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- Naturally Grown New option to organic program
- By Karen Gentry
Managing Editor
- Many small growers and direct marketers have elected not to participate in the new national organic program because of the overwhelming paperwork. A new Naturally Grown certification gives small growers and direct marketers another option, according to Ron Khosla, from Huguenot St. Farm in New Paltz, N.Y.
Last spring Khosla started Certified Naturally Grown, a non-profit organization (www.naturally grown.org) which makes available the Certified Naturally Grown label to farms who primarily distribute locally or directly through farmers’ markets, farm stands, CSAs, local restaurants and small grocery stores.
Khosla has been pleasantly surprised by the response to the new program. He has signed up 200 growers and expects to sign up 2,000 growers by the next growing season. The response to Naturally Grown has been so great that Earth Pledge, a large Manhattan-based organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture has taken over the administration, although Khosla will remain as spokesperson.
“With the Internet it exploded,” said Khosla, who said the timely program is as much a marketing tool as a certification. ”Every day more and more growers sign up,” he said. Khosla said many growers call him and with comments like, “this is great, I definitely want to do it for next year.”
On its Web site Certified Naturally Grown bills itself as a non-profit alternative, eco-labeling program for small farms that grow using USDA organic methods but are not a part of the USDA Certified Organic program.
The organic industry is reportedly growing by between 20 and 25% annually, and has been for the last several years. U.S. retail sales of organic foods reached approximately $7.8 billion in 2000, with global sales topping $17.5 billion. As of the Oct. 21 implementation of USDA’s national organic standards for agricultural products, any organic agricultural product must meet USDA standards in order to be sold as “organic.”
“The USDA program requires an enormous amount of record keeping - a paper trail of everything that happens from seed to sale. This is appropriate for large farms that grow only a few types of vegetables and sell in bulk to chain stores or big processing plants. But it has proven excessive and largely irrelevant for diversified small farms that may grow upwards of 200 varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruits and then sell them directly to consumers right in their own neighborhood,” Khosla wrote on the Web site.
“Most all of our people are under 20 acres,” said Khosla, who said members pay a sliding annual fee of $20-$100 to join the organization.
Amy Hepworth is one grower who can’t fill out the paperwork to become USDA certified, the type of grower Khosla is trying to reach. Hepworth, a long-time successful organic grower in Marlboro, N.Y. has been selling organic vegetables to one of the New York City cooperatives for 12 years. Because she doesn’t have the time and resources to fill out the paperwork to become USDA certified, the co-ops will not accept her produce as organic anymore.
“The produce manager has visited my farm, members of the board … they know what I do up here. Nothing’s changed. It’s just horrible, but I just can not get certified,” said Hepworth.
The new Naturally Grown program is as strict or stricter than the national program and endorsed by the Sierra Club, Khosla said. Growers part of the Naturally Grown organization have a one in five chance of being inspected for chemical residue, something the national organization doesn’t do, Khosla said. Every Certified Naturally Grown farm is physically inspected at least once per year and inspector reports are available online for any member of the public to review.
Khosla reported that he believes less than 20% of organic farmers in the Hudson Valley where he lives plan to sign up for the national organic program, which he says is probably true nationwide. Growers who don’t meet the national organic standards and advertise their produce as organic will be fined $10,000.
Khosla believes the national standards for organic will be used by the large-scale wholesale growers such as Dole Pineapple, a corporation with thousands of organic acres.
At his farm Khosla grows 200 different varieties of vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, apples, pears and strawberries. He said strawberries have been one of his biggest crops and he’s had great luck starting organic strawberry plugs. He encourages other growers to use organic strawberry plugs primarily because it drastically cuts down on the use of fungicides and herbicides.
Khosla can be reached by calling (845) 256-0686, e-mail info@naturally grown.org. For more information on Certified Naturally Grown, visit www. naturallygrown.org.
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