Several years ago, I learned that certified organic apples and pears could be sprayed with antibiotics in order to treat blight. While I don’t believe this is still being practiced, it really made us question the usefulness of the organic label. It was at that time that I realized I could no longer trust this government agency. Our family has patronized the certified organic market for many years and we still do today, but as a busy wife and mom, I don’t have time to keep up with these deceitful changes to the label. Shortly after this time we decided to increase our own beyond organic food and source local food from farmers we could trust.

In more recent years, as big corporations have entered the organic market, I have noticed that this label is meaning less and less. I’m sure there are many great farmers selling in the organic market, but there are more and more that are simply in it for profit. It’s hard to know unless you can ask them and visit their farm. For example, we are seeing a surge of organic meats coming from feedlot conditions and eggs out of crowded poultry houses. Below are just some of our concerns.

1. Most certified organic eggs are being produced by chickens in crowded, confinement buildings. The chickens never seem to find the small door with access to the outside.
2. Cows, sheep, and goats can be raised in feedlots, as long as they are fed a certified organic diet
3. Soil amendments can be shipped from miles away
4. There has been a lot of fraud under the organic label. One farmer was recently caught selling GMO corn as organic, and a dairy was caught selling conventional milk as organic. It makes us wonder how many farmers are doing this and not getting caught.
5. Certified organic practices do not guarantee a more nutrient dense product compared to a regenerative farm that is improving the soil.
6. There are not enough standards to ensure the animals are being treated humanely.

Along with the cost of the certification each year, there is a lot of paperwork to complete. If we were to become certified organic, we would have to raise our prices significantly. While we still patronize the organic industry in order to avoid GMO’s, pesticides, and more, I would prefer to buy from a farmer that is going beyond the organic standards and get a better price. I always ask a lot of questions, because I have learned never to assume anything. When we started raising food, we didn’t know a lot of people farming this way. Recently, there are more people in our area starting to farm organic and we are very excited about this.

We have been raising food for ourselves since 2002. As people observed what we were doing, we started getting a lot of requests to grow food for them as well. That’s how our business evolved. Our goal is to raise superior, beyond organic products, while improving our animal and soil health, rotating animals on pasture during the growing season, and selling at the best price we can without sacrificing quality. As one customer once stated, we are more of a regenerative farm than an organic farm.

We do not believe there will ever be a “label” that will guarantee nutrient dense food or humane treatment of animals. Nothing can take the place of our personal responsibility to know how and where our food is grown. We encourage everyone to check out next month’s newsletter on tips to find a great farmer growing healthy, nutrient dense food. We love to do farm tours and welcome anyone to see anything they want on our farm. We have nothing to hide and encourage our customers to ask a lot of questions.