Organic Farming Research Foundation works to

foster the improvement and widespread adoption

of organic farming systems. OFRF cultivates organic

research, education, and federal policies that bring

more farmers and acreage into organic production.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DON LAREAU

EDUCATIONOFRF continues to serve as a link between researchers and the organic farming community through participation in influential industry conferences, and with an expanded online presence. OFRF blogs, newsletters and social media postings reached a much wider audience in 2014, with our Facebook reach alone more than quadrupling over the year to nearly 90,000 users.

OFRF staff gave presentations of organic farming research trends and findings at grower and industry conferences including the Organic Trade Association policy conference and Napa Winegrape Growers Association. We participated as a member of the Soil Renaissance Project, attending their annual meeting in Oklahoma, participated in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition meeting, and co-sponsored the “Innovations in Organic Farming Systems” conference in Long Beach, CA.

POLICYOFRF’s years of advocacy culminated in exciting 2014 policy achievements, including a 2014 Farm Bill containing key funding, important new policies and multiple programs addressing the needs of organic farmers. Our 2014 Farm Bill successes include:

• Organic Agriculture Research and Extension initiative increased to $20 million per year

• Organic Certification Cost Share funding increased to $13 million per year

• Organic Data Initiative received $5 million to gather statistical data on organic production

• USDA National Organic Program (NOP) $5 million funding for needed technology upgrades

• Increased enforcement authority for the NOP

• Expanded exemptions for organic operations from conventional check-off programs

We followed up on these successes with close monitoring of implementation of farm bill programs such as the newly-authorized Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, new Organic Research and Extension Initiative request for proposals for dedicated organic farming research, and improvements in organic price election options.

Our staff also successfully advocated for research aimed at helping growers respond to standards and materials changes, and food safety regulations compatible with organic production.

LETTER FROM OUR CHAIRAs we embark upon OFRF’s 25th anniversary year, we remain committed to the needs of organic farmers and to a vision of organic as leading form of agriculture, for healthy and resilient people, ecosystems, and economies. The context in which OFRF does this work has become much richer and more com-plex since our founding, and we’re gratified to have so many partner organizations and individual supporters who share our vision and are working collaboratively to make it happen.

2014 was an exhilarating transitional year, and we are all energized by what’s been happening at OFRF. We began the year with a change in leadership, and an intensive, extensive na-

tional search that culminated in our hiring Brise Tencer as our new Executive Director in May.

The board deeply appreciates the assistance that partner organizations offered during the transition, both in assessing OFRF’s strategic importance and direction, and helping us identify strong candidates.

Brise has proved to be an absolute dynamo. She hit the ground running and has already launched two enormous and exciting efforts - an assessment of USDA-funded organic projects and an update to the National Organic Research Agenda, which OFRF first published in 2007. Brise also hired four new professional staff members to lead our research, communications, and development efforts. Yet even while these exciting developments were taking place, OFRF maintained its traditional focus on scientific research to advance organic farming, funding six on-farm research projects, whose findings will be of practical use and freely available to organic farmers. We are also working hard to make all the research we have funded over the decades even more accessible and useful to farmers.

I want to express my personal appreciation to Brise’s predecessor, Maureen Wilmot, who had a tenacious passion for OFRF’s work, and initiated many important efforts at OFRF during her tenure. I also want to thank the able and delightful Amy Bodiker, who served as our interim executive director for several months.

2014 was a fast-paced year of change, growth and ambitious new initiatives, setting the stage for even more excitement and expansion in the coming year.

Meg Moynihan, OFRF Board Chair

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OFRF RESEARCH PARTNER DEVELOPS GMO-RESISTANT CORNAmidst the controversy over transgene (GMO) contami-nation—a growing concern for organic farmers, researchers, consumers, and advocates—plant breeder Frank Kutka, Ph.D., has been working to develop “organic ready” lines of corn that will maintain their non-GMO integrity and organic market value even when grown close to genetically modified (GMO) corn. And GMO corn is hard to avoid. In 2014, 89 per-cent of corn acreage in the U.S. was planted in herbicide-toler-ant transgenic corn.

Kutka is nearing the end of his fourth year of an OFRF/Seed Matters-funded research project, “Developing ‘Organic-Ready’ Maize Populations with Gametophytic Incompatibility”. Seed Matters is a special initiative funded by the Clif Bar Family Foundation.

Corn is wind pollinated and readily crosses with other varieties. Kutka’s breeding work uses naturally occurring genes derived from popcorns and the ancient grain teosinte to greatly reduce the possibility of crossing with transgenic, or genetically modified (GMO) corn varieties.

“(Corn) is a strong crop, excellent in crop rotations, where it is good to have a tall competitive plant,” Kutka says. “But it is absolutely susceptible to outcrossing with transgenic corn, due to the nature of its reproductive process, and the fact that pollen can travel for miles and land in any field.”

Breeding work takes time, but early releases of open pollinated (OP) and hybrid “Organic Ready” corn will be available to a handful of breeders and seed companies this spring. Kutka plans to continue work on back crossing his “Organic-Ready” corn, with the intent of releasing more seed, populations and lines in 2016 and beyond

“Grant funding from OFRF has more than quadrupled the speed and scope of this work and helped me to expand it across the country,” Kutka said. “I am grateful to OFRF for this financial support and also for alerting people across the country about the transgenic contamination issue and this means of reducing that risk for organic farmers.”

Ears of “Organic Ready” corn (top row) and normal corn (bottom row) pollinated with normal corn pollen.

RESEARCHOFRF advanced a strong research agenda in 2014, approving six new grant proposals, and investing more than $108,000 into both new and ongoing research efforts. In addition, OFRF itself was awarded a prestigious $100,000 USDA research grant to review and analyze the history of organic farming research funded by the USDA. We have also launched a comprehensive update of our influential National Organic Research Agenda, a stakeholder-driven roadmap of organic research needs, which was first released in 2007.

We are also proud to announce that, following a national search, OFRF hired Dr. Diana Jerkins, a farmer and nationally-known researcher, scientist and USDA administrator, to serve as Research Director. Dr. Jerkins brings an impressive caliber of research expertise to OFRF’s programs, including our ground-breaking analysis of national research funding and priorities.

OFRF 2014 RESEARCH GRANTSn Effect of Organic Fertilizer Selection on Phytohormones, Beta-carotene Levels, Growth and Yield of

Carrots, Peppers, and Peaches: Quantifying phytohormone concentrations in a variety of organic fertilizers, and assessing the impact of phytohormones on growth, yield and quality of carrots and peppers. Monitoring impact of cyanobacterial bio-fertilizer on organic peaches, and preparing cost-benefit analysis of on-farm bio-fertilizer production. Principal Investigator Jessica Davis, PhD., Colorado State University.

n Developing “Organic-Ready” Maize Populations with Gametophytic Incompatibility, Year 4: Developing and releasing a line of corn resistant to GMO cross-contamination, a growing concern for organic farmers, Principal Investigator Frank Kutka, PhD., North Dakota State University (An OFRF/Seed Matters-funded project)

n Creating Two Open-Pollinated, Sugar-Enhanced Sweet Corn Varieties, Year 4: Developing previously unavailable organic sweet corn varieties that enable farmers to save their own seed. Principal Investigator Jonathan Spero, Lupine Knoll Farm, Medford OR. (An OFRF/Seed Matters-funded project)

n Participatory Screening of Broccoli Varieties for Organic Systems in Western North Carolina, Year 3: Identifying varieties and systems best suited for organic production of broccoli in the region, enabling farmers to meet the high demand in the Southeast. Principal Investigator, Jeanine Davis, PhD., North Carolina State University. (An OFRF/Seed Matters-funded project)

n Organic Food Barley, Developing Nutritious and Delicious Varieties for the Pacific Northwest: Developing high-yielding, nutritionally dense, and flavorful barley varieties most suited to Northwestern organic farms, with chef collaborators, including the White House Executive Pastry Chef. Principal Investigator, Kevin Murphy, PhD., Washington State University.

n Deploying Microbes as Seed Treatment for Protection Against Soil-borne Plant Pathogens: Establishing proof-of-concept that compost and vermicompost microbes can be applied to seeds to protect against soil-borne plant pathogens, a serious threat to crops. Principal Investigator Eric Carr, Rodale Institute, Pennsylvania.

Additional research projects receiving OFRF funding in 2014

n Can Organic Garlic Seed Stock Be Created Disease-free From the Production of Garlic Bulbils?: Developing an organic garlic seed free of serious garlic diseases decimating garlic crops. Principal Investigator Fred Forsberg, Honeyhill Farm, New York.

n Organic Seed Production and Improvement Training Program for Vermont: Increasing the availability of quality organic seed, including addressing the issue of GMO contamination. Principal Investigator Lynda Prim, Northeast Organic Farming Association.

n Snap Beans With Enhanced Nitrogen-Use Efficiency for Organic Production: Improving nitrogen fixing and reducing nitrate-based soil amendments for snap bean production. Principal Investigator James Nienhuis, University of Wisconsin, Madison. (An OFRF/Seed Matters-funded project)

n Managing Indigenous Seed-Inhabiting Microbes for Biological Control Against Fusarium Pathogens in Corn: Exploring the potential of microorganisms to provide heritable resistance against the pathogenic fungus Fusarium. Principal Investigator Lucas Niebert, University of Oregon, Eugene.

SPECIAL GRATITUDE TO THE FOLLOWING DONORSBOARD OF DIRECTORSChair Meg Moynihan, M.S.

MembersJeremy Barker-Plotkin, M.S.Douglas W. Crabtree, M.S.Heather Darby, Ph.D.Rigoberto Delgado, Ph.D.Mary FundKatrina Heinze, Ph.D.Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D.Don LareauPamela Marrone, Ph.D.Klaas MartensJeff MoyerHarn SoperDeb Stinner, Ph.D.

STAFF Executive DirectorBrise Tencer

Research Program DirectorDiana Jerkins, Ph.D.

Development OfficerDoreen Luke

Communications CoordinatorMaria Gaura

Executive AssistantWes Jordan

FINANCIALS

P.O. Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA 95061831.426.6606

info@ofrf.org l www.ofrf.org

$50,000+ Cascadian Farm OrganicPhilanthropic Ventures Foundation (Barkley Fund)The Forrest & Frances Lattner Foundation

$25,000+ Marisla FoundationWallace Genetic FoundationFarmers Advocating for Organic/ Cropp Cooperative

$10,000+ Arntz Family FoundationDriscoll Strawberry Associates, Inc.UNFILundberg Family FarmsNew Hope MediaAramarkAnnette Nibley Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation

$5,000+Farm Aid, Inc.EarthShare CaliforniaMary’s Gone Crackers

Ciranda, Inc.Ayrshire FarmUNFI FoundationAlbert Lea SeedsThe Lawrence FoundationClover Stornetta Farms, Inc.

$1,000+The Community Foundation of Western North CarolinaAmy’s Kitchen Inc.Celena Morris WhiteWave Foods RSF Social FinanceGeneral MillsRaces for AwarenessKatrina HeinzeLehigh Valley Organic Growers, Inc. Earthbound FarmGaia FundThe Hahn Family FoundationUrban Village Farmer’s Market AssociationRoland Pesch John CaulkinsJessica Lundberg

Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & WineryHarn Soper The Hundredth Monkey FoundationJohn McQuown Teixeira & SonsKamut InternationalFrey Vineyards, LTDMarisa Hormel HouseholdGodfrey and Marylisa Tencer John TeixeiraPam MarroneGrain Place Foods, Inc.Albert’s OrganicsAnnie’sChristopher RanchEarthbound FarmsFrontier Co-OpJacobs FarmMelissa’sHorizon OrganicFoundation of Sustainability & InnovationMary Novak

$500+Ed Kugler Straus Family CreameryDeborah StinnerLaurette Lipson Alice Young Uncle Matt’s Organic, Inc./ McLean MarketingRelay FoodsJune Nielson Martens FarmDave Martinelli Whole Foods Market, Inc.Napa Valley GrapegrowersCarmel Collins Jung, J.D. DeMatteo Monness LLCDon LareauNorth Coast VisionAlta Organic CoffeeWholesome SweetenersAnson Mills

Actual Functional Expenses Actual Income by Category

COMMUNICATIONS, 36%

POLICY, 11%

ADMINISTRATION, 11%

DEVELOPMENT, 13%

RESEARCH, 31%

INDIVIDUAL,6.51%

FOUNDATION, 56.21%

CORPORATE,27.11%

UNRESTRICTED OTHER, 10.09%

Thank you to everyone who donated to OFRF in 2014