Posted in FARM HOUSE, FARMERS, Farming, Forest, Organic, farm, food, garden
Organic Farming
Converting your farm from conventional to organic-farming methods is an important decision. Learn what’s involved on a yearly basis.
At Terry’s Berries organic community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm in Tacoma, Wash., diversity rules.
Visiting her organic farm on a mid-September day, tall sunflowers bow their golden heads, sweet cherry tomatoes dangle, a few pumpkins glow orange and tempting red-green apples are almost ready to pick.
What captivates me the most, however, are several lush and festive rows of salad greens: red kale, arugula, endive, chard and more.
Wandering inside Terry Ann Carkner’s farm store, I find a big bowl brimming with mixed greens fresh from the field for about $7 a pound. Money is no option: I want a salad made from bright, healthy fixings that don’t come in a bag (and grow slime several days later) and I want it now. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in FARM HOUSE, FARMERS, Farming, Forest, agricultural, chemical pollution, farm, food, garden, industry
New U.S. organic pasture rule: good news for consumers, cows and farmers
Advisory board at work to help USDA use greater clarity to close loopholes, enforce the “access to pasture” requirement, says Rodale Institute’s Jeff Moyer.
The final “access to pasture” rule recently issued by the National Organic Program creates clearly enforceable grazing requirements that will end years of ambiguity about how much grazing is enough.
Under the new provisions, all organic farms must have their ruminant animals (cows,sheep and goats) spend at least 120 days per year on growing pasture that provides at least 30 percent of their nutritional needs, measured by “dry matter intake.”
“This is a victory for farmers and consumers,” said Jeff Moyer, farm director at the Rodale Institute. He is a member of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and its livestock committee. The volunteer citizen board is charged with delivering counsel from the entire organic community to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which houses the National Organic Program (NOP). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: access, act, administration, Advancement, Advisory, Agriculture, Albion, Alliance, ambiguity, animal, animal welfare, attention, bar, beh, behavior, Board, citizen, citizen board, clarification, clarity, Coalition, committee, community, consumer, Consumers, controversy, counsel, country, Creating, Dairy, dairy sector, dangerous behavior, day, director, dry matter intake, end, enforcement, entity, expectation, face, farm, farm director, farmer, flexibility, food, forage, foundation, gap, grass, grazing, habitat, Henry Perkins, input, Institute, intake, International, Jeff Moyer, language, level, livestock, Maine, majority, matter, member, Michael Sligh, milk, National, national organic program, national organic standards, national organic standards board, New, news, NOC, NODPA, NOP, Northeast Organic, NOSB, organic community, organic dairy, organic farms, organic food production, organic livestock, organization, part, pasture, percent, PhD, policy, portion, poultry, president, process, Producers, production, production act, program, proposal, provision, Rangan, range, requirement, Rodale, rodale institute, rule, ruminant, ruminant animals, Rural, safety, scrutiny, season, sector, set, sheep, sheep and goats, sound, Space, Standards, time, trade, U.S., U.S. Department, umbrella, Union, Urvashi, USA, USDA, use, victory, volunteer, way, weather, welfare, welfare rule, while, Work, year
Posted in FARM HOUSE, FARMERS, Farming, Forest, agricultural, chemical pollution, farm, food, garden, industry
Organic Farming
Converting your farm from conventional to organic-farming methods is an important decision. Learn what’s involved on a yearly basis.
At Terry’s Berries organic community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm in Tacoma, Wash., diversity rules.
Visiting her organic farm on a mid-September day, tall sunflowers bow their golden heads, sweet cherry tomatoes dangle, a few pumpkins glow orange and tempting red-green apples are almost ready to pick. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: acre, agency, agriculture csa, Andersens, anyone, application, aren, aspect, assessment, barley, Becoming, berry, bill, Boy, broccoli, Business, Carkner, Cascadia, certificate, certification, certifier, Certify, Chemical, cherry tomatoes, clover, community supported agriculture, compost, confidence, control, corn, couldn, country, courtesy, crop, CSA, csa farm, Dave, deal, desire, Diane, Diane Andersen, difference, disadvantage, diversity rules, dollar volume, downside, environment, Environmentally, example, expense, fact reports, failure, family, farm, FARMERS, Farming, farmland, Farms, fee, Feel, flavor, flax, flock, food category, food dollar, food sales, fruit and vegetables, garden, green apples, ground, Halfway, harvest, herd, history, HOUSE, Information, input, inspection, inspector, jam, Jersey, label, land, lie, life, list, lot, Maintenance, management, manure, market, matter, milk, mindset, Minn., National, natural food stores, operation, opinion, order, Organic, organic community, organic farm, organic farming methods, organic salad, organic trade association, ota web, Ottertail, packet, paper, part, percent, pest, Plan, planning, plant, point, poison, pollution, problem, process, program, property, Psychologically, record-keeping, repeat, Report, revenue, review, right, Rinse, road, Rounding, rye, salad greens, Scowcroft, seed, soil, step, success, summer, system, term, today, trail, USDA, USDA-accredited, variety, veggie, vine, visit, wheat, wildlife, Work, world, worth, year
Posted in FARM HOUSE, FARMERS, Farming, Forest, agricultural, chemical pollution, farm, garden, industry
New U.S. organic pasture rule: good news for consumers, cows and farmers
Advisory board at work to help USDA use greater clarity to close loopholes, enforce the “access to pasture” requirement, says Rodale Institute’s Jeff Moyer.
The final “access to pasture” rule recently issued by the National Organic Program creates clearly enforceable grazing requirements that will end years of ambiguity about how much grazing is enough.
Under the new provisions, all organic farms must have their ruminant animals (cows,sheep and goats) spend at least 120 days per year on growing pasture that provides at least 30 percent of their nutritional needs, measured by “dry matter intake.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: access, act, administration, Advancement, Advisory, Agriculture, Albion, Alliance, ambiguity, animal, animal welfare, attention, bar, beh, behavior, Board, citizen, citizen board, clarification, clarity, Coalition, committee, community, consumer, Consumers, controversy, counsel, country, Creating, Dairy, dairy sector, dangerous behavior, day, director, dry matter intake, end, enforcement, entity, expectation, face, farm, farm director, farmer, flexibility, food, forage, foundation, gap, grass, grazing, habitat, Henry Perkins, input, Institute, intake, International, Jeff Moyer, language, level, livestock, Maine, majority, matter, member, Michael Sligh, milk, National, national organic program, national organic standards, national organic standards board, New, news, NOC, NODPA, NOP, Northeast Organic, NOSB, organic community, organic dairy, organic farms, organic food production, organic livestock, organization, part, pasture, percent, PhD, policy, portion, poultry, president, process, Producers, production, production act, program, proposal, provision, Rangan, range, requirement, Rodale, rodale institute, rule, ruminant, ruminant animals, Rural, safety, scrutiny, season, sector, set, sheep, sheep and goats, sound, Space, Standards, time, trade, U.S., U.S. Department, umbrella, Union, Urvashi, USA, USDA, use, victory, volunteer, way, weather, welfare, welfare rule, while, Work, year