeds.

Several companies dropped well-known OP varieties a few years back when tests for transgene contamination kept coming back positive. However, tightened isolation protocols with distances of up to five miles, the use of more border rows, and regular testing for contamination in every seed lot, have allowed a small resurgence in OP seed availability. Tens of thousands of seed packets and many bushels of quality OP corn are still being sold annually with no contamination.

Gametophytic incompatibility is a trait where the silk on the corn plants only supports and guides the growth of pollen that also carries the same trait. This has helped with growing popcorn in areas with dented field corn. This trait has been a means of growing pure specialty corn varieties for many decades now. It is not absolute, but it adds an important tool for helping with isolation.

With support from the Organic Farming Research Foundation, some breeders have been developing and releasing lines with these traits in order to grow organic corn for feed and seed that is free of transgenic and other contamination. The genes being worked into new field corn varieties include Ga1s, from South American popcorn, and also Ga2s and Tcb1s, both from teosinte, the weedy relative of corn. Breeders across the country, public and private, are working these genes into new hybrids and OP varieties, including sweet corn and other specialty types that are now in the pipeline.

The field corn OP varieties with gametophytic incom-patibility (Ga1s) that have been publicly released in the last few seasons (Liberty, Rebellion, Revolt, Uprising) have been synthetic varieties. This term causes some negative reactions, but it is used in its original meaning as it has been used in corn breeding since the early 20th century. A synthetic variety is one that is bred up from a number of inbred parents that have all been proven to have good breeding value. Synthetics are OP varieties that are built up from many inbred lines, or synthesized, using old-style breeding and pollen-control techniques. They are natural corn that has just been bred very intensively, and they can be maintained like any other OP seed once in farmers’ hands. Unfortunately, farmers in the north have had few synthetic varieties to consider despite their common use elsewhere.

The theoretical limit for yield of synthetics is about 95% of good hybrids, but such a yield would be very hard to achieve, especially in high-yielding environments. For now, the grain yield of OP varieties is expected to continue to lag behind the very best single-cross hybrids, including under organic management.

It is the other values that OP corn varieties bring (independence, flavor, quality, low-cost seed, low-cost forage, tradition) that make them competitive and inter-esting for modern growers.

Frank Kutka has a doctorate in plant breeding and has worked with farmers across the country on small grain- and corn-breeding projects. He currently farms near Brussels, Wis

Makoshika, an open-pollinated variety of popcorn, has brilliantly colored seeds. There are also many varieties of multicolored sweet corn.

Photo by Frank Kutka

| 7mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

To CSA Tips on page 14

Successful CSA farmers share tips for cultivating loyal membersI’ve written before about our farm’s challenges with

the CSA model and the innovative ways I have tried to overcome declining membership numbers. (See the January|February 2018 Organic Broadcaster.) While I’ve seen reports of some small farms calling it quits with their CSAs, I am also well aware of farmers who have successful CSA models with sell-out shares and high retention rates. As I head into our farm’s 10th year of CSA, I wanted to learn from those farmers and glean from their experience and knowledge. I wanted to be inspired by their longevity. So, I reached out to four successful CSA farmers to get their perspectives.

One of the things I wanted to know was how they were adapting to changing consumer demand. How were they dealing with the pressure of those corpo-rate subscription boxes like Hello Fresh, Imperfect Produce, or Blue Apron? I’ve witnessed farmers com-bating this perceived competition by offering more “choice” options, market-style options, and flexible home delivery. Truthfully, I changed my own CSA in the last couple of years to meet that assumed need, despite a loss of profitability.

Surprisingly most of the farmers I spoke to aren’t changing to stay relevant in the CSA market. As an example, Kristen Kordet from Blue Moon Community Farm, near Madison, Wisconsin, has had a successful CSA for the last 16 years. She creates a model that’s functional for her farming systems and skills, and then attracts customers who want the same thing.

Corinna Bench, from Shared Legacy Farm near Toledo, Ohio, shared a similar approach. She and her husband, Kurt, have a 400-member program. True to the traditional CSA model, they select the items in the share each week based on what’s ready to be harvested. She says there are still plenty of consumers who want the traditional style she offers.

“We’re seeing a new market telling us what it wants,” Bench said. “The pendulum is swinging wide, and convenience and choice are getting more value. And that’s becoming some farmers’ opportunity. I say go for it! There’s still a customer that wants the tradi-tional style like mine, but they are a different kind of customer with different wants and needs and motiva-tions. The market is calling for both right now.”

One farmer who’s responding to the call for more choice is Lauren Rudersdorf. She runs Raleigh’s Hillside Farm with her husband, Kyle, in Evansville, Wisconsin. Over the last seven years of farming, they’ve added 11 different sizes and delivery options, including a free-choice market share. Rudersdorf believes consumers are trending towards smaller shares and less frequent deliveries, so they offer many opportunities to meet that demand despite the choice programs being less popular in her area. They are remaining flexible so they can quickly adapt to what-ever comes next.

So how do you know what your customers want? Ask them! The farmers I interviewed survey their

members at the end of the season, and many of them do it casually throughout the season, too. Truthfully, I have always shied away from surveying my members. The feedback is too hard to hear sometimes—it’s so tricky to please everyone. However, the survey is also a chance for the member to have a voice and that contributes to a sense of connection. Plus, you can use positive feedback to form customer testimonials to share as part of your marketing plan.

Considering the needs of your customers is vital to a successful CSA, but so is education. Annie and Zach Metzger own Laughing Earth Farm in Cropseyville, New York. They offer a traditional CSA model that provides vegetables and meat to families for 35 weeks. I respect Annie’s perspective on adapting to the changing demands of CSA.

“I am more interested in changing the consumer to fit my model than in changing my model to fit the consumer,” she said. Her marketing looks a little dif-ferent than most.

“We try to talk people out of joining instead of into joining,” Metzger explained. “We say, ‘Well, CSA isn’t really for you unless you already cook four nights a week or more. If you always choose a recipe and then go shopping for those ingredients, CSA might not be a great fit. It’s a better fit if you more often check the fridge and pantry and then create a recipe to fit.’”

Her CSA-member education focuses on cooking skills instead of recipes.

“We put a lot of emphasis on teaching people the basics of assembling a meal rather than just following a recipe,” she said. “I really view what I do as selling a lifestyle rather than a CSA share. I’m modeling for people how you can have a very busy life, two parents working full time at the family business, raising a child, being active community members, and still have time to make a nutritious home-crafted meal for 20 out of 21 meals a week.”

Education is the cornerstone of Bench’s CSA at Shared Legacy. Her private Facebook group, exclusive to her CSA members, is a model for other CSAs all over the world. She has made it her mission to teach farmers how to create a successful group of their own. (Check out www.mydigitalfarmer.com.)

She employs a community manager to be a coach in the Facebook group, communicating with members, creating recipes, posting unboxing videos, and work-ing on other education strategies. Bench also created a CSA Academy through Teachable, an online class platform. It’s free for her members and consists of veg-gie e-books, video tutorials, preservation, and simple cooking techniques. It also includes a mini-course called “The Roadmap to CSA Success” to support new members. She points to this extensive education as the reason her members feel less “veggie guilt” and waste little of their weekly shares.

Rudersdorf from Raleigh’s Hillside Farm also has a robust education component to her farm’s CSA. She

By Katie Bishop

offers a weekly newsletter as well as membership in the farm’s private Facebook group. She and her husband created a worker share program where they trade services with a food blogger who helps generate con-tent for the group. Rudersdorf also writes a blog, “The Leek and the Carrot,” with creative recipes (blueberry kohlrabi chicken salad anyone?) and stories from the farm. They also teach future members with an active and engaging social media presence.

Speaking of teaching future members, I wanted to share something Bench said about cultivating prospec-tive members. She said “I know how to cultivate leads, and I’m willing to be patient while I wait for them to warm up. And I’ve got such a strong customer base now, that I can lean into them and let them be my brand ambassadors, while they do a lot of referring and promotion for me. ”

Letting your satisfied customers do the talking is what Kordet from Blue Moon said contributes to her program selling out early, year after year.

“In the last five years, we have met our membership goal each year with a relatively high retention rate,” she said. “We do very little marketing, and by far our biggest source of new members is referrals from cur-rent members.”

All four of these farmers put forth considerable effort into connecting with members. I think this is so important to the success of a CSA. Consumers can get organic food labeled as “local” anywhere. The CSA

PrairiErth Farm CSA members choose the vegetables they want to fill their bag at this “Choice” pickup site.

Photo by Katie Bishop

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Organic Markets — from page 1

little sense of who grew it. Larger growers, who have adopted the USDA Organic label in order to sell whole-sale at higher prices, often lack long-term market power to maintain these premiums. Meanwhile, it continues to be a challenge to amass the capital required to invest in land and equipment at a scale required to meet wholesale demand, where prices are constrained.

While some supermarket shoppers seem content to trust a USDA Organic label without probing into the actual practices of farmers in other nations, many organic growers across the country are selling direct to their customers without the organic label. These grow-ers find that their buyers place little value on certifica-tion and instead buy from a farm they trust. This has resulted a rise in food items marketed as “non-certified but chemical free,” or “better than organic,” among others, and sold through direct channels. Without third-party certification, it’s up to the consumer to verify these claims.

Yet many organic farms that built their businesses by reaching out directly to consumers through mecha-nisms such as a CSA or farmers market sales now feel hampered by these relatively confined, direct markets. Some want to move into less labor-intensive wholesale markets. Consumers are experiencing direct-market fatigue, too—CSA renewal rates and farmers market sales have diminished across the country as shoppers turn back to supermarkets for convenience, lower prices, and year-round supply.

This dynamic and competitive food sector requires that farmers innovate to create new opportunities. One of the best models is Fifth Season Co-op in Viroqua, Wisconsin. Here a savvy core of experienced grow-ers reached out to Gunderson Hospital and Reinhart Foods, and asked workers to join them on the board of a multi-stakeholder co-op. In the absence of a public policy framework that creates supply management and fair pricing, this cluster of collaborators has created a system of their own.

This innovative approach was only possible because the community of Viroqua had built exceptional bonds of trust over the past five decades. Few communities across the U.S. have built such social connectivity.

On the direct sales side, community also is the core. Those farms that have built the strongest connection with their CSA members are the ones that report the best renewal rates. Similarly, those farms that have formed a personal bond with farmers market consumers are the most likely to sustain loyalty. At both larger and small scales, community-building is key to economic success.

Organic DairyNow, let’s look at the dairy industry. While the

organic produce industry is characterized by scattered farms, large and small, supplying retail and wholesale markets, the organic dairy trade is supported by larger firms that coordinate production and processing, selling milk and derivative products like butter and cheese primarily through wholesale distributors. One prime example is Organic Valley, a long-time sup-porter of the MOSES Conference.

The past few years have been increasingly dif-ficult for the dairy industry. Several new large-scale producers entered the market, expanding supply but depressing prices since overall demand is limited. Ironically, this expansion has occurred in part because of Organic Valley’s success in raising the pay price for milk. As this more lucrative market was created, con-ventional producers converted to organic production.

As the chart shows, Organic Valley’s pay price for milk peaked in 2015. In 2018 when supplies exceeded demand, Organic Valley made across-the-board reduc-tions rather than asking any farmers to leave the co-op.

Source: Organic Valley and media reports

Organic Valley has built its business by building community. This has allowed the co-op to flourish when times are good, and also seems to be critical to maintaining cohesion now that conditions are more trying. It offers special services to its 1,961 members such as research grants, technical assistance, and community-building activities, in addition to repre-senting them in the marketplace.

Organic Valley has maintained independence by funding itself, drawing upon member equity rather than taking on massive debt. When possible, the co-op has shared profits with its members. Farmers are engaged in business decisions and elect seven farmer-members to serve on the co-op board. The co-op’s system of supply management helps members know that prices will hold firm for at least a year.

As competition has ramped up, other firms have tried to entice Organic Valley farmers away from the co-op. Having a strong culture of community is prob-ably the most potent defense Organic Valley has to ride through these harsh conditions. Thus, for the intensely industrial and larger-scale national dairy industry, just as in smaller more scattered produce operations, build-ing community has been key to ensuring resiliency.

Organic Grain

We know of no national data sets that would inci-sively show the progression of the organic grain trade over the past few years, similar to those we showed for produce and dairy. The next chart shows organic grain sales for two recent years; the subsequent chart shows how much more profitable organic grains can be when compared to conventional. These data show quite starkly how much more profitable organic corn,

soybeans, and wheat are than their conventional and GMO counterparts.

The U.S. is a formidable producer of grains, serving as the world’s largest exporter of corn and second-largest exporter of soybeans. Overall, 40% of U.S. soybeans and 20% of corn is exported annually (USDA Economic Research Service, 2018). Yet U.S. growers have been slow to adopt organic practices. This means that imported corn made up 37% of the U.S. organic supply in 2017 (Mercaris 2017), and doubled from 2015 to 2016 (Jacqui Fatka, Farm Progress, July 17, 2017). The situation for organic soybeans was even more dire, with Mercaris reporting that 74% of U.S. organic soybeans supplied from 2014-2017 were imported. Imports have slowed since 2016, which could be due to softening demand or a weaker U.S. dollar.

The organic grain trade holds tremendous potential for community-level collaborations and relationships built on trust, transparency, and loyalty. In part, this is because grain, which is relatively easy to store, maintains its nutrient value for a longer time using fewer energy inputs. A second reason is that grain lends itself to three separate operations that complement each other: a farmer harvests grain, which can be milled into flour, which can then be baked into bread. Each adds value to the product in a community. This creates excellent opportunities for effective business clusters that help create a culture of community collaboration and engage diverse customers.

At MOSES Organic University in 2017, panelists Thor Oeschner of Oeschner Farms (Newfield, New York), Harold Wilken of Janie’s Farm (Danforth, Illinois), and John Wepking of Meadowlark Organics (Ridgeway, Wisconsin) talked about these types of collaborations. Oeschner mills heritage grains to order through his on-farm mill and has built a bread CSA. Wilken has 2,400 acres of organic grain production and has now built a mill on his farm. Wilken purchases from neigh-boring farms for the mill, selling high quality flour into the Chicago, St. Louis, and Ann Arbor-Detroit markets (full disclosure: Phillips Goldenberg represents Wilken in Michigan). The Wepking family is collaborating with Paul Bickford (Bickford Organics), to raise organic grains that they mill through a collaboration with Lonesome Stone Milling. The Wepkings also are pursu-ing a unique land transfer arrangement to gradually acquire Bickford’s farm.

These are privately owned firms in which the own-ers establish collaborative relationships. Each panelist spoke of the importance of building solid relationships of mutual trust, and operating in a highly transparent manner, as the foundation for these clusters to succeed.

Ken Meter, kmeter@crcworks.org, is with Crossroads Resource Center in Minneapolis. Megan Phillips Golden-berg, phillips.megan.e@gmail.com, is with New Growth Associates in Saline, Michigan.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2011, 2014

Chart by Megan Phillips Goldenberg, Relocalizing Niche Grains, 2016

| 9mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

All too often in the 24 years my wife, Dela, and I have practiced Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), we heard sad tales of specialty crop newcomers succumbing to farming risks. Like the time a shock-ing deluge sent melons floating out of a field all the way to the Mississippi River; and, the time a begin-ning farmer, excited by a string of 70-degree days in April, transplanted thousands of bedding plants that turned to blackened goo in early May with a plummet to 28 degrees and killing frost. Losses like these are heart-breaking.

In the early years of a farm, as you’re busy accumu-lating equipment and building infrastructure, there’s often nothing left to set aside to hedge against risk and ruin. Farming is, without doubt, risky business.

Little wonder America’s agricultural policymakers and private industry formulated crop insurance 81 years ago. Crop insurance has become an increasing focus of national farm policy in the past 20 years, according to the National Crop Insurance Services, which represents all 15 companies writing policies for U.S. agricultural producers. Last year, the Federal Crop Insurance Program covered 335 million acres—that’s 90% of the nation’s farmers, purchasing 1.1 million policies.

However, many specialty crop farmers—especially those farming organically—aren’t taking advantage of this protection. Part of the reason is that traditional insurance options don’t recognize the price premiums of organic production.

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) introduced Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) several years ago to help remedy this.

“RMA recognizes organic farming practices as good farming practices and continues to move forward in improving crop insurance coverage for organic producers and producers transitioning to organic pro-duction,” said Duane Voy, Director of RMA’s regional office in St. Paul, Minn. “We want farmers to be able to take advantage of the safety net that WFRP offers for organic producers, including price protection.”

RMA rolled out a dozen revisions and clarifica-tions to WFRP this year based on feedback from stakeholders, including organic producers. One of the major changes to the policy includes revised eligibility requirements for first-year insureds with less than five years of tax records who qualified as a Beginning Farmer and Rancher in the previous year.

“Talk to your local crop insurance agent for more details to see if WFRP will work for your operation,” Voy added.

Farm financial adviser Paul Dietmann said, “Risk management a la crop insurance for specialty crops is tough.” Dietmann is a co-author of the MOSES book Fearless Farm Finances and a senior lending officer at Compeer Financial, a member-owned, Farm Credit cooperative serving rural communities in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

By Tony Ends

Farmers take multi-pronged approach to build resilient specialty crop farms“The new Whole Farm Revenue crop insur-

ance policy is better than the AGR-Lite policy that it replaced, but it still hasn’t been widely used,” he acknowledged. “The challenge is that the program requires a cropping history that doesn’t match the way many small, diversified farms operate.” As alterna-tives, he suggests growers take Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage through USDA-FSA.

When he’s advising specialty crop farmers, Dietmann recommends additional risk management strategies such as adding a hoop house for a protected growing environment, adding irrigation and soil amendments, getting health insurance coverage through an ACA exchange, and sharing equipment with neighbors instead of personally taking on large capital investments.

Farmer Clare Hintz has practiced similar strategies to maximize gains and minimize losses on her farm in Herbster, Wis., near the southern shore of Lake Superior. She established Elsewhere Farm in 2001, after working full-time to save money to buy land. She earned a Ph.D. in sustainability education to give her-self a “fallback” career in case she gets injured or needs to get out of labor-intensive farming at some point.

“I was fortunate in my Ph.D. dissertation to inter-view 14 experienced women farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota about their persistence strategies in farming,” Hintz said. “Their advice also informed my financial risk management strategies.”

Most of these women said it took about 10 years for their farms to “gel,” growing from lots of experimenta-tion to a greater focus on what worked. During that time, they had off-farm income, a partner with off-farm income, or a backer who owned the farm, Hintz explained. She appreciated it when one woman told her, “Don’t expect your farm to carry you when you are just developing it. Give it room to grow first.”

Hintz followed a similar 10-year timeline, working full time off the farm until 2011 to finance the farm’s infrastructure. She now works part-time in the winter editing an open-source academic journal and mentor-ing graduate students through distance learning.

“These jobs provide about half of my basic living expenses for the year,” she explained. “They provide a level of financial resiliency as well as a change of pace and skills.

Hintz also likes having a mix of enterprises on her farm. Her diversified operation includes market gar-dens, perennial fruits, laying hens, and pork, marketed through winter and summer CSAs, a local farmers market, and some wholesale accounts.

“One of my overarching design strategies on the farm is to have enough enterprises that my risk from any of them is cushioned by the others, whether it’s in the context of crop failure, slower markets, or monthly cash flow needs,” she explained. “For instance, having pork for sale gives me some cushion against flooding

damage in my market gardens—something that I now have to manage with climate change.”

She also has developed a business plan that spreads her workload throughout the year with a winter CSA out of her greenhouse and storage.

“The wholesale markets give me consistent cash through the main growing season while the CSA shares give me a cash influx at otherwise slow times of the year,” she said. When she started farming, she researched what she wanted to grow, what it would cost to produce, and what she would need to charge.

“Even though all these numbers have changed with experience, my up-front legwork gave me a solid place to start,” she added. Hintz noted that better tools have been developed in recent years to help with these deci-sions, such as the “Fruit and Nut Compass” and the “Veggie Compass” from the University of Wisconsin Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.

“All of my enterprises and markets support each other biologically as well as financially, and it’s important to make sure they are doing both.” When she expanded her laying hen flock to sell more eggs, she found it wasn’t economical. However, she wanted to keep the chickens since they provide important fertility and pest control in her orchards. Her solution was to scale back the flock to provide enough eggs just for her CSA members, “which gives me an important niche in the competitive CSA market here,” she added.

She was able to cut back on her egg enterprise with-out financial loss because she had made a conscious decision to only have a minimal amount of equipment.

“My remaining chickens have a very comfy winter coop, but I wasn’t stuck having to sell elaborate water-ing systems, an egg turner, automatic egg washer, etc. when I downsized.”

To Resilient Specialty Crop Farms on page 14

Clare Hintz raises hogs and laying hens in addition to vegetables and fruit. The livestock contribute to soil fertility and pest control.

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A hoop house—or high tunnel, if you prefer—can be an important addition to a diverse farm operation, providing a protected growing environment and extending the growing season. At PrairiErth Farm, we’ve constructed six hoop houses over the past 20 or so years; the latest one—a 30 x 150—we built just this spring. We’re still using all of them.

Our hoop houses have helped us produce and market fresh fruits and vegetables (and retain good employees) year round—even in Illinois, where win-ters can be relatively snowy and cold. If you happen to live in a part of the country where winter tends to drag on, and on, and on, a hoop house can be both a good investment and good for your spirits. There’s some-thing about walking out of the house on yet another bitter winter morning, face set against the sharp air, crunching through the snow, and stepping into a hoop house with green crops and that sweet earthy smell of spring! There’s definitely a “magic-factor” to be considered.

To help you decide if a hoop house might work on your farm, consider these insights harvested over the years on our farm.

with a wide variety of products. So the investment made in obtaining a customer—whether it’s an indi-vidual, store, or restaurant—is more rewarding by having a wide variety of products to offer them.

Financial assistance can be obtained through farmer grant programs such as SARE or local foundations, or through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s EQIP initiative. We’ve found that, even without finan-cial assistance, hoop houses can have a short payback period of two or three years if managed intensely.

Site SelectionYou’ll need to provide electrical service and water,

and you’ll be checking it frequently, especially during early spring and late fall, so easy access is important. About mid-January, I start wishing the house was directly connected to one of our hoop houses.

Many counties don’t require a building permit, but it’s a good idea to check. Site the hoop house far enough from trees so they won’t shade or fall on it.

Orientation is also a consideration. Generally, if you live above 40 degrees N latitude, orient the length of an individual structure east to west. If below 40 degrees, orient north to south. If you happen to live right on 40 degrees N as we do in central Illinois, it really doesn’t matter. (If you are planning multiple gutter connected structures, orient north to south at all latitudes. This orientation avoids the shadow that

would occur from the structure just to the south of it in an east-west layout.)

Hoop House TypesThere are many fine companies offering a wide

array of designs and options. Peruse their websites, speak with representatives of different companies, and ask if there are examples of their products in use near you. Time spent visiting with other farmers about their hoop houses and how they use them is invaluable!

Essentially, there are two main structural designs for high tunnels: Quonset and Gothic. Quonset structures have a round roof with slightly shorter and curved sidewalls, while Gothic structures have a pointed peak (A-frame) with additional supports across the peak. Gothic structures tend to shed snow and ice better than Quonset structures. Gothic struc-tures also allow for a peak or gable vent to be added to the structure which facilitates air movement and ventilation. We have built both types, and have found Quonset structures to be less expensive.

Doors are hinged on 4x4 posts set 4 feet in the ground. In areas subject to high winds and thunder-storm wind bursts, strong end walls are extremely important. Most of the damaged hoop houses I’ve seen had weak end walls.

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Hoop houses offer many benefits to diverse market farmBy Dave Bishop

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To Hoop Houses next page

Cool-season salad mix fills one of the hoop houses at PrairiErth Farm in Illinois.

Value, Cost, PaybackThe first consideration is exactly how this invest-

ment will fit into the operation as a whole. For us, hoop houses make it possible to supply our customers with perishable greens like salad mix, spinach, or kale year round to go with the potatoes, carrots, and other veg-gies we fall harvest and store. Since we also produce grains and livestock, we can provide those customers

Gothic hoop houses have additional roof support structures that can hold hanging fans or plant trellises.

All photos by PrairiErth Farm

Fencing zip-tied to the poles keeps rabbits and chickens from feasting on the salad buffet when the sides are raised.

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Hoop Houses — from previous page

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Site PreparationYou can’t tell if a site is level by just looking at it. Get

a transit or, if you’re not an experienced land contractor, hire one to prepare a level site and install proper drain-age—it’s way cheaper than “fixing it” after the fact.

Once the site is leveled and proper drainage is installed, it’s critical to get the ground stakes installed (setting them in concrete isn’t a bad idea) at the correct elevation and positioned so the building is square. If you don’t have experience with that sort of thing, hire someone who does. If the foundation isn’t right, noth-ing else will be either. Once that’s done, assembling the frame is pretty straightforward.

Intense ManagementTo get the most value from the investment, a hoop

house must be intensely managed—that means some-one has to be present on a daily basis. That’s generally not a problem for farmers like us who raise livestock that also require daily attention.

Here in central Illinois, we begin planting (or trans-planting) cool season crops like salad mix and spinach in late February. By mid-April, tomato starts replace the harvested early crop, or can be planted directly into remaining cool season crops. They’re usually gone before the larger warm season plants can shade them out. In October, warm-season crops are replaced with a new planting of cool-season crops for harvest through-out late fall and winter.

To start transplants, we put seeded flats in a well-insulated germination chamber kept at 85 degrees for

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two or three days. Then we set out the flats on grow tables. Beneath the black cover on the grow tables, rows of tubes circulate hot water to keep the soil temperature in the flats ideal for plant growth. We have a forced air furnace for extreme temperatures or night freezes when tomato seedlings are vulnerable.

We use plenty of fans to keep air circu-lating, to maintain an even temperature throughout the building, and to “harden off” tender plants before transplanting.

Side curtains provide the primary means of temperature control and require frequent monitoring, especially during early spring and late fall. Roll-up (and down) options include manual hand cranks, mechanized systems, and fully

automated systems that are controlled by a thermostat inside the hoop house.

Fans are also important, especially during hot, humid, and still mid-summer conditions when micro-climates are likely to develop. Horizontal air movement is needed to maintain a uniform temperature inside the structure and to reduce the incidence of foliar disease.

The side curtains tend to wear out before the roof from the frequent rolling up and down. We use a double channel hip rail mounted 5 feet above the ground to secure the plastic. This allows the lower curtain to be replaced independently of the roof.

The plastic on our hoop houses lasts about six years. Plastic has come a long way in terms of durabil-ity against photodegradation. It’s the whipping from wind and rain that really beats it up. Plastic naturally shrinks as it cools and stretches as it warms. The only

way to keep it taut is with an inflator. Plastic is expen-sive—invest in a good inflator to keep your plastic in good shape so it lasts as long as possible.

Just as outdoors, it is the combination of plants and animals on the land that creates regenerative farming systems. We graze broilers on cover crops in our hoop houses as part of the rotation. This practice helps restore fertility and break up pest and disease cycles.

Trial RunRather than investing in an expensive hoop house

right out of the gate, cash-strapped beginning farmers could get creative and build something out of supplies on hand. That’s what we did for our very first hoop house some 20 years ago. We were experimenting with a vegetable crop enterprise and direct marketing. We made a half-acre commitment, growing mostly toma-toes and sweet corn. We cobbled together a 10x12-foot wood frame with cattle panel ends and a roof covered with cheap plastic. The purpose of this mini hoop house was to start tomato plants. It worked very well, except for the plastic, which disintegrated in a few months. We’re still using that structure today as a storage shed (with a newer plastic covering).

The Bishops, the 2017 MOSES Organic Farmers of the Year, farm at PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Illinois. Farmers interested in hoop house production/construction can email dave@prairierthfarm.com.

This hoop house features a hot water root zone heating system under the grow tables and a heated germination chamber. The farm’s hoop houses are covered with 2 layers of 6 mil poly.

Inflator fans keep the plastic taut so it doesn’t whip in the wind, a sure way to shorten the life of the plastic.

12 | May | June 2019 TM

The Drought Resilient Farm By Dale Strickler

200 pages | 2019 | Storey | $24.95 Paperback

From the cover: Improve Your Soil’s Ability to Hold and Supply Moisture for Plants; Maintain Feed and Drinking Water for Livestock when Rainfall is Limited; Redesign Agricultural Systems to Fit Semi-Arid Climates

As a farmer it’s hard to not think about the weather. What’s the temperature going to be? Is it going to rain? Is it going to be clear for a stretch? Will we ever get any rain? Will the rain ever stop? Our lives revolve around the weather, more specifically precipitation, otherwise known as water, our lifeline as farmers to grow crops and raise livestock.

The book, The Drought Resilient Farm, by Dale Strickler, covers a number of approaches to aid farm-ers in maximizing moisture in their soil to benefit the crops, pastures, and livestock on their farms. This is about maximizing moisture in good way, not too much and not too little, as in the words of Goldilocks. The author succinctly summarizes his concepts in the book as: Get it (water) in, keep it in (the soil), and get it out (for crops/livestock).

Throughout the book Strickler applies his training and work as an agronomist and experience as a farmer. He also draws on data from university research and studies to support the farming practices outlined in the book, as well as reasonings to not pursue other practices. His desire to share his work stems from his own experience farming, where he transitioned the farm he purchased from “typical” practices (conven-tionally tilled, flood-irrigated and in a corn-soybean rotation) to using no till, subsurface drip tape, cover crops, and perennial plantings. Based on his own cal-culations he estimated that in 2004 his most effective root zone held about 3 inches of available moisture. Eleven years later with the prior mentioned manage-ment changes he estimates this root zone to hold over 12 inches of available moisture. The evolution of his farm and his research on these alternative farming practices led to the development of this very book.

The book begins with a broad a history of drought

in American agriculture, while addressing how past and even current farming practices have created the right combination of factors to magnify the impact of droughts on farms. Throughout the book the author covers what’s considered as typical farming practices and why those approaches might not be the best route for our soil in terms of holding moisture, keeping it and using it on our farms. Strickler then provides

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Book explains how to manage water on the farm for long-term resilience

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suggestions on innovative solutions for readers to help their own farms become drought resistant.

The book is divided into three parts: 1. Creating a moisture-efficient soil: Covering how

to get more water into your soil, how to keep the water in the soil longer, and how to help plants get more water out of your soil.

2. Providing for livestock: Covers how to create water supply options for livestock, how to create drought-tolerant pastures, how to provide emergency forage in a drought, and how to make decisions on live-stock during and after a drought.

3. Looking to the future: Covers moisture-efficient agriculture practices for semi-arid regions; and includes a checklist of action items to help make your own farm more drought resistant. Overall the book is an easy read. It’s well written

to explain the scientific process behind the farming practices, yet simple enough for someone without a lot of science background to understand. It features many visuals, including great photography, informational illustrations, and data charts. There’s also a list of fur-ther resources, recommended reading and films, and glossary of terms. Strickler summarizes the book’s content in a checklist format, so farmers can start to put the practices into action on their own farm. The checklist touches on:

• Improving the soil• Feeding livestock practices• Managing the landscape on your farm• Managing pasture; and• Coping during a drought.The Drought Resilient Farm is a book that serves

as a guide to help farmers manage moisture on their own farms. It has enough information, supplemented with science and research, to understand the con-cepts of a new practice, whether that be using cover crops, implementing a livestock watering system or another practice. It gets the farmer started in the right direction to seek out more information in a specific practice to use on his or her farm so it is as drought resistant as possible.

Leslie Svacina owns Cylon Rolling Acres in Deer Park,Wis. She raises meat goats on pasture.

| 13mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

Researchers evaluate pastured broilers as means to reduce flies in organic dairy pasturesBy Hannah Phillips, Roger Moon, Ulrike Sorge, & Bradley Heins

The face fly (Musca autumnalis), horn fly (Haematobia irritans), and stable fly (Stomoxys calci-trans) are common pests on pasture-based dairy farms. These flies can transmit diseases and cause cows to exhibit an increase in fly avoidance behaviors—head throws, tail swishes, foot stomps, and crowding—which can decrease the time spent grazing and lower milk production. Thus, flies are a nuisance to both cattle and humans.

To prevent flies, producers commonly use organic-approved repellents. However, repellents are only temporarily effective after topical application on the cow. The most effective method of fly control is to break their life cycle and reduce the population to below the pest level.

Adult female flies lay their eggs in fresh cow manure. The eggs hatch and the maggots develop into larvae, which feast on the nutrient-rich manure inside the safety of the manure pat. Once the larvae mature, they burrow under the manure pats to pupate and finish developing into adult flies. The cycle from egg to adult fly takes about 10 to 20 days.

Fly larvae may sound like a repulsive snack to humans; however, the high protein content and digest-ibility of fly larvae makes it a potential excellent addi-tion to the broiler chicken diet. Some producers believe that chickens will consume fly larvae from cow manure pats, and that grazing chickens and dairy cattle in suc-cession is an effective method of fly control. However, no scientific studies have determined whether chickens can successfully reduce the number of flies that emerge from cow manure. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine if broiler chickens reduce the number of fly larvae from cow manure pats on pasture.

Experiment The experiment was conducted from June to

August 2018 at the West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC) in Morris, Minnesota. The WCROC has a 250-cow research dairy farm consisting of a conventional low-input herd and an organic-certified seasonal grazing herd.

Fresh manure from the organic grazing herd was collected to form one-liter pats. The manure pats were planted with 100 lab-raised face fly maggots each. The pats (n = 33) were randomly assigned to be raised in the following treatment groups: 1) greenhouse in buckets with sand substrate (environmental control; n = 3); 2) pasture without broilers (pasture control; n = 10); 3) pasture with broilers at 25 ft2 per bird (low stocking density; n = 10); and, 4) pasture with broilers at 5 ft2 per bird (high stocking density; n = 10).

Fifty mixed-sex Freedom Rangers (Welp Hatchery, Bancroft, Iowa) were raised in a brooder until 4 weeks of age. At 4 weeks of age, broilers were randomly assigned to one of the two broiler stocking density treatment groups (25 birds per pen), and were housed in a floorless mobile shelter divided into two equally

sized areas with outdoor pasture access respective to their stocking density treatment group. When the birds were approximately 7 weeks of age, the manure pats were randomly placed in the outdoor pasture space of their pens 1 to 3 feet apart. Broilers (approxi-mately 4.3 lbs per bird) had pasture access from dawn to dusk (approximately 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and were fed once nightly (0.33 lbs per bird [20% crude protein]).

Behavior observations were recorded on the sec-ond and third replicates of the study twice daily in the morning (between 9 and 11 a.m.) and afternoon (between 1 and 5 p.m.) for the duration of the study. Prior to each behavior observation, the number of birds in the outdoor pasture space was recorded. Behaviors were recorded in continuous one-minute observations on 10 identified focal birds per pen (i.e., the same birds were recorded at each observation using Animal Behaviour Pro© app). Behavioral states were recorded as durations and behavioral events were recorded as binary outcomes. The manure pats were exposed to their treatments until the larvae matured (3 to 4 days). The study was concluded in three complete replicates using a total of 99 manure pats and 150 broiler chickens.

Results Broilers spent their time sitting awake (54 ± 7.6%),

sleeping (21 ± 5.5%), or upright (24 ± 5.6%, either standing, walking, or running. The most performed behavioral event was preening (28 ± 9.2% of birds) followed by foraging (21 ± 5.7% of birds). These behavior results suggest that broilers spent the major-ity of their time resting. Only 14 ± 9.6% of the birds were observed in the outdoor pasture space where the manure pats were placed. However, when broilers were actively foraging in the pasture they were not observed foraging specifically in manure pats.

Figure 1. Raw data and trend line showing the percent of birds in their outdoor pasture in relation to heat index

Low pasture use may be partially explained by heat index (Figure 1). The optimum temperature that maximizes pasture ranging has been described around 62 degrees Fahrenheit for laying hens (Hegelund et al., 2005). As described in previous studies, broilers prefer

shade to range (i.e., tree cover, tall grasses, and shade structures) (Dawkins et al., 2003; Fanatico et al., 2016; Stadig et al., 2017). Therefore, it was not surprising that as heat index increased, birds spent more time inside the mobile shelter protected from the heat of the sun.

The broilers had no effect on the number of pupae recovered from the manure pats compared to the pas-ture control group in this study (Figure 2). The overall recovery of pupae from pasture treatments (pasture control, low-density broilers, and high-density broil-ers) was quite low compared to the pats raised in the greenhouse (environmental control).

Future studies using a similar experimental meth-odology should consider planting manure pats with greater than 100 maggots to ensure a higher recovery and should explore ways to increase the duration that birds are exposed to the manure pats into the pupae stage of flies. Furthermore, layer hens should be con-sidered in future studies since they are likely better suited for reducing flies because of their older age and increased experience foraging.

ConclusionsHot weather negatively affected pasture ranging

and foraging behaviors necessary to reduce flies on pasture. Therefore, the broilers had no impact on the number of fly larvae in manure pats in this study. Previous knowledge and results from the current experiment suggest that producers can maximize ranging and foraging behaviors by providing broilers shade in their ranging environment, especially when it is hot. Fly management for grazing dairy herds is dif-ficult to address using only one strategy. Therefore, a multifactorial approach should be used to reduce flies on the farm. More information on fly management can be found on the WCROC website: https://wcroc.cfans.umn.edu/organic-dairy.

Hannah Phillips is a University of Minnesota (UMN) graduate student in animal science. Roger Moon is in UMN’s entomology department. Ulrike Sorge is with Bavarian Animal Health Services in Poing, Germany. Bradley Heins is in UMN’s department of animal science.

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Figure 2. Percent of face fly pupae recovered from manure pats between treatment groups

Book explains how to manage water on the farm for long-term resilience

14 | May | June 2019 TM

Resilient Specialty Crop Farms — from page 9

customer is paying for the experience, transparency, and the connection to the farmer. The personal con-nection to the land where the food is grown is signifi-cant, if only because of the corporate food industry’s inability to duplicate it.

There are a couple of ways to approach the creation of this farmer-member connection. Both Kordet from Blue Moon and Metzger from Laughing Earth have their CSA pickup exclusively on the farm. They create green space for the families to interact with each other or play areas for the kids. There are u-pick gardens for herbs, flowers, and cherry tomatoes.

“Having the farm as a community space and center of the CSA has been important to me from the begin-ning,” Kordet explained. “The CSA is structured to

CSA Tips — from page 7

provide that experience.” However, if you’re like me, your farm might not be

close enough to your community for people to make the trip out. Utilizing social media, videos, and photos helps to create the experience your members crave. Also, being present at the CSA pickups is popular among many of these farmers.

The most important takeaway from my discussions with these farmers is to focus on the community of members. It’s not about the financial support they provide. It’s not about the soil and the 60 different varieties of produce we grow. While those are essential parts of the CSA model, it must revolve around the community of consumers we’re serving.

“Farmers need to remember that customers are in a relationship with our brand, and like any relationship, you have to tend it, or it dies,” Bench explained. “If we don’t grow with them and continue to find new ways to challenge them and excite them, then they will sense they are not important and will lose interest. We can’t just run CSAs the same way we always did 10 years ago. It’s not ‘rinse and repeat.’ No business can survive with that mentality. We always have to be innovating and adjusting to the market, growing with our customers, finding new ways to push them, surprise them, serve them, and sincerely engage with them.”

Katie Bishop runs the CSA for PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Illinois.

While her overall risk strategies have insulated her business, she has made her own share of “newbie mistakes,” Hintz admitted.

“I planted 350 dwarf apple trees (16 varieties) one spring early in my career to get the volume tree discount,” she recalled. “In the next 10 years, I learned that larger-sized, more hardy trees make more sense for my system and that not all varieties I planted work well on my land. If I were to do it over, I might first plant a quarter as many trees and four times as many varieties to test out what would work the best.

“I’ve employed this lesson with all the subsequent shrub fruit I’ve added to my system: buying as many different varieties as I can get my hands on, testing them out, and then propagating them to scale up.”

Glen Kadelbach, who farms with his wife, Stephanie, near Hutchinson, Minn., takes a similar approach to manage risk—diversification. They also protect their operation with crop insurance.

The Kadelbachs turned to organic farming in 2008 after watching a loved one who had practiced con-ventional production die of cancer. They shifted the 300-acre farm away from commodity crops to canning crops, such as sweet corn and sweet peas; seed produc-tion of small grains like rye; and, food-grade soybeans and edible beans.

Learning, experimenting, tinkering, and strategiz-ing suit Kadelbach. He experimented with hemp pro-duction last year but said it didn’t do well so he won’t

grow it this year.“You can’t be afraid to try new enterprises,”

Kadelbach explained. “You have to take some risks; you’ve got to think outside the barn.”

A trial that did go well on his farm last season was mushroom production, which Kadelbach managed in a barn he’d not been utilizing. He transformed the barn into an efficient production space and produced several mushroom varieties that he sold mainly in farmers markets, but also to a couple of restaurants.

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“It went really well,” he said. He stopped produc-tion for the winter to avoid the need to heat the barn with propane over the winter.

“I think If I could have focused completely on mushrooms, I could have continued over winter,” he said. “The building was about a third full; if it had been full, it probably would have been profitable over winter.”

Kadelbach also tried dried beans and managed again with study and investment of time and effort to produce well in volume, yet he found most markets he approached were already loyal to established produc-ers. He’s since located a prospect and will resume dried bean production this year.

He’s also trying his hand at specialized, multi-row flamer fabrication, building one off a neighbor’s model, but designing his own burners. He has Computer Assisted Design skills and a neighbor who is a help-ful, retired engineer. Kadelbach hopes to put his first design to the test flaming weeds this growing season.

“You’ve got to go through some learning with any crop or enterprise, and it’s going to cost a little bit getting started, but you have to try,” he said of his multi-pronged approach to farming. “There are a lot of niche markets out there. You’ve just got to figure out what you would like to try and work toward it.”

Tony Ends and his wife, Dela, own Scotch Hill Farm, a certified organic specialty crop farm near Janesville, Wis.

To maintain a resilient farm, Clare Hintz not only has diverse enterprises, but also builds in varietal diversity. She has selected fruits so that there will always be something ripe for her CSA members.

Photo by Clare Hintz

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| 15mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

Team approach needed to address lack of meat processorsBy Lisa Kivirist

Are you frustrated with the lack of local meat pro-cessing facilities near your farm? Do you have a need for specialty processing like aged curing and services not offered by typical facilities? You’re not alone. While there definitely is an increasing market for heritage meats, the challenge throughout the Midwest and the country remains a lack of local meat processing facili-ties, particularly butchers that can process small-scale, artisanal meats that need traditional techniques like dry curing or Charcuterie.

This lack of processors burdened April Prusia of Dorothy’s Range, a heritage hog farm in Blanchardville, Wisconsin. “It seemed like every couple of months there would be a long discussion on our local women in sustainable agriculture listserv about everyone’s frustration with lack of processing options, from how long you had to wait for an appoint-ment to the fact that various fillers like corn syrup and MSG and other GMO ingredients were added in without our knowledge,” Prusia lamented. “Eventually I realized we needed to take this beyond talk to action if anything was going to change.”

Prusia formed a team with other women farmers, including Betty Anderson of the Old Smith Place and Bethany Storm of the Little Red Home(Stead). Together they applied for and received a North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research Education (SARE) Farmer Rancher grant to assess the demand and feasibility of a federally licensed mobile slaughtering facility in south central Wisconsin. The goal of this project, as with all Farmer Rancher grant projects, is to develop learnings and insight that can be publicly shared so all of us in the sustainable agriculture com-munity can benefit.

“We felt the challenges we were struggling with locally were issues that other farmers felt, too, particu-larly women as more of us are raising animals,” Prusia explained. The team’s project, “Developing a Woman Farmer Butchering and Meat Processing Cooperative Plan for Southern Wisconsin,” assesses what it would take to start a cooperatively owned, federally licensed and woman-farmer led mobile slaughtering unit /retail butcher establishment in south central Wisconsin.

In that collaborative community spirit of sustain-able agriculture, Prusia and her team shared five les-sons they harvested in the process that might inspire you to take action where you live if you struggle with the same barriers.

1. Gather kindred farmers

With a dose of strategy, you probably could form a team of other farmers like Prusia did in your local community who share your motivation to dig into a challenge and find solutions.

“Our team brought a diverse set of skills to this project,” said Betty Anderson of The Old Smith Place, where she raises cattle, goats, and chickens, and also produces various high-acid canned items under

Wisconsin’s cottage food law. “April drives the big picture vision especially with her existing industry contacts to the project, Bethany adds in her writing skills along with a science background, and I bring my bookkeeping back-ground and organizational skill set.”

When you have such a team and an identified problem, consider applying for a North Central SARE Farmer Rancher Grant, which can be for up to $27,000 for a group of three or more farmer team members. The call for proposals will officially come out in August with propos-als due early December and funding decisions made in February. The Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI) offers free grant advising resource to help you in developing your idea and application.

“SARE Farmer Rancher grants provide opportuni-ties for farmers to research challenging issues and find solutions that can then be helpful to other farmers,” explained Beth Nelson, Director of Research and Education Programs for North Central SARE, which covers the 12-state Midwest region. “This project is a great example of how farmers coming together to creatively and collaboratively solve a problem and share information adds up to a stronger future for sustainable agriculture.”

2. Assess current resources

“Busy farmers don’t need to recreate the wheel,” Prusia advised. “The first step for us involved tak-ing inventory of what information and ideas already existed.” This initially involved discussions with any-one involved with meat—from farmers to processors to consumers.

“Start the conversation with your community and chances are you are not the only one with needs who wants a project like this to move forward,” recom-mended Bethany Storm of The Little Red Home(Stead), where she raises goats, sheep, and pigs, and a variety of perennial food crops. “People in all walks of rural life understand, are interested in what you are struggling with and have resources to help—more than I ever realized at first.

“I have had conversations about this subject with a wide range of people, with parents and teachers at my kids’ school, with people I work with on town board

and even my vet,” Storm said. “I learned everyone who raises animals, both big farmers and small, want more options. The big producers always process a few animals for themselves or for direct sale to customers even if the majority of their production animals end up at an equity barn for sale. And, small farmers can’t keep in business without local processors.”

Another initial step involved a needs assessment of area farmers. Prusia’s team surveyed producers in the area to learn about their needs the current facilities that were available.

“Our survey confirmed unmet demand from local farmers for meat processing, in particular, a facility that specializes in no-stress kill, custom cut or artisan-cured meats,” Prusia added.

3. Stay open-mindedTaking the time to really study a barrier can bring

out new perspectives, providing one keeps an open mind, Prusia said.

“This project motivated me to be much more understanding and sensitive to processors because I learned that they, too, have a heap of regulation pres-sures and rules they need to adhere to,” Prusia admit-ted. She feels too often farmers raising animals blame the processor for hurdles, but her team now realizes all players involved have challenges. “I am actually now a vocal advocate for and defend butchers because I better understand their situation and know we are all on the same team.”

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April Prusia raises heritage breed hogs. Discouraged by the lack of specialty meat processors in southern Wisconsin near her farm, she formed a team of women farmers and pursued a grant to change the landscape.

16 | May | June 2019 TM

4. Get creative with solutionsWhen Prusia, Anderson, and Storm started this

project, they saw it from the farmer lens of simply needing more processing facilities. However, in talk-ing to processors and researching things deeper, they realized a core problem rooted in lack of training for butchers.

“Butchering is exceptionally hard work both physically and mentally,” Prusia explained. “It needs proper training and resources which we simply don’t have today, which leads to a constant struggle for processors to find qualified employees.”

“Butchering has also really lost a reputation of importance in our society,” Anderson said. “It used to

be every town had a butcher and that was a position of honor.”

These insights led the team to realize a fundamen-tal solution rests in more formal butchering training programs, especially to encourage more women in this field. As the number of women farmers continues to grow as the recent Census of Agriculture proved with an increase of over 26 percent in the number of female farmers, much opportunity exists for parallel growth in female butchers.

5. Share your learnings

“SARE Farmer Rancher projects like ours reflect that core collaborative spirit of our sustainable and

Meat Processing Team — from page 15

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organic agriculture community in our eagerness to share our learnings with each other,” Storm said. “With transparency and a commitment to supporting each other to succeed, we all win.”

A final project report will be published on the North Central SARE website, which provides access to over 6,500 such reports from SARE-funded initiatives throughout the country.

The trio also hosted a “Women in Meat Meet-Up” at the last MOSES Organic Farming Conference, which gathered a packed room of other women shar-ing similar struggles. Anderson will be at the MOSES In Her Boots workshop Aug. 2, 2019, at Riemer Family Farm in Brodhead, Wisconsin, to answer questions and talk about the project as well.

Interestingly, SARE Farmer Rancher projects like this one often push farmers to take friendships to a business relationship, which can prove challenging but ultimately very rewarding. Prusia, Anderson, and Storm all live near each other in Green County and often cross paths via various community connections and local women in sustainable agriculture potlucks. But this was the first situation where the trio moved from social to professional, a process they say planted seeds for future endeavors.

“Each woman on our team has different insights and talents and a slightly different way of looking at a problem, which helps tremendously,” Prusia summed up. “More opportunities for farmers to collaboratively pool knowledge and passion to solve a shared barrier will be such an asset to our sustainable and organic agriculture community.”

Lisa Kivirist coordinates the In Her Boots program for MOSES. She is also an author. Her latest book is “Soil Sisters: A Toolkit for Women Farmers.”

| 17mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

NEWS BRIEFS

MOSES Annual ReportCurious what we do when

we’re not planning the annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference? Take a look at our 2018 annual report to see the impact of our year-round work. Kudos to our awesome supporters and funders for helping us encourage farmers’ success! See mosesorganic.org/annual-reports.

Women in Sustainable Ag ConferenceMOSES hosts the bi-annual

Women in Sustainable Ag Conference this fall for women involved in farming, food system work, and ag policy. The event will take place Oct. 17-19 at the InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront hotel in St. Paul, Minn. Day 1 includes half-day intensives and tours. The Women, Food and Ag Network (WFAN) will coordinate the Leadership and Advocacy Track in place of the organization’s annual conference.

There’s still room for a few additional workshop presentations. Submit suggestions or proposals online at mosesorganic.org/wisa-conference by May 27. Registration will open Aug. 1.

In Her Boots PodcastThe MOSES “In Her

Boots” podcast currently features interviews with Hannah Breckbill of Humble Hands Harvest near Decorah, Iowa. Breckbill has a mix of

livestock (grass-finished sheep and pastured hogs) plus organic vegetables, and fruit and nut trees.

New podcast episodes post every Friday. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, or listen at mosesorganic.org/in-her-boots-podcast.

Organic Resource DirectoryThe 11th edition of the Midwest Organic Resource

Directory is now available as a free, 80-page spiral-bound book or online as a PDF. The directory lists buyers, processors, suppliers, certification agencies, consultants, resource organiza-tions, state and federal agencies, and university programs. Suppliers are categorized by tools, soil inputs, livestock products, pest control, season extension, and seed to help you quickly find the supplies you need. See mosesorganic.org/organic-resource-directory or call 888-90-MOSES.

MOSES Conference Workshop ProposalsHave an idea for a workshop you’d like to present

at MOSES 2020? Submit your proposal by July 31 at mosesorganic.org/conference. Presenters receive free admission to the full conference, all meals, and lodg-ing plus a cool swag bag. Full-day Organic University class presenters also receive a stipend.

VOTE: Help our planning committee hone in on the topics you want at MOSES 2020 by voting in the annual workshop survey. Click the button on the main conference page: mosesorganic.org/conference. If you

don’t have internet access, watch for the printed ballot in the next issue of the Organic Broadcaster.

Free Admission to MOSES 2020Enter scenic shots of your farm,

crops, livestock, or equipment in action to the annual MOSES Conference photo contest for your chance to win FREE admission to the full conference plus a T-shirt and mug! The winning photo will be featured on the cover of the MOSES 2020 Program. Every entrant gets a free mug at the conference. Submit photos at mosesorganic.org/photo-contest. Deadline is Aug. 30, 2019.

MOSES 2019 Workshop RecordingsMultitask while you’re in the field this season by

listening to audio recordings of MOSES Conference workshops. The MP3 downloads are just $5 each. The complete set of workshop recordings (on a USB drive) is only $75. This year, many presenters also shared their PowerPoints, making the audio recordings even more informative. See related presentation slides at mosesorganic.org/conference/workshops. Order audio recordings at mosesorganic.net.

Organic Certification Cost ShareFunding is available through the Organic

Certification Cost Share Program to reimburse producers up to 75 percent of the cost of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible expenses include fees for the application, inspection, equivalency agree-ment and arrangements, inspector travel expenses, user fees, sales assessments, and postage. Producers can apply for a maximum of $750 per certification scope. Apply for fiscal 2019 funding by Oct. 31 at USDA Farm Service Agency county offices.

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18 | May | June 2019 TM

NEWS BRIEFS

Organic Livestock Substance ChangeUSDA has amended the National List of Allowed

and Prohibited Substances to allow elemental sulfur to be used as a topical treatment to repel mites, fleas, and ticks from livestock and their living spaces. It also reclassified potassium acid tartrate from a nonagricul-tural substance to an agricultural one, requiring han-dlers to use the organic form when it is commercially available. The amendments take effect May 30, 2019.

Organic Learning CenterThe USDA National Organic Program’s new online

Organic Integrity Learning Center offers free training for organic professionals. Courses explain the USDA organic system, certification, inspection, compliance and enforcement, and import oversight. See www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/training.

New Hemp CollectiveDenver-based Higher Yields Consulting (HYC) has

formed a collective, HYC Hemp Co, to support farm-ers who want to grow industrial hemp under the pro-visions of the 2018 Farm Bill. HYC provides contracted farmers with permitting assistance, seeds, financing, and training on how to produce high-quality hemp crops. For more information, see higheryieldshemp.com or contact Jay Fentress, HYC Hemp Co Director, at 715-563-4828 or jay@higheryieldsconsulting.com.

Midwest Organic CenterThe Rodale Institute is establishing the Midwest

Organic Center on an existing nature center’s 190-acre research and education farm near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The institute plans to add organic grains and veg-etables as well as a systems trial similar to its long-run-ning Farming Systems Trial at its Pennsylvania farm comparing organic and conventional growing meth-ods. See rodaleinstitute.org/midwestorganiccenter.

Court Decision on Livestock Rule LawsuitA Federal District Court agreed with a coalition

of organic farmers, consumers, and animal welfare advocates that the USDA cannot hide communications and documents that led to the controversial decision to withdraw the Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule, which would have required animal welfare stan-dards on farms producing organic meat. See May 6 news at www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases.

New USDA Grants for FarmersUSDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service

is accepting proposals through July 15, 2019, for On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, a new sub-program created by the 2018 Farm Bill for the USDA’s Conservation Innovation Grants program. See bit.ly/NewCIG.

Farmer T-ShirtsGempler’s, an online farm supply store based in

Wisconsin, is offering a new line of “buy local, eat local, support local farmers” T-shirts with a portion of sales going to support farmer education through MOSES as well as the Farmer-Veteran Coalition. Gempler’s recently changed hands, and the new own-ers are committed to helping the communities they serve. See gemplers.com/pages/locallygrown.

Guide to On-Farm Food ServiceThe local food movement is creating opportuni-

ties for farmers to add on-farm dining experiences.

Come & Get It: What you need to know to serve food on your farm showcases nine successful farms offering food service. See www.renewingthecountryside.org/on_farm_food_service.

Food Safety FSMA PodcastWisconsin Farmers Union has posted the Farmers

Union Produce Safety Podcast, hosted by the late Chris Blanchard, focused on produce safety requirements and best practices to help growers comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule. See www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/podcast.

Organic Weed Control VideosPractical Farmers of Iowa has posted a series of

videos on organic weed management. Current epi-sodes include Seedbed Preparation and Planting, Crop Rotation for Weed Suppression, Rotary Hoes, and Harrows. See www.youtube.com/user/pfivideos.

Farmers Union CampKids ages 8-18 from across the country may attend

four- to five-day camps at Wisconsin Farmers Union’s Kamp Kenwood near Chippewa Falls. Campers learn about cooperation, leadership, and sustainability and engage in fun outdoor activities. There are also family camp weekends. See www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com.

Minnesota Grown DirectoryThe 2019 Minnesota Grown Directory highlights

products from 1,023 Minnesota farmers and farmers markets. It includes locally grown and organic food, wineries, nurseries, Christmas trees, and more. See min-nesotagrown.com/order-minnesota-grown-directory.

MOSES Conference Band VideoIf you have video on your phone of the Synister

Dane performances at the 2019 MOSES Conference, please email Allen Moody at kanzaguy@gmail.com.

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| 19mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 TM

Certified Organic Black Angus cow-calf pairs. Very docile cows; you can walk around them, even with their new-born calves. We have been using Registered Bulls for years. $1,900 for choice picks or $1,700 a piece to take all (25 total available). Contact Elmer @ 320-260-4084.

Organic Feeder Pigs. Chester-Berkshire cross, pasture farrowed, approx. 50-60 lbs. $125. Jude Becker 563-543-4513.

Family Milk Cow. Milking Shorthorn. Jefferson, IA. Call Kevin 515-370-1021.

Organic Approved Fertilizer. 4-4-4 and 4-5-3 coffee chaff, soybean meal, bone meal, sulfate of potash - 50lb bag pelleted. $25/bag for full pallet. F.O.B. St Cloud. james@javacycle.com

Larch Untreated Posts. Durable, environmentally friendly posts available in any quantity. Round posts are 6 inches wide x 8 feet long. $15.00 each. Call Steve 563-419-1231 (no text please).

WORM CASTINGS. USDA Certified Organic worm castings. Worms fed organic, non GMO diet. No manure or scraps. $460/ton. Contact Brent 402-640-8645. We Stock Dr. Paul’s organic approved Animal Health Products including Health Tinctures, Boluses, Aloe Pellets with Garlic, Immune System Boosters, Calf Health Prod-ucts, De-wormers and more. We sell wholesale and retail. Also looking for dealers to stock our organic certified kelp meal, Sea 90 Salt, Reed Sedge Peat (feed grade humated), etc. Sunrise Seeds Plus, LLC. Topeka, Indiana 260-463-0380.

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

For Sale: Tempered, insulated, double-pane glass. Large panes for sunrooms, solar homes, ag buildings, greenhouses or ??? One hundred fifty thousand sold since 1979; 32” x 74” x 1” double-pane only $69.00. We will be moving Arctic Glass to Roberts, Wis. If you need glass now would be a good time! Arctic Glass, www.kissourglass.com, Call Sandy at 507-259-6351.

Nature Safe Fertilizer. We manufacture our own OMRI listed Amino Acid 15-0-1, a dry powder water soluble fertilizer. Use in your sprayer, drip irrigation or pivot. Sold by the ton in 55 lb. bags, super sacks. www.naturesafe.com 616-566-0307.

Certified Organic Alfalfa Hay in Bloomfield, IA. 5X6 Round bales. Shedded. Test results available. Range 140-167 RFV depending on cutting. Doug Schock at 641twozeroeight0273 or nate.schock@gmail.com.

For Sale: Organic Corn. Can deliver. 608-574-2160.

Open Pollinated Corn Seed. Early Varieties 75, 85,87,90,105,110, and 120 Day Field corn. Sweet corn and popcorn. Free Catalog. Green Haven Open Pollinated Seed Group. 607-566-9253. www.openpollinated.com

Organic rye for sale. Feed quality. Sno Pac Farms, Caledonia, MN. 507-725-5281.

Tomato Mountain Farm is a certified organic farm located 20 miles south of Madison. Responsibilities range from harvesting, washing, planting, weeding, and packing vegetables to assistance with maintenance and upkeep. We’ve got a great maintenance/field manager who needs someone reliable to help keep things in order. Looking for a motivated person, with a good attitude and solid/steady work ethic. Check us out at www.tomatomountain.com/ or contact Chris at 608-712-1585 chrisccovelli@gmail.com

Cherry Tree House Mushrooms (aka Northwood Mush-rooms) is a small farm near the Twin Cities specializing in log-grown organic mushrooms. We’re hiring for seasonal positions to start in May or June: mushroom worker and production lead, and picker/packer. Benefits include free housing and mushrooms, $12 to $13 per hour. Find more details at northwoodmushrooms.com or call Jeremy at 612-205-8599.

We are currently in search of hard-working individuals with an experience and an interest in organic agriculture to fill the following positions: LEAD MECHANIC, DELIV-ERY DRIVER & HELPERS, and PACKING SHED SUPPORT. Visit www.harmonyvalleyfarm.com/opportunities.php for more detailed job descriptions and send resume with cover letter to bookkeeper@harmonyvalleyfarm.com.

Need Organic Farmer - 20 acres available on the Payette River in Sweet, Idaho. Have water lines and is fenced. Need someone to farm it. - email Casey McDonough at casmc-donough@gmail.com

Dairy Jobs: Grazing/Organic farmers in MN, MO, NY, PA, VT and WI are hiring fulltime employees to work and gain skills needed to become dairy farm managers and owners. Visit www.dga-national.org

CLASSIFIEDSPlace an ad at Organic Classifieds

or call 715-778-5775.

mosesorganic.org/organic-classifieds

Potato Equipment for sale. Equipment is field ready and stored inside. Lockwood 603 Accumatic planter, Spunik 6-row power-hiller, Elmers 6-row cultivator V-plow hillers, Troyer planter filler, Lockwood 4500 digger belted primary C-flex throughout, Harriston 40ft. weeder, dirt conveyor, FMC 18 row band-sprayer or 54ft high pressure. John 218-779-6737.

Lesche Bed Shaper. Two years old, great condition always shedded. Model 4500 - find more info on model at market-farm.com. Only used in organic production. Montrose, MN. 952-649-7519. neatonfarm@gmail.com

TEBBEN 6/8 Row Crop Flamer. Everything but LP tank. $2,500 or best offer. 630-466-9614 leave message.

For Sale: Allis-Chalmers 4 row cultivators. SIDEWINDER Rototiller; 15 feet, 3 point, PTO driven. Jefferson, IA. Call Kevin 515-370-1021.

New 6 row AFI Flamer with all options. Has only been used as a demo unit one season. Call Ty Brown at 765-414-3323. $20,000.

Like new Sukup cultivator guidance hitch. Has tines to follow row and cab console. Very little use. $2000. Call or text 317-431-6302.

15’ Heavy duty cover crop roller. Smooth, can add water, no transport wheels but hitch folds for transport. $1500. Can deliver. Call or text 317-431-6302.

Case-IH 6 row 30” Danish tine cultivator. Very little use, like new but paint faded. Rolling fenders, $1500. Can deliver. Call or text 317-431-6302.

2 Farm Properties For Sale. Southwest Chicago in Yor-kville. 6.57 acres no buildings: $209,000. 6.5 acres, barns, no house: $375,000. Details upon request. Keith Warpinski. 630-602-6153 warp5@icloud.com

Farm/Farm business for sale: Southwest Michigan. 40-acre, organic vegetable farm. Includes house, barns/buildings with pack out/walk in cooler. For more informa-tion call Steve Robbins 989-444-1945.

For Sale 960 Acres Irrigated farm land. Will be certified organic 6/1/2019 in SW South Dakota near Vetal. With 6 pivots and homestead. 605-680-2608.

Farm For Sale -Take our Central WI farm forward: 20 acres, new garage with attached kitchen, a four-bedroom two bath remodeled farm house, pole shed, barn, greenhouse, fruit and nut trees, 10K solar system, walk-in cooler and fenced for rotational grazing. The farm has used regenerative practices for years. Randy scutler@tznet.com 715-305-5670.

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Growing Minnesota Asparagus SFA WorkshopMay 25 | 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. | $20 | Moorhead, Minn.This workshop at Doubting Thomas Farms will teach how to grow and market this high-value perennial crop. 844.922.5573 or email info@sfa-mn.org

Growing Minnesota Asparagus SFA WorkshopMay 28 | 5 – 7 p.m. | Free | Cloquet, Minn.This workshop at the Fond du Lac Tribal College will teach how to grow and market this high-value perennial crop. RSVP: theresa@sfa-mn.org.

NRCS Webinar: Re-Carbonizing Row Crop Ag Land Strategies for Farmers.May 28 | 1 p.m. | OnlineDiscuss observed and predicted rainfall variations across the country, and define the functions of a healthy soil for annual row crop farmers. Email candy.thomas@ks.usda.gov.

Oregon Tilth Webinar: Organic Specialty FertilizersJune 4 | 2 p.m. | OnlineLearn what an organic specialty fertilizer is and uncover their origins before being processed into on-farm inputs. Call 1.877.378.0690 to learn more.

PFI Spring Cover Crop Field DayJune 4 | 4 – 7 p.m. | La Porte City, IowaThis field day will cover harvesting ryelage, making rye hay for feeding dairy heifers, rye for bedding, and diverse crop rota-tions. 515.232.5661 or email info@practicalfarmers.org

Growing Minnesota Asparagus SFA WorkshopJune 6 | 5 – 8 p.m. | $10 | Palisade, Minn.This workshop at Chengwatana Farm will teach how to grow and market this high-value perennial crop. Call 844.922.5573 or email info@sfa-mn.org.

MOSES Organic Field Day: Weed ManagementJune 12 | 5:45 p.m. – 8 p.m. | Marine on St. Croix, Minn.See page 5.

MOSES Organic Field Day: Promote Soil Health with Small Grain/Legume RotationsJune 12 | 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Oconomowoc, Wis.See page 5.

2019 Comprehensive Elderberry WorkshopJune 13 – 15 | 5:45 p.m. – 8 p.m. | Jefferson City, Mo. Learn all about elderberry, its introduction into the modern market, early research, and how to propagate. Email info@riverhillsharvest.com

Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship and SFA Grazing Field Day: Voss Organic FarmJune 21 | 10:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Paynesville, Minn.Explore more about grazing the dairy herd and research on dairy replacement profitability. RSVP at 320.310.5252 or hannah@sfa-mn.org.

MOSES Organic Field Day: Grow & Mill Small Grains for Artisan BreadmakersJune 25 | Free | Danforth, Ill.See page 5.

MOSES Organic Field Day: From Grain to Plate – Small Grains Field DayJune 30 | Free | Ridgeway, Wis.See page 5.

Weeds & Cultivation for Lean Farm ProductionJuly 1 | 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Free | Ada, Mich.Learn ways to prevent, reduce and control the weeds on your organic vegetable farm. 616-885-7776 or brandtk7@msu.edu

Growing Minnesota Asparagus SFA WorkshopJuly 2 | 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. | $10 | Preston, Minn.This workshop at SunFresh Foods Farm will teach how to grow and market this high-value perennial crop. 844-922-5573

Oregon Tilth Webinar: Organic HempJuly 2 | 2 p.m. | OnlineParticipants will discuss the opportunities and barriers for suc-ceeding in the emerging organic hemp market. 877-378-0690

Women Caring for the Land: Pape Family PasturesJuly 8 | 4 – 8 p.m. | Peshtigo, Wis.Tour Pape Family Pastures and see how they raise pastured beef, pigs, and chickens. Call Deb at 715-590-2130.

MOSES Organic Field Day: Grow Row Crops for DistillingJuly 10 | 1 – 4:30 p.m. | Onalaska, Wis.See page 5.

Women Caring for the Land: Perennial FarmsJuly 10 | 4 – 8 p.m. | Waldo, Wis.Learn about organically grown and nutritious produce, free range eggs, and cider. Call Deb at 715-590-2130.

Women Caring for the Land: EB RanchJuly 15 | 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Ridgeland, Wis.See rotationally grazed goats, geese, ducks, chickens, and turkeys and goat milk products. Call Deb at 715-590-2130.

Women Caring for the Land: North Wind Organic FarmJuly 16 | 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. | Bayfield, Wis.North Wind Organic emphasizes solar and wind energy in their organic production of fruits and vegetables. Call Deb at 715-590-2130.

Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship and SFA Grazing Field Day: Hendrickx DairyJuly 19 | 10:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Sebeka, Minn.Learn how Mike and Alida Hendrickx have turned CRP land into profitable grazing land. 320.310.5252 or hannah@sfa-mn.org.

Lansing Farm ToursJuly 22 | $ | Ada, Mich.Michigan State University Farmer Field School is hosting a tour of 3 – 4 farms from the Capitol city’s urban core out to its rural surroundings. Call 616-885-7776 or email Katie at brandtk7@msu.edu.

MOSES Organic Field Day: Row Crops in South DakotaAugust 1 | 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. | Madison, S.D.See page 5.

MOSES In Her Boots: Success Strategies from Soil SistersAugust 2 | $25 | Brodhead, Wis.See page 5.

Soil Sisters WeekendAugust 2 – 4 | Southern WisconsinTours, classes, and food at women-run farms in southern Wis-consin—see page 5. Call Lisa 608 -329 -7056.

Women Caring for the Land: Fenn’s FollyAugust 8 | 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. | Ferryville, Wis.Tour Amy Fenn ‘s farm, developing a savanna/silvopasture and building an off-grid home. Call Deb at 715-590-2130.

SFA Garlic FestAugust 10 | $5 | Hutchinson, Minn.Minnesota Garlic Festival is the premier event for lovers of garlic, great local foods and good times! 844.922.5573 or email info@sfa-mn.org

MOSES In Her Boots: Diversifying with Flowers, Pizza, and Summer CampsAugust 13 | $25 | Long Lake, Minn.See page 5.

Organic Agronomy Training Series (OATS)August 14 & 15 | 85$ | La Crosse, Wis.Organic production systems and USDA-NOP regulatory compliance training for extension staff, agency personnel, consultants, educators, technical service providers and farmers

MOSES Organic Field Day: Cultivating Farm Resilience for a Changing ClimateAugust 16 | 1 – 4:30 p.m. | Harlan, IowaSee page 5.

Flame Weeding WorkshopAugust 19 | 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. | $ | Ithaca, Neb.Learn how to do proper flaming to control over ten major Midwestern weeds in seven agronomic crops

Grand Rapids Farm ToursAugust 19 | $ | Greenville, Mich.Michigan State University Farmer Field School is hosting a tour of 3 – 4 farms from around the Grand Rapids, Mich. area. Call 616-885-7776 or email Katie at brandtk7@msu.edu

MOSES Organic Field Day: Unusual FruitsAugust 21 | 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Winona, Minn.See Page 5.

Student Organic Seed SymposiumAugust 22 – 25 | $ | Dodgeville, Wis.Limited number of openings available for students and their mentors in organic plant breeding and seed systems. Scholar-ships available. Email symposium@organicseedsociety.org

UW-Arlington Extension Organic Agriculture Research Field DayAugust 29 | 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Arlington, Wis.Learn about organic research conducted at the University of Wisconsin, including optimizing equipment and production practices for organic no-till production. 612-868-1208

Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field DaySeptember 18 | $ | Waukesha, Wis.See Page 5.

Women Caring for the Land: Greenleaf Fireman’s ParkSeptember 19 | 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Greenleaf, Wis.Tour local farms that use cover crops and no-till practices to improve soil health and water quality. Call Deb at 715-590-2130. Women in Sustainable Ag ConferenceOctober 17 – 19 | $ | St. Paul, Minn.MOSES hosts this 3-day conference that brings together women from all aspects of sustainable agriculture—farming, education, ag business, food-system activism. 715-778-5775 or mosesorganic.org/wisa-conference