Organic Report Fall 2021 - Flipbook - Page 13
Department of Agriculture administers the program, and
Rodale provides consulting services free to any Pennsylvania
farmer interested in transitioning to organic.
“The farm bill involvement was a common-sense position,
and the state actually approached us,” says Moyer. “If your
state’s agricultural sector is struggling economically and if the
health of our soil is declining, then we change the way we do
things and make it more environmentally sound and
economically sound. It’s a win-win.”
Moyer reports that 120 farmers throughout the state are now
in the program, and another 500 to 600 have contacted Rodale
for more information. In the first two years of the program,
58,000 acres and a dozen farms have transitioned to organic.
“We would love to take this program to all 50 states, so we’re
working on creating a kind of train-the-trainer model so we can
put more people out there in other states. We’re already working
in some states with private philanthropic groups to do the same
thing as in Pennsylvania. Other states are watching what
Pennsylvania is doing and taking notes, and if we can show
success with our private programs, that’s good,” says Moyer.
CONNECTING THE GREAT IDEAS
Because of the work of the groups represented on the
network’s steering committee — and of countless other
individual and groups throughout the country — organic
agriculture has made tremendous strides. But too much work
is still being done in a vacuum, and oftentimes state
organizations feel like they’re an island.
The Organic Trade Association’s new State Organic
Advocacy Network aims to connect the great ideas and
successful programs, and enables states to take advantage of
work already done, and lessons learned. Leveraging the
association’s existing government affairs structure, the
network will track organic advocacy activities in state capitals,
provide news about on-the-ground programs and coalitions,
and provide a database of contact information.
“The importance of state organizations in moving organic
policy and pushing organic forward cannot be overstated,”
says the Organic Trade Association’s Batcha. “It’s striking how
many varied approaches, goals and strategies are being
engaged to meet a state’s organic need. Our role isn’t to set
agendas, but to leverage existing infrastructure and convene
state level advocates, and to create an organic ‘clearinghouse’
to expand organic’s reach.”
“Our new network will provide a platform to support
state level organic advocacy,” said Batcha. “Today, a great
effort in Pennsylvania often will operate without knowledge of
organic advocacy efforts in Oregon, for example. By
networking and problem-solving, states can pursue the most
impactful policy in their own states and utilize work done by
comparable groups in other states. Our State Organic
Advocacy Network will enable states to pool their resources,
tools and learned experiences and be more effective in
advocating for their organic farmers.”
Workers at Eloisa Organic Farm in Oregon harvest organic fennel. Advocacy efforts in Oregon have provided two fulltime organic extension agents in the state.
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