More flexibility needed, organic farmers tell official

By DAVE WILKINS
Capital Press

NAMPA, Idaho — While organic farmers are grateful for conservation programs authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, some wish they worked a lot better.

That's the message a group of organic producers delivered March 5 to USDA Undersecretary Harris Sherman and U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho.

Sherman, undersecretary for natural resources and the environment, was in town unveiling a new federal "green jobs" training program at USDA Job Corps centers.

After announcing the initiative at the Nampa Job Corps Center, he met with about 40 organic producers at Canyon Bounty Farm near Nampa.

Producers told Sherman that conservation farm programs don't seem to fit small-scale organic farmers very well. Most of the discussion was centered around programs administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Conservation Stewardship Program, for example, provides technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to maintain existing conservation systems and to implement additional practices.

Payment rates are made on a per-acre basis, but that's not a good fit for farmers with less than 10 acres, some organic producers said.

"I think in terms of a payment rate per square foot," said Mary Rohlfing, owner of an 8-acre organic farm in Ada County.

Federal farm programs need to be "as flexible and nimble as small-acreage producers," she said. "The funding has got to change a little bit to fit us."

Some producers said federal farm programs should do a better job of rewarding organic farmers for conservation practices that they're already using.

Fred Brossy, who operates a 300-acre organic farm near Shoshone, Idaho, said he was able to qualify for some funding under CSP and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program last year, but it wasn't easy.

"It was a challenge," he said.

NRCS needs to work with producers to make the programs more effective for organic farmers, he said.

"I actually hope (conservation programs) take the place of commodity programs someday," Brossy said.

Producers thanked Sherman for listening to their concerns. Some long-time organic producers said it was the first time that a USDA official had ever come out to talk with them.

Sherman and state NRCS officials said they want to work with small-scale organic producers to make the programs better. This is the second year the NRCS has offered special EQIP funding for organic farmers.

The USDA has been trying to do more to support local farmers through its "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program.

"This is an exciting movement in the U.S.," Sherman said. "We want to see it grow and succeed."

Organic production in Idaho ranks eighth in the nation based on acres, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture's 2008 organic production survey.

Idaho has 148,425 acres in organic production with 111,000 in cropland, nearly half of it in hay. The balance -- about 37,000 acres -- is in pasture and rangeland.

"It's great that NRCS is now working in a focused way with organic farmers," said Jennifer Miller, sustainable ag coordinator for the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides.

"Organic farming is such a great fit with the conservation mission of NRCS," she said.