Transition to organic farming a challenge, but market knowledge, incentives can help

Jeff talks to the Kutztown University Small Business Development Center e-Journal

By Jeff Moyer

Jeff Moyer, Rodale Institute farm manager

While many farmers struggle to keep their family-farm business in the black, much of the region’s surging demand for high-value organic food is being met by imported commodities, vegetables or food ingredients. Research at Rodale Institute and many other organizations has shown that along with mid-range financial rewards for farmers there are substantial positive environmental impacts for communities with the implementation of organic practices.

This win-win outcome for farmers and the public would seem to make the private and public choice an easy one, but shifting from current farming approaches is a daunting challenge.

What incentives, if any, do farmers need to consider a transition to certified organic agriculture, and what public benefit would justify public funds being used?

There are always risks involved in a business change, but rising costs for energy, fertilizer, pesticides and patented plant materials have many farmers seriously wondering whether the change to organic would be worth pursuing.

There most difficult of the regulations to comply with before one can take advantage of new organic markets is the three-year conversion period since a prohibited material was used.
Farmers are farming by the organic rules, yet their crops must still be sold as conventional until they are produced on fully converted organic land.

This is where an incentive that stabilizes income makes the period less risky. There is a steep learning curve during the initial years of organic farming when many new practices are undertaken. The required “systems approach” creates built-in resilience as healthy soil brings other benefits, but putting the new pieces together can be challenging.

An income-buffering safety net during these conversion years is a wise use of tax payer funds. We all benefit when individual farmers take on the risks of developing new skills that will produce more income and new jobs in our communities while reducing their environmental impact locally and at the watershed level.

Some farmers need no more than the knowledge that the organic marketplace is expanding to make the switch. New opportunities would include direct marketing of identity-retained products, more biodiversity in their farmscape, and the independence that comes with taking charge of their own future.

Liberated from high nitrogen fertilizer costs, they are free to explore the full potential of their operations. When they produce successfully for the organic market, crop values can double the conventional price. On-farm processing creates “value-added” food products such as crop seeds, butter or prepared foods. Organic certification, the only legally sanctioned farming-practices process in the U.S., is the threshold to many new business options.

So, yes, public incentives can help productive but prudent farmers explore organics. In many cases, however, the provisions will be a reassuring but unneeded contingency as thoughtful planning paves the way through real and perceived risks to a profitable farming future.