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Connecting
with the Earth
Organic
Farms in Virginia
When
Virginia tobacco farmers start growing peppers, you
know organic farming has come of age. A dozen years
ago, when the Appalachian
Sustainable Development group formed to help
tobacco farmers in Virginia and Tennessee save their
livelihood, it could attract only “a few back-to-landers,
some hippies and one Amish family,” its director
Anthony Flaccavento told E/The Environmental
Magazine (“The Smoke Clears,” July/August
2003).
Now
the group includes more than 40 participating farms
and its organic products, marketed under the
Appalachian Harvest brand, are found in supermarkets
as far north as Pennsylvania. Sam Askins, a
54-year-old farmer, whose family had been raising
tobacco in Russell County since 1786, is one
convert. “Growing ‘bacco is a bad habit,” he
told E, “So I quit.” He now sells his
bell peppers to an Atlanta branch of Whole Foods
Market.
Certainly
there are skeptics who still consider organic
agriculture as “new age farming.” Farmers who
convert to organic methods are trading volume for
the higher prices that consumers will pay for
organic products, and there is risk involved. A
Virginia Farm Bureau representative told The
Washington Post that he had seen some farmers
who had been quite successful in organic farming,
but others who had gone bankrupt. (“Farmers Urged
to Go Organic; Lerner Lauds Benefits of Newer
Methods,” March 6, 2005.)
The
term “organic” can be applied to a wide variety
of agricultural products from fruit and vegetables
to meat, poultry, eggs – even wool and forests.
But to label a product “certified organic,”
farmers must abide by USDA standards, which
generally mandates that no prohibited fertilizers,
pesticides, etc. have been used on the land for
three years. Additionally, farmers can use no
synthetic hormones or antibodies in the feeding or
care of livestock, they must maintain a 30-foot
border between organic and regular crops, and they
cannot use genetically altered seeds or plants.
("Virginia
Farmers Have Opportunity to Fill Organic Crops
Market Niche," Virginia Cooperative
Extension, April 18, 2003.)
The
certifying process involves choosing a certifying
company from the USDA’s National
Organic Program. It also involves a lot of
paperwork. An on-site inspection and can take a few
months or longer, once the farm meets USDA
standards.
Actually,
it seems that much of organic farming is about
earthworms. According to Appalachian Sustainable
Agriculture, “In practice organic farming focuses
on the health of the soil as key to healthy crop and
animal growth. A soil rich in organic matter and
alive with earthworms and beneficial soil life will
naturally support healthy crops …” ("What
Does Organic Farming Mean?"). Such farming
involves crop rotations, organic mulches, cover
crops and careful weed management.
Still,
despite its challenges, organic farming seems to be
attracting more converts in the Old Dominion. The Virginia
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
lists certified organic growers and processors in 35
Virginia counties. You can find certified organic
lemongrass grown in Albemarle County and a Richmond
warehouse certified to store organic soy sauce.
Certified organic corn, wheat, soy, barley, tobacco,
cattle and poultry is raised in other counties.
At
the recent Virginia
Association for Biological Farming annual
conference in February, participants could attend
workshops ranging from “Weed Control in Organic
Vegetable Crops” to “Sustainable Production and
Marketing of Strawberries” and “Commercial
Production of Ringneck Pheasants.”
In
fact, statistics confirm the growing popularity of
organic farming. According to the Organic Trade
Association, U.S. organic food sales have grown
between 17 and 21 percent each year in the last
decade – tripling sales, while total food sales
grew only two to four percent per year. Organic
foods represent about two percent of U.S. food
sales.
There
are those, however, that still view organic farming
as both a philosophical, as well as an economic
choice. A 2005 New York Times article
profiled Sandy Lerner, owner of the Ayshire Farm in
Upperville. On the 800-acre property, she grows rare
vegetables and raises “heirloom” cattle, such as
the White Park, which traces its ancestry back to a
herd in 13th-century Chillingham, England. (“All
That Glitters Is Not Silicon,” June 23, 2005).
Lerner
founded the Virginia
Organic Producers' and Growers' Association to
encourage other farmers to adopt organic methods.
She realizes it’s a tough job convincing
traditional farmers in Virginia’s Piedmont. Still,
down in Stickleyville, in Virginia’s Appalachia
region, John Mullins is pleased. He grew up around
tobacco, but has discovered he nets 10 times more
from an acre of grape tomatoes than he did from an
acre of tobacco. Another young farmer believes that
seasoned tobacco farmers, with generations on the
land, have a lot to share as they adopt organic
methods. “When I’m my father’s age,” the
29-year-old said, “I want to be the guru of
organic vegetables,” he told E/The Environment.
NEXT:
Ties That Bind: Virginia’s Sister Cities
--
April 2, 2007
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