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Summer, 2008 Vol. 2, No.

77 Publication of the Northeast Organic Farming Association 1077-2294


Inside This Issue
Features
Soil Health a Complex Matter 39
Sweet Potatoes and Nitrogen Needs 40
Making Mounded Raised Beds by Hand 42
IFOAM in Fight Over Basic Standards 43
Supplement on
Online Marketing
Creating a Farm Web Site 9
Relationships and Permission Marketing 10
Online Stores 11
Blogs 12
Case History: Organic Home Delivery 15
Creating Your Web Presence 18
Local Foods Plymouth 23
Selling Online 31
Online Credit Card Processors 33
Marketing Daylilies Online 34
Departments
Editorial 2
Letters 3
NOFA Exchange 4
News Notes 5
Bok Reviews 44
NOFA Contact People 46
Calendar 47
by Megan Pacelli
Raw milk. What are the benefts? Is it a health-
ier choice? Is it safe? How can you get it?
What does it mean to you, and to the farming
community?
Where can you learn the answers to these ques-
tions and more? The NOFA Summer Confer-
ence!
Find out what why everyones talking about
raw milk and what it means to you: on a nation-
al level, on your farm, and even in your own
kitchen. Youll learn the benefts of raw milk,
how it can keep your family healthier, and your
farm more proftable. Youll also learn more
what our government has to say about raw milk
and the debate that it has sparked nationwide.
At the forefront of this debate is Saturdays
keynote speaker, Mark McAfee. Founder of the
Organic Pastures Dairy Company in Califor-
nia, the only retail approved raw organic dairy
products producer in North America, Mark is a
pioneer in raw organic milk production, safety
and technology.
Mark has been highly involved in the move-
ment to change the laws regarding raw milk,
and will speak to us frsthand about his experi-
ences on the evening of Saturday, August 9
th
.
Also on Saturday, from 10:00-11:30 am, dont
miss his workshop entitled Raw Milk Nutrition
and Safety. He will discuss the real life experi-
ence of producing organic raw dairy products
in California. Testing, safety, politics, nutri-
tion, production and marketing aspects will be
shared.
Along with Marks insight, we will have pre-
senters from all over the Northeast coming to
share what they know about raw milk. If you
are a consumer of raw milk (or would like to
be!) dont miss the following workshops:
Homemade Dairy Products
Saturday, August 9
th
from 1:00-2:30 pm
Desire Ball comes to us from Connecticut.
She is enthusiastic about organic; and pas-
sionate about humane livestock farming. Her
hands-on workshop will show what you can
make with milk in your own kitchen - butter,
ghee, real buttermilk, cultured buttermilk and
2008 NOFA Summer Conference
Presents Challenges, Opportunities
kefr, soft and hard cheeses, yogurt, baked cus-
tard, and much more. You will actually make
butter with fresh cream, sample the buttermilk,
and make ghee. Then you will discuss milk and
where to buy supplies. If time permits, Desi-
re will then answer questions about her cows,
goats, and chickens.
Vermonts Farm Fresh Milk Campaign
Sunday, August 10
th
from 10:00-11:30 am
Rural Vermont has launched a campaign to
make Farm Fresh Milk (raw and unpasteurized)
easier to buy and sell in Vermont. Shelby Ham-
mond and Colin Gunn from Rural Vermont will
present this workshop. Come hear about their
goals, approach, and their progress in pursuit
of increasing access to this wholesome, local
product.
If you are more interested in learning about the
mechanics of running a raw or organic dairy,
the following workshops are for you:
Sidehill Farm Dairy Tour
Sunday, August 10
th
, from 1:00-2:30 pm
Amy Klippenstein and Paul Lacinski of Massa-
chusetts have been homesteaders and vegetable
farmers for many years. They are now in their
third year of small-scale dairy production at
Sidehill Farm. In this workshop, you will walk
pastures and discuss intensive grazing, grass,
manure, and fertility management, and aniimal
health. You will also tour the milking facilities
and discuss milking procedures, sanitation, and
regulations for raw milk and processed dairy
products. Tastings of raw milk and yogurt will
follow.
Principles of Dairy Nutrition on Pasture*
Saturday, August 9, from 8:00-9:30 am
*this workshop is part of the grazing school
Kathy Soder, Animal Scientist, USDA-ARS
Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Re-
search Unit
Learn how to improve nutrition of your dairy
herd through pasture and herd management,
and strategic supplementation. Topics to be
included: supplementing cows to complement
pasture quality and quantity, improved pasture
management strategies, and research results on
grazing behavior, supplementation, and pasture
forage mixtures.
Transitioning a Dairy Farm to Organic
Saturday, August 9
th
, from 8:00-9:30 am
Sarah Flack of Vermont is a Grazing & Organic
Consultant, farmer & author of Organic Dairy
Production
Sarah will answer questions like: What should
you consider before transitioning? What re-
sources are there & when is the best time to
transition? Topics will include: overview of
organic standards, current organic milk markets,
allowed health care products, organic forages &
grains, soil health & allowed fertilizers, record
keeping requirements, transition cost planning
& more.
Speaking of transition..
Julie, Jack and the rest of the Summer Confer-
ence committee have been working hard to
build our relationship with the staff at UMass
Amherst. We all want the 2008 conference to
remain the event we know and love, and confer-
ence planning with a new staff at a new venue
has not been without challenges.
photo courtesy Mark McAfee
Mark McAfee, Saturday nights keynoter
(continued on page 41)
photo courtesy Arden Andersen
Arden Andersen, Friday nights keynoter
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 2
by Jack Kittredge
Every new technology changes things in unexpected
ways. The Internet is no exception. While developed
to facilitate communication between high tech
scientists and government researchers, its impact a
generation later has been to empower individuals
in a way never quite imagined. Careers have
blossomed on Ebay for hobbyists buying and
selling things which would have been far too rare
or obscure previously. Amazon has developed a
national inventory network enabling you to fnd that
out-of-print book (or other product) in a small shop
in Oregon or Missouri that might otherwise have
languished on the shelf for years. Search engines
like Google have enabled users to fnd precise,
detailed information on practically any topic,
putting expertise for the frst time into the hands of
Everyman.
Farmers have fared no differently. In many
communities one can fnd farm-based pre-order
services that deliver a year-round supply beef,
pork, poultry, lamb, raw milk, dairy products and
eggs to drop-off points in cities. Often they add
baked goods, seasonal produce, honey, maple syrup
and other value-added products to the mix. When
visiting my daughter in Washington DC this spring,
I went with her to a pick-up point on Capitol Hill.
She was getting raw milk, but the range of products
supplied on a pre-order basis from an Amish farm in
Pennsylvania was astonishing. Thirty or so families
ordered weekly on the Internet for that pick-up site,
which was one of more than a dozen in the metro
region.
Such an infusion of direct sales income from a
wider market into the farm balance sheet has been
an exciting boost for some farmers. The Internet has
proven to be a way to reach more than the people
who frequent farmers markets, stop at roadside
stands, or will join a CSA. For some specialty
products it has enabled a national marketplace and
resulted in orders from buyers thousands of miles
away. Some of the articles in this issue feature those
opportunities and success stories.
Of course any new technology is only a tool -- one
that can result in positive or negative impacts. The
ability to order from a local farm on the Internet
can undermine one of the key foundations of the
local food network the relationship between the
farmer and the eater. Without that face-to-face
connection (and the likelihood of the buyer actually
going to the farm and seeing conditions there) it
becomes possible for the relationship to drift back to
that of faceless buyer and seller. Once that happens,
there is nothing to stop the buyer from pressing for
lower prices, and the seller from cutting corners on
quality.
This is where organic certifcation may play an
important role. A prudent consumer will understand
that, in the absence of a personal connection with
the farmer, some institutional structure is needed
to check abuse. For certifed organic farms there
is a protocol for inspection, verifcation, and
documentation that can go a long way towards
reassuring the buyer that conditions are as the
farmer represents them. Organic farms that are
marketing via the Internet would be wise to feature
their certifcation for just this reason.
We hope this issue helps readers more clearly
see the potential, as well as the diffculties, of
marketing farm products on the Internet. There are
a thousand stories we could have told. We hope that
the ones we chose are illustrative examples of this
burgeoning communications technology and how it
is impacting the business of farming.
The Internet: Its Changing Farming, Too
As a membership paper we count on
you for articles, letters, interviews,
ads, news, etc. Almost everybody has
a special talent or knows someone who
does. If you cant write, fnd someone
who can to interview you. Wed like to
keep the paper lively and interesting to
members. We need your help to do it.
We plan a year in advance so those who
want to write on a topic can have a lot
of lead time. The next 4 issues will be:
Fall 2008:
Winter Production and Sales
Winter 2009:
Organic Mulches
Spring 2009:
Soil Building
Summmer 2009:
Microbes, Food and Public Health
If you can help us on any of these
topics, or have ideas for new ones,
please get in touch. We need your help!
Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson
978-355-2853, fax: (978) 355-4046
tnf@nofa.org
The Natural Farmer
Needs You!
Advertisements not only bring in TNF revenue, which
means less must come from membership dues, they also
make a paper interesting and helpful to those looking for
specifc goods or services. We carry 2 kinds of ads:
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occasional needs or offerings. Send in up to 100 words
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NOFA Exchange ads directly to The Natural Farmer, 411
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TNF@nofa.org.
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ads. Send camera ready copy to Bob Minnocci, 662
Massachusetts Ave. #6, Boston, MA 02118 or BMinnocci@
aol.com and enclose a check (to TNF) for the appropriate
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One-third page (7 1/2 tall by 6 1/2 wide) $105 $145
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Note: These prices are for camera ready copy on clean
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any changes we will be glad to make them - or to typeset a
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additional revisions are $25 each). Just send us the text, any
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these rates. Pay for two consecutive issues and get
10% off each, pay for 3 and get 20% off, or pay
for 4 and get 25% off. An ad in the NOFA Summer
Conference Program Book counts as a TNF ad for
purposes of this discount.
Deadlines: We need your ad copy one month before
the publication date of each issue. The deadlines
are:
January 31 for the Spring issue (mails Mar. 1)
April 30 for the Summer issue (mails Jun. 1)
July 31 for the Fall issue (mails Sept. 1)
October 31 for the Winter issue (mails Dec. 1)
Disclaimer: Advertisers are helping support the
paper so please support them. We cannot investigate
the claims of advertisers, of course, so please
exercise due caution when considering any product
or service. If you learn of any misrepresentation in
one of our ads please inform us and we will take
appropriate action. We dont want ads that mislead.
Sponsorships: Individuals or organizations wishing
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Contact for Display Ads or Sponsors: Send
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If you have questions, or want to reserve space,
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com.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 3
fresh manure from animals given antibiotics will
uptake a portion of them and are thus a danger to
human health, I do think it is important to realize
that this problem can be dealt with by proper
manure handling, which was the focus of the issue.
Jack Kittredge
Dear Julie and Jack,
Heres the cash to continue our receiving your fne
journal. Our local Yancey County Farmers Market
has had two sale days. The opening day we doubled
last years customers. We all planted more produce
this year and we still may not fulfll demand.

Another activity in our county has been that many
more people are planting gardens or expanding
existing ones. A person at the market last week
called them the new Victory Gardens. Victory over
whom, I did not get a chance to ask. Maybe the oil
companies. This growth in demand for local food
is causing the industrial ag companies (organic and
conventional) to mount a counterattack.
We have to be ready to fght back. The problems
caused by Industrial Ag. must be resolved within
their own arena. Local food is the solution and
we cannot allow our best farmers to be driven out
of business. Our duty is to provide the freshest,
healthiest food at an affordable price. Fuel prices
will continue to rise, so inputs for conventional
farmers will go up and up. For years, when talking
to other farmers about my methods (old time
farming or what is now called organic) I said it
would not be totally for health reasons, economics
would be the real driver for conversion. So soon it
will be more economical to use organic methods
than conventional ones.
Best Wishes,
Robert Thompson
Burnsville, NC
Dear Robert,
And a happy day that will be! Someone once said
that the true value of a gallon of gasoline is the
amount of money you would have to pay someone
to push you, in your car, for 24 miles!
But not everything will be rosy when organic
farming becomes more proftable than conventional.
Once making a buck is easier with organic methods,
Please help us thank these
Friends of Organic Farming
for their generous support!
2008 UBS Financial Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. Member SIPC.
Douglas Calnan, First Vice PresidentInvestments
300 Granite Street, Braintree, MA 02184
888-320-4366 781-917-1982
douglas.calnan@ubs.com
www.ubs.com/financialservicesinc
Socially Responsible Investing
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I am starting to read the most recent issue and
with particular interest the section on manure
and compost. I fnd it a bit disconcerting that you
missed the topic of antibiotic uptake in vegetables
when grown in manure. This is a serious concern.
Below is the link to a study done back in 2005 and
mentioned previously in The Natural Farmer as well
as Growing for Market. Is this being ignored due to
the large amount of confnement operation manure
being used by farmers? It is a diffcult issue that
needs to be investigated further, not only with cow
manure but all animal manures where antibiotics are
used.
http://jeq.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/34/6/2082
Thanks
Joe Buley
Screamin Ridge Farm
Thanks, Joe,
As Im sure you know, organic farmers are not
allowed to use raw manure on their crops (as
opposed to conventional farmers, the vast majority
in this country, who can). A primary reason to
compost manure before using it for fertility is to
bring it to a high enough temperature for a long
enough time to break down complex chemicals like
antibiotics to their basic elemental parts again.
On page 19 of the last issue we report on a Colorado
State University study on exactly that: antibiotics
and how long they persist in manure given different
management systems. They found that manure
turned, watered, and with occasional amendments
(actively managed as compost) may need as much
as six months for them to be signifcantly reduced.
Antibiotic resistant genes may persist even longer.
Many organic farms do not even bring in outside
manure for exactly the reasons you cite, preferring
to have a mixed operation and generate manure that
contains only components acceptable on an organic
operation.
The study you cite does not look at composted
manure, however, but tests either soils directly
spiked with antibiotics, or soils mixed with fresh
manure from pigs given routine doses of antibiotics.
While it is important to know that plants grown in
Welcoming Note to New York Subscribers
With this issue we welcome back the entire
membership of NOFA-NY! Several years ago,
for fnancial reasons, NOFA-NY was forced to
eliminate subscriptions to The Natural Farmer
as a member beneft. At a recent Governing
Council meeting the chapter decided to once
again include a sub with every membership. We
are very happy to be read by the entire 7-state
NOFA membership once again!
Of course, during the last few years a number
of NOFA-NY members decided they wanted
to subscribe directly to the paper. They have
religiously been sending checks and getting
the paper as private individuals. Many of those
subscriptions have not yet expired, so with this
issue many NOFA-NY members will get two
copies of the paper.
From our point of view both subs have been
paid for, one by the individual and the other by
the chapter, so we owe them both to be sent. We
hope those who receive two copies will donate
one to a friend, to a library, or to another place
where it will be used. But if you think this is
a waste of paper and postage and want us to
discontinue your second copy, just let us know
and we will be happy to comply. The problem
should sort itself out over the next year as all
the individual subs expire.
Once again, we are very happy to be read by all
NOFA members again!! Jack Kittredge and
Julie Rawson
we will be attracting in a lot of folks interested
only in making a buck. So lets be careful, now
when demand is strong and we have the ear of the
consumer, to be transparent about our practices and
invite people to come to the farm and ask questions
for themselves about what is going on. We need to
set a high standard of expectation for the day when
we might be competing with folks whose practices
couldnt stand up to careful scrutiny.
Jack Kittredge
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 4
Coastal Maine Internship. Wayback Farm, a
Biodynamic homestead, is opening application for
intern/beginner farmers. This is not a job, but a
learning opportunity for journeypersons to advance
skills in building, mechanics, masonry, systems and
independent growing projects using Wayback land
and equipment. Please call Paul Bernacki at 207-
342-5052 or write Wayback Farm, Belmont, Maine,
04952.
Couple seeking apprenticeship on farm that
intensively grazes multiple species. Combined
6 years livestock experience, including dairy
sheep, goats, cows, and meat lambs and veal.
Experience haying, raising Maremmas, maintaining
home garden, layers, and meat birds. Seeking
to diversify our skills, especially in the areas of
fencing systems, irrigation, parasite control, and
nutrition, in order to help us achieve our goal of
having our own grass-based enterprise in the future.
Would prefer to work in exchange for room and
board. We are hard workers and a good team. Email
illuci@hotmail.com.
Help Wanted. Real Pickles is a small business,
based in Montague, MA, producing raw, naturally
fermented pickled foods from local, organic
vegetables. We are seeking part-time help,
beginning ASAP. Work includes all aspects of
production, including preparing fresh ingredients
for fermentation and packaging fnished product
into glass jars. Work is physically demanding.
Applicants should be hard-working, reliable, and
able to lift 50 lbs. Work location: Greenfeld, MA.
This is a great opportunity to learn all about the
ancient art of lactic acid fermentation! For more
information, call Dan at 413-863-9063.
Equilibrio Films, LLC is seeking master
gardeners, farmers, and landscaping professional
to participate in instructional videos for the
largest how to internet database in the world.
We specifcally want people with experience in the
following areas: Perennial fower gardens, Water
gardens, Organic farming, Organic gardening (both
fower and vegetable), Plant identifcation, Pest
management, Landscaping in theory and practice,
Low-water gardens and landscaping, Community
gardens, Composting. For more information please
contact Hans at (413) 367-0093 or send an email to
hans@equilibrioflms.com.
Help Fight Poverty! Join the Institute for
International Cooperation & Development to fght
poverty and bridge the gap between the poor and
the rich in the Americas! The program, called Fight
Poverty, starts October 1
st
, 2008, and is a total of 9
months with this structure: 2 months preparation in
the U.S, 1 month bus travel in Brazil exploring the
countrys diversity and contradictions, 4 months
volunteer work in Brazil in our Child Aid project,
2 months in the U.S., spreading knowledge about
poverty. For more information visit our website:
www.iicd-volunteer.org or contact us by e-mail:
info@iicd-volunteer.org
Cultivating Wellness Conference September
13 & 14 at D Acres in Dorchester, NH. Register
now to secure your place at this celebration of
land stewardship and community wellbeing in the
White Mountains. Attend hands-on workshops,
feld and forest plant walks, educational classes
and healing sessions with New England holistic
practitioners and wellness experts. Jim Merkel will
deliver the keynote address, Wellness Through
Simplicity. Visit our website or contact us for a
full list of speakers, workshop descriptions and
other information. www.dacres.org. info@dacres.
org (603) 786-2366. Two-Day Registration: $100
-Including Two Organic Lunches: $125 -Including
Five Organic Meals and Camping: $150
Videotape at NOFA Summer Conference. Good
job for competent teen. Equipment and training
provided. Must be available Friday, August 8 at 1:00
pm thru 2:30 pm on Sunday August 10 to videotape
8 workshops and 2 keynotes. Must get to 2 off-
site workshops for tours. Pays $300 for weekend.
Contact Jack@nofamass.org.
50+ pullets for sale in late May/early June,08.
Heavy breed brown egg layers, Black Austrolorps,
Buff Orpingtons, Blk. Sex Links, Silver Laced
Wyandottes & Americaunas, 50% deposit required
prior to pick up on the farm. Estimated cost per pullet
(at this time, depending on costs of grain), $30.00.
Call 508-763-5901, leave message, w/ name & best
time to reach you. Emails identify NOFA/pullets in
subject heading. Baystate Organic Certifed.
Greenhouse/ Hoophouse for sale. Currently being
used as a hoophouse. 21 by 48, 2 1/8 pipe, fan,
louvered vent with solar powered opener, double
sliding doors, side ventilation, also shelving and
hangers for hanging plants come with it if its to be
used as a greenhouse. Its a garden mart model made
by poly-tex and it can be seen at www.poly-tex.com
.I would like to get $1,600 or would consider trading
it for an old tractor or farm equip. If interested call
Joe at (413) 743 8132 or e-mail to jbettisjr@verizon.
net
CSA farming opportunity for experienced,
community-minded organic farmer/s. Thriving 230-
member Anchor Run CSA provides livable income
to current farm family and has vibrant core group.
12 acre CSA with space in barn & outbuildings are
part of scenic 100-acre municipally-owned open
space preserve in S.E. PA. Rental of two houses
negotiable. Equipment available at fair price.
Commitment to community education and expansion
of sustainable agriculture in the region desirable.
Long term relationship beginning Dec. 2008 sought
by supportive community. Visit www.anchorrunfarm.
com and www.wrightstownpa.org for more info.
Contact Tali at: tali1968@gmail.com or Robin at
ecorobinhood@comcast.net to apply.
The Cape Ann Farmers Market is looking for new
vendors! CAFM is only in its second full season and
is located in downtown Gloucester, MA on Thursdays
3 7 pm (starting July 10th). It is a vibrant market
and this is a great opportunity to reach a community
that is really hungry for fresh quality foods. We are
specifcally looking for meat, cheese, dairy and fber
producers, but any and all prospective vendors are
encouraged to apply. CAFM is a growing market
with a growing demand. Please contact the market
manager, Jessica Hayes at 617-470-9128 or email
cafm@sustainablecapeann.org.
NOFA
Exchange
Blow Your Own Horn!
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 5
compiled by Jack Kittredge
Organic Cropping Systems Can be as
Productive as Conventional
Organic cropping systems can be as productive
as conventional systems for alfalfa or wheat and
usually for corn and soybeans as well, according
to research reported by scientists at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison and agricultural consulting
frm AGSTAT in the March-April 2008 issue of
Agronomy Journal. The researchers primarily
based their answer on results from the Wisconsin
Integrated Cropping Systems Trials, conducted for
13 years (1990-2002) at Arlington, WI and 8 years
(1990-1997) at Elkhorn, WI. These trials compared
six cropping systems (three cash grain and three
forage based crops) ranging from diverse, organic
systems to less diverse, conventional systems.
In this research they found that: organic
forage crops yielded as much or more dry
matter as their conventional counterparts with
quality suffcient to produce as much milk as the
conventional systems; and organic grain crops: corn,
soybean, and winter wheat produced 90% as well as
their conventionally managed counterparts. In spite
of some climatic differences and a large difference
in soil drainage between the two sites, the relatively
small difference in the way the cropping systems
performed suggested that these results are widely
applicable across prairie-derived soils in the U.S.
upper Midwest. The researchers also compared their
results to other data analysis done on this topic in
the U.S. Midwest.
source: news release, American Society of
Agronomy, March 24, 2008
Organic Grain Up 75%, Milk up 12%
From February 2007 to April 2008 organic grain
prices rose approximately 75%, while the farmgate
milk price rose only 12%. These and other
interesting facts are on display in charts and tables
from NODPA.
source: http://www.nodpa.com/feed_prices_may1.
shtml
Pew Commission Report Urges Industrial
Farm Reform
Industrial animal farms, where large numbers of
livestock are raised, require a far-reaching overhaul,
according to a report by the Pew Commission on
Industrial Farm Animal Production. The study, a
project of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is
the result of more than two years of research about
industrial farm systems. It raises issues such as
the huge amount of animal waste industrial farms
generate, use of antibiotics by such facilities leading
to the development of drug-resistant bacteria and the
high concentration of animals on industrial farms
increasing the risk of disease spreading. The reports
recommendations include phasing out the most
inhumane production practices within 10 years;
implementing federal performance-based standards
to improve animal welfare; and expanding and
reforming animal agriculture research.
source: press release from Pew Charitable Trust,
4/30/2008
Animal Welfare Label Created
The Animal Welfare Institute now offers a labeling
program for farmers who want to inform their
customers that their beef, pork and poultry are
raised humanely. Requirements include: family
farm or ranch, pastured or access to outside, no
nontherapeutic antibiotics or growth hormones,
allowing livestock their natural fanctions, no cruel
treatments. The Institute picks up the costs so the
label is free to farmers. To apply, contact Lauren@
awionline.org.
source: Virginia Biological Farmer, 2
nd
Quarter,
2008
News
Notes
USDA Pulls A Dirty Trick On Animal ID
FOIA Exemption
Cheers went up recently from the farm community
when news arrived that the farm bills language
exempting NAIS data from Freedom of Information
Act requirements for public disclosure had been
dropped. Many NAIS opponents feel that if NAIS
registration data is subject to FOIA disclosure
farmers will more broadly oppose the program. The
USDA had pressed for the exemption as a way of
lessening opposition to NAIS. But the cheers for
dropping the exemption apparently were premature.
In the April 30 Federal Register the USDA claimed
that all NAIS records are subject to the Privacy Act
and therefore automatically exempt.
source: Email from Mary Zanoni, April 30, 2008
Washington State University Puts Organic
Ag Certifcate Online
Washington State University (WSU) is the frst
university in the U.S. to make a certifcate in organic
agriculture accessible to anyone with Internet
access. WSUs overview of the certifcate program
says, Students develop knowledge and skills that
are applicable to all industries and agencies involved
in the food chain from production, processing, and
delivery to policy, regulation, and education. The
18-unit certifcate includes 3 units of a hands-on
internship. Students must apply to and be enrolled
in WSU in order to earn the certifcate. Completing
the certifcate will prepare students to manage an
organic farm, work in the non-proft or government
sectors involved with environmental and food safety
issues, or enter the organic food industry.
source: http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/reportertools/
news/2008/organic-cert-2008-04.html
White House Supports Local Food
Movement
In a Rose Garden talk April 29th President Bush
reaffrmed his concern for the increased cost of
food for Americans. We are deeply concerned
about food prices here at home, he said. He also
suggested that Creative policy is to buy food from
local farmers. So go out, be patriotic, and buy local
farm food!
source: Sustainable Table press release, 4/29/2008
International Report Challenges Industrial
Global Farming System
Agribusiness-as-usual was dealt a swift blow in
Johannesburg April 7 as 57 nations signed onto
a groundbreaking action plan that set a bold new
course for developing nations to feed themselves
while also addressing pressing environmental
concerns. The report, the International Assessment
of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology
for Development (IAASTD) Global Report, was
commissioned in partnership with the United
Nations after a group of biotech companies
asked the World Bank what it thought of genetic
engineering technology as an agricultural strategy
for developing countries. Ironically, the ensuing
report roundly rejects biotechnology and modern
industrial farming as a viable solution to the
problems confronting the developing world, such
as soaring food prices, hunger, social injustice and
environmental degradation. The report instead calls
for a major paradigm shift that would place strong
focus on small-scale farming and agro-ecological
farming methods to feed local communities, address
social inequities and protect the environment while
scaling back broadly on energy-intensive, chemical
agriculture and addressing trade imbalances that
hurt the rural poor.
Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and
the United States are among a handful of countries
that have yet to endorse the report, with the U.S.
repeating allegations coming from the agrochemical
and biotech industries some months before that the
report was unbalanced. Those defending the process
said the reports lack of support for further industrial
and globalized agricultureand for modern
biotech in particularwas based on intensive,
peer reviewed assessment of empirical data by
development experts and scientists across a wide
variety of disciplines. These experts, they say, were
chosen by the same governments and companies
now calling the report biased.
source: Rodale Institute Press Release, http://www.
rodaleinstitute.org/20080418/fp1
Big Beef Recall Proves Small is Safer
It has been widely reported that on February 17,
2008, Westland/Hallmark Meat Company, of
Chino, California, issued the largest beef recall
in history. 143 million pounds of beef, most of it
already eaten, was recalled because the USDA Food
Safety Inspection Service was embarrassed by an
undercover video, which surfaced on Youtube at the
end of January, showing extreme animal abuse, and
proving that sick animals were being put into the
food supply. This story raises two important issues
about USDA food safety policies:
1) The difference between food safety inspection
processes in very large plants versus very small
plants
In a very small USDA-inspected meat processing
plant, one that slaughters a cow an hour, or about
8 to 10 cows a day, the USDA inspector sees every
animal individually for a visual health inspection
before the animal is killed. If the inspector deems
the animal healthy looking, the processor may
then kill the animal. Once a cow is killed, it is
eviscerated into a stainless steel tray and the heart,
lungs, and liver are separated and visually inspected
to ensure the tissue is healthy looking. The head is
removed and placed in a separate tray where it is
also inspected. After evisceration, if the inspector
discovers anything indicating the animal was not
in good health, the inspector may demand the
carcass be quarantined until further inspection, or
that the carcass be destroyed and removed from the
premises. One small-scale meat processor I spoke
with said having a USDA inspector in his plant was
like driving your car with a state trooper in the back
seat.
But where is the USDA inspector in a plant
that processes 100 cows an hour? How much
time does he spend looking at each animal? If the
presence of USDA food safety inspectors is what
ensures the safety of our meat supply, then the meat
processed in very small USDA-inspected facilities,
where each individual animal receives inspection at
multiple points in the process, must be signifcantly
safer than meat processed in very large USDA-
inspected facilities where each animal is inspected
at fewer points in the process, and inspections are
more rapid, making them more superfcial.
2) The effcacy of the National Animal
Identifcation System as a food safety program
The National Animal Identifcation System (NAIS)
is one of the largest government programs ever
proposed, and undoubtedly one of the most invasive
and expensive, creating a massive new bureaucracy
on the scale of the IRS for animals. According to
the USDA, it is a food safety program intended
to protect animal health and human health. In
NAIS, the USDA proposes every livestock animal
in the nation be tagged, from birth to death, with
an identifcation number that includes a premises
ID number for the location where the animal is
kept. All animal movements would be reported
via websites so a database search could locate the
animal and/or the animals premises within 48
hours. This feature is known as 48-hour trace-back.
Would NAIS have prevented the largest beef
recall in history? No. The Westland/Hallmark
beef recall, which occurred weeks after the
meat was distributed in the marketplace, was
not for tainted meat or food found to be unsafe;
it was a punishment for breaking food safety
rules, spotlighting lax inspection processes, and
embarrassing the USDA. Would NAIS have
prevented any of the beef recalls of the past few
years? No. Those beef recalls were made after
meat was distributed in the marketplace and
eaten by people who became ill. Industrial meat
processors, wholesalers, and retailers do not
maintain individual animal identifcation from kill
to packaged table cuts. The cows were separated
from their identifcation in the course of processing
the meat.
source: Billie Best, Farm and Food Earth Day
News, April 17, 2008
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 6
New Evidence Settles a Lingering Question
Is Organic Food More Nutritious?
A comprehensive review of 97 published studies
comparing the nutritional quality of organic and
conventional foods shows that organic plant-based
foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) contain higher
levels of eight of 11 nutrients studied, including
signifcantly greater concentrations of the health-
promoting polyphenols and antioxidants. In
this frst comprehensive review of the scientifc
literature comparing nutrient levels in organic
and conventional food completed since 2003, a
team of scientists conclude that organically grown
plant-based foods are 25% more nutrient dense, on
average, and hence deliver more essential nutrients
per serving or calorie consumed. The new report
is published as a State of Science Review by
The Organic Center and is entitled New Evidence
Confrms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-based
Organic Foods.
source: http://www.organic-center.org/science.nutri.
php?action=view&report_id=126

Earthworms Bioconcentrate Perfumes and
Drugs
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)
end up in the tons of solid sludge left behind by
wastewater treatment processes. Those so-called
biosolids are often repackaged and sold as fertilizers
for both industrial and small-scale agriculture. In a
new survey, published in the February 2008 issue of
Environmental Science &Technology, researchers
show for the frst time that those compounds can
turn up in earthworms. The fndings illustrate
the wide array of PPCPs that can be carried from
treatment facility to feld. Biosolids provide great
value as sources of organic carbon and nutrient
compounds, says coauthor Edward Furlong of the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), but you still have
to understand the trace constituents. The proof-
of-concept study also demonstrates that worms are
taking up some of the compounds into their tissues
and bioconcentrating them there, with unknown
effects, says study coauthor Dana Kolpin, also of
USGS. Because the worms seem to concentrate
compounds that may be present at undetectable
levels in the soils, they can be a sort of sentinel, or
magnifying glass of whats in the soil, she adds.
source: http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/
esthag-w/2008/feb/science/nl_earthworms.html
Major Reduction in Greenhouse Gas
Emissions from Organic and Grass-fed
Practices
According to an article in the journal Environmental
Health Perspectives entitled Global Farm Animal
Production and Global Warming: Impacting and
Mitigating Climate Change, organic farming has
the potential to reduce GHG emissions and
sequester carbon, and raising cattle for beef
organically on grass, in contrast to fattening
confned cattle on concentrated feed, may emit
40-percent less GHGs and consume 85-percent
less energy than conventionally produced beef
(Cederberg and Stadig 2003; Fanelli 2007; Ogino et
al. 2007).
source: http://www.ehponline.org/
members/2008/11034/11034.pdf
OCA Charges Toxic Ingredients in Organic
Beauty Care Products
Given that the federal government has not issued
organic standards for beauty care products,
several private industry groups have come up with
their own standards. But a study by the Organic
Consumers Association found many products
contain 1,4-diozane, which can cause cancer
and have a toxic effect on the kidneys, brain
and respiratory system. The brands it identifed
included JASON Pure & Natural, Giovanni Organic
Cosmetics, Kiss My Face, and Natures Gate
Organics. The practice of ethoxylating ingredients
or using other petroleum compounds must end
for natural personal care, and it is that much more
outrageous in so-called organics brand products,
said OCA executive director Ronnie Cummins. One
of the major industry groups putting forth organic
standards is OASIS (Organic and Sustainable
Industry Standards). It allows the organic label with
only 85% certifed organic content.
source: Organic Business News, March, 2008
USDA Makes Implanted Computer Chips Its
De Facto Standard for NAIS
Despite claims that its National Animal
Identifcation System will be technology neutral,
the USDA is favoring radiofrequency identifcation
(RFID) ear tags and implants. In April it made the
tags part of the tuberculosis testing program for
cattle. Of the eight identifcation devices USDA has
approved, seven are RFID ear tags for cattle and the
eighth is an implantable microchip for horses.
The health risk of tuberculosis from cows
is very small. The USDAs Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service bovine TB factsheet gives the
incidence of positive reactors to the test (positive
reactors are not necessarily infected animals) at
0.02 percent, and notes that in 21
st
century America,
humans catch the disease from other humans, not
from cows.
This is yet another deceptive and
underhanded tactic by USDA to force farmers into
their bureaucratic and costly NAIS program. Dairy
farmers are already dealing with skyrocketing costs
of production. NAIS will not do anything to address
animal disease and will only drive more family
farmers out of business, said Paul Rozwadowski,
a Wisconsin dairy farmer and chair of the National
Family Farm Coalitions Dairy Subcommittee.
source: Email from National Family Farm
Coalition, May 12, 2008
USDA Recruits Breed Registries to
Implement NAIS
As part of its harmonization strategy, the USDA
has called on breed associations to use NAIS-
compliant Animal ID numbers (AINs) for their
animals. The hitch is, to obtain an AIN you must
frst register your property in the NAIS system.
source: Acres, USA, March, 2008
Group to Sue over NAIS Problems
The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
(FTCLDF) has announced its intent to sue the
USDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture
for both procedural and substantive problems
with the program. Those interested in those
problems can fnd the 25 page document listing
them at: http://www.ftcldf.org/docs/Notice%20o
f%20Intent%20to%20Sue%20-%20NAIS%20-
%20May%2014,%202008.pdf.
The FTCLDF is a new group, created to
help farmers defend their right to market directly
to consumers products that the consumers choose.
They educate farmers about legal models that can
minimize government interference, advocate before
state offcials to change statutes and administrative
regulations, and represent farmers who have fallen
afoul of federal or state law by marketing products
directly to consumers. Besides fghting NAIS,
they are active in work involving raw milk, eggs
and farm-slaughtered meat. The FTCLDF can be
reached at www.ftcldf.org.
source: Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
press release, May 15, 2008, Acres, USA, May, 2008
Global Organic Market to Top $86 Billion by
2009
That is the prediction of Global Industry Analysts,
Inc. The US is the biggest single market, with $43
billion in sales. The Asia-Pacifc market is second.
source: The Organic and Non-GMO Report,
February, 2008
NAFTA is a Disaster for Mexicos Rural
Economy
The Mexican Agriculture and Cattle Farming
Commission has issued an analysis of the effects
of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) which says that the indices of poverty in
the countryside have risen dramatically since the
signing of the agreement. Financing in agriculture
has fallen by 90%, the domestic fertilizer industry
was totally eliminated, while the price of beans
and tortilla corn (supported by US subsidies) has
increased sharply. The Mexican countryside is in
the worst crisis of its history, with over three million
Mexicans emigrating to the US. Not all nationals are
doing poorly, however. Carlos Slim, of Mexico City,
became the worlds richest man, based on holdings
of $68 billion at the end of July, 2007.
source: The Rams Horn, February, 2008
Study: Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soils,
Contribute to Green House Gases
A study published in the Journal of Environmental
Quality fnds (surprise!) that under modern high-
yield conventional cropping systems we are
burning up our soils through over-application of
nitrogen. Apparently the nitrogen enables the rapid
consumption of soil carbon, leaving less sequestered
in the soil and more given off in greenhouse gases.
Its just the opposite of what conventional wisdom
has preached since we began using heavy doses of
N on crops 50 years ago, said Richard Mulvaney,
one of the four University of Illinois agronomists
who conducted the research. My colleagues and I
were simply amazed when we examined the data.
source: Kerr Center Field Notes, Spring, 2008
Wal-Mart to Open Small Food Markets
Wal-Mart will open four small stores (20,000 square
feet) in Arizona to test the idea of expanding its
sales of fresh foods and groceries. The company
has registered names such as Marketside, City
Thyme, and Field and Vine for this purpose.
According to the Financial Times Unlike the giant
stores, the planning process for [small stores] does
not require public consultation, potentially creating
a way for Wal-Mart to grow into cities and states
where its Supercenter expansion has been slowed by
union-backed political opposition.
source: Growing for Market, February, 2008
NOP Reorganized
The National Organic Program has been reorganized
into three branches: standards development and
review, accreditation, auditing and training, and
compliance and enforcement. Barbara Robinson
has assumed overall leadership, while Mark
Bradley heads up the accreditation section, Richard
Matthews is back to lead the standards division, and
the compliance directorship is currently vacant. An
electronic reading room has also been set up where
all NOP public records can be seen, and a Q&A site
where offcial responses are posted. The main NOP
site is at http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop.
source: Organic Processing, March/April 2008
United Goes Solar
United Natural Foods, Inc. is installing solar power
systems on the roofs of its distribution facility
in Rocklin, CA and its corporate headquarters in
Dayville, CT. The Rocklin system is composed of
7000 panels covering 4 acres of rooftop and supplies
the buildings entire refrigeration needs during the
day. Executives expect the investments payback
period to be 4.3 years.
source: Whole Foods Magazine, March, 2008
USDA Eyes Forcing National Marketing
Agreement on Greens Growers
In the wake of the September, 2006 spinach
contamination tragedy, the California leafy greens
industry adopted a state Leafy Green Marketing
Agreement (LGMA) in February of 2007. It
specifes best practices for growing, harvesting,
and handling leafy green products. The adopting
handlers agreed to buy only from growers who
adhere to those rules. The LGMA model has spread
to other states and now the industry wants to, and
the USDA is considering, making it mandatory for
everyone in the nation who sells greens to stores
or restaurants. Many growers of diverse crops
are opposed to this model, feeling that boards of
handlers should not dictate farming practices and
approaching this issue on a crop-by-crop basis will
threaten diverse farms. Already Florida and Virginia
are pursuing similar regulation of tomatoes, melons,
and onions. The current LGMA is also fawed
because
it does not distinguish between fresh-cut and
traditional whole greens (since 1999, 98.5% of E.
coli 0157:H7 illnesses from leafy greens have come
from fresh-cut salad,
small distributors and farmers have no
representation of the board which drew up the rules,
and
the rules may be practical for large mono-cropping
growers of greens, but are entirely impractical for
small, diverse, and organic farmers.
sources: USDAs Perishable Agricultural
Commodities Act Administrative Newsletter, Winter,
2008
CAFFs Agrarian Advocate, Winter, 2008
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 7
Farm to Table Environmental Costs
This graphic assigns the environmental costs of
conventional farmed food to its production on farm,
its transportation to the store, and transportation
home. Environmental costs include pesticide
contamination, soil erosion, greenhouse gas
emission and biodiversity losses. CSAs look pretty
good!
source: Kerr Center Field Notes, Spring, 2008
E. coli Levels Linked to Feeding Distillers
Grains?
A record number of pounds of US beef were
recalled in 2007 for E. coli contamination. The
USDA is wondering whether that may be linked to
the growing use for cattle feed of distillers grains, a
byproduct of the fermentation process (think ethanol
as well as whiskey). The USDA is now feeding 300
cattle a 40% diet of distillers grains and an all-corn
diet to a control group. (No mention of feeding grass
to any cattle!)
source: Acres, USA, March, 2008
Cell Phones & Semen
Woe to the young men double-tasking on their
cell phones as they rush through lifes chores!
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, after studying
361 men, found that the more hours the men spent
on their cell phones, the lower their sperm count
and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.
The study adds to the concern about electromagnetic
energys effect on body tissue, especially DNA.
The clinic is planning a larger study to assess other
factors, such as lifestyle and occupation.
source: Acres, USA. April, 2008
Clorox Buys Burts Bees
In another example of the expansion of major
corporations into the alternative food and health
care markets, the personal care brand Burts Bees
has been bought by Clorox.
source: Acres, USA, March, 2008
Kaolin Good but not Great
According to HortIdeas, Canadian researchers
compared three treatments of Liberty apples:
10 applications of Kaolin in 2003 and 13 in 2004
so that the trees were covered at all times with a thin
coat,
applications of synthetic pesticides at 75% of
recommended rates based on action thresholds,
no pesticide applications.
The percentages of damaged fruits were:
2003 2004
Nothing 100 77
Kaolin 83 52
Pesticide 49 13
Kaolin was not effective against codling
moth and less effective than synthetic pesticides
against tarnished plant bug as well as plum curculio.
source: Growing for Market, April, 2008
New Guides Help Farmers Understand
Organic Dairy Contracts
The Farmers Legal Action Group (FLAG) has
published two guides to help farmers understand
and negotiate organic milk contracts. The frst is
called When Your Processor Requires More than
Organic Certifcation: Additional Requirements in
Organic Milk Contracts. It reviews contracts for
the sale of organic milk that were used in 2007. The
second is called Hushed Up: Confdentiality Clauses
in Organic Milk Contracts. Some contracts for the
sale of organic milk require farmers to agree not
to disclose the terms of the contract with any other
party. These contract clauses can discourage farmers
from seeking legal advice, or from discussing
farming or fnancial concerns with other farmers or
fnancial advisors.
Ed Maltby, Executive Director of the
National Organic Dairy Producers Alliance
(NODPA) stated, We believe that these articles
will help organic dairy producers to make informed
decisions for their own farming operations, as they
strive to continue to meet consumer expectations for
organic milk.
Farmers may request a copy of one or both
articles by calling FLAGs offce at 651-223-5400.
A small fee is charged for printing and mailing
costs for non-farmers. The articles can also be
downloaded at no charge from FLAGs website
at: www.faginc.org. They can also be downloaded
from the NODPA websites at: www.organicmilk.org
or www.nodpa.com.
source: FLAG press release, May 13, 2008
Farm Bill News
By the time you read this the Farm Bill most likely
will have been vetoed by the president, and one or
both houses of Congress may well have overriden
the veto. But in case you have been too busy in the
feld to follow the hoopla, here are a few things this
bill contains.
Organic agriculture took a starring role
in this farm bill. The Conferees agreed to provide
$22 million in mandatory funding over 5 years
for organic certifcation cost share, an increase of
$17 million and a top NCSA farm bill priority. The
bill also provides $5 million to fund an organic
data collection initiative and a new program to
provide fnancial assistance for organic conversion
housed within the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP). The Conservation
Security Program to be renamed the Conservation
Stewardship Program will include an easy cross
walk to eligibility for organic farmers. The Organic
Research and Extension Initiative, a competitive
grants program, will be funded at $78 million over
4 years. While the bill retains the organic crop
insurance surcharge it directs USDA to review risk
data for organic and conventional crops and unless
they fnd a signifcant variation the surcharge must
be dropped or reduced.
The Conservation Security Program,
renamed the Conservation Stewardship Program
is going national with a continuous sign up. The
bill provides the resources necessary - $1.1
billion in new and mandatory funding - to enroll
approximately 115 million acres in the CSP
by 2017. The program and payment structure
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 8
have been streamlined without weakening the
environmental standards necessary to qualify. It
also includes special payments for establishing
resource conserving crop rotations.
Funding was also increased for the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
This shift towards working lands conservation
was made possible by an infusion of $4 billion in
new funding as well as a $2.5 billion savings from
the Conservation Reserve Program. The $450,000
payment limitation for the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program was reduced to $300,000
over six years. While the Campaign had pushed
for a smaller payment limit this is a welcome
development.
Renewable Energy - The bill provides
$70 million over 5 years in mandatory funding for
the Biomass Crop Transition Assistance Program.
BCTAP is a program that will encourage farmers to
grow annual and perennial biomass crops. Selection
criteria include some sustainability criteria and
a preference for local ownership both provisions
pushed by the National Campaigns renewable
energy committee.
While we lost the packer ban in conference
there are some signifcant farm bill gains for
contract growers of livestock and poultry.
Producers will be able to opt out of arbitration
clauses in their livestock or poultry production
contracts. A contract grower will be able to have
any dispute settled in the federal judicial district
where he lives rather than where the company
headquarters are located. Contract growers will
have three days to cancel a contract after signing
and the initial contract must disclose whether large
capital investments will be required over the life
of the contract. The livestock title also directs
USDA to defne undue pricing preference to
protect small and independent livestock producers
from unjustifed pricing practices that favor larger
producers.
The bill also includes a Country of Origin
Labeling (COOL) provision requiring retailers to
label the country of origin of meat, fsh, fruits and
vegetables by September 30, 2008. The COOL
provision retains the prohibition on the use of a
mandatory National Animal Identifcation System to
establish country of origin.
The bill also includes a compromise
provision allowing the interstate sale of state
inspected meat for certain small packers.
The new Rural Microenterprise
Assistance Program was given $15 million in
mandatory funding over 4 years. RMAP will
provide small loans and technical assistance to rural
entrepreneurs with low and moderate incomes to
establish small businesses in rural areas.
The Value Added Producer Grant
program took a hit to its funding receiving just $15
million in mandatory funding over 4 years although
additional annual appropriations are authorized.
The National Campaign had pushed for $40 million
in mandatory funding for the VAPG. The bill,
however, provides new grant priorities for projects
that support local food system development and for
small and midsize family farms and beginning and
socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
Community Food Security - The
Community Food Project program was funded
at $5 million annually over 10 years to make
matching grants to community organizations
working on local hunger, nutrition and food access
issues. The bill also includes a provision allowing
local schools to establish a purchasing preference
for locally produced fruits, vegetables, dairy and
meats for school meals. The bill establishes a new
competitive grant program to spur innovation and
local food infrastructure development particularly
in underserved communities. The Healthy Urban
Food Enterprise Development Center will provide
technical assistance and feasibility study grants to
support enterprises to distribute and market healthy
and locally produced food.
USDAs Rural Business and Industry
Loan Program now includes a priority for entities
engaged in local food distribution and marketing
Five percent (about $50 million a year) of the
guaranteed loan funds are to be set aside for these
types of enterprises.
Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged
Farmers and Ranchers - Section 2501, a
competitive grant program to assist socially
disadvantaged farmers access USDA programs
received $75 million in mandatory funding over 4
years, a signifcant increase over current authorized
levels and a frst time mandatory allocation. The
bill creates a new Beginning Farmer and Rancher
Individual Development Account pilot program
available in 15 states to establish matched savings
accounts for the purchase of farmland, farm
equipment or livestock. No mandatory funding
was provided so this new program will have to
win funding in the annual appropriations process.
The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development
Program won mandatory funding of $75 million
over 4 years to administer a competitive grants
program for organizations providing technical
assistance and other services to beginning farmers.
This program was created in the 2002 farm bill but
was never funded.
source: National Campaign for Sustainable
Agriculture Digest #12, May 13, 2008
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 9
Special Supplement on
Online Marketing of Organic Products
Creating A
Farm Web Site
A Web site is an important tool for your business if
you sell your products directly to consumers. With
each passing day, the Internet grows in importance
as a source of information for people looking for
locally grown food and farm products.
While your older customers know where you are
because theyve been coming to your farm for years,
many new customers will seek out information
about your farm on the Web before they commit to
a visit.
At a minimum, your farm needs a good, simple Web
site that is nicely laid out and features great images.
It should ft the theme of your business and should
use the same logo that is on your other marketing
materials.
Many farms add additional features to their
Web sites, like blogs, a harvest calendar, event
information, and a sign-up list for e-mail alerts.
Some of these more advanced features are described
in the tip sheets on blogs, online stores, and
permission marketing.
What do I want my Web site to do?
Your Web site needs to convince frst-time visitors
to stick around long enough to fnd the information
they are looking for. An effective site will excite
customers about your farm and bring them to your
stand.
Think like a customer when you design your Web
site. All important informationwho you are, where
you are located, your hours of operation and your
productsneed to be on the frst page or home
page of the site or in a clearly identifed page just
one click away. Make sure this essential information
is easily found on your Web siteyou will keep
your customers around longer.
Once you have their attention you can offer them
additional information about why they should buy
your products. The best way to do this is through the
story of your farm: what makes your farm unique?
How long have you been farming?
What are you best known for? Customers also enjoy
having a glimpse into what you do and how you do
it, seeing pictures of the seasons on your farm, or
even hearing about your recent challenges. Avoid
getting negative or technical. Keep it simple, upbeat,
direct, and real.
What should I avoid?
Your customers are seeking authentic products from
real people. Your competitorsgourmet food shops
and high-end food retailersdisplay their products
in a classy, upscale environment. Farm Web sites
should take a cue from retailers like Whole Foods.
Think Martha Stewart, not Hee-Haw.
Features to avoid:
Dancing vegetables, animals, and other animated
gimmicks. Your eight-year-old fnds them cute.
Your customers fnd them corny!
A splash page. These introductory pages are
often too large to load quickly, and they keep your
customers away from your key information. If it
takes too long to navigate your site, your customers
will leave.
Long blocks of text or long pages. Keep customers
from feeling overwhelmed by keeping things
simple. Its better to have a few smaller pages than
one really long one.
A dark or complex background. Our eyes are not
getting any stronger! Busy backgrounds make it
hard to focus on the information.
Music. Many of your customers are sneaking a
peek at your site while at work and dont want to
get busted by the boss! Others may not like your
musical tastes. In either case, music can annoy your
customers and distract them from your information.
Poor quality, too large, or dated photos. Pictures
tell a great story, but your customers wont stick
around if they take too long to load. Make sure your
pictures are appropriately sized and good quality.
And take new photos every year or two hair styles
change, employees move on.
Who will create my Web site?
The frst decision many businesses make is deciding
whether to create a Web site themselves or hire help.
Doing it yourself seems like a good idea until you
get started. Unless you are very comfortable using
complex computer software, building a Web site
will be very time consuming and frustrating.
Some farms rely on children, relatives or friends to
build their Web site for them. More often than not
these free projects get bogged down. Volunteer
or amateur web designers rarely have your site as
a top priority and are often learning how to build
a Web site as they go. You will probably not feel
comfortable asking them to pick up the pace and
your relationships might become strained.
Roxanne Austin worked to create a Web site for her
farm, Austin Brothers Valley Farm in Belchertown,
Massachusetts in 2007 and has this advice to
offer farmers: Start working on it in October, not
Januarythats what we did and it was too late!
Working with consultants
If you decide to hire a consultant ask him or her
to show you a portfolio of Web sites they have
created. Talk to some of their previous clients. Some
questions to ask are:
Does the designer get work done on time?
Do the designer stick to a quoted budget?
Will the designer set a site up so the clients can
update it themselves?
Is the designer easy to reach and quick to respond
to questions or problems?
Dont wait until your frst meeting with a designer
to start planning your site. You will save a lot of
time and money if you bring an outline of your
ideas, budget and expectations to the meeting. It
really helped to know what we wanted when we met
with the designer, says Roxanne. It helped us get
closer to our vision, faster.
Defne your goals. What do you want the Web site
to do for your business? Do you want to attract
people to the farm? Sell online? These are two
different goals and require different functions and
approaches to work well on the Web.
Identify your budget. You would not expect the
cheapest and most inexperienced mechanic to do
a good job fxing your tractor, but you might be
tempted to go for the rock bottom price on a Web
site. Why? Your Web site, if done well, will be one
of your most important marketing tools. Do your
best to fnd the person with the right experience and
the best price for your Web site.
Get it in writing. Have a clear understanding and
a written agreement with whomever you hire. Set
deadlines and prices in advance.
Stay on schedule. Most Web site delays are caused
by clients who take too long to make decisions or
get information to their designer. Respond quickly
to your designers questions and get information to
him or her on time.
Learn how to use your site. Spend time thinking
like a customer and try to break your Web site! Its
a great way to fnd glitches and to see if what you
thought made sense on paper makes sense once its
online. If you are planning on doing some updates
yourself, learn how and practice. It would have
helped us to plan more one-on-one training with our
web designer so they could show us how to make
small changes to our site, says Roxanne.
Spread the word
You can have a great Web site that no one knows
about. Once your site is up and running, get its
address onto everything you printbusiness cards,
brochures, letterhead, bags, t-shirts, etc.and
make sure your e-mail address is from your
farms domain, not from a free site like Yahoo! or
Juno. Many small business owners overlook this
important detail. If you are paying to host a Web site
you have at least 10 free e-mail accounts that come
with it and that feature your domain name. Use
them.
Bringing it all together
Taken separately, Web sites, blogs, stores and e-
mail newsletters are interesting activities with some
potential. When they are well-integrated they can
increase your sales. There are numerous examples
of online businesses that are very successful at
integrated online marketing and salesand not just
Amazon.com. Your blog should drive customers to
A graphic banner which gives your name and conveys your message visually is a good idea.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 10
your store, not just give them free entertainment.
Your e-mail newsletter can tell thousands of readers
that you are having a monthly sale and give them
an easy path to a purchase in your online store.
Your online store can offer a simple, effcient way
to get a piece of the farm delivered to a customer
across town or across the country. Understanding
the power of these tools collectively will help you
understand how to make them work for you, so you
can spend more time doing the work you love.
Technical Assistance
Getting Started:
Find a web domain. A domain is literally the
web address, which will be unique to your website.
Because no two websites can be the same, you will
have to be sure that your domain name represents
your farm, but is also available. You can purchase
a web domain through any number of hosts. Many
of the large internet companies (i.e. Google, Yahoo,
etc.) offer this service for a fairly low monthly
or annual fee. Purchasing a web domain from a
larger company will often provide 24-hour support,
which may be useful if you attempt to build it on
your own. A simple web search for domains will
provide you with a variety of options for buying a
domain.
Find a designer. If you plan to get help in creating
your website, shop around for a designer that will
match your needs. Most websites have a link at the
bottom of the homepage with a link to the website
designer. It may be a good idea to fnd some of
your favorite websites and fnd out who designed
them. Web designers are much easier to fnd than
ever before. If you are looking for someone local,
a simple trip to the yellow pages may do the trick.
Shop around and be sure to fnd someone whose
style matches your own.
Evaluate the cost with your needs. What price are
you willing to pay? Be sure to evaluate the costs
and benefts a website will create for your farm.
You may only need a small, basic website that you
are capable of designing yourself. Or, you may be
thinking of having an online store or blog. If this
is the case, your website will need to be visually
appealing and easy to maneuver. In the world of
website design you often get what you pay for, so
be sure to weigh the quality of the product into your
willingness to pay. Shop around until you fnd a
service or designer who can meet your needs at a
realistic price for you.
This material is produced by CISA (Community
Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) based upon
work supported by USDA/CSREES under Award
Number 2004-49200-02254.
How does this sound?
Send an e-mail & watch the customers arrive.
Its not that far fetched.
A Connecticut farmer recently mentioned, We
sent an e-mail to the 300 people on our list just as
our pick-your-own berry season started. Enough
people came to pick that we didnt have to buy any
advertising for the frst weeks of the season. Brisk
sales and advertising savingsnot bad!
Theres an affordable and easy way to bring
customers to your business. And its available to
anyone who can send a simple e-mail message. Its
called permission marketing and it can increase
your direct retail sales. Permission marketing
doesnt have to be fancy or complicated. Heres why
it works and how to do it.
Stop interrupting me!
Most advertising is interruption marketing. Youre
watching TV and a commercial interrupts. Youre
driving down the road and you see a billboard.
Interruption marketing has gotten so pervasive
that we receive approximately 3,000 marketing
messages a day. This massive information overload
has caused us to evolve to the point where we ignore
most of the ads we encounter. Ads now need to be
very creative, compelling or completely unavoidable
to gain consumer attention. Most small farmers
dont have the time or budget to create those kinds
of ads.
Seth Godin, credited with creating and popularizing
the term permission marketing, puts it this way:
Persuade consumers to raise their handsto
volunteer their attention. You tell consumers a little
something about your company and its products,
they tell you a little something about themselves,
you tell them a little more, they tell you a little
moreand over time, you create a mutually
benefcial learning relationship. Permission
marketing is marketing without interruptions.
Getting started
A customer will give you permission to send them
e-mail messages if they know whats in it for
themand you do.
You know your customers appreciate your farms
products. Some know your harvest season as well as
you do. Some are eager to learn more. Many want to
feel the connection with the family that is growing
their food, and all of them appreciate feeling like an
insiderespecially when your limited supply of
delicious berries is ready for picking.
Create a simple slip that customers can use at your
farm to give you their names and e-mail addresses.
You can even create a free raffe for a weekly,
monthly, or seasonal prize. Train your family and
staff to remind customers of the opportunity to sign
up for your e-mail list with each sale. Reassure
Building Relationships Through Permission Marketing
Persuade consumers to raise their hands to volunteer their attention.
customers that you never sell or rent your list, and
that you want to be able to let them know frst when
its harvest time on the farm. Some customers may
demur, but many will eagerly sign up. You now
have their attention and permission to send them
periodic e-mail messages. As Godin says:
But thats the beginning of the story, not the end. You
have to turn attention into permission, permission
into learning, and learning into trust. Then you can
get consumers to change their behavior.
Permission marketing is not just about getting the
customer to agree to hear from you. Its about you
making sure you tell the customer what they want to
hear. Create a simple e-mail message that contains
useful information, such as:
Favorite crops being harvested
Stories and anecdotes from the farm
Recipes and tips for using your products
Upcoming events and activities
Special offers for e-mail list members
Any or all of these topics should be considered
for your e-mail messages. You dont need fancy
graphics or a slick layout. A simple direct message
informing valued customers about happenings on
the farm will do the trick.
Getting beyond yes
Many customers are happy to give permission
to you to send them e-mail messages. Once you
master the simple e-mail message and begin seeing
the rewards, you might be tempted to get more
sophisticated. Thats great. You can learn more
about your customers interests by asking them more
questions. Create a form with check boxes to gather
information about customer interests. Do they want
to hear more about your PYO crops? Farm events?
Recipes? Keep the list short and sweet. You can then
create special e-mails for the customers that want
that specifc information.
You can also add more sophisticated design
elements to your e-mails, like your farm logo,
pictures, and a professional layout. E-mail
companies like Constant Contact allow you to
improve the look of your e-mail newsletter with
simple-to-use templates and to track the responses
of your customers. You can learn who opens your e-
mail and what they click on. Future e-mail messages
can be tailored to these customers interests.
Carefully manage your e-mail list as it grows. Its
worth a lotthese are your best customers and it
is far easier to get them to return to the farm than
to get a new customer to stop by. Help turn your
customers into ambassadors by making it easy for
them to forward your messages to friends.
Should I stop my mass-market advertising?
Permission marketing makes frequent advertising
free. You can keep talking with people, keep trying
to turn them into customers. Its tempting to think
that this will allow you to cancel your print, radio,
or TV advertising contracts. But even enthusiastic
Internet marketing experts see a role for continued
mass-market advertising. Godin says:
Mass-market advertising helps companies talk to
strangers. Companies will always need to talk to
strangersto persuade people to pay attention for
one brief moment. But after you get their attention,
then what? Thats where permission marketing
comes in. People whove agreed to pay attention
want to get to know you. Permission marketing
turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal
customers.
Bringing it all together
Taken separately, Web sites, blogs, stores and e-
mail newsletters are interesting activities with some
potential. When they are well-integrated they can
increase your sales. There are numerous examples
of online businesses that are very successful at
integrated online marketing and salesand not just
Amazon.com. Your blog should drive customers to
your store, not just give them free entertainment.
Your e-mail newsletter can tell thousands of readers
that you are having a monthly sale and give them
an easy path to a purchase in your online store.
Your online store can offer a simple, effcient way
to get a piece of the farm delivered to a customer
across town or across the country. Understanding
the power of these tools collectively will help you
understand how to make them work for you, so you
can spend more time doing the work you love.
Permission marketing makes frequent advertising
free.
n o t e
Its not spamright?
By its defnition permission marketing is not spam.
But make sure the rules, regulations, and industry-
guided practices are part of your e-mail program.
Protect privacy. If you are sending an e-mail from
your personal account, make sure to protect the
privacy of your customers by putting their addresses
into the BCC address feld. This stands for blind
carbon copy and it means that they wont see all
the other e-mail addresses on your list. Simply
send the message to yourself and BCC the rest
of your list. Alternatively, sign up for a reputable
online e-mail service like Constant Contact, which
follows industry rules and regulations for bulk e-
mail messagesand offers great data on customer
response to your messages.
Include reminders. Some customers will not
remember that they signed up for your list. In all
your e-mails be sure to include a simple, friendly
reminder that they signed up and that they can
remove themselves from your list at any time.
Again, companies like Constant Contact create
permission reminders and facilitate address
removals for you.
Avoid suspicious subject lines. Weve all grown
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 11
wary of e-mail subject lines like special offer or
important information and so on. Avoid getting
trapped in spam flters by using specifc, relevant
subject lines such as News from Sunny Acres
Farm or Sunny Acres farm berries ripe this
weekend.
Technical Assistance
Getting Started:
Choose an e-mail server. There are many ways to
send mass e-mails. When you are frst starting out,
just keeping a large list of e-mails in your address
book is still an option. (NOTE: When sending
mass e-mails from an address book or typing in
addresses, remember to enter them into the bcc
line to avoid all of the recipients being able to view
who else is getting this information. Many people
like to remain anonymous to other consumers.)
However, if you have a large consumer base looking
for information (like a 300 member CSA), you
might want to get a little more advanced. There are
a lot of e-mail marketing services available for a
monthly fee. These sites do more than just send your
e-mail. They offer templates and designs for your
e-mails, manage your contacts, and even track your
readers responses. The monthly fees are something
to consider, particularly if this does not ft in with
your farms overall marketing scheme. Most small
businesses start small with a list of contacts in an
address book and later scale up when managing the
list becomes too big of a burden and they know that
it is a successful tool for their farm.
Collect Contacts. In order to use permission
marketing as a tool, you frst have to get permission.
That means that people have to sign up for your e-
mail newsletters and updates. They can sign up on
your website or at your farm. You should also keep
a sign-up sheet for your stall at farmers markets or
festivals.
This material is produced by CISA (Community
Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) based upon
work supported by USDA/CSREES under Award
Number 2004-49200-02254.
Do you need an online store? The answer depends
partly on whether you are selling bales of hay or jars
of jam! But the explosion of online sales has pushed
the boundaries of what people expect to buy via the
Internet. Do you want wild salmon from Alaska to
arrive on your doorstep the day after its caught? If
you have the money, theres someone online happy
to sell it to you.
As a local farmer, you need to decide what purpose
an online store will serve. Are you looking to
expand sales to local customers or gain new ones
from all over the country? Are you hoping to
grow online sales in order to cut back on market
or festival sales, or are you looking for overall
business growth? While there are unique technical
requirements to creating an online store, the success
or failure of an online store is very similar to a
bricks and mortar store.
In this tip sheet we will discuss some of the pros and
cons of online stores to help you decide if they make
sense for your farm. It takes technical knowledge
and skills to create and implement online stores,
so be sure you understand how they can help your
business before you invest time and money in them.
Expect a somewhat steep learning curve and be
prepared to hire professionals to help.
Benefts of an online store
Convenient for the customer
Theres no doubt that online retailing is
exceptionally convenient for the customer, who can
order a jug of syrup or a jar of jelly at any hour of
the day or night and have it arrive a few days later.
Your online store can easily satisfy the impulsive
buying habits of todays consumers.
Convenient for the farmer
Who wouldnt want to wake up in the morning and
fnd orders waiting to be flled? Some farmers create
stores to reduce their travel off-farm, like Marian
Welch of Justamere Tree Farm in Worthington,
Massachusetts. We started our online store so we
can be on the farm more.
Potential for growth
A successful store can increase income for your
business and help you reduce other marketing
venues. We wanted to reduce our off-farm
markets, says Marian. If we could sell more from
our home base it would make a lot of sense. You
have to pay a lot for a booth at a fair or festival.
Online Stores
Attractive images of your products
can bring you new customers
Challenges of an online store
Building the store
In the best scenario your increased sales will pay
you back for the creation of your store. But there
is a certain amount of sticker shock that happens
when you frst venture into online sales. Since you
are unlikely to have the technical expertise to create
a store yourself, you are going to have to fnd and
evaluate someone who can help you. Even the most
basic store will cost at least $1,000. If your primary
market is a farmers market, that may seem high. But
if you are doing craft shows or festivals you know
you can easily spend that much on a booth fee and
gas to get therefor only two days of selling!
Marketing the store
There is no if you build it, they will come in the
online world. Marketing to your existing customers
is a good start, but not the only step. Online stores
need online advertising and marketing programs.
There are also unique technical requirements
to getting people to fnd your store. Marian is
undertaking a signifcant overhaul of her Web site
and store with this in mind. Online sales have been
slower than expected, says Marian. Even though
we have been online for years, we are just getting
the hang of getting linked to other sites and getting
good search engine placement. It will take time to
see results.
Fulflling orders
While you know you are not L.L. Bean, your
customers expect you to act like it. Items need to be
well packaged and shipped promptly. Dont allow
daydreams of online sales profts obscure the reality
of packaging and shipping your products. Be sure to
thoroughly research your shipping requirements and
costs before you get started so you dont lose money
by under-charging for shipping. Make sure you
have enough hands on deck to ship orders so your
customers are not left hanging.
Balancing resources
Like most pieces of farm equipment, an online store
is an expensive acquisition, but it can be very useful
in the long term. Make sure you have carefully
planned what you need to spend and that you have
the resources to keep the store going for at least a
year so you can measure its success.
Bringing it all together
Taken separately, Web sites, blogs, stores and e-
mail newsletters are interesting activities with some
potential. When they are well-integrated they can
increase your sales. There are numerous examples
of online businesses that are very successful at
integrated online marketing and sales and not just
Amazon.com. Your blog should drive customers to
your store, not just give them free entertainment.
Your e-mail newsletter can tell thousands of readers
that you are having a monthly sale and give them
an easy path to a purchase in your online store.
Your online store can offer a simple, effcient way
to get a piece of the farm delivered to a customer
across town or across the country. Understanding
the power of these tools collectively will help you
understand how to make them work for you, so you
can spend more time doing the work you love.
Like most pieces of farm equipment, an online
store is an expensive acquisition, but it can be very
useful in the long term.
Technical Assistance
Getting Started:
Decide if your farm needs an online store. Some
products are more appropriately sold online than
others. As a general rule, value-added products (i.e.
jam, yarn, etc.) can be sold online because they
can be packaged and sent right away. Other farm
products can be sold online if it somehow increases
the convenience of the shopper. For example, online
payments for CSA memberships may be convenient
to have online, but may not require an entire online
store unless you also have other products you wish
to sell. Farm products can also be pre-sold online
and then available for pick-up. This will likely only
be popular for hard-to-fnd items or bulk orders so
that they can be ready to go before the customer
comes around for pick-up. Be sure that you will
have the time to be able to follow up with online
orders in a timely fashion.
If you choose to create your own online store, do
some research. There are many websites offering
to help create online stores for individual websites.
Some of them are more of a DIY-style, while others
produce a standard storefront. Be sure that you
understand all of the fees involved in this process.
Some stores like this that have a host other than
your website will charge monthly fees, transaction
fees, and/or setup fees. They may also have limits
to the number of products you can advertise or the
number of transactions allowed per month. Be sure
that you really understand what you are getting
before making an agreement. If you plan to do a
large amount of sales, it will likely pay off to have
your own store set up by a designer. This will cost
a lot more upfront, but will likely pay off over time
with fewer monthly fees.
Accepting credit cards. When setting up your
Featuring the skills which go into your
products will build good will and sales
A picture of your farm or homestead
can help convey your story
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 12
You should have a blog. How many times have
you thought this or had it suggested to you by a
family member or customer? Internet marketing and
sales can be an important part of increasing revenue
for many small businesses. But do you really need a
blog? The defnitive answer is maybe!
According to a study by America Online and Roper
Starch Worldwide, nearly half of Internet users say
the medium is becoming a necessity, and almost
three-quarters use it to make buying decisions.
Thats a lot of potential. But can blogs work for
your business? Only if they are part of your overall
marketing plan, and if you have budgeted time and
money for them.
In this tip sheet we will discuss some of the pros and
cons of blogs to help you decide if they make sense
for your farm. It takes technical knowledge and
skills to create and implement blogs, so be sure you
understand how they can help your business before
you invest time and money in them.
Do I need a blog?
A blog is simply part of a Web site where an
authors entries are displayed in chronological order.
Think of it as an online diary or notebook. Many
bloggers use their blogs to chronicle the minutiae of
their lives, their political opinions, favorite recipes,
local news, or any other subject imaginable.
You can use a blog as a marketing tool. It gives
people insight into the successes, challenges and
joys of rural living and can connect them to your
farm and help grow your sales. Todays consumer
often seeks out online information about a farm
before committing to a visit or purchase. A blog can
give potential customers a glimpse into life on your
farm, your products, andmost importantlyyou!
Consumers admire the hard work and rural life of
farmers, and they enjoy feeling a part of yours, even
if only via a blog.
Benefts of blogs
Farmers are beginning to use blogs to show
customers life on the farm. Marian Welch,
of Justamere Tree Farm in Worthington,
Massachusetts, started blogging in the summer of
2007. With a few months of entries under her belt
shes beginning to get more comfortable with the
process. Im getting into a rhythm and doing about
23 entries a month, says Marian. I try to keep
them shortI fgure people arent going to want
me to go on and on! Plus thats how I am anyway.
She notes that many of her customers are surprised
that she has a blog. People look at me and go, You
have a blog? I tell them I know, it doesnt sound
like me!
Barbara Parry of Foxfre Fiber and Designs in
Shelburne, Massachusetts started blogging in
spring 2007. Her photo-rich blog is full of details
about life on her busy sheep farm. I am not very
computer savvy so I thought I would never be able
to fgure out how to do it, says Barb. But there are
a number of services that make it easy. Its been a
nice tool to have. People feel like they have a more
personal connection to my business and the farm.
Marian and Barb understand that many people enjoy
reading blog entries and that they are looking for
online store, a hosted storefront will act as a
secure site so that your consumers information
is protected. Likewise, a designer will make your
storefront secure. If you choose to offer products
for sale directly from your website, you will want
to sign up with an online check out system (i.e.
PayPal, ProPay, Google Checkout, etc.). Most of
the popular online check out systems accept major
credit cards and place your profts into an account
(with very little delay) from which you can transfer
to your checking account. All of these hosts have
fees of 2-3% of the total sale per transaction. Others
may charge set-up or maintenance fees as well.
However, by paying these fees, your customers
are secured and you are able to offer your products
online. Setting up these types of accounts is fairly
straightforward, but you should be comfortable
updating and maintaining your website before trying
to undertake an online store.
This material is produced by CISA (Community
Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) based upon
work supported by USDA/CSREES under Award
Number 2004-49200-02254.
Blogs
Images of your fnished products and your raw
materials help convey the value of your work
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 13
useful informationa recipe, a story, a connection
to life on the farm. Both women have learned a
number of valuable lessons about blogs:
User statistics can tell you a lot about your blog.
Blog software offers a number of ways of analyzing
your visitor patterns: how people are fnding you,
how long they are staying, are they subscribing to
your blog and more. This data can show you how
to adjust your blog and Web site to best match your
customers interests.
Blog entries get picked up by search engines. If I
mention a festival that we are attending in our blog,
we can see that people have come to us by searching
for that event, says Marian. They get curious
about us and spend time on our site.
Recipes are a consistent attraction. I try to make
at least one entry per month a recipe because people
love food, says Marian.
Pictures are key. Were visual creatures.
Photographs illustrate your stories beautifully,
and they dont need to be professionally done.
Remembering to keep you camera handy all the
time is a challenge, says Barb. But things dont
stand still on the farm and good pictures help tell
your story.
Contests can draw people to your blog. Weve
been handing out our card at farmers markets. It has
a nice picture on one side and information on the
back to tell them how to go to our site and register
for a free gift certifcate, says Marian. Were
defnitely going to do this every couple of months,
as we get dozens of new people registered each time
we do it.
Challenges to blogs
Mastering the technology
Many farmers fnd it hard to make the time for
anything computer-related, especially if they are
not comfortable with the technology. The learning
curve for blogging is not steep if you are already
a computer user. But some farmers are literally
starting from square one. Look for local classes
to help you boost your skills. They provide a
comfortable learning environment where beginners
are welcomed.
Making the time and fnding a balance
Your busy season is when you have the most
subject material, but dont wait until that time to
get things off the ground, says Barb. I started the
blog because I wanted to share what was going on
in lambing season since it takes over my life and I
never answer e-mails. But that was a hard time to
get started!
Overcommitting is a common pitfall among new
bloggers. Excited by the process, some bloggers
post very frequently, only to fnd that life on the
farm reasserts itself and the blog gets abandoned.
If you can only manage erratic entries, your readers
(i.e. customers) will abandon you. Pace yourself. It
is much better to post less frequent but more high
quality entries than to be constantly apologizing in
your blog for not posting for the last few months.
Keeping it fresh
This goes hand in hand with balance. If you are only
planning to do two to three entries a month you will
easily fnd a variety of things to talk about. And that
keeps it fresh for your readers.
Staying positive
Blogging can be a very personal process. But if
you are blogging about life on your farm remember
that your blog is primarily a marketing tool, not
a personal diary. Keep your blog positive, but
realistic. While there will be moments of drama on
your farm, everyone appreciates a happy ending.
For example, turn the tale of weather-related crop
problems from one of scarcity into one of gratitude.
Dont tell customers you are expecting a poor
harvesttell them that this years crop is going to
be even more special, and that they should stop by
soon to get some, as supplies are limited.
Bringing it all together
Taken separately, Web sites, blogs, stores and e-
mail newsletters are interesting activities with some
potential. When they are well-integrated they can
increase your sales. There are numerous examples
of online businesses that are very successful at
integrated online marketing and salesand not just
Amazon.com. Your blog should drive customers to
your store, not just give them free entertainment.
Your e-mail newsletter can tell thousands of readers
that you are having a monthly sale and give them
an easy path to a purchase in your online store.
Your online store can offer a simple, effcient way
to get a piece of the farm delivered to a customer
across town or across the country. Understanding
the power of these tools collectively will help you
understand how to make them work for you, so you
can spend more time doing the work you love.
Technical Assistance
Getting Started:
Find a web domain. There are many blog hosts
that offer user-friendly templates ready for your
personalization. The most popular of these sites are
Blogger, Wordpress, and Typepad. Look around at
other blogs and look to see who hosts them. Find
a style that appeals to you and look into what that
host has to offer. Best yet, most blogs are free and
searchablemeaning that search engines will pick
up on your blog. Some blog hosts do charge fees,
though most dont. There are, however, some fees
involved in domain mapping or linking your blog
directly to your farm website.
Link your blog to your website. Most blogs have
the hosts name in their web address. For example,
if you create a blog named The Farm, the web
address might read, http://thefarm.blog.com,
whereas your farm website address is http://www.
thefarm.com. It can be confusing to give out two
different web addresses, so many blog hosts offer
domain mapping or the opportunity to change the
domain (or web address) to match your farms web
address and keep your blog at http://www.thefarm.
com/blog.
Post regularly. Whether you post daily, weekly,
or monthly, creating a rhythm to your entries will
help maintain a reader-base. Your customers are
interested in the day-to-day life of the farm and
what you do, so your busiest time of the year will
also likely be the peak of their interest.
This material is produced by CISA (Community
Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) based upon
work supported by USDA/CSREES under Award
Number 2004-49200-02254.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 14
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 15
by Jack Kittredge
Throughout the country businesses are popping up
which deliver organic food directly to customers.
Usually an internet store or online pre-ordering
system is the primary way buyers interact with the
business.
One of these services, Organics to You, is based
in Portland, Oregon. The website is, appropriately
enough, www.organicstoyou.org. It serves the
Portland and Vancouver, Washington metropolitan
area. A map of the area is divided into quarters, and
each quarter is assigned a weekday for delivery:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. You
simply enter your zip code to discover your delivery
day.
What you order online is one or more bins of
seasonal local (and some non-local) fruit and/or
vegetables. Everything is 100% organic. There is a
large variety of bins you can order: from the Bin
for One with 12 to 14 different fruits and veggies
at $25 to the Value Bin with 17 to 20 difference
varieties for $55. In between are the Small Bin
of 14 to 16 varieties at $30, the Large Bin of 16
to 19 varieties at $45, and the Kids Bin, Offce
Bin, Juicer Bin, various sized Fruit Bins and a
straight Veggie Bin.
For instance the Value Bin for the week of April 21
st

includes:
3-4 Pink Lady Apples
2 Granny Smith Apples
5-6 Anjou Pears
2 Tommy Atkins Mango
3 Ataulfo Mangoes
1 lb. Tangerines
2-3 Leeks
1 bunch Chives
1 bunch Mustard Greens
1 lb. Asparagus
3 lb. Potatoes
5-6 oz. Crimini Mushrooms
1 bunch Radish
1 lb. Snap Peas
1 bunch Spinach
2 bunch Carrots
4-5 oz. Salad Mix
1 Cucumber
1 lb. Rutabaga
Everything is locally raised except the mangoes,
tangerines, mustard greens, asparagus, snap peas,
spinach, carrots, and cucumber. A statement on the
website advises that: Produce may change, daily;
due to the fact the only thing constant is change,
also because of quality, availability, and price.
Weights are approximate.
The Fruit Bin ($30) for the week of April 21st
contains:
3 Pink Lady Apples
2-3 Granny Smith apples
4-5 Anjou Pears
2-3 Red Anjou Pears
2 Tommy Atkins Mango
3 Ataulfo Mangoes
1 lb. Tangerines
4-6 Bananas
2 Star ruby Grapefruits
There is great fexibility on the part of the program
for customer preferences. With 48 hours notice
you can change your bin order, alter its regularity
among weekly, biweekly, monthly, or other periods,
you can tell them to hold off on delivering if you go
away for a while, you can even subtract from or add
to your bin if there are items you dont like or want
more of. Add-ons for the week of April 21 (at $15
per add-on) include:
Baby Add-ons
2 lb. Carrots
2 lb. Yams
2 lb. Apples
2 lb. Pears
5-7 Bananas
Salad Add-ons
6-8 oz. Salad Mix
1-2 Cucumbers
1 lb. Tomatoes
1 pkg. Romaine Hearts
4-5 oz. bulk Spinach
Kid Stuff Add-ons
1 lb. Carrots
5-6 Bananas
7-8 oz. Raisins
8 oz. Strawberries
1-2 Avocado
Fruit Add-ons
5-6 Bananas
4-5 Tangerines
2-4 Asian Pears
8 oz. Strawberries
2 Grapefruit
3-4 Kiwi
In addition, a wide variety of other foods can be
added to a delivery a la carte. These include
various breads, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, yogurt,
hummus, tofu, soy and rice milk, chai, and coffee.
They plan to offer beef, chicken and bison soon.
The breads are baked locally, the dairy products
are Organic Valley brand from local farms, and the
other products are from West Coast companies, but
not necessarily sourced from local farms.
A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page
answers most questions about how it works.
On the website customers can learn more about the
farms producing the food. A number of the farms are
located on a map, with each farms location linked
to a few paragraphs and perhaps a picture. For
instance, Gathering Together Farm is number 7 on
the map and clinking it gets you this message (along
with a picture of the family):
Internet-Based Organic Home Delivery
Case History: Organics to You
Gathering Together Farm
Philomath, Oregon
Along the Marys River, at the edge of the Coastal
Range, Sally Brewer, John Eveland, Haylee (in
picture), Joelene Jebbia and Rodrigo Garcia gather
together to create their bountiful harvest. They
manage approximately 30 acres of small, odd
shaped felds to grow over 40 different varieties
of vegetables. They have been doing this for 15
years, and profess to be diversifed to the point of
Chaos! They market their crops not only though
grocery stores, but at their farmstand and farmers
markets all over Oregon. They also maintain a 180-
member subscription farm program. Please visit
their website at www.gatheringtogetherfarm.com
Over 350 100% Certined Organic vegetable,
herb, nower and cover crop seed
New & improved open-pollinated and hybrid seed
Commercially available quantities
Dedicated Commercial Grower Specialists
to assist and source seed
VT family-owned farm and seed company
supporting growers since 1996
Your Source for Organic Seeds Since 1996
Order online or call for our free catalog
www.highmowingseeds.com (802) 472-6174
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 16
for more pictures of people who truly love being
farmers.
Other such internet-based home delivery services
for organic produce and more are:
http://www.diamondorganics.com/
http://www.boxedgreens.com/
http://www.doortodoororganics.com/
http://www.pioneerorganics.com/
http://www.planetorganics.com/
http://www.greenling.com/
http://www.seabreezed.com/
http://www.organicdirect.com/
http://www.urbanorganic.com/
http://www.orlandoorganics.com/
www.farmfreshtoyou.com/
Weve gathered together a few questions that we
hear from time to time. Take a look and see if your
question is here. If you cant fnd your answers here,
give us a call at 503-236-6496.
Where does the produce come from?
This is one of the most important questions. Our
Produce mostly comes Directly from Local area
farms (link to farm pg.), so in buying direct from the
farmer we are assuring that you get the freshest pro-
duce, also that the money is staying within the com-
munities we serve and helps in keeping small family
farms operational. We also do get local produce and
other produce, mostly during the off growing sea-
son, from a local distributor, such as the Organically
Grown Company.
How does it all work?
It is as easy as 1,2,3. First fnd out if we deliver to
your area. Second, choose which bin you would like
to have delivered, and decide which type of frequen-
Organics to You
FAQs
cy, i.e.. weekly or every other week basis.
Then just submit your order online or call us at 503-
236-6496. Normally, due to processing, delivery is
made the frst week following submission. We usu-
ally deliver during the hours of 12 pm to as late as 7
pm.
How do I pay?
There are a few ways to pay. You can pay in ad-
vance, by credit card or by mail. You also can pay
upon delivery, by simply leaving payment under the
door mat or taped to the door. Then when you have
the bin, you can leave payment in the old bin and we
will come and get that and leave the new, fresh bin,
for you to enjoy.
Do you deliver in my area?
We deliver all over the Portland metro area, includ-
ing most of Vancouver, WA. You can check out our
delivery map and type in your zip code to see your
delivery day.
How much does a bin serve? Is there a pre-
scribed weight?
This can vary based on how much you eat and
how much you eat at home, things like that. There
is no prescribed weight for the bin. It varies each
week due to what is in season and available. All the
bins do get a certain number of produce items each
week, to ensure a diverse menu for you to choose
from. You can also try one bin and then another to
fnd which works for you the best, you also could
alternate bins, such as get a fruit bin one week and a
small another week, or whatever may work for you.
You are not locked in to any size or frequency.
What if I dont want something in my bin?
No Problem. Just let me know when you sign up or
thru email or telephone (503-236-6496) at any time
to make adjustments. You can also give suggestions
of things you like, or it can be a surprise what we
will switch out.
If you did not go thru something in a week
or you get some produce item through another
source, let us know and we will switch something
else in. Its that easy.
What do I do if I need to skip a week for any rea-
son?
Going on a vacation, business trip or whatever, just
drop us a line thru email or telephone, with a 24
hour notice, and we can make it work. Let us know
what date(s) you need to skip and when you would
like to resume deliveries. Also leave your full name
and contact information.
What other Products do you deliver?
We deliver mostly local, organic products such as
some of the basics like bread, milk and eggs. We
need to have 24 hrs notice to acquire most items, 48
hrs for others.
What if Im not going to be home?
Well, we have it set up so you dont need to be
home for delivery. We will come on the prescribed
day and time and leave the bin on your front or back
porch area, where you can get it when you come
home. Simply leave payment out for the frst time
and afterwards just leave payment in the bin and
leave it out on your delivery day or pay by credit
card.
What happens on hot summer days? Or rainy
days?
There are various things we can do for the heat. We
try to leave the bin in the shade, frst of all. Also,
for a small charge we can put an ice pack in your
bin. You can also leave us an ice pack to put in your
bin, when we drop it off. And/or you can leave out
a cooler for us to transfer the produce into. Let us
know what will work for you. For those rainy or
other inclement days, we deliver your produce in a
reusable, closeable lid, plastic bin, so no weather or
critter can get in to your produce.
What does being a member mean? Is there a
commitment?
Call for the location of your
nearest wholesale distributor
Depot Street
Bradford, VT 05033
Ph. 802.222.4277
Fax 802.222.9661
info@norganics.com
www.norganics.com
Fertilizers:
Azomite
Bone Char 0-16-0
Cheep Cheep 4-3-3
Chilean Nitrate 16-0-0
Greensand
Greensand Plus 0-0-17
Kelp Meal
Natural Sulfate of Potash 0-0-51
Organic Gem 3-3-.3
Phosphate Rock 0-3-0
Phosphate Rock and Greensand Mix
Pro-Gro 5-3-4
Pro-Start 2-3-3
Stress-X Powder
Livestock Nutritionals:
Redmond Trace Mineral Conditioner, Salt
Blocks & Granular Salt
*
Pest Controls:
PowderGard
Pyganic
Seacide
Surround
*
*Many of our products that are not OMRI listed may be allowed for use on a
certifed organic farm. Check with your certifcation representative to be sure.
Bone Char 0-16-0 contains
more than 16% available
phosphate (P2O5) and 32%
total phosphate. It is OMRI
listed and can be applied
without restriction on certifed
organic farmland.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 17
Membership is just a term used to describe people
who are already getting produce. There will soon
be some discounts to local, businesses and shops.
There is no commitment and no subscription. You
can get one bin or 3 years worth.
What if I live in a secure building?
Well, what usually happens is that there is either
a key or code that can get us in, or maybe an of-
fce/manager person to buzz us in, or maybe even a
neighbor who can let us in. It usually works out.
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We have a variety of
Certifed Organic, Purebred
Hereford and Black Baldie cows
and heifers for sale.
High quality genetics; many are previous show
winners. Also have grass-raised and
grass-fnished organic steers for sale.
None of these animals have ever received
grains and have proven they are outdoor winter-
hardy and fast gainers on grass.
Contact:
Marco Turco, Manager 518-586-6357
email: marco@lewisfamilyfarm.com
or
TJ Benway, Herdsman
518-726-6483
Fax: 518-963-7799
Gail Giustozzi, Realtor

Let us live in harmony with the earth and the creatures,


all given to us by God, our Creator.
105 Old Long Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06903
Cell/VM: (203) 561-5764 Fax: (203) 595-9815
Email: gailg3@optonline.net Website: iworkforyou.us
i work for you
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 18
reprinted from Wikipedia.org with signifcant
additions
and modifcations by Jack Kittredge
Although most readers of The Natural Farmer are
familiar with websites, browsers, and search engines
as at least occasional users, there are some among
our diverse family who still dont have a space on
MySpace, a face on FaceBook, or even a computer,
and who write longhand letters when they want to
communicate matters of substance.
In recognition of these benighted (or perhaps
blessed?) readers, this primer starts from square one
and assumes no previous knowledge of information
technology.
A website is a collection of information about
a particular topic or subject, stored on a computer
but viewable on a distant computer when both are
linked via electronic communications like telephone
or cable systems. A website may contain many
pages, each of which consists of information
appropriate for a particular aspect or function of the
site.
The most common way of linking those separate
computers is a network called the World Wide
Web (commonly shortened to the Web). To
access the Web each computer is assigned a unique
address called an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
An IP address is a unique digital address that certain
electronic devices use in order to identify and
communicate with each other on a network. Any
participating network deviceincluding routers,
switches, computers, infrastructure servers, printers,
Internet fax machines, and some telephonescan
have its own address that is unique within the scope
of the specifc network. Some IP addresses are
intended to be unique within the scope of the global
Internet, while others need to be unique only within
the scope of an enterprise.
IP addresses are managed and created by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
which generally allocates super-blocks to Regional
Internet Registries, who in turn allocate smaller
blocks to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and
enterprises.
Thus a computer with access to the Internet and an
IP address can view any website in the world that
also is currently linked to the Internet (online) and
has a unique IP address.
Much of the power of the Internet comes from
one creative idea: combining the global reach of
electronic communications with an innovation
called hypertext.
Hypertext most often refers to text or other viewable
elements on a computer screen which, when
activated (normally by clicking with a mouse),
will lead the user to other, related information on
demand. That information could be on a different
web site on a far distant computer. But the speed
of electronic communication minimizes distance
and makes all linked information instantly
available. (This is not always true, of course, as
sites experiencing heavy demand cannot process all
requests for information simultaneously and some
are placed to wait in a queue.)
Hypertext makes possible a dynamic organization
of information through these links and connections
(sometimes called hyperlinks). Hypertext can
be designed to perform various tasks. When a user
hovers over it with a mouse, a bubble with a word
defnition may appear. When a user clicks on it, a
web page on a related subject may load, a video clip
may run, or an application may open.
By now the word hypertext has become generally
accepted for branching and responding text, but
the corresponding word hypermedia, meaning
Creating Your Web Presence:
A Primer
complexes of branching and responding graphics,
movies and sound - as well as text - is much less
used. Instead the term interactive multimedia has
become common.
Hypertext documents can either be static (prepared
and stored in advance) or dynamic (continually
changing in response to user input). Hypertext can
develop very complex and dynamic systems of
linking and cross-referencing information. The most
famous implementation of hypertext is, of course,
the Web.
The web is really just a system of interlinked
hypertext documents accessed via the Internet.
With a Web browser (software resident on a
users computer which enables the user to read
and interpret web pages) a user views web pages
that may contain text, images, videos, and other
multimedia and navigates between them using
hyperlinks. The navigation is possible because
each web page has a distinct Uniform Resource
Locator (URL). That URL is stored as part of
the normally unseen information contained in a
hyperlink.
Every URL on the Internet contains a hostname,
which is a domain name assigned to a host computer
that has a distinct IP address. Nofa.org, for
instance, is a host name. The page http://www.
nofa.org/tnf is a particular page on the nofa.org
website -- the one dealing with The Natural Farmer.
The introductory http:// tells the users computer
to send a request to the hostname nofa.org using
the HyperText Transfer Protocol system for
communicating on the Internet. The request is sent
by way of the communications port on the users
computer that is connected to the Internet.
Viewing a web page on the World Wide Web
normally begins either by typing the URL of the
page into a browser, or by activating a hyperlink
to that page or resource. The browser then initiates
a series of communication messages, behind
the scenes, in order to fetch and display the new
information.
First, the server-name portion of the URL is
resolved into an IP address using the global,
distributed Internet database known as the domain
name system, or DNS. This IP address is necessary
to contact and send data packets to the web server.
If you happen to know the IP address itself, you can
type that in instead of the URL and get the same
web page. The hostname portion of a URL is case
insensitive (since DNS specifcally ignores case);
other parts are not required to be.
The browser then requests the resource by sending
an HTTP request to the web server at that particular
address. In the case of a typical web page, the text
of the page is requested frst and parsed immediately
by the web browser, which will then make
additional requests for images and any other fles
that form a part of the page. Statistics measuring
a websites popularity are usually based on the
number of page views or associated server hits,
or fle requests, which take place.
Having received the required fles from the web
server, the browser then renders the page onto the
screen as specifed by markup language -- such as
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) -- in which
the page is written. Any images and other resources
are incorporated to produce the on-screen web page
that the user sees.
Most web pages will themselves contain hyperlinks
to other related pages and perhaps to downloadable
fles, source documents, defnitions and other web
resources. Such a collection of useful, related
resources, interconnected via hypertext links,
creates a web of information.
History of the Web
The underlying ideas of the Web can be traced as far
back as 1980, when, at the European Organization
for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, Tim
Berners-Lee built a system containing many of the
core ideas in todays Web.
In March 1989, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal that
referenced that system and described an even more
elaborate information management system. He
published a more formal proposal for the World
Wide Web on November 12, 1990. The role model
for that proposal was provided by a Dynatext
markup language reader that CERN had licensed.
The Dynatext system was considered, however,
too technically advanced, too expensive and with
an inappropriate licensing policy for general High
Energy Physics community use: a fee was required
for accessing each document and for each time a
document was used.
By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the
tools necessary for a working Web: the frst web
browser (which was a web editor as well), the frst
web server, and the frst web pages which described
the project itself.
On August 6, 1991, he posted a short summary of
the World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext
newsgroup. This date also marked the debut of the
Web as a publicly available service on the Internet.
Berners-Lees breakthrough was to marry hypertext
to the Internet. In his book Weaving The Web, he
explains that he had repeatedly suggested that a
marriage between the two technologies was possible
to members of both technical communities, but
when no one took up his invitation, he fnally
tackled the project himself.
The World Wide Web had a number of advantages
compared to other hypertext systems that were then
available. The Web required only unidirectional
The growth of the number of websites has been phenominal since 1990
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 19
links rather than bidirectional ones. This made it
possible for someone to link to another resource
without action by the owner of that resource. It also
signifcantly reduced the diffculty of implementing
web servers and browsers in comparison to earlier
systems, but in turn presented the chronic problem
of link rot (the changing of the location of a
web page with the result that a link referencing it
can no longer fnd it). Unlike predecessors such
as HyperCard, the World Wide Web was non-
proprietary, making it possible to develop servers
and clients independently and to add extensions
without licensing restrictions.
On April 30, 1993, CERN announced that the World
Wide Web would be free to anyone, with no fees
due. Coming two months after the announcement
that the competing Gopher protocol was no longer
free to use, this announcement produced a rapid
shift away from Gopher and towards the Web.
Scholars generally agree, however, that the turning
point for the World Wide Web began with the
introduction of the Mosaic web browser in 1993,
a graphical browser developed by a team at the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(NCSA-UIUC), led by Marc Andreessen. Funding
for Mosaic came from the High-Performance
Computing and Communications Initiative, a
funding program initiated by then-Senator Al Gores
High Performance Computing and Communication
Act of 1991, also known as the Gore Bill. Prior to
the release of Mosaic, graphics were not commonly
mixed with text in webpages, and its popularity was
less than older protocols in use over the Internet,
such as Gopher and Wide Area Information Servers
(WAIS). Mosaics graphical user interface allowed
the Web to become, by far, the most popular Internet
protocol.
Designing for the Web
Web design is the process of conceptualizing,
planning, modeling, and delivering content via
the Internet in a form suitable for interpretation
and display by a web browser or other web-based
graphical user interface (GUI).
The intent of web design is to create a website that
presents content to the end user, usually in the form
of web pages. Such elements as text, forms, and
images can be placed on the page, as well as more
complex items such as animations, videos, and
sounds.
It is important to take the time to plan exactly what
is needed in a particular website. This consists
of thoroughly considering the audience or target
market, as well as defning the purpose and deciding
what content will be developed.
A purpose statement should consider what the
website is designed to accomplish and what the
users will get from it. Such a statement can help
the rest of the planning process as the audience is
identifed and the content of the site is developed.
Setting short and long term goals for the website
will also help make the purpose clear and help plan
for the future when expansion, modifcation, and
improvement will take place. Goal-setting practices
and measurable objectives can track the progress of
the site and determine success.
Defning the audience is a key step in the website
planning process. The audience is the group of
people who are expected to visit your website the
market being targeted. These people will be viewing
the website for a specifc reason and it is important
to know exactly what they are looking for when they
visit the site. Taking into account the characteristics
of the audience will enable your website to be more
effective in delivering the desired content to them.
Collecting a list of the necessary content, then
organizing it according to the audiences needs, is
a key step in website planning. In the process of
gathering the content being offered, any items that
do not support the defned purpose or accomplish
target audience objectives should be removed. It
is a good idea to test the content and purpose on
a focus group and compare the offerings to what
the audience needs. The next step is to organize
the basic information structure by categorizing the
content and organizing it according to user needs.
Each category should be named with a concise
and descriptive title that will become a link on the
website. Planning for the sites content ensures that
the wants or needs of the target audience and the
purpose of the site will be fulflled.
The layout and interface of individual pages may
be planned using a storyboard. In the process of
storyboarding, a record is made of the description,
purpose and title of each page in the site, and they
are linked together according to the most effective
and logical diagram type. Depending on the number
of pages required for the website, documentation
methods may include using pieces of paper and
drawing lines to connect them, or creating the
storyboard using computer software.
To be accessible, web pages and sites must conform
to certain principles. Different browsers display
information differently, and standards across various
platforms are only slowly being developed. Popular
browsers have a lifetime and may not be compatible
with newer design innovations. Internet Explorer 6,
for instance, although still popular, is old enough to
not be compliant with newer graphic standards for
web design. Also, Content Management Systems
that allow changes to be made to web pages without
the need for knowing a programming language are
impacting design. Many website incompatibilities
go unnoticed by the designer and unreported by
the users. The only way to be certain a website will
work on a particular platform is to test it on that
platform.
Since the designer has no control over several
factors that the user will select, including the size of
the browser window, the actual web browser used,
the input devices used (mouse, touch screen, voice
command, text, cell phone number pad, etc.) and
the size and characteristics of available fonts, web
design that produces consistent results for every
user can be a challenge.
Some designers choose to control the appearance
of the elements on the screen by using specifc
width designations. Whenever the text, images, and
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layout of a design do not change as the browser
changes, this is referred to as a fxed width design.
Proponents of fxed width design prefer precise
control over the layout of a site and the precision
placement of objects on the page.
Other designers choose a liquid design. A liquid
design is one where the design moves to fow
content into the whole screen, or a portion of the
screen, no matter what the size of the browser
window. Proponents of liquid design prefer greater
compatibility and using the screen space available.
Depending on the purpose of the content, a web
designer may decide to use either fxed or liquid
layouts on a case-by-case basis. Both liquid and
fxed design developers must make decisions about
how the design should degrade on higher and lower
screen resolutions. Sometimes the pragmatic choice
is made to fow the design between a minimum and
a maximum width.
Ideally the graphics and text of a web design should
include a single style that fows throughout, to
show consistency. The style should be professional,
appealing and relevant. A problem with using lots
of graphics on a page is that download times can
be greatly lengthened, often irritating the user. This
has become less of a problem as the Internet has
evolved, with high-speed carriers and the use of
vector graphics shortening load times.
Some web developers with a graphic arts
background may pay more attention to how a page
looks than considering other issues such as text
that enables visitors to fnd the page via a search
engine. As a result, designers can get into disputes
where some want more pretty graphics, and others
want lots of ugly keyword-rich text, bullet lists,
and text links. One could argue that this is a false
dichotomy due to the possibility that a web design
may integrate the two disciplines for a collaborative
and synergistic solution.
Typically web pages are classifed as static or
dynamic. Static pages dont change content and
layout with every request unless someone manually
updates the page. Dynamic pages adapt their content
and/or appearance depending on the end-users
input or interaction, or changes in the computing
environment such as type of user, time of use, data
entered by user, etc. These changes can happen on
either the users computer (client-side) or on the
host computer (server-side), or on both.
The frst page of a web site is known as the
Home page or Index. Some web sites use what
is commonly called a Splash Page. Splash pages
might include a welcome message, language or
region selection, or disclaimer. But faster browsing
speeds have led to shorter attention spans and more
demanding online visitors and this has resulted
in less use of Splash Pages, particularly where
commercial web sites are concerned.
Each web page within a web site is a fle that has
its own URL. After web pages are created, they are
typically linked together using a navigation menu
composed of hyperlinks to the various URLs.
Web development has been one of the fastest
growing industries in the world over the last
10 years. The growth of E-commerce has been
phenomenal and more and more businesses are
realizing that without an internet presence they are
losing out on reaching potential customers for their
goods and services.
The cost of web site development and hosting has
dropped dramatically during the last 10 years. Tools
and platforms have been created which make the
process far simpler. Some of these are available
for little or no charge. LAMP, for example, is
an open source package which includes Linux
as an operating system, Apache as a web server,
MySQL as a database management system, and
the programming languages Perl, Python, and
PHP. There are also proprietary programs such as
Microsofts FrontPage or Adobes Dreamweaver
that allow the purchaser to develop a simple web
page in minutes.
Web applications such as WordPress and
b2evolution are also available for creating simple
blog (web log) environments for web sites. Blogs
have become increasingly popular as ways for
individuals to express their personal views on any
number of matters. Folks selling organic and other
alternative products have found blogs useful in
attracting customers who want to know more about
the thinking of the person who is producing their
food.
Newer browsers and newer standards for browsers
keep the exact software products that are useful
in design work constantly evolving, but generally
there is increasing emphasis on interactivity as web
design progresses.
For example, when Netscape Navigator 4 dominated
the browser market, the popular solution available
for designers to lay out a Web page was by using
tables to carry information. Often even simple
designs for a page would require dozens of
tables nested in each other. Many web templates
in Dreamweaver and other editors still use this
technique today.
Now, however, tables are no longer dominant. One
newer system is to use Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS), a language to style web pages. CSS is used
to help readers of web pages defne colors, fonts,
layout, and other aspects of document presentation.
It is designed primarily to enable the separation of
document content (written in HTML or a similar
markup language) from document presentation
(written in CSS). This separation can improve
content accessibility, provide more fexibility
and control in the specifcation of presentation
characteristics, and reduce complexity and repetition
in the structural content. CSS can also allow the
same markup page to be presented in different styles
for different rendering methods, such as on-screen,
in print, by voice (when read out by a speech-based
browser or screen reader) and on Braille-based,
tactile devices. CSS specifes a priority scheme
to determine which style rules apply if more than
one rule matches against a particular element. In
this so-called cascade, priorities or weights are
calculated and assigned to rules, so that the results
are predictable.
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After the browser war (the competition for
dominance in the web browser marketplace between
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator during
the late 1990s) subsided, and the dominant browsers
became more compliant with the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C), designers started turning toward
CSS as an alternate means of laying out their pages.
CSS proponents say that tables should be used only
for tabular data, not for layout. All modern Web
browsers support CSS with different degrees of
limitations.
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) is a
proprietary, robust graphics animation or application
development program used to create and deliver
dynamic content, media (such as sound and video),
and interactive applications over the Web via the
browser. It has become very popular and according
to one study 98% of US Web users have the Flash
Player installed.
Many graphic artists use Flash because it gives them
exact control over every part of the design, and
anything can be animated and generally jazzed up.
Some application designers enjoy Flash because it
lets them create applications that do not have to be
refreshed or go to a new web page every time an
action occurs. Another advantage is that Flash can
use embedded fonts instead of the standard fonts
installed on most computers.
There are many sites which forgo HTML entirely
for Flash. Other sites may use Flash content
combined with HTML. Flash may also be used to
protect content from unauthorized duplication or
searching.
Flash detractors claim that Flash websites tend to be
poorly designed, and often use confusing and non-
standard user-interfaces. Up until recently search
engines have been unable to index Flash objects,
which has prevented sites from having their contents
easily found. This is because many search engine
crawlers rely on text to index websites. It is possible
to specify alternate content to be displayed for
browsers that do not support Flash. Using alternate
content also helps search engines to understand the
page, and can result in much better visibility for the
page.
Once a web site is completed, it must be
published or uploaded to a server or computer on
the internet in order to be viewable to the public.
Once published, the web master may use a variety
of techniques to increase the traffc, or hits, that
the web site receives. This may include submitting
the web site to a search engine such as Google
or Yahoo, exchanging links with other web sites,
creating affliations with similar web sites, or even
advertising on other appropriate sites.


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by Jack Kittredge
Plymouth, New Hampshire, is about half way up the
state. Its north of the heavily populated border area
along the Massachusetts line, north of the major
city, Manchester, and of the capital, Concord. It is
even north of most of the good farm country, nestled
up in the foothills that begin the Green Mountains.
With fewer than 4000 permanent residents,
Plymouth is also home to Plymouth State College
a school with a strong environmental reputation.
As Sandra Jones, co-director of the Plymouth
Area Renewable Energy Initiative (PAREI) puts it:
Plymouth is a special place. Ive lived here since
1980 and see lots of people go off and travel, and
then come back here. I think its the quality of life
and the environment. A lot of us are graduates of
Plymouth State College.
But this is the land of cold winters and tall snows.
For all their love of nature, people here take flling
their woodsheds seriously.
Yet on a Thursday at the beginning of April, with
several feet of snow still on the ground, dozens
of farmers congregate downtown to deliver food
to buyers who have ordered and paid for it online
through a program called Local Foods Plymouth
(LFP). The foods distributed include tomatoes,
raw milk, eggs, beef, pork and emu meat, apples,
pastries, maple syrup, cheese and bread. To all
appearances the market is thriving!
Farmers had called or Emailed LFP by Monday
morning what they would have available for
Thursday afternoons distribution. The products
and prices were listed online (at http://lfp.dacres.
org/) and buyers ordered on a frst-come frst-served
basis at the online store from Monday afternoon
through midnight on Tuesday. The buyers paid with
a credit card or a Paypal account. The farmers were
notifed of what they had sold on Wednesday, and
were responsible for bringing it to the LFP table for
distribution a half hour before the market opened on
Thursday.
Originally the program was designed around the
seasonal Thursday afternoon farmers market in
Plymouth. That market was originally created by
Carol Perkins of Longview Farms as a way to
enable low income women to eat healthier by using
WIC coupons. Since the USDA didnt allow their
use at farm stands, she got the Episcopal Church to
sponsor the market.
What we did at the farmers market, said Melissa
Greenawalt-Yelle, LFP coordinator, is that we set
up a booth, just like any other farm. Farmers deliver
what they have sold online to the LFP booth at the
farmers market and we put the milk and meat into
coolers with ice packs. A lot of the farmers have
their own table there, as well. When the LFP buyers
show up it is just a matter of going to the cooler
from each farm, picking up the products that buyer
gets, putting them together and transferring them to
the buyer. Volunteers help with this whole process.
Often after picking up their order, buyers will
proceed to check out what else is available at the
market as well.
But this winter (2007-2008) LFP decided to
continue on a year-round basis. Many farmers had
storage crops, animal products, or value added foods
that were not subject to seasonal availability. And
consumers especially craved local foods when they
were scarce.
A local businessman, Mark Younger of the UPS
Store, offered LPF space in his downtown storefront
every other Tuesday while the Farmers Market was
not operational. An additional lucky beneft was that
Mark regularly receives Styrofoam coolers from
a pharmaceutical rep customer and provides them
to LFP to recycle at food distribution. A student
volunteer has designed beautiful signs to label the
coolers by farm both, to promote the farms and also
to keep the food separate.
Local Foods Plymouth
Accurate record-keeping is of course essential to
the success of LFP, and Melissa explained how they
accomplished that: There is a spreadsheet that we
fll out to list the items available, she says, and
we upload that to the site where it gets displayed in
the store. The site also has pages introducing each
farm. It allows farmers to beneft from sales via
credit card, which most arent set up to take directly.
The proceeds go into a Paypal account where we
can draw the funds down as we need them. There is
a small percent taken by Paypal for processing the
credit card, of course. They provide a real service.
We pay the farmers the frst Thursday of the month
for the past months sales.
At distribution, she continued, we have all the
food order by farm on one list, and by buyer on
another list. The lists break it down for what each
farmer sold and what each buyer bought. Software
produces all this -- you just enter in the dates and it
keeps track of it all for you. That saves a lot of time,
so we have more time for outreach, helping out with
things. When the farmer brings in an order we check
it off on the farmer list, and when the buyer picks
up, we check that off on the buyer list.
Although LFP is running without a farmers market
during the winter, there really is a synergy between
it and the farmers market during the summer. LFP
emails and promotional work bring more people
to the farmers market, and the convenience of
distribution there, where farmers and buyers are
coming anyway, makes for fewer trips and saved
gasoline.
LFP actually sold less during the summer of 2007
than that of 2006. Melissa believes that was because
more of their customers started going to the farmers
market to make purchases. She points for evidence
to the fact that the farmers also reported that sales at
the market were a lot better in 2007.
Why is such a thriving market taking place in such
an isolated location?
The idea for an online food buying service grew out
of discussions in January of 2006 at membership
meetings of PAREI. The group helps people install
energy saving and producing devices like solar hot
water heaters and solar space heaters. It tends to be
a hands-on organization not advocates or focusing
on education, but getting practical things done. The
membership meetings are that way too.
We call them energy exchanges. Sandra said.
People come together and talk. We were talking
at one about how we can reduce our energy
consumption as households. There were several
people there who had an interest in eating locally.
They said one way that you can reduce energy use
is to reduce the amount of travel necessary for food
to get to the plate. There were some people who
were very conscious of that, and others who hadnt
thought much about it. I wasnt all that tuned in
to the issue, but the purpose of these membership
meetings is brainstorming and bringing good minds
together. So the conversation started about how
could we create a program that gets people to buy
more local food?
A woman named Abby Holms was there, Sandra
continued, with a couple of interns from D Acres,
an organic farm about 25 miles away in Dorchester,
NH. She said: We have an idea! We think we could
do some sort of on-line ordering. We could get
farmers to report what it is they have for sale and
list it online. That way they could only harvest what
was sold. Our farmers market here in Plymouth is
very small maybe 6 or 8 vendors -- and often they
dont sell everything they harvest, so there is a lot of
waste.
So from the farmers point of view it prevents waste,
but from an energy standpoint it also prevents
people from going from farm stand to farm stand
to get what they want. That saves energy. So the
farmers and the energy conscious consumers came
together and within three weeks PAREI, with help
from D Acres, had a grant proposal sent in to the
New Hampshire Department of Agriculture to help
set this up. The Department gave them $1000, and
an early boost to get the idea organized.
photo by Jack Kittredge
Local Foods Plymouth buyer Jane Kellogg gives coordintor Melissa Greenawalt-Yelle
feedback about the online order form during the biweekly distribution.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 24
We came up with this idea of creating a schedule,
Jones recalled. We wanted to see something regular
farmers reporting on Sunday night or Monday
morning what they had to sell, with us being able
to report back to them by Wednesday morning
what they had sold, and deliver it on Thursday. We
wanted to keep the same schedule every week.
Abby and Sam, an intern at D Acres, incorporated
that system into a website. We ended up getting
another Department of Agriculture grant for $3500
that summer to support the project. So we got $4500
in grants from year 1, plus a lot of volunteer time
from the Energy Initiative and D Acres probably
$10,000 or $11,000 in volunteer time.
In the second year, 2007, they got a larger grant
from the Department of Agriculture -- $6900 plus
the buyers donated about $1000 to run the program.
They also got about $3000 from private foundations
around the area. At the end of the second year they
had raised all their operating costs and had $1000
left to get started in 2008.
The winter market is brand new this year, but seems
to have met with strong support.
The response has been fantastic, Melissa said.
The product selection is obviously more limited,
but people have been amazed at what they are able
to buy in the wintertimeraw milk, storage crops,
meats, cheeses, hydroponic tomatoes, apples
Sandra agreed: People are yearning for local
produce in the winter, and prices are quite high.
That is when local food can start competing! We
have unplanted felds out there. All of our farmers
will tell you they have land they are not using. We
want all that to be planted, and sold, for local food.
Right now New Hampshire provides 5% of its own
food, and that is scary! If energy prices keep rising,
and food prices keep pace, were going to be in a
pickle.
We consume about 400 gallons of oil each for
our food, she continued. That considers raising,
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Dan Nelson of Hobbit Hill Farm in Wentworth, NH, holds one of the Trust tomatoes he delivered to
the LFP on April 3. He has 275 plants he kept growing all winter in a hydroponic greenhouse.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 25
processing, transporting everything. That is
actually more energy than we use for home heating.
That is huge! We think of home heating and running
our cars as our primary uses of energy. But food is
more.
Most of the LFP buyers are year round residents.
Although not a major tourist destination like
some of the nearby towns in the Lakes and White
Mountain region, Plymouth does get some summer
visitors who will stop off at the farmers market.
But the group the LFP would like to reach out to
for growth are the about 4000 students at Plymouth
State College. A lot of them have off-campus
apartments and do their own cooking. Melissa is
planning to try to fnd ways to catch their attention,
-- possibly with something on YouTube!
One of the advantages of buying your food online,
according to Sandra, is that you can go on at 9
oclock at night when it is quiet. Youre not at the
supermarket trying to remember how many eggs
you have left to fgure out what food to buy. You
place your order and youre done. You dont have
to think about it again except to pick it up which
is fun. You end up buying extra stuff at the farmers
market anyway!
I talked with various buyers who were picking up
their orders to see what appealed to them about the
system.
Lee-Ann has been a buyer from the frst year. Im
not from here and it took me awhile to acclimate to
the community, she said. But I started going to
the farmers market and met the farmer at Currier
Brook farm. We home school and my boys have
volunteered there a lot. Theyre volunteering here
today. They help Melissa get the order together. Last
winter we spent a lot of time at D Acres. Theyre an
educational farm and have a lot of workshops. One
of their main goals is keeping local farming going.

My husband had an almost heart attack two years
ago. That opened our eyes to the health of our
family and learning more about how we could
stay healthy. We were eating just like most typical
Americans than. We would eat at McDonalds
without a second thought. We werent really aware.
So now it has become a part of our lives to seek
better health for our family. Why do people buy this
food? The number one thing I hear from buyer after
buyer is that the food here tastes better!
Dave Lewis retired to the region 13 years ago from
New York. What am I doing here? Im picking up
food, he said. I like to eat. I just started this year.
I heard about it from friends. Id like to do more
local food. The taste is really good, its good for
you, the energy issue is important, and I think we
have a lot of loyalty to this region and would like to
see it more independent. I dont remember what Im
picking up, but Melissa has a list (laughs). Were
trying to do more in-season food. We live in Nova
Scotia in the summer and go to the farmers market
there, too.
Jane Kellogg prefers using the online service
even in the summer, when the farmers market is
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photo by Jack Kittredge
Mark Younger, manager of the UPS Store in Plymouth where the LFP breakdown and
pickup take place, poses with LFP coordinator Melissa Greenawalt-Yelle. Besides donating
his store space every other week, Mark offers such help as recycled Styrofoam coolers he gets
from a customer who is a pharmaceutical rep.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 26
functioning. You know what is available, she
pointed out. You can plan your weeks shopping
around it. You order Monday or Tuesday and
you know what will be here, so you can plan
accordingly. You get an Email message each week
from Melissa with a link to the website. But she
writes up the greatest little letter to everyoneits
fun! She mentions whats available, especially
whats new, gives recipes and ideas. Its great!
Todd Allison joined last year. I use both this and
the farmers market, he said. For something like
tomatoes Ill wait for the farmers market, but things
like bread and eggs things I think they might run
out of -- Ill order ahead. Im kind of a farmers
market junkie! Local food is better. I used to be the
director of a nature program and preached about
local foods. So I have to practice it! Ive tried
markets all over the state. Plymouths used to be
pretty poor, but its gotten better. Littleton is the best
in the state, I think. They have 40 tables at least.

Zak Brohinsky bought eggs, bacon and bread,
packing them out on his bike. Im a frst time
buyer, he said. I heard about it from my professor,
at the state college. He mentioned that there was
a local PAREI meeting one night, so I went. I
talked to Melissa and I signed up for the local
foods program. I have an off-campus apartment. I
try to buy local when I can. This is the frst super-
local thing Ive done since coming here. I think its
important, not just to help the local farmers, but
its better food, healthier. I love it. Plus I dont like
going to the big grocery stores. Im majoring in
environmental issues and fnd this exciting. I hope
more younger people do it.

Im originally from Connecticut. I spent two
years at the University of Connecticut and realized
I didnt want a big university any more. I picked
Plymouth over a small college in Arizona. They
were both environmentally friendly and had access
to outdoor programs. I love hiking. What a better
place to be than in the White Mountains?
Melissa estimates that, in the summertime, 75%
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CROPP Cooperative is actively looking
for new organic dairy, hay, and grain
producers. Call today to explore
your organic opportunity.
20 years of stable, sustainable growth.
ORGANIC DAIRY EGGS MEAT JUICE SOY PRODUCE CROPS
The Beidlers are one of 145 Organic Valley farm
families in New England who own our cooperative.
photo by Jack Kittredge
Nathan Old, of Robie Farm, brings raw milk and various types of cheeses to the breakdown.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 27
the farmers market. Some started going because
they had to go because of the LFP -- they have
guaranteed sales already. They say Ok, I know I
made this much already, I might as well bring some
more and sell it there.
Almost half of the farms at the farmers market dont
participate in the LFP, however. Sandra believes
that some of them just arent familiar with the LFP
yet. There is no risk involved 95 to 96 percent of
the purchase price goes to the farmer. Some weeks
the farmers dont have the staff to participate in the
farmers market. But they can still do the LFP.
Some local farms have farmstands, but there are
only a few small CSAs in the area. We are doing
so much consumer education, Sandra said, that I
dont think we are competing with existing markets.
I think we are expanding the market. Our goal is
to sell everything that a farmer can produce in this
area. There is so much demand that we think we
can do that, and bring more farmers into the market.
And they can farm more specifcally for us. We
dont have much season extension stuff. Some farms
have the hardier greens, one farm last fall offered
storage crops like potatoes, beets, carrots, onions,
winter squash, corn meal, and dried beans. They
sold everything they offered. Now they are talking
about planting more storage crops this year for
winter sales.
On the day in early April when I visited the Local
Foods Plymouth distribution, according to Melissa,
they had their best winter day ever. We have over
thirty buyers and sold $898 worth of food from 11
farms, she reported. We have eggs, granola, bread,
jam, apple butter, apples and apple slices, (Cortland,
Macintosh, Northern Spy) pork, maple syrup, honey,
emus, milk, hydroponic tomatoes, beef.
She talked to the farmers and seemed to know what
is going on in each operation. The apples have
a cold storage system that keeps them well into
April, she said, but this is the last week that they
are going to have apples. They have been switching
over more to apple butter, applesauce, and things
like that. People who are making syrup say this year
there seems to be a high syrup content to the sap.
Normally it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one
gallon of syrup. This year they can do it with 32!
I interviewed some of the farmers as they brought in
their products.
Dan Nelson, from Hobbit Hill Farm, grows
hydroponic tomatoes. This is our frst year, so it
has been a lot of work, he admitted. We have a
regular 30 by 60 foot greenhouse with an outside
wood-fred furnace. There are about 275 plants in
there. Its going real well and were quite happy
with it. We believe it will work out economically.
The two things that go against you are electricity
and heat. The heat we have pretty well taken care
of. Its an outside boiler which heats water which
fows through the system. There is a backup system
in case there is a problem. We fgure about 24 cords
will get us through the winter. I was buying it cut,
then I bought some log length and I did my own
cutting. Buying log length and then cutting it down
is the most economical. I can get it for about $80 a
cord, cut it to 2 foot lengths, and store it in another
small hoop house. Once I throw in my gas for
cutting I fgure it costs me $100 a cord. We started
up October frst and will go through the end of May.
It costs us $2400 for the winter, less than many
people pay to heat their houses. Our coldest day
was 20 below, and the greenhouse that night was 64
degrees! It is a double layer house with air blown
between the layers.

Getting enough light is a problem, he continued.
We use electric lights, but we didnt have enough
this winter. We had 8 and we need 20. Electric is
the biggest cost. This is all brand new to me. I grew
up on a farm, but it was a poultry farm! We thought
this was a neat thing to do, and we had a captured
market in the winter months. Once the cold frames
stop in November, you cant buy local fresh produce
here. We get $3.25 a pound for our tomatoes at LFP.
We want to sell to restaurants, and were asking
$1.75 to $3.00 at the restaurants. I got an order for
30 pounds from one of them today!
photo by Jack Kittredge
Carol Friedrich of Currier Brook Farm sells pork and eggs (including some colorful eggs
from Aruacana chickens) at LFP. She is also a New Hampshire state representative and has
been working to make local sales of farm products easier.
photo by Jack Kittredge
Peggy Hewes, of Riverside Emus, holds a fresh emu egg which was purchased at LFP.
One emu egg is equal to 8 or10 chicken eggs. The contents can be blown out of the shell to
retain the brilliantly colored shell for decorative projects.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 28
Well shut down and cleanout at the end of May,
and start planting seeds the middle of July. The
variety is Trust. Well transplant them back into
the house in September. Im semi-retired and this
is all I do. This was to keep us active and bring in
a little money to pay taxes and insurance. The LFP
has worked well for us. Were pleased with it.

Carol Friedrich, of Currier Brook Farm, sells pork
and eggs (including colorful Araucana ones). She
also happens to be a Representative in the New
Hampshire legislature. In New Hampshire you
can sell eggs, vegetables, and poultry off your
farm, she stated. The meat I have is slaughtered
at a USDA inspected plant so I can sell it here. Its
frozen and the turnover is quick. Everything is in
coolers. I usually sell at the farmers market. At the
farmers market I plug in two refrigerators and a
freezer to keep things cold.

There is only one USDA slaughterhouse in all of
New Hampshire, in Goffstown. There is also one
in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. But it is very hard to get
into these places they are very busy. Im trying
to get the state to have its own meat certifcation
program so we could sell meat in-state without
USDA slaughter inspection. We can slaughter and
sell up to 1000 birds on the farm. But I consider
something like this a farm sale. I sell from my farm
over the internet and just bring the products here to
facilitate the delivery. The rules never anticipated
this kind of operation. Its a gray area. Im sure there
are no laws that cover this, fortunately (laughs).

I understand, however, that you can sell raw milk
at a farmers market in New Hampshire. You can
sell baked goods in New Hampshire with a simple
license. You dont need a commercial kitchen. With
that same license you can do ecotourism, run a bed
and breakfast, etc. You cant just make it on a farm
by raising corn anymore!
Nathan Old works at Robey Farm, a dairy operation.
We make the cheese right on the farm, he said.
We make four types: Swaledale, which is a type
of English cheddar, Toma, which is a semi-hard
Italian cheese, then smoked Toma which has a
natural rind and is aged for about three months, and
then a Manchego which isnt quite ready yet. The
Swaledale goes for $18 a pound, and the smoked
Toma is $10 a pound. We make cheese three times
a week while the milk is still fresh and warm. Ive
been doing this for a year. Lee and Betty Sue Robie
own the farm, and Im one of their adopted sons. I
grew up in Kansas and have lived in this area for
about four years. I met their son at college and came
up with him to intern here and liked it.

Raw milk is quite popular here, especially
considering our rural nature. We sell about 30
gallons a day from our farm store. We have some
people who come a couple of hours to reach us and
pick up for several other people. Were milking 60
cows so right now we sell to Agri-Mark. They pick
up with a bulk truck. But wed like to downsize so
we can sell all the milk right at the farm and have it
all grass-fed. Right now we have to buy in grain. We
havent fgured out the math exactly, but I fgure we
could cut our herd in half and make the same living
if we sold all our milk raw on the farm. We get $5 a
gallon for raw, and bulk milk goes for right around
$20 a hundredweight. That fgures out at about
$1.80 per gallon. But you have to pay for the bottles
and the bottling with the raw milk, so that cuts into
the net.

UNIVERSITY NEW HAMPSHIRE
NOFA
Issue: Summer due April 30
Size: 1/4 page (4 7/8 x 7 1/2)
Open Rank Tenure-Track Position in
Organic Dairy Agriculture
The College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) at the University of New Hampshire
(UNH) seeks applicants who are interested in taking a leadership role in the research and
academic programs associated with the UNH Organic Dairy Research Farm. The University
of New Hampshire is the first land-grant university in the nation to have an organic dairy
research farm. This farm has been developed to be a regional research and demonstration
center for organic dairy farmers, farmers undergoing or considering transition to organic
production, and students of sustainable agriculture. The University of New Hampshire is
committed to advancing sustainable food and agricultural systems through education,
demonstrating sustainable agricultural practices, and investigating and facilitating broad
collaborative efforts for sustainability. The position is an open rank, academic year tenure-
track faculty position. Individuals at the Associate or Full Professor levels are encouraged
to apply.
The successful candidate is expected to collaborate with other on-going programs in animal
and plant sciences, natural resources and resource economics and provide national leadership
in program development. We seek an individual to provide leadership and oversight of
collaborative research in areas such as organic dairy systems and marketing, animal health
and disease, forages, soils, grazing, and agroecology. Applicants must have a PhD or its
equivalent with outstanding achievements in research and teaching, demonstrated leadership,
experience with external funding, and program expansion skills.
Applicants should send a cover letter, curriculum vitae, summary of current and future
research plans, statement of teaching interests, and vision statement outlining your academic
and research plans for the organic dairy at UNH. The names and contact information for three
to five references should also be sent to: Paul C. Tsang, Search Committee Chair,
University of New Hampshire, Department of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, 129
Main Street, Kendall Hall, Durham, New Hampshire 03824 (paul.tsang@unh.edu, 603-
862-3479). Review of applications will begin March 31, 2008 and will continue until the
position is filled. Information about the University of New Hampshire, the College of Life
Sciences and Agriculture, and the organic dairy can be found at the following websites:
http://www.unh.edu/
http://www.colsa.unh.edu/welcome.html
http://www.organicdairy.unh.edu/index.html
The University of New Hampshire is the state's public research university, providing
comprehensive, high-quality undergraduate programs and graduate programs. The University
of New Hampshire holds land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant charters. The University of
New Hampshire is located in Durham on a 188-acre campus, 60 miles north of Boston, 8
miles from the Atlantic coast, and is convenient to New Hampshire's lakes and mountains.
There is a student enrollment of 13,000 students, with a full-time faculty of over 600, offering
90 undergraduate and more than 70 graduate programs. Out of 4000 acres of woodlands and
croplands owned by UNH, approximately 500 are in close proximity to campus with 200
certified organic.
The University of New Hampshire is committed to creating a more diverse community, as
inclusion, diversity and equity are values inextricably linked to our mission of educational
excellence. The University seeks excellence through diversity among its administrators,
faculty, staff, and students. The University prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,
disability, veteran status, or marital status. Application by members of all
underrepresented groups is encouraged.
photo by Jack Kittredge
Benny and Jeremiah, two home schooled kids, help Nathan Old deliver the raw milk and
cheeses which have been order from his farm.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 29
Were all natural and we prefer that to organic.
We want to be able to treat our cows if they get sick.
Under organic regulations, if you use antibiotics
you cant ever bring that cow back on-stream. We
feel if the milk tests antibiotic-free you should be
able to sell it. We have 50 or 60 acres of grazing
land. We should be able to support 30 or 40 cows on
that. Were working on setting up fencing and doing
rotational grazing to make better use of our pastures.
We seem to get most of our business from word of
mouth. We do occasional ads but mostly our milk
and beef and pork sell out as fast as we can produce
them.
Bill Erickson, of D Acres, brought bread, granola
and eggs. We try to raise food primarily for our
own subsistence frst, he explained. We feed all
the interns and guests that come through before
we try to sell any. We have fve staff positions,
plus two to twelve interns. The farm belonged
to the directors great aunt and uncle back in the
1940s. Ive been there just over a year. Im more
or less focused on the annual and perennial food
production, and the educational work that revolves
around that. We grow over a hundred different
species of perennials hazelnuts, butternuts, pecans,
hardy kiwi, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apples,
plums. We had a good apple year last year. They
were blemished and we couldnt sell them, but they
make great cider and sauce. Peaches do well for us.
Peggy Hewes, of Riverside Emus, brought emu
meat, emu eggs, pork and beef. This is a wonderful
idea, she said. It works really well -- has really
expanded our sales. We started participating last
summer. This was a great alternative for us because
we didnt have the time to come and set up for
the whole afternoon. When we knew exactly what
our sales were we could come in and drop things
off. We sell directly from our farm and I do a little
market in our neighborhood in Groton. We sell some
of our pork and beef in local stores and distributors.
Our sausages are quite popular.

Emu eggs make a nice quiche. One is equivalent
to maybe 8 or 10 chicken eggs. You can bake with
them like a regular egg, and if you blow it out
and retain the shell it makes a great decoration.
The birds lay every three or four nights between
December and April. This is our frst attempt to
market fresh ones. Mostly we sell the ones that are
blown out.

Weve been doing Emus for about 14 years. Were
still learning about them. For meat, you take an
emu to market at about a year and a half. But we
have a permanent breeding population that still has
many of our original birds. I think they can live 30
or 40 years. The meat is prized as a low-fat source.
But another product is emu oil, a therapeutic oil
made from rendering emu fat. It is generally used
topically, or for infammation issues.
Local Foods Plymouth is trying to make it easy for
other communities to replicate something similar.
Abby Holm, the original coordinator, is now
working at a CSA in southern New Hampshire, but
is in love with the project. She provides training for
communities anywhere who want to do something
similar. For $1000 they can get a package she calls
Local Foods Anywhere. You get the detailed
software LFP uses for ordering and tracking orders,
plus a website with a host company which prides
itself on hosting environmental projects and will
work with you to help with the technical aspects.
You also get the training you need to set up a
program. According to Sandra, Abby said recently
that several communities are applying for grants to
emulate the LFP model, including one in Colorado.
(Abby can be contacted at abigailholm@gmail.
com.)
photo by Jack Kittredge
Todd Allison admits to being a farmers market junkie. He has shopped at them all over New
Hampshire and says the LFP program has defnitely improved the size and scope of the
Plymouth farmers market.
photo by Jack Kittredge
Bill Erickson shows bread and eggs produced at D Acres. The farm primarily raises food for
its educational programs and interns, but does sell some products at LFP.
Certined Organic
Vegetable-Herb
Ldible Ilowering Plants
Gorgeous 8 Unusual
Annuals-Perennials
Ilowering Shrubs
Gins tor Gardeners
M
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.

1800 Scituate Ave. Cranston, RI


401-826-3130
...!....|........!............
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 30
They are even talking of setting up an online
ordering system for local restaurants. It would be a
little more complicated, because the farmers would
be charging wholesale prices and may not want
those made public, but that could be accomplished
with a password system.
D Acres D Acres D Acres D Acres D Acres
of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshireee of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir of New Hampshir
Organic Farm Organic Farm Organic Farm Organic Farm Organic Farm && Educationa| Homestead Educationa| Homestead Educationa| Homestead Educationa| Homestead Educationa| Homestead
Dorchester, New Hampshire
603.786.2366
info@dacres.org
www.dacres.org
Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness
Conference Conference Conference
Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness Cultivating Wellness
September 13 & 14, 2008
A cclcbration of Land Stcwardship
& Community Wcllbcing in thc Whitc Mountains
of Ncw Hampshirc
Te Herbal Kitchen, Maria Noel Groves
Mycological Landscaping
with your Garden, Dave Wichland
Hands-On Soapmaking, Karen Lacharite
Transformation, Quatum Physics,
& Ourselves, Jahnay Pickett
Herbal Remedies & Your
Animals, Carol Lizotte
CranioSacral Terapy, Kathy MacKay
Mushroom Food, Mushroom Medicine,
Terry-Anya Hayes
Two-Day Registration: $100
Including Two Organic Lunches: $125
Including Five Organic Meals
and Camping: $200 and Camping: $200
Te Garden of Your Soul, Preparation,
Planting, and Pruning, Lynn Durham
Apitherapy: Health and Healing with
Products from the Hive, Ross Conrad
Herbs for Dental Care, Sandra Lory
Homesteading for Health
and Happiness, Bob St. Peter
Break-Trough! Ceremony,
Karen Lacharite
Nutritional Botany,
Barbara McCahan, PhD
Aromatherapy, Joann Vollmer
Register Today!
www.dacres.org (603) 786-2366 www.dacres.org (603) 786-2366 www.dacres.org (603) 786-2366
Subscriptions & Back Issues!
A limited number of back issues of are available for sale.
The current issue and the last four issues cost $5.00 postpaid. Earlier
issues (collectors copies) cost $8.00 and are subject to availability.
Subscriptions are $15 per year (or $20/yr. if to a foreign address).
67 Organic Fine Dining
66 Renewable Energy on Farm
65 Organic Cucurbits
64 Youth & Agriculture
63 Organic Meat
62 The Organic Consumer
61 Organic Greens
60 Access to Land
59 The NOP After 1 Year
58 Irrigation
57 On-Farm Dairying
Yes, I would like a subscription or back issue of , or both
as indicated below. I have included the total as a check made out to
The Natural Farmer. (Add $2 per back issue if to a foreign address).
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Current issues ($5) :
76 Manure & Organic Farming
75 Labor on Organic Farms
74 Climate Change & Org Ag
73 Organic Minor Fruit
Collectors Copies ($8) :
72 Water and Agriculture
71 Globalization & Agriculture
70 Organic Potatoes
69 Is Organic Better?
68 Who Owns Organic?
photo by Jack Kittredge
Zak Brohinsky, environmental studies major at Plymouth State College,
is an enthusiastic frst time buyer. He biked to the pickup and
packed his order to his apartment in saddle bags.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 31
compiled by Jack Kittredge
A few fundamental principles govern almost any
online business. They are the same principles as you
would need for any business, but the online nature
of the transaction gives them a new twist.
Organization
Make it easy for your customers to fnd what they
need. Think carefully about how to organize your
products and give customers more than one way
to fnd what theyre looking for. For example, you
can provide links to different product categories,
as well as a search function where customers can
enter a product name. Make it easy for customers to
retrace their steps if they get lost. List prices with
the items, rather than requiring buyers to go to a
separate page to fnd that information. The same
rule applies to making available your companys
return and exchange policies, contact information,
shipping charges and other information customers
need before they complete purchases. Let customers
know what the steps in a purchase will be so that
they know what to expect.
Ease of Purchase
A shopping cart is a metaphor that has proven
useful for online businesses. There are lots of cart
software applications to choose among, many of
which are free and open-source. Also, many hosting
companies offer them as a part of their hosting
service. Try a few trial sales with your cart to ensure
that its user-friendly and easy to understand. Paypal
also has a cart application, if you choose to have
that be a payment system you use.
The Nuts and Bolts of
Selling Online
But dont forget telephone ordering! Some
consumers still arent comfortable negotiating a
site or giving their credit card information over the
Internet. The capacity to receive orders by phone is
very helpful to getting their business.
When a customer hits the Buy button, they
dont want to spend several minutes waiting for
a response or even worse, getting an error
message. Make sure your software and servers
are capable of handling whatever your customers
throw at them. If youre using a third-party service,
this means ensuring they use adequate technology.
If youre building your own site from scratch, it
means investing in the best possible software and
hardware.
Fulfllment
Prompt order fulfllment is a facet of selling online
thats commonly neglected. Turnaround time is
critical in keeping customers happy. Is someone
minding the store when you go away for a week?
Can you handle an unexpected infux of orders? Do
you have the product, the containers, the labels, the
shipping capacity?
Customer Service
Selling online is not that different from selling
products in a traditional store. You need to provide
good customer service. And dont forget the
personal touch! Customers are the lifeblood of your
business and appreciate being remembered, both
online and in real stores.
You will also need to think about how to keep your
customers coming back. This can include special
incentives for repeat customers, free gifts with
purchases, or coupons to use on future purchases.
A stagnant site often results in sales that dwindle.
Keep updating your site, and add new content in
addition to your products. Fresh content keeps
customers coming back.
Promotion
Promotion is essential to online success.
Depending on your products, search engines may
deliver new customers to your site, but you may
well have to list yourself with some of the services
that promote organic products and local foods, like
localharvest.org. Such sites can bring the early
customers that you need to get up and running.
One can advertise websites, of course, but that
can be expensive and if your products are of high
quality word of mouth will probably be your best
advertisement.
Payment
Online stores can accept a variety of payment
types: credit cards, electronic cash, purchase
orders, or cash and checks sent via mail. Figure
out what you will accept and make sure your host
can handle the ones your customers are likely to
use. For offine payments, such as cash and checks
sent via mail or credit card numbers sent via fax,
publish your mailing address and fax and phone
numbers in an obvious place on your site.
Privacy Policy
If you are going to be accepting credit cards, it is
wise to write a privacy policy that will protect you
and provide your customers with trust in your site.
Online customers deserve to know what you plan
NOFA Videos
0701 Growing & Using Herbs Kathy Morris
0702 Perennial Vegetables Eric Toensmeier
0703 Keynote Talk Bill McKibben
0704 Getting the Most from a Woodlot Bill MacKentley
0705 Grass-Fed Beef Carolyn & John Wheeler
0706 Intro to Hay & Haying Dominic Palumbo
0707 Growing Root Crops Liz Henderson
0708 Organic Beekeeping Ross Conrad
0709 Small Scale Grain Raising Bi-sek Hsiao
$15 each
Please send me the circled videos. I enclose $15 for
each in the form of a check to NOFA Video Project
NOFA Video Project, 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005
New from the 2007 NOFA Summer Conference:
for a full list of the 146 videos available, visit
www.nofa.org/conference/video/index.php
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 32
to do with the data you collect.Your privacy policy
should cover the following topics.
The we collect statement describes what you
collect from your users. This can include email
addresses from sign-up forms, contact information,
physical addresses, credit card or bank information,
IP addresses, browser and operating system
information, as well as other information that you
may require your customers to enter.
You should state if you save, share, or sell your
customers email addresses. Keep in mind that if
you use a third-party ad service, merchant account,
or service, the customers email address may be
used in this transaction. You should state that you
or a third party will use their information in order
to place their order. Find out if the third party will
retain the users information and, if so, what will
be done with it. Be sure your policy covers this
information as well.
On an e-commerce site, credit card information
and physical addresses are used to process orders.
You should also state what you will do with this
information once an order has been processed. Do
you retain their credit card numbers and addresses
once an order has shipped? Will you sell or share
this information with third parties?
If your site uses cookies, say so in your policy.
Inform your users what information is collected
with the cookie and what is done with the
information once it has been collected. Since many
companies that serve ads collect information on site
visitors, you should also consider revealing your ad-
server relationships.
Future use of any data collected should be covered
as well. For example, if you process an order and
save the customers address to send out a postcard
on a new product, disclose this information too. This
can include customer promotional emails or any
reason that you might use their data in the future.
Your policy should also cover your sites security.
Mention any steps that youve taken to protect
customer data from hackers. Also include your
business contact information, including specifc
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email addresses or phone numbers that visitors can
use if they feel that your privacy policy has been
broken.
Security
Although sending a credit card number over the
Internet is extremely safe, customers still worry.
Most online payment systems send credit card
numbers and other sensitive information via
encrypted connections. If your system does this,
make sure customers know their information is
absolutely secure.
One popular way to transmit credit card data
securely over the Web is with the secure socket
layer (SSL) protocol. It protects your customers
sensitive information, including credit card and
personal information, during online transactions.
To use it, you (or your Web hosting provider) will
need to use a Web server that supports SSL, and
your customers Web browser must also support
SSL (most, if not all, do). Youll also need a digital
certifcate that identifes you as a legitimate business
these are available for a fee from companies
such as VeriSign and Thawte, and many hosting
providers will handle this for you for a small fee.
Credit Cards
To accept credit card transactions youll need
either an online payment service or a merchant
account. If you already have an account for your
existing business, you might be able to use the same
account to accept credit cards online. In other cases,
your Web developer or hosting service can help
you establish a merchant account with an online
transaction-processing service.
Online Payment Services provide an attractive
alternative to traditional payment methods for
smaller operations. Unlike credit cards companies,
services such as PayPal <www.paypal.com> and
CheckFree <www.checkfree.com> dont require
businesses to have merchant accounts. These
services make paying online quicker and more
secure than sending paper checks or cash, since they
use electronic fund transfers to settle transactions.
These services have become especially popular
among users of online auctions such as eBay, and
many other online businesses now use these services
as well. Before you sign up with a payment service,
however, its important to know how it works and
how to avoid potential problems.
Google Checkout <checkout.google.com> is another
online payment processing service. Users store
their credit or debit card and shipping information
in a Google account and can thus purchase at
participating stores at the click of a button. Google
Checkout charges merchants 2.0% plus $0.20 per
transaction.
Payment services use a relatively simple process
to transfer money. Buyers and sellers set up their
accounts by providing enough information their
real name, e-mail address, and credit card or
checking account information to verify their
identities. To pay another member, a buyer enters
the recipients e-mail address and the amount
of the transaction; that amount is then debited
to the recipients account. If the recipient isnt
a member of the payment service, theyll get an
e-mail directing them to the service, where they
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 33
must complete a registration form to claim their
funds. Members can access money in their accounts
by transferring it into their bank accounts, or by
requesting a check from the payment service.
Payment services charge a small fee to transfer
funds, but these fees are often less than the recipient
would pay for a credit card merchant account.
In addition, payment services can be especially
helpful for making small, repetitive payments, such
as affliate rewards, commissions, and customer
rebates.
There are some signifcant drawbacks to payment
services, however. Most services impose daily or
weekly limits on the amount of money customers
can send or receive; people who want to exceed
those limits might be charged an additional fee
for a business account or premiere account.
Customers should also remember that these
services arent banks theyre not subject to strict
banking regulations or protected by federal deposit
insurance.
Most payment services provide less protection
against fraud and abuse than credit card companies.
Conversely, payment services are sometimes quick
to freeze a customers account if they suspect fraud
or other criminal activities so quick, in fact, that
customers have sometimes complained about having
their accounts frozen for no apparent reason.Make
sure you understand and accept a services dispute
policy, limits on liability, fee structure, and other
regulations before you sign up.
Merchant Accounts. If youre serious about taking
credit card payments online and expect to be doing
a signifcant business that way, youll probably
want to go with a merchant account service. Most
banks offer merchant accounts the problem is
fguring out which one offers the best price, which is
typically a percentage of each credit card order you
submit. Here are just a few of the services currently
out there.
Gotmerchant.com
Instabill.com
MerchantWarehouse.com
MonsterMerchantAccount.com
NorthAmericanBancard (nabancard.com)
Total Merchant Services
Web Site Hosting Agreements
Once your Web site is developed and ready to be
viewed by the outside world, it must be transferred
to a server connected to the Internet. Most Web
site owners decide to have a third-party hosting
service make the site available, and the terms and
conditions of such services is usually embodied in
a Web Site Hosting Agreement. Although for small
sites such agreements are largely standard, you
should pay attention to it should things go wrong.
The key provisions for such agreements include:
Scope of Services. The specifc services provided
by William T Lasley,
Many small business owners fnd the steps involved
in opening a merchant account both confusing
and frustrating. There are alternatives available
for processing payments online. While the per-
transaction rates are sometimes more expensive than
traditional merchant accounts, the ease of opening
an account with alternative payment processors
makes them popular with many online merchants.
Terms to Know -
Merchant Account -- The traditional way to
accept credit and debit card payments. Opening
a traditional merchant account usually involves a
credit check, deposits and purchasing or leasing a
terminal to process payments. If you are interested
in opening a merchant account, start by contacting
your local bank, then compare with other services
you can fnd online.
Transaction Fee -- The rates you will be charged
each time you process a sale. Be sure to look for
any hidden expenses that may not be obvious when
checking rates. The fee may involve a percentage of
the overall sale, a one time fee per sale, or both.
Charge Back -- If a consumer contacts their
credit card company to dispute a sale and the
claim is found to be legitimate by the credit card
company, you may be forced to pay the money
back. To reduce your liability in charge backs, keep
a shipping record/receipt stating where you shipped
your merchandise for each sale. Its also a good idea
to only ship to the same address as the cardholder.
Reserve -- Alternative processors may hold a
percentage of your sales for a time period in the
Online Credit Card Processors
event of charge backs from customers. For example
a processor may hold 15% of sales for 6 months. If
there are no disputed sales in that time period, you
will be paid the withheld money.
Payment Schedule -- When you will be paid for
payments received by your processor. There are
many ways you can be paid including direct deposit,
check and sometimes even a deposit in your credit
card account.
Things to Do -
Always check references of any company you
conduct business with online. With many alternative
processors as well as with traditional merchant
accounts, you will be required to give the company
access to your checking account. Therefore, be sure
you can trust the company!
Research your choices before deciding on a
processor. Rates and features of processors can
greatly vary.
Below, are some examples of alternative payment
processors. Always check references before signing
up to any payment processor!
* CCNow < http://www.ccnow.com/>
Full-service electronic commerce solution for
small businesses and individuals.
* PayPal < http://www.paypal.com/>
Has both personal accounts and business
accounts available.
* Verza < http://www.verza.com/>
Payment processor for businesses.
by the hosting service should be precisely identifed.
Updates and Modifcations. The mechanism and
obligations of the hosting service to update and
modify the site should be spelled out.
Performance. The agreement should address
various performance issues, including minimum
performance criteria, uptime, server response time,
problem response time, technical assistance, and
remedies for system failure.
Termination and Transfer. The Web site owner
should have relative fexibility to terminate the
agreement for any reason. Upon termination,
the hosting service should be obligated to use
reasonable efforts to transfer the site to a successor
hosting service.
Warranties. The Web site owner will want a
number of warranties from the host provider,
primarily dealing with performance and the
technology provided by the hosting service.
Liability. The liability for breach by the hosting
service, such as potentially lost business due to
site malfunction, should be addressed, although
many providers attempt to limit their liability to
the amount of fees paid to the provider under the
agreement.
: :| || || | 1 1 h h? ?? ?H H
I Ia a d dc cr ra a t te ed d I Ie er rJ Ja aI I u uo oa a u u
b b a at tu ur ra aI I J Jo od dy y c ca ar re e
| | www.uIeeyoouoau.co
30--

Many Hands Organic Farm
Julie Rawson & Jack Kittredge (978) 355-2853
Barre, MA, www.mhof.net, farm@mhof.net
Produce, Fruit & Flower farm shares
May 1 to December 7
Organic & Free-range
Poultry & Pork, Organic Lard
Certifed by Baystate Organic Certifers
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 34
by Jack Kittredge
Rural Western Connecticut is a paradoxical place.
Individuals of great wealth and prominence have
quiet, relatively unpretentious country homes dot-
ted throughout the area. Yet there are also working
farms and homesteads where people pursue normal
lives without regard to the movie stars and captains
of industry amongst them.
One of these working farms, less than 5 miles from
the New York border, is that of Mel and Diana Bris-
tol Bloomingfelds Farm.
Mel and Diana, his second wife, have been mar-
ried for 25 years. Her passions are textiles she is
a spinner and weaver using wool from the farms
fock of sheep and gardening. She constructed a
walled kitchen garden incorporating an elaborate
brick maze that is full of her favorite edible and
fowering plants.
But now she spends more time helping Mel with
the online daylily business they have constructed at
www.bloomingfeldsfarm.com. She does the order
processing and accounting, as well as helping with
the digging and shipping.
Mel, now 70 years old, grew up in Collinsville,
Connecticut where his father had a weekend and
evening nursery.
My father grew up on a farm and had done some
market gardening in his teenage years, Mel says,
and my mother was kind of a naturalist. So I had
that nursery background, and worked in the family
vegetable garden since I was 6 or 7 years old. You
can say I was geared to go into biology.
When it came time for Bristol to go to college he
went to Harvard in, of course, biology. After his
sophomore year he had an opportunity to accom-
pany a researcher from the University museum in
a visit to India, Pakistan and Nepal for a year and a
half long bird study in 1957 and 1958.
It was probably the most extraordinary experience
of my life, he recalls, and fed my interest in An-
thropology. When I came back I was torn whether to
go to medical school or study botany. I fnally opted
for botany and went on to get a doctorate in ethno-
botany at Harvard. After that I taught at the Univer-
sity of Hawaii for two years, but then left to go to
Western Samoa where I collected plants and talked
to people in about 250 villages about their use for
medicine and food.
During that time, however, Mel decided he wanted
his own little place in the world of botany not just
going around taking notes about what other people
were doing. He felt like reading, writing and lectur-
ing were just recording life as lived by others and
didnt fulfll his sense of living a life of his own on
this earth.
So in 1969 Bristol came to the little town of Sher-
man, Connecticut to start a nursery of his own.
He found a fertile spot of 25 acres that was once
a lakebed where the soil -- a sandy loam with no
stones in it -- had washed down from the hills for
thousands of years.
Its the best farmland in the county, Mel states.
Once he had the location, he set about starting a
business.
I realized I was going to start a nursery and needed
a business name for it, he recalls. A lot of places
locally are known as Joes Place or Bobs Place.
My name is Melvin Lee Bristol, but Melvin didnt
sound right in terms of publicity and Im opposed
to the use of nicknames in business names. So we
decided to call the place Lee Bristol Nursery. From
1970 until 1985 years we were Lee Bristol Nurs-
Bloomingfelds Farm:
Marketing Daylilies Online
ery, Trees, Shrubs and Evergreens. So I became
known as Lee to buyers, but my wife and family and
friends still call me Mel. I thought it would be an
easy separation, but it hasnt been at all.
In order to help the nursery business grow and pay
the bills in the meantime, Mel started getting land-
scaping work. He carefully defned landscaping as
designing and planting no mowing, no weeding,
no snowplowing, no maintenance. That worked out
well. He got a good reputation and worked for some
very high profle people who had homes nearby.
There were two things that got me a little turned
off on landscaping, however, he says. One, the
customers were very needy. They wanted things
done when they wanted them. I was growing a wide
diversity of plants, but many could only be dug in
spring and fall. So that affected our timing. Our
slack time was in August!
The other, he continues, was that in the operation
of the nursery -- the trees, shrubs and evergreens
-- one always sold a ball of earth with every plant
that went out of here. Year by year by year the ter-
rain was lowered. We have inherited some pools and
puddles in certain areas because we dug evergreens
out of them. I understood that this was happening.
You drive out of here with a ton of earth on your
pickup truck and it isnt coming back!
Bristol didnt like selling his topsoil, and wanted to
get landscaping out of his business mix.
I decided perennial plants were a nice answer to
that, he says. I would grow them, sell them with-
out dirt, and let others make the landscaping deci-
sions. That was 1985. I havent set foot on another
persons property for landscaping purposes since
then! I was very happy to be out of landscaping,
even though I earned more money in those days
than I do today. People pay real money for landscap-
ing!
Some of the more important perennials Mel sold
were daylilies. He had published a mail-order cata-
log of them since 1974. It was mimeographed in
black and white and did not have photographs -- just
a few line drawings but listed about 85 different
varieties and sold them nationwide.
He frst came across them in Hawaii where there
was a huge, beautiful planting across from his
house. He liked the color orange and was fascinated
by the plants! When he looked up daylilies he found
that they were, even back then, Americas favorite
perennial fower. That remains true today.
I saw a lot of landscape uses for them, he ex-
plains. My whole approach to landscaping is a
problem-solving one. How can I make people hap-
pier on their property? Daylilies are good for land-
scapes because they never die. They always bear.
Theyre always getting better. They dont require
much attention. They dont have disease problems.
They dont have general insect problems. A person
doesnt need to take care of them. They take care of
themselves. After two or three years they choke out
weeds pretty well.
Daylilies make good ground covers, Bristol con-
tinues, because they are colorful for a long time. I
have some that will bloom for 6 weeks. The average
daylily blooms for about three weeks, even though
each fower only lasts a day thus the name but
there is a succession of buds coming along on the
same fower stalk, or scape, so another will open
tomorrow.
The one problem Mel has found with daylilies is
deer. Deer love to eat the buds and the fowers. Prior
to 1984 and 1985, he says, they didnt have many
deer where he is. But that has changed. Now theyre
all over the place.
Many people mistake the roadside daylily with the
commercial fowers. But the roadside daylily is a
triploid and its pollen is sterile. It cant be used in
breeding. There were about 20 varieties of Hemero-
callis from the cold parts of the far East Korea,
Japan, and China which have given rise to the
55,000 varieties of daylilies we have now. They
have been turned into a hybrid swarm by hundreds
of people who are active daylily hybridizers.
Fifteen to sixteen thousand different varieties can
be purchased tomorrow morning if you want, he
says. We have about 350 varieties here!
Bristol doesnt know how big the daylily market
really is. He has 400 to 500 separate orders a year,
with some customers making several orders during
the year. But, he says ruefully, once you have some
daylilies you might need a few more the next year,
and one more the following year, but after that there
is a point where you say I have my daylilies.
There is a very large daylily society the American
Hemerocallis Society that he says is essentially a
collectors group. There are 10,000 or 11,000 mem-
bers want to talk about their 100 or 200 varieties.
Some have as many as 500 or 600 or more, and a
photo courtesy Mel Bristol
Mel with a weeks orders, ready to be shipped out
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 35
signifcant budget to expand their collection. There
are meetings, contests, awards, regional daylily
groups and a very nice journal.
But the truth is, Mel admits, Im more of a NOFA
guy. Im more of a farmer. I want to plant stuff out
and watch it grow. Im not oriented to being a col-
lector.
The number of daylily specialists in America -
- people who Bristol thinks of as his competitors
-- is about 400. That doesnt count all the garden
centers, Home Depots, Kmarts and Wal-Marts all
of which sell daylilies. Of the 400 specialists, he es-
timates that three-quarters of them are retired people
who have had an expensive hobby and now want
to convert it into something that will pay for itself
and maybe give them some retirement income. He
thinks most of them are biting off more than they
understood!
Mels son is an economist and has told his father:
Dad, youre not in a niche market at all. There is
no way a niche is defned as 400 providers. A niche
wants to be somewhere between 5 and a dozen pro-
viders.
Bristol says there are only 3 or 4 organic daylily
producers he is aware of -- one in Ohio, one on
Marthas Vineyard, and one in Vermont. He feels it
is hard to tell whether being organic helps him with
sales or not.
Mel grows every daylily for a minimum of 24
months before it is sold. He has divided his 1 acre
daylily feld into quarters and thus has a crop in one
section for this year, one in another for next year,
and one in a third area for 2009. He has buckwheat
where he will put the 2010 crop. To keep all the va-
rieties straight he settled on to a unique 4 letter code
for each variety many years ago. He labels the rows
with them, and picks by those labels.
The whole daylily feld is surrounded by plastic deer
fence. Bristol has had outdoor dogs for many years,
but has had to keep them confned so they wouldnt
wander at night. Once one forced an 18-wheeler to
come to a complete stop by standing in the highway
photo by Jack Kittredge
A happy man, Mel stands among his daylilies!
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Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 36
and not moving. In lieu of dogs, he says the fence
works fairly well. There are daylilies outside the
fence, but they have no fowers because deer have
eaten them.
Unless he is hybridizing, Mel doesnt grow daylilies
out from seed. He cuts larger plants apart and plants
the sections.
He says it makes the most sense to sell them from
24 to 30 months old: The standard is to send out a
plant with three fans. We can divide them into three
parts and plant them as one fan plants, but they take
longer to fower. Retail customers want their daylil-
ies to fower quickly. Unless you have a daylily
clump that has grown into its third summer, when
you cut it apart into three-fan sections youll fnd it
is diffcult to get ones that are aesthetically accept-
able to the customer. They look too small, like they
dont have enough roots. They are fne for propaga-
tion. The nurserymen will accept anything because
they know it will grow. But the retail customer has
a higher standard of what it should look like when
they open the box.
Bristol says they get orders for daylilies during
every month except December. But they dont ship
out orders until it is appropriate for the area they are
going to.
When we acknowledge an order, he says, we tell
you the day we are going to ship it. We never miss
that date, and people like that. If somebody orders
in February from Virginia, we tell them what day in
April we are going to send it. Its always a Monday.
However, a Minnesota order will be held until the
frst Monday in May.
Everything is dug to order. Nothing is sitting on a
shelf. The sole exception is the special offer during
the winter. That is a set of six popular but deeply
discounted plants. If Mel gets an order for these
during the winter from California, Texas or Florida,
hell ship it.
Unlike many perennials, he explains, you can
dig daylilies throughout the growing season be-
cause they are rugged, sturdy plants. We dont even
moisten the roots when we ship. We actually try to
dry them so they wont grow mold in the shipping
box. We add a little dry peat moss to the roots to
ship them.
When we go through the orders planning to pick,
says Diana, we take a tag off the wall with the
correct variety initials on it for each daylily to be
picked, and write the order number on it. Then we
sort the tags by variety, dig exactly enough of each
variety to match the tags, and assemble the orders.
Its very organized.
She also keeps records of each order on a Quick-
Books database. She uses that for farm sales taxes.
Bloomingfelds Farm is open for visitors on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday from Memorial Day until
Labor Day. But they only take orders from visitors.
They dont fll orders on the spot. An incentive pro-
gram, however, encourages on-the-spot orders by
offering prompt free shipping.
Mels transition from a nursery doing local land-
scaping business to an internet-based mail-order
company has been gradual. Although he offered
mail order daylilies as early as 1975 via his catalog,
he says a big boost in business came when they de-
cided to accept credit cards.
When we made the decision to go to Mastercard
and Visa, he recalls, that was important. In our
context, it showed up immediately in sales. People
were making bigger orders. We went to that back in
the mail-order days, long before online marketing
required it.
Bloomingfelds Farm still does not have a shopping
cart system with instant electronic card processing
on their site. People send their order and credit card
number over a secure system, but it operates much
like an Email. When the farm gets the information,
Diana enters the credit card numbers and sends them
to the bank. That way the only processing fee they
pay is the one the bank charges roughly two and a
half percent and there is no credit card service act-
ing as an intermediary.
Mel does not print a catalog or purchase print adver-
tising anymore.
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Mel and Diana in front of their house made of recycled barn lumber
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Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 37
We do fully 95% of our sales from the website, he
says. Most of our walk-in traffc now comes from
the internet. Were selling less and less locally, be-
cause of the deer around here.
When the farm frst went onto the internet Mels son
designed the website. But Bristol has always had an
interest in language and believes that people who
are interested in language can work well with build-
ing a website.
I caught the ball and ran with it, he says, and my
sons design is now unrecognizable. It turned out I
enjoyed designing the site. I dont use Front Page or
one of those programs -- this is hand crafted. I use
HTML as the design language. Ive never looked at
some of the newer languages, but what Im doing
works for us. We come up quickly when you search
on Google for daylilies.
The site has hundreds of colorful pictures and offers
gift certifcates and special offers which are heavily
discounted and displayed prominently on the web-
site. There are over 4000 internal links for ease of
navigation.
The website changes every day, literally, Mel
says. I was working on improving some pages on
my ground cover plants this morning, and I hope
to fnish them tonight. Speaking of updating, you
wouldnt believe how terrible it was when we were
a catalog nursery. We could be as long as 15 months
behind in what we said on paper. Now, when some-
one comes in from the feld and tells me Dark Star is
sold out, I can update our site at lunch when Im eat-
ing a sandwich. No printing bills, no mailing bills.
It is a true revolution. And because of the fact that I
have taken to the manipulations necessary to run the
site, it is fairly enjoyable -- whereas the catalog was
always a terrible yoke around my neck.
Bristol makes the website all new during Thanks-
giving every year. So the 2008 website will be up in
late November.
Mel has designed a couple of websites for others,
and charges $32 an hour for his work. He fgures he
could easily be charging $40 and estimates that he
spends an hour a day average, over the year, on the
Bloomingfelds Farm site. So if he had to pay for
someone at his level to develop and maintain the
site, it would cost him $12,000 to $15,000 a year.
Bristol still has his microscopes from his academic
days, and does a little dissecting and occasionally
learns interesting things about daylilies. But that is
not his primary interest.
If we had a more signifcant income from this, he
muses, or if I could fgure out how to delegate bet-
ter, I might spend more time doing that. But I never
wanted to do anything else, really, than grow them.
I havent pursued that route. It didnt answer who I
really was.
He has, however, hybridized some new daylilies.
To establish a new variety you breed it, describe it,
name it, and pay $15 to the American Hemerocal-
lis Society. This is common among specialists who
want to create new and more attractive varieties.
Many buyers are affuent collectors who want to get
new varieties and are willing to pay well for them.
The cheapest daylily out there is probably $3.50,
Mel says, but there are varieties out there one hun-
dred times as expensive. They are expensive only
the frst year, of course. Once it is introduced and
more are bred, the price comes down. We have a lot
of the older varieties here at Bloomingfelds Farm.
To get the new ones is costly. We like to buy at the
$20 range, rather than the $350 range!
Cross pollinating is very easy, he continues. If I
want to cross this fower to this one, I simply pick
the one fower I will use as the male and brush the
anther of its stamen against the stigma of the pistil
of the other fower. That places grains of pollen at
the tip of the stigma, which will cause these pol-
len grains to grow down the style and fertilize the
ovules at the bottom of the fower. I need to do it
before 10:00 oclock in the morning because the
distance that little pollen tube has to grow is 5 or 6
inches. If it starts after 10:00 the tube wont make it
and the fower will fall off before it gets fertilized.
Hybridizers breed for various traits, but common
ones are spectacular beauty and a longer blooming
season. The way that you have a longer blooming
season is either to breed for a large number of buds,
or work with the occasional daylily which is inde-
terminant, meaning new buds will form on existing
fower stalks. Those are called bud builders.
Bristol has been particularly interested in breeding
varieties which can be used for creative landscaping.
Im interested in the possibilities for quite low day-
lilies for use as ground covers, he says. Here are
some of my hybrids. All the rest of the plants here
are clones, but these are grown from seed. I know
what their parents are, and it is my job during the
next year to determine which of these I should al-
low to survive and propagate and get a name. I have
some exciting ones coming along but they wont be
blooming for another year.
Asked if he would like to expand the business if he
could, Mel hesitates.
I dont know if we would expand if we had more
business, he fnally says. I shouldnt expand, but
horticulture has a way of begging to. It is easy to
have new ideas and give yourself too much to do.
But Im 70 years old now, so maybe thats up to my
5 children. Were exploring that situation now, and
were fnding basically that the children dont want
to take over the daylily business. They worked here
a little growing up, some more than others. One is a
doctor, one a lawyer. Two are working in informa-
tion systems and one is an industrial designer. So I
dont know exactly what is going to happen.
There will be a conservation easement on the
whole property so it cant be developed, he contin-
ues. In an ideal world you would have a couple of
kids who would like to continue what you are doing.
But our kids dont see it that way. Ive had a won-
derful life for myself and continue to. Its my dream
to have one of the kids want to continue. But thats
not how it is. I have three grandkids. The older two
I cant see being interested. The third is six months
old so maybe there is hope there!
Neptunes_18H 11/13/07 9:07 AM Page 1
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Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 38
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Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 39
by Brian Luton
Stones Throw Farm is a Northeast Organic
Farming Association Farmers Pledge producer
that grows specialty vegetables, small fruits, herbs,
fowers, log grown mushrooms and pastured
livestock and fowl in Zone 5b just south of
Syracuse, New York in South Onondaga.
The use of pasture, cover crops, compost, mineral
amendments and soil conservation tillage practices
is a key component in our long-term soil health
program and vegetable rotation. Our produce is
marketed at the Central New York Regional Market
and through our Growers Season CSA Program.
In 2006 we were awarded a Northeast SARE
Farmer / Grower Grant titled Evaluated Farm
Feasible Microbiological Applications and Soil
Health Response. Through this project we
explored the effcacy of various management
practices and soil applications on Soil Health
Assessment scores as determined by the
comprehensive sampling methodology developed
by the Cornell Soil Health Program Work Team.
The soil applications were applied to a uniform
feld with 16 replicated plots that included Control,
Manure Compost, High-Carbon Compost, and
Compost Tea treatments. The treatments utilized
locally available resources and infrastructure,
capitalized on widely available agricultural and
forest waste products, and are based upon
application of farm scale technologies and farm
fnancial feasibility. The sampling was performed
by the Cornell Soil Health Program Work Team and
included baseline and annual sampling.
A major premise of these applications is the
recognition that soil microorganisms are very
important in agricultural soils and various types of
composts and compost tea applications contribute
positively to soil microbiological functions.
Microbiological function is incredibly important
as almost every chemical transformation taking
place in soil involves active contributions from
soil microorganisms. In particular, they play a key
role in soil fertility as a result of their involvement
with the nutrient cycling of carbon and nitrogen.
Soil microorganisms are responsible for the
decomposition of organic matter entering the soil
and therefore in the recycling of nutrients in soil.
Soil microorganisms are also involved in the diverse
processes that dictate aggregate stability, water
infltration and holding capacity, and generally Soil
Health.
It was our intention to use the sampling as a means
to quantify and determine which applications had
the most profound affects on soil health. From
this we intended to evaluate the costs and benefts
of each particular application. In the end, the Soil
Health reports alluded to various infuences on soil
health based upon the types of applications, but we
dont feel that we gained statistically signifcant
data. It was our impression that two years of
applications and sampling would be able to yield
this information. However we learned that the truly
complex environment affecting soil health creates
diffculties in evaluating soil management practices
in isolation. This realization quickly lead us to
step back and truly evaluate the diversity of farm
practices and management decisions that ultimately
affect soil health. The importance of developing a
full farm management plan that addresses soil health
proved to be most important fnding associated with
this project. This fnding has and will continue to
infuence our farm and farming practices.
We feel fortunate to have worked with the Cornell
Soil Health Program Work Team on this project.
The Soil Health Assessment sampling and analysis
procedures that they have developed provide
farmers with an incredible tool.
Study Shows Soil Health a
Complex Matter
One of many Cornell Soil Health Test Reports received and analyzed for this project and
included as an example of the report format. At the top of each report youll fnd logistical
information that identifes the farm, feld, history, soil type, date sampled, etc. The report
is then broken down into a number of different components. In the vertical feld on the
far left youll notice Physical, Biological, or Chemical headings. These headings refect the
three fundamental spheres of infuence on soil function. In the frst column from the left
youll fnd the primary Indicators. These Indicators are grouped based upon the sphere of
infuence that they pertain to. Each Indicator is related to an individual analysis performed
by the CSHPWT and together these analyses constitute a suite of tests that examine a soils
health and function. Brief descriptions of these analyses are included at the bottom of
the report. The Value column represents the actual score based upon the analysis. The
Rating column is an algorithmic interpretation of the Value score and examines your soil
in comparison to a database of soils sampled across NYS and the Northeast Region. Each
soil sampled becomes a part of this database. The Rating was developed to allow easy
interpretation of results and is color, and number coded (3 High / 0 Low). A higher rating
represents a better indicator of soil function while a lower rating is indicative of a possible
Constraint. The Constraint column refects this and further assists the farmer / grower
in assessing areas of soil health and function that may need to be addressed. The Relative
Rating column diagrammatically displays your soils percentile score in the context of all
other soils in the database. At the bottom of the report your soil receives an Overall Quality
Score and rating based upon an interpretation of all factors. It is important to note that the
scoring system was developed not to rate one soil as better or worse than another but to
enable growers to holistically evaluate their soils health. Using available knowledge of soil
health and soil building practices the rating system enables growers to easily identify areas
of constraint and develop a plan to address them. The comprehensive nature of the reports
allows growers to evaluate the multitude of infuences that affect soil health and ultimately
crop growth. A complete description of the CSHPWT reports can be found on their website
at http://www.hort.cornell.edu/soilhealth/
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 40
The following is a description of the Soil Health
Analysis portion of our project and is intended to
provide a glimpse of how our farm utilized the Soil
Health Assessments and leads to a discussion of
how we intend to adopt and adapt farming practices
that are functional and sustainable.
Soil Health Analysis:
The Soil Health Analysis as completed by
the Cornell Soil Health Program Work Team
(CSHPWT) is a truly comprehensive and
functional tool by which farmers can evaluate the
implications of management practices on a diverse
and interconnected array of soil health parameters.
These soil health parameters are broken into the
three primary groups associated with soil health:
Physical, Chemical, and Biological.
The CSHPWT has developed a sampling protocol
that explores the soils relative health and condition
based on a number of indicators. Each indicator is
assigned a value, rating, constraint, and a percentile
score that takes into account assessments of similar
agricultural soils across the state and/or region.
Samples include an overall rating and percentile
score.
This sampling methodology is far more
comprehensive, useful and functional than the
standard soil chemical analysis that our farm has
submitted in the past.
The ratings category of the sampling report forms is
color coded in red, yellow, and green. This traffc
light pattern color coding roughly indicates areas of
constraint or suffciency in terms of soil function.
We learned a number of things based upon the
results from this sampling approach.
First and foremost we were able to easily identify
areas of concern with respect to soil function.
The ability to identify relative constraints on soil
function is crucial to developing a comprehensive
management plan that will address those areas.
For instance, on our farm we have come to
recognize that subsurface hardness that is likely the
result of years of moldboard plowing and disking is
a primary constraint that has not been ameliorated
by our recent management practices. This came
as a surprise because we are on fairly well drained
ground and have always anecdotally considered
good drainage to be an indicator of good subsurface
conditions. Although there were changes to other
indicator areas associated with the sampling,
there was no signifcant change to subsurface
compaction levels based upon the applications
and cover cropping involved in this project. This
would suggest that our management practices must
look towards additional changes to address this
fundamental constraint on soil function.
Per our curiosity, we sampled an adjacent feld with
identical soil type that had been under vegetable
cultivation during previous years. Although we
didnt have a defnitive baseline sample, it could be
assumed that the felds were originally very similar
in character. We learned through this sampling that
our management practices which included some
form and/or variations upon the applications in this
project appeared to be signifcantly improving soil
health ratings with time. These suggested changes
support the short term (two year) changes that were
suggested by the sampling that took place in the
replicated trial area.
We were very interested to discover that we were
still most restricted by subsurface compaction.
This truly indicated to us a signifcant management
gap and subsequently a signifcant opportunity
to improve our soil function by adopting further
practices that would address this.
The feld in question had not been mold-board
plowed in at least four years, and we had adopted
the use of the chisel plow. This appeared to
be making some progress as the subsurface
compaction rating was slightly lower than the
newly incorporated trial area. However, we still
have signifcant subsoil compaction and we hope
to address this by utilizing a deep till this spring or
when feld moisture conditions allow. We will also
look to further reduce the usage of a rototiller and
disc as a bed preparation tool. We will also attempt
to design a rotation that incorporates deep rooted
cover crops such as red clover on a semi-annual
basis.
The mechanical fracturing of this subsurface layer
that we hope to accomplish by utilizing a deep
till must be also met by these other changes. We
recognize that achieving true soil health will
mean implementing an array of complimentary
management decisions and cannot likely be
achieved by any one practice in isolation. To
this end, the CSHPWT sampling suite is a very
functional tool for allowing farmers to assess needs
and opportunities in soil health management.
Adoption:
Based upon the fndings of this project we will
continue to incorporate amendments such as
compost, high carbon compost and compost tea
into our vegetable and cover crop rotation. We
will do so with the knowledge that soil health
improvements and maintenance is dependent upon a
diversity of inputs and cultural practices.
Utilizing the CSHPWT Soil Health Assessment
has enabled us to recognize soil assets and soil
limitations. This knowledge can help to create a
better more functional farm plan that accounts for
the many factors infuencing soil health.
We will utilize the direct experiences and
observations gained from this project to make
applications of soil amendments a functional
sustainable part of our farming. This is a result of
closely monitoring the impacts on time, resources,
and the soil of various application procedures and
amendment types.
The following general practices are what we have
determined to be the most important considerations
for utilization of soil amendments. By describing
these in general terms it is believed the practices
will be easily incorporated by farms with varied
situations and resources.
Apply Organic Matter and Microbial Stimulants
as a matter of course.
View Organic Matter and Microbial Stimulants
not as short term fertility tools but long term soil
building tools.
Consider the economics and logistics of
applying materials on a case-by-case basis.
Explore farm and regional assets, such as
Compost / Potential Compost Sources, wood
chip sources.
Consider the impact of applications on
feld traffc, adjust application procedures,
equipment, and/or feld layout to reduce feld
traffc associated with applications.
Identify short term farm assets such as existing
equipment and utilize this equipment when and
where appropriate.
Consider applications and tillage practices as a
part of your rotation and identify windows of
opportunity.
Sod and/or cover cropped felds are best able
to weather the impact of feld traffc. Consider
applying materials to cover cropped felds in
the season before cash cropping. Applying
materials in advance of cash cropping may
prove to be more economical; it would be
feasible to utilize courser and less fully fnished
compost(s) and/or utilize larger and more
economical equipment.
Consider the limitations of amendments on
overall soil health and make cultural changes
tillage, harvest traffc, etc. that compliment your
amendment practices.
Spend time on your hands and knees looking at
the soil.
Familiarize yourself with the Cornell Soil
Health Program Work Team Soil Health
Assessments.
Consider annual sampling to identify key areas
of limitation and adopt appropriate practices.
Further information:
A complete report for this project can be viewed at:
www.stonesthrowfarm.biz
Information pertaining to the Cornell Soil Health
Program Work Team can be found at: http://www.
hort.cornell.edu/soilhealth/
** It should be noted that the CSHPWT is
embarking on a project with the NY Farm Viability
Institute in 2008 that will partially subsidize the cost
of sampling for participating farmers.
Information on the Northeast SARE Program can be
found at: http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/
by Lori Schreier and James Warren
Fertile Fields Farm
After successfully growing a small crop of sweet
potatoes in our sandy loam in south western NH, we
began to plan a larger crop for our CSA and farmers
market. While it is possible to grow sweet potatoes
in many areas in New England, being quite near the
Connecticut River gave us some extra assurance of
a longer frost-free season in the fall.
When reviewing the literature on sweet potatoes
and nitrogen fertilizer application, we discovered a
large variation in the recommendations. As organic
growers we were seeking healthy sustainable
practices so we developed a research project to
examine different nitrogen application levels. With
the help of Carl Majewski, ((UNH Cooperative
Extension Cheshire County), we wrote a SARE
(Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education)
grant proposal that turned our 2007 growing season
into a meticulous research project. After consulting
with Becky Grube (UNH Cooperative Extension
Durham) about her variety and taste trials, we
chose the short season variety, Beauregard for
our experiment, which requires a length of time
similar to winter squash, (90-100 days), has a good
marketable yield, and good favor.
Although we have the advantage of a frost
protective micro-climate in fall, we also seem to
have less rain than the surrounding area, and in
the summer of 2007 we had a severe drought that
showed its impact on our un-irrigated project.
However, a few things still became clear. Even
though we could not see the full effects of the
fertilizer releases, it was obvious that even the
test beds without any added soybean meal (our
fertilizer of choice for high amounts of slow release
organic N and no added phosphorous) grew fne
crops of sweet potatoes. There was no statistically
signifcant difference in yield on the beds with
different levels of fertilizer (either minimal compost
only or compost with 60 lbs. N/acre or 120 lbs. N/
acre). Another fnding was that the sweet potatoes
grown on the driest, sandiest soil, while having the
lower yields, gave the highest brix reading (test for
sweetness) both before and after the curing process.
Not everyone has the room for these massive
sprawling vines or the sandy loam that they prefer,
but it became clear to us that sweet potatoes can be
grown successfully in New England. With proper
curing and storage conditions these hearty nutritious
roots can make a valuable addition to your own and
your customers tables.
Sweet Potatoes &
Nitrogen Needs
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 41
We are making some wonderful new connections at
UMass which are sure to yield positive relationships
in the future. The School of Natural Resources will be
heavily involved in Saturdays Grazing School.
We are also very excited to be working with Ken
Toong, the executive director of UMass Dining. Ken
is passionate about local, organic food and he and his
staff have recently been awarded the Ivy Award,
which recognizes outstanding achievement and a
commitment to excellence by foodservice operations.
The award was given to Ken and his staff because of
their dedication to purchasing fresh, local foods, inte-
gration of world cuisine into the menu, and using in-
novative approaches while serving fve million meals
each year. Ken does his best to purchase produce
from farms within a 50-mile radius, and he seems to
be right in line with NOFAs mission and beliefs. We
are excited about working with him to create an out-
standing and organic food experience for attendees all
weekend.
On the other hand, it has taken some time (and lots
of meetings) to express how we work as an organiza-
tion, and what is most important to us as we deliver
the summer conference to our attendees. Working
within the regulations of the UMass catering depart-
ment, while staying true to our focus on local, organic
food has proven to be diffcult.
Another major issue has been our fundraising abil-
ity. It is not possible to hold our auction this year due
to UMass regulations. This has been a great way to
raise funds for the Farming Education Fund, and we
will miss this opportunity. Food donations have also
been a challenge, as we work within UMass rules and
policies to ensure that we are able to accept the gen-
erous donations of our vendors, many of whom we
have worked with for years and have become a staple
of the conference experience.
We always strive to keep the conference as inexpen-
sive as possible for people who would like to attend,
so any loss in revenue is a diffcult obstacle, but one
that we are working to overcome.
UMass is also dealing with issues that they have not
before - such as allowing live animals and campers
at the conference. They have been willing to accom-
modate us in ways that are new to them, so we have
found that we are learning from each other as we plan
logistics and events for this year. As we plan, we are
making certain that it will be easy for attendees to
navigate around campus, with signage, maps and help
from Work Exchange and Helping Hands volunteers.
We are forging ahead and staying focused on main-
taining the positive spirit of this special weekend!
Grazing School Workshops
The Grazing School will be held as part of the sum-
mer conference on Saturday, August 9
th
. All regis-
tered conference attendees are welcome to participate
in these workshops! Also included is a pasture walk
at the UMass South Deerfeld Farm and Pasture Re-
search Center. We invite you to take a closer look at
the presenters and topics, so that you can plan your
NOFA weekend
Pasture species and mixture evaluations at UMass
Friday, August 8: 1:30-3:00 PM
Stephen J. Herbert, UMass Extension Agronomist,
(continued from page 1) Crops, Dairy, Livestock, Equine Program Coordi-
nator
Field tour of test plots (28 mixtures), species iden-
tifcation, grazing management, fencing.
Grazing 101
Saturday, August 9: 8:00-9:30 am
Darrell L. Emmick, State Grazing Land Manage-
ment Specialist, USDA NRCS, NY
Robert DeClue, NYSGLCI Area Grazing Lands
Management Specialist
Grazing is an art based on science. In this presen-
tation you will learn the core principles of forage
growth patterns, plant-animal interaction, essential
infrastruction consideration, and appropriate appli-
cation of prescribed grazing in line with enterprise
objectives, livestock behavior, dietary require-
ments, and natural resource potential & limitations.
Advanced Pastured Poultry Feeds and Feeding
Saturday, August 9: 10:00-11:30 am
James Hayes, Co-owner of Sap Bush Hollow Farm
James will discuss basic nutrient requirements and
both laying and broiler chickens. Procurement of
feed stuffs will also be covered.
Finishing Meat Animals on Pasture
Saturday, August 9: 8:00-9:30 am
Sam Comstock, UVM Extension Livestock Spe-
cialist
Learn how animals requirements for nutrients
change as they grow and approach fnishing, and
how these requirements relate to forage quality and
quantity. This will help you match the type of ani-
mals you raise to your forage and to your markets.
Principles of Dairy Nutrition on Pasture
Saturday, August 9: 8:00-9:30 am
Kathy Soder, Animal Scientist, USDA-ARS Pas-
ture Systems & Watershed Management Research
Unit
Learn how to improve nutrition of your dairy herd
through pasture and herd management, and strate-
gic supplementation. Topics to be included: supple-
menting cows to complement pasture quality and
quantity, improved pasture management strategies,
and research results on grazing behavior, supple-
mentation, and pasture forage mixtures.
Behavior Based Animal Management
Saturday, August 9: 10:00-11:30 am
Darrell L. Emmick, State Grazing Land Manage-
ment Specialist with USDA - NRCS in NY.
Darrell will discuss the principles of foraging be-
havior and diet selection and share some behavior-
based management strategies.
Multi-species Grazing
Saturday, August 9: 1:00-2:30 pm
Sarah Flack, Grazing & organic consultant. Farm-
er & author of Organic Dairy Production.
Topics will include: fencing & water for cows,
goats, sheep, pigs & poultry; designs of chicken
tractors, egg-mobiles & pig-erators; mixed group
& leader follower graing; how each type of ani-
mal grazes; parasite management & the best ways
to manage pastures to keep livestock & pastures
healthy & productive.
The Economic Benefts of Intensive Grazing
Saturday, August 9: 1:00-2:30 pm
Edward Maltby, Executive Director of the North-
east Organic Dairy Farmers Alliance
Faye Benson, Cornell Cooperative Extension of
Cortland County
This workshop will show the economic benefts for
livetstock farmers of growing productive pasture
and intensively grazing it.
The Grazing School was organized by Mass Grass,
a state-wide grazing group of Massachusetts live-
stock farmers, leaders and educators from agricul-
tural organizations, including UMass Extension and
the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
For more information about Mass Grass or the
Grazing School workshops, visit www.massgrass.
org, or contact Kate Rossiter, NOFA/Mass Organic
Dairy Coordinator, (413) 498-2721, or krossiter@
nofamass.org.
Reminders:
Attention: Farmers and Crafters who would like to
sell at Saturdays Farmers Market. Sell your farm/
craft products at our market on Saturday, from 3-6
pm. Cost is $20.00/space if registered, otherwise
$40.00. Tables will be $15, or you can bring your
own. You may sell raw product without liability
insurance, but for processed goods, you must fle a
copy of your product liability insurance in advance.
Sorry, this is a UMass stipulation. For more infor-
mation, please contact Tricia Cooper at 617-558-
3322 or triciaannecooper@gmail.com.
Please help us spread the word about the Summer
Conference! Contact us at 978-355-2853 or nofa@
nofamass.org if you would like us to send you regis-
tration forms to share with your neighbors or posters
to hang in your community. Advertisers, exhibitors
and sponsors help pay for the conference, so leads
on that front are also welcome.
Apply for Farming Education Funds: NOFA offers
registration funding for adults and teens. Apply
early as funds are granted on a frst come frst served
basis. Contact Deb Pouech, 860-684-0551, nofasc@
herbsnhoney.com for more information about this
and other ways to save on registration.
See you soon!!!
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 42
by Rob Freeman
A problem that hand tool farmers have faced for
years is how to actually deal with Mother Earth,
since we have decided not to crush and beat and
chop and cut her into submission with roaring
machines such as rototillers, or worse ploughs,
disks and harrows attached to monstrous tractors. It
is an existential, philosophical crisis that one faces
when confronted with the brutal equation of Energy
Returned on Energy Invested(EROEI) and the
frightening fact that on average it takes 10 calories
of oil to make one calorie of food.
Stricken with the reality of ones existence
depending on oil wells, you fnd yourself looking
at stubborn clumps of grass clinging desperately to
soil for very life, for its own place in the sun. And
here you are, with a shovel and a wheelbarrow,
determined to separate the patches of grass and their
root-clumps from the life giving soil, so you can
colonize a piece of Gods Green Earth for the use of
Man.
It takes determination and patience and persistence
above all to be a principled hand tool farmer. The
one allowable exception to the hand tool rule is
that you can use a pickup truck to bring manure to
your farm. But no machines should ever tread on
your growing spaces, not even your feet if possible.
Why? The frst reason is that machines crush
the soil structure and destroy the microbial soil
web. Soils under mechanized cultivation become
homogenized, and seem to dry out quicker and
wear out more quickly, requiring more frequent
amendments. The second reason is that machines
require up-front investment and continuous fueling
and maintenance, driving overproduction and
biting off more than you can chew. Thus you
have to sell X amount of your harvest just to break
even, and the existence of the Industrial business
farmer depends on, of all things, the price of fuel!
The sorry history of business farming has millions
of sad tales of debt, ruin and even suicide of
mechanized business farmers who couldnt pay their
banker.
The ethic of hand tool farming is to reverse these
economics to minimize expense, to completely
self capitalize, to tap into the waste stream for soil
and fertilizer (e.g. horse manure and spoiled hay of
local horse farms), to feed oneself and ones family
before thinking of selling any of the harvest, and
to enjoy what you are doing without the pressure
of having to sell X amount of the harvest just
to break even. Ultimately the goal of the hand
tool farming movement is to set the example and
popularize our model of food production creating
a social and political movement based on family-
scale backyard agriculture, and to exert infuence
over national agricultural policy to favor family
farms practicing biological farming over corporate
farms using Industrial and Petrochemical and GMO.
The motto of the hand tool farming movement is
Save yourself; then save others. We Americans
are passively responsible for a lot of the problems
in the world; hand tool farming is a necessary frst
step towards taking responsibility and control of
ourselves, so we can eventually take responsibility
for whats being done in our names.
But frst we must conquer our own fear of that
hard, stubborn sod. How do we, fabby modern
people, colonize a piece of Gods Green Earth for
our use? There are two basic problems in turning
lawns or meadow into garden: First is distinguishing
the growing space from the walking space; second
is taking the growing space from Nature for use
by Man by removing grass, weeds, and clumps of
roots and making nice fuffy soil for planting and
cultivating. I have tried many ways; but only last
weekend I found the best way.
Equipment needed: A pointed shovel, a
wheelbarrow, and a dryer drum or other metal
cylinder of similar size. A dryer drum should be
A Method for Making Sharp, Distinct Mounded
Raised Beds with Hand Tools Only
easy enough to acquire; call local appliance stores
and offer them 10 dollars if they can pull one out of
a dead dryer for you, or go to the dump or look
out back of appliance stores and get one yourself.
Youll need a screwdriver and maybe a 5/16 nut
driver, and a knife to cut the belt that is around the
dryer drum. A garbage can with the bottom cut out
will work too.
Sifting the clumps of sod to separate weeds and
rootballs from good dirt is the main activity. You
shovel up a piece of sod where you are going to
clear land, hold the blade of the shovel full of sod
over the wheelbarrow and shake it up and down.
Another thing you can do is put the clump of sod in
the wheel barrow and gently shake it to shake out
the soil so you are left with the root ball and grass
clump, which you can throw away.
Clear the land big enough for the dryer drum or
other bottomless barrel, and put the drum on the
cleared land, and dump the dirt in your wheelbarrow
into the dryer drum.
Then clear land and sift more soil in the area around
the dryer drum to give it some space on both sides,
and to start advancing clearing land down the row.
In my case I have multiple dryer drums so I flled a
second one with sifted soil next to the frst one.
Then you take the dryer drum and pull it off, leaving
a mound of dirt. Do this repeatedly down a row,
so you have a straight line of mounds of sifted dirt
with cleared land around it, so you have a rectangle
about 2.5 feet wide and as long as you please. Then
take a rake and rake the mounds together, and fatten
the whole thing out just a little bit. Now you have a
beautiful mounded raised bed!
Put down grass clippings or hay and wooden boards
or fat stones on the borders around the raised bed so
have your distinct walking path and distinct borders.
DO NOT WALK ON YOUR RAISED BED EVER.
It will be slightly elevated, and it will have a sharp,
professional look, as though a rototiller machine
did it. If it ever needs to be freshened up or
you want to add amendments like manure or grass
clippings, you can either throw them right on, or dig
out a space the size of the dryer drum, put the dryer
drum back on, and fll the dryer drum back up with
whatever soil mix you want to use. It will be much
quicker than the frst time because you wont be
sifting out vegetation and root clumps.
The trick is, of course, the dryer drum. The dryer
drum acts as a mold. Soil is interesting stuff; its
certainly a solid, but in some ways it can act like
a liquid or at least a gel. If you just try to mound
it with a shovel, it wont pile up very high, or very
neatly. But if you pile it up inside a dryer drum,
when you pull the drum off it does keep a lot of
its height and a lot of its shape a lot more than
without using a mold.
The dryer drum molded raised bed will be easy to
work with. Its borders will be clear, and you will
be able to reach into it without having to step on
the growing space. The soil will be loose so weeds
will pull out easy, and root crops will be able to sink
down. The only disadvantage to this design is that
it is time consuming and requires persistence. But
the bulk of the work is the frst time in building it,
and youll have years of great yields with minimal
maintenance and minimal expense. If anyone
reading this feels discouraged at the thought of
colonizing a piece of Gods Green earth with mere
hand tools, or if you need a dryer drum, drop me a
line at rfreez14@netzero.net.
This is the fnished product -- two rows, one
planted with onions and mulched with hay.
Potting Soil
Growing Mix
Delivery Available
603.924.5050
Since 1988
Peterborough, NH
www.idealcompost.com
info@idealcompost.com
Wisdomof theHerbsSchool
Commune with Nature Beings ~ Harvest
Wild Edibles ~ Gain Plant ID Skills ~
Make Home Remedies
Apply now for our Eight Month Program.
Check out our Workshops and Herb Walks.
Annie McCleary, Director ~ George Lisi, Naturalist
802-456-8122 ~ South Woodbury, VT
www.WisdomOfTheHerbsSchool.com
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 43
Inside Organics
IFOAMs Drive to Ditch Its Basic Standards
Stirs Up A Global Fight Over Organic Values
by Roger Blobaum
Originally printed in the April-May 2008 issue of
the Organic Broadcaster, published by the Midwest
Organic and Sustainable Education Service. www.
mosesorganic.org
The organic communitys market expansion vs. or-
ganic values debate has heated up worldwide over a
determined effort by the International Federation of
Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) to ditch
the basic standards developed over 30 years as the
gold standard for organic.
The proposal to replace the IFOAM basic standards
with a Benchmark for Standards was hit hard by
IFOAM members and organic stakeholder critics
from 32 countries in comments fled early last sum-
mer. Alarmed reviewers contended the proposed
benchmark blurs the difference between organic and
conventional, fails to meet consumer expectations,
and threatens to turn global standard setting into a
race to the bottom.
The response is reminiscent of the food of com-
ments in 1998 that forced the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to withdraw its proposed organic rule
and rewrite it. First round comments submitted to
IFOAM by 72 organizations and individuals cover
more than 170 pages and, with few exceptions,
strongly oppose the benchmark proposal. The op-
ponents include respected U.S. institutions, organi-
zations, and organic community leaders.
The push by trade expansion proponents inside
IFOAM to ditch the basic standards went largely
unnoticed here at frst. Lack of attention was due to
the high level of confdence built over many years
that IFOAM could always be counted on to defend
organic values and that it was a trusted caretaker
of the standards developed over many years by the
global organic community.
If this were less serious it probably would be written
off as more quirky IFOAM politics. But it threatens
to undermine the global organic sectors credibil-
ity in defning organic and to diminish the positive
impact the basic standards have on global standard
setting. Both the European Unions organic regula-
tions and the CODEX organic guidelines refect the
high bar provided by the basic standards. They are
valued by governments and the organic community
alike as a model for standards development in coun-
tries with emerging organic sectors.
What would it take to be certifed organic under
IFOAMs proposed Benchmark for Standards?
Apparently, not much. That is the view expressed
by many concerned IFOAM members and organic
stakeholders.
Strong U.S. Opposition

One of the U.S. heavyweights submitting comments
was the Washington State Department of Agriculture
(WSDA), which operates the largest USDA-accred-
ited state government certifcation program. WSDA
was most disappointed by the proposed benchmarks
failure to draw a clear line between organic and
conventional agriculture. Specifcally, it noted, the
proposal lacks a required conversion period, allows
synthetic fertilizers, fails to prohibit many toxic pes-
ticides, allows antibiotics in livestock production,
and lacks clear organic feed requirements.
A longer list of issues was submitted by Jim Riddle,
past chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
In addition to those raised by WSDA, Riddle stated
that the proposed benchmark would allow animals
to be converted to organic with no specifed require-
ments, allow animals to be rotated between organic
and conventional management with no restrictions,
allow the use of cloned animals or their progeny,
and eliminate recordkeeping requirements needed to
document compliance during conversion and split
production.
Annie Kirschenmann, former member of the
IFOAM world board, urged IFOAM to abandon its
benchmark campaign. She expressed appreciation
for IFOAMs efforts to create more market access
and to grow organic worldwide. However, to
approach accessibility through reducing standards
to the lowest common denominator is a weak,
unworkable approach, she stated. It does not
serve IFOAM or the organic world we envision.
With rampant organic fraud, global warming, deple-
tion of fossil fuels, and other pressing problems, she
noted, organic is in a critical period when strong
leadership from IFOAM is needed. Joining the
race to the organic standards bottom, she con-
tended, will not fulfll that need. . .
Brian Baker, organic materials expert and former
IFOAM standards committee member, contended
IFOAMs attempt to defne organic by referenc-
ing the principles of organic agriculture is fawed.
Baker, like many others, noted that the proposed
benchmark fails to clearly distinguish between
organic and non-organic systems. The benchmark
document presented, he added, makes it appear as
if there is very little difference between the two.
The IFOAM World Board contends the bench-
mark initiative implements a motion adopted by its
members in 2005 in Adelaide, Australia. However
several critics, including the Organic Materials
Review Institute (OMRI), contend the motion was
changed by board members after the Adelaide meet-
ing to make market access the dominant priority and
to downplay organic integrity and consumer expec-
tations.
OMRI protests the unconstitutional revision of the
motion . . .as amended by the motion of the Soil As-
sociation and the Organic Crop Improvement Asso-
ciation (OCIA), the IFOAM member stated. The
Standards Committee should prepare a draft that is
based on the motion that was actually approved . . .
Race to the Bottom Claim Denied
IFOAM is defensive about claims that the bench-
mark proposal would undermine organic integrity
and lead to a race to the bottom. The benchmark
approach, it asserted, would simultaneously facili-
tate trade, accommodate all serious organic certif-
cation bodies, and uphold the integrity of organic
agriculture.
Big losers if the proposed benchmark is adopted
will be the more than 40 certifers accredited by the
International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS)
to the IFOAM basic standards. These Accredited
Certifed Bodies (ACBs) operate in more than 75
countries, harmonize trade globally through a mul-
tilateral agreement (MLA), and certify much of the
organic food moving in world trade.
Biokontroll, a Hungarian ACB, complained that IF-
OAMs focus seems to be on fnding the minimum
common level of national regulations. We think
this approach is lacking the basic organic values and
considerations that are important for the consumer,
the Biocontroll comment stated. In this way we do
not see the relevance of accreditation and the MLA
signed by the ACBs that was based on the trust in
each others high-quality work.
The IOAS also urged IFOAM to abandon its bench-
mark proposal. It noted that the basic standards are
a reference point for standard setters throughout the
world, protect organic production from the infuence
of special interests, and help ensure that regulatory
standards remain true to the heart of the organic
movement. If approved, it noted in its comments,
most, if not all, government standards would be
higher than the IFOAM benchmarks.
Governments and others will be able to justify
practices that have never before been acceptable in
organic agriculture on the basis that they are per-
mitted by the IFOAM Benchmark for Standards,
the IOAS stated. Organic agriculture may well be
more widespread as a result, but will it be prin-
cipled?
NOC Calls Proposal Wrong-Headed
After IFOAM failed to accept most changes pro-
posed in the frst round, the National Organic
Coalition (NOC) weighed in with comments in
the second and fnal round. NOC contended the
benchmark will open the organic system to greater
inconsistencies of interpretation, lead to additional
reciprocity confusion, spark consumer backlash,
and slow growth of the organic market. While we
appreciate the intent of this revision process, NOC
noted, we believe this approach is wrong-headed
and will have extremely negative consequences for
organic integrity around the world.
Several infuential U.S. consumer organizations
signed off on the NOC comments. NOC members
signing off included the Center for Food Safety,
Beyond Pesticides, MOSES, Union of Concerned
Scientists, Food and Water Watch, and National
Cooperative Grocers Association.

The cutoff date for stakeholder participation in this
process has passed and further action is limited to
IFOAM members only. A fnal decision is expected
at the 2008 IFOAM General Assembly in June in
Modena, Italy.
Midwest organic farmers may be tempted to shrug
and say, Well, its fne some are concerned about
IFOAM and its global standards but that really
doesnt involve me because the NOP guarantees our
standards. Certifers active in the region, including
ICS and OCIA, would disagree because of concern
that ditching a recognized international gold stan-
dard will ease pressure on government standard
setters everywhere and lead to a race to the bottom.
Farmers producing organic soybeans and grains
would soon be up against even cheaper imports
produced in countries where government standards,
no longer under pressure from the private organic
sector to meet IFOAMs 30-year-old standards, are
lowered to gain export market access. And, fnally,
the consumers who support organic farmers and
high standards, what about them? As a defender of
consumer expectations like the Organic Consumers
Association has warned in its comments, When the
rapid entry of powerful corporate interests into the
organic market is forcing a race to the bottom, this
search by IFOAM for the lowest common denomi-
nator is irresponsible . . .
The only option left to non-IFOAM members op-
posing the proposed benchmark is to appeal directly
to OMRI, MOSA, OCIA, Equal Exchange, the
Organic Consumers Association, and other IFOAM
members eligible to vote on the proposal and on IF-
OAM world board candidates. The time has come
to ditch this proposal once and for all. And it also
might be a good time to think about ditching the IF-
OAM board as well. (For a list of IFOAM members,
go to http://www.ifoam.org/organic_world/direc-
tory/index.html)
Roger Blobaum is an agricultural consultant pro-
viding professional services to organic and sustain-
able agriculture organizations and institutions.
Comments on this analysis can be directed to Roger
Blobaum at rjblobaum@gmail.com
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 44
Sharing the Harvest: A Citizens Guide to
Community Supported Agriculture (revised
and expanded)
by Elizabeth Henderson with Robyn Van En
published by Chelsea Green Publishing Co.
303 pgs, large paperback
$35.00
review by Larry Siegel
From the Department of Full Disclosure: I go back
a ways with Elizabeth Henderson. It was some time
in the early 80s when I met Liz during a NOFA
feld day at her Unadilla Farm in Gill, Massachu-
setts. She had a couple of years of farming under
her belt; I was a wannabe in Royalston, three towns
to the east. Soon thereafter, I found myself buying
produce from her, in my position as purchaser for
the Common Ground, a worker-owned restaurant in
Brattleboro, Vermont. Since then, I have followed
her comings and goings in her roles as farmer, activ-
ist, spokesperson, and writer. I would no sooner pan
a book written by Liz than I would hang up my hoe
and purchase my grub from Whole Foods.
With almost three hundred pages of double-col-
umned print, Sharing the Harvest, is a meaty book,
a compendium really of all things CSA. Practical,
yes, but it is generously peppered with the histori-
cal, personal, and philosophical, each of which con-
tributes notable to those matters practical. It is not a
how-to book (there seemingly being as many ways
to conduct a CSA as there are CSAs) but a review of
different approaches. The book divides itself among
parts related to getting started, getting organized, the
food, and models of operation.
As useful as the book may be for current and future
farmers, it is even more so for current and potential
consumers. The CSA movement is and will be con-
sumer-driven and the book provides the information
to awaken them to the possibilities of farmer-con-
sumer cooperation and sharing.
The text is complemented throughout by photo-
graphs and sidebars (including thoughtful essays by
a host of people and earth-based poetry by Sherrie
Mickel) and ends with an extensive listing of CSA
resources, recommended additional reading, and a
well-put-together index.
A review in Booklist, the magazine of choice among
library book purchasers, recommends the book to
readers of Michael Pollans In Defense of Food. If
but a fraction of those readers fnd the way to Shar-
ing the Harvest, the CSA movement would improve
dramatically.
Gut and Psychology Syndrome
by Natasha Campbell-McBride MD,
MMedSci(neurology), MMedSci(nutrition).
Published by Medinform, United Kingdom.
266 pages, softcover, $29.95 , includes 40 pages of
food information/recipes.
More info at www.guthealth.info.
review by Beth Ingham
Once in awhile you come across a book that causes
you to stop and pay attention. Nourishing Tradi-
tions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig was just such a
book to me when I frst encountered it twelve years
ago, and I continue to hold it up as the gold standard
for how healthy people should be eating. It is with-
out a doubt the single most important book on diet
and nutrition available.
Unfortunately, we are not a healthy people. We
adults suffer numerous chronic maladies such as
arthritis, GERD, heart disease, fbromyalgia, MS,
hypothyroidism, cancer, diabetes and allergies in
addition to a host of psychological conditions and
our children are plagued with behavioral and learn-
ing disturbances such as ADD, ADHD, depression,
dyslexia and autistic spectrum disorder in addi-
tion to health problems like asthma, diabetes, bed
wetting, constipation, and odd eating habits that
are compromising the quality of their young lives.
Something is seriously wrong. Numerous therapies
and diets have arisen over the past decade or two to
address these issues but none seem to offer a cure
or an explanation as to why this is happening in
such epidemic proportions. Gut and Psychology
Syndrome offers both and, in my humble opinion,
is the gold standard guide for regaining health and
wellbeing for everyone who suffers from any chron-
ic condition -- no matter how it manifests.
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and her husband,
Peter, were told 13 or so years ago that their then
3 year old son ft into an autistic spectrum diagno-
sis. They became founding members of PEACH,
Parents for the Early Intervention of Autism in
Children and engaged in Intensive Behavioral Inter-
vention Program, ABA to help their son. Although
immensely helpful, Natasha realized that behavior
modifcation was not enough so she returned to
University pursuing a postgraduate degree in Hu-
man Nutrition. She studied and experimented with
various diets and supplements, fnally fnding the
ones that allowed her child to recover. He is now a
healthy teenager enjoying his life.
With the understanding that an autistic child needs
very special nutritional management, a major part of
it being reestablishment of the right gut fora, Na-
tasha began treating patients in her clinic -- initially
focusing on Autism. But soon it became clear to her
that children with ADD/ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia,
various behavioral and learning problems, allergies,
asthma, eczema all had conditions that overlapped.
No child would present with just one problem but
would have two or three or more of these issues.
She realized that the underlying problem that tied
all these children together is the state of their diges-
tive health. Evch child had an abnormal digestive
system. She proposed that this condition be called
Gut and Psychology Syndrome or GAP syndrome
as these children in truth never ft one diagnosis and
fall into the gap in our medical knowledge never
receiving proper treatment. The underlying disorder
of the disturbed gut manifests itself in the learning
and behavioral problems epidemic in our children
and adults. She includes the psychiatric conditions:
schizophrenia, depression, bipolar and obsessive-
compulsive disorders as well.
Gut and Psychology Syndrome does an amazing
job of describing how the gut (large and small intes-
tines) becomes disturbed. Ill briefy describe it to
heighten interest in her book. When a child is born,
their gut is sterile and the frst exposure to the mi-
cro fora that will establish in their gut comes from
the micro fora in the mothers vagina. The same
population of micro organisms inhabit all the areas
of the body, so if she has abnormal gut fora -- or in
some cases if the father has abnormal gut fora -- it
is passed on to the baby. Even nursing by a mother
with abnormal gut fora will not lead to the estab-
lishment of a balanced fora because of the toxins in
the breast milk. Formulas except those in Nourish-
ing Traditions are not advised at all as they never
establish a healthy gut.
The interior of the gut is the size of a tennis court
and is covered with about 4 and lbs of 500 species
of bacteria, viruses and fungi/yeasts. Wonderful
life-supporting probiotic strains of bacteria, ben-
efcial viruses and yeasts coexist with some of the
most virulent and pathogenic stains of each of these
types of organisms. As long as the benefcial types
are in abundance, the others do not cause harm.
Unfortunately, the benefcial strains are more sus-
ceptible to antibiotics, birth control pills, steroids,
pharmaceuticals in general, vaccinations, envi-
ronmental toxins, the Standard American Diet and
stress. When they die off, the virulent strains of
bacteria, viruses and yeasts take over -- causing the
demise of the enterocytes, the cells that line the gut
wall. This leads to leaky gut, the condition that al-
lows for
1) the development of food allergies as now partially
digested foods can enter the blood stream becom-
ing allergens, and
2) an inability to digest carbohydrates which then
become the food for the wrong microorganisms
which produce a host of toxins that enter the
body.
Natasha presents this information in a way that will
appeal to both lay folks and health care practitio-
ners. One of the reviews on the back states, The
book contains basic information for the beginner
as well as in-depth information for those at an ad-
vanced level. She has simple diagrams to illustrate
her discussion and thoughtfully divides the book
into manageable chapters to give the reader a chance
to digest a concept before introducing the next one.
Chapter 3 is titled, Immune System and discusses
the major role the gut plays in keeping a person
healthy and how GAP children and adults have a
compromised immune system. If a balanced gut
fora is not established in the frst 20 days of life, a
baby is left immune compromised. The health im-
plications of that reality are far reaching.
Chapter 4, What Can Damage Gut Flora? follows
with a detailed discussion of the various substances
that wipe out the benefcial fora. When we under-
stand how the drugs and foods that are presented
as a way of life in this culture destroy the micro
organisms within us that support our health and well
being, we can understand why we have an epidemic
of chronic diseases and behavioral problems. It is
not genetic in the sense that it is in our genes but
genetic in the sense that generations are pass-
ing on abnormal gut fora and habits of eating and
health care that are perpetuating and magnifying the
problem.
About a third of the way into the book, she introduc-
es the foods that a person with what you will now
call gut dysbiosis (abnormal gut fora), can eat. She
simply lists, Recommended Foods followed by a
list, Foods to Avoid and follows this with wonder-
ful recipes and meal suggestions. She completely
supports fnding farms that raise vegetables and
animals correctly and if possible buying your food
directly from them and in the case of meats, buy in
bulk and stocking your freezer.
The Appropriate Diet for GAP Syndrome de-
scribes how Natasha adapted the Specifc Carbohy-
drate Diet or SCD designed by Dr. Sidney Haas for
the treatment of digestive disorders. She gives the
historical background of the origins of this dietary
protocol. In 1951, Dr. Haas published a medical
textbook called, The Management of Celiac Dis-
ease which was accepted by the medical commu-
nity as a cure for celiac disease -- then defned as a
carbohydrate intolerance. Dr. Haas had recognized
that his patients could tolerate dietary proteins and
fats but complex carbohydrates from grains and
starches made their digestive problems worse. A
couple of years after his book, a paper was pub-
lished that changed the defnition of celiac disease
to the one accepted today, a gluten intolerance. Dr.
Haas work was almost forgotten until, in 1958,
Elaine Gottschall sought his help in treatment of
her young daughters severe ulcerative colitis. Fol-
lowing the SCD, her daughter was cured and Elaine
went on to write, Breaking the Vicious Cycle.
Natasha honors both of these pioneers in this work.
Her brilliance is in how she takes the SCD to a new
level by incorporating the use of probiotics. The
SCD eliminates the food that feed the abnormal gut
fora resulting in the toxins that harm the body. Tak-
ing what Natasha calls a therapeutic probiotic (she
and her husband created and market a product called
Bio-Kult) in increasing doses supports the reestab-
lishment of the healthy fora. Cod liver oil for vita-
min A and some other simple supplements can be
included. Eventually, the gut wall is healed because
the benefcial bacteria are now back in charge taking
good care of the enterocytes. The body is no longer
being flled up with toxins from the abnormal fora
and can begin to detoxify. Leaky gut stops and, with
it, food intolerances. Foods can once again be di-
gested properly, absorbed and assimilated to nourish
the body and mind. And the best chelator of heavy
metals such as lead and mercury are the benefcial
bacteria.
A recent article in the Boston Globe, Diary of a
Celiac, describe one womans diagnosis of Celiac
Disease as it is defned today (not Dr. Haas defni-
tion) and her struggle to fnd gluten free foods and
the diffculties she faces either eating out or going to
friends homes. It is believed that one in 133 people
have the gene and will develop the autoimmune
disorder. Food allergies/intolerances result be-
cause of the leaky gut caused by the toxins from the
abnormal gut fora. No one is genetically predeter-
mined to suffer them but we can and are being born
in increasing numbers with the abnormal fora.
Natasha offers a way back to health unlike the glu-
ten free/casein free diet promoted for celiac disease
and autistic spectrum disorder which is a life sen-
Book Reviews
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 45
tence of label reading and fear of relapse. And, I
might add, is a windfall for the food industry as they
now have a whole new line of gluten-free car-
bohydrate products to market. This is simple: one
needs a farm and/or a farmer, basic cooking skills
as everything needs to be prepared from scratch,
patience as it does take time to completely restore
intestinal health, and a therapeutic probiotic.
Reclaiming our food from the food industry is part
of the solution. The other part is relearning how the
gut works and how to welcome back the benefcial
bacteria, viruses and yeasts. With my soil, I have
experienced how the addition of compost year after
year reestablished the soil micro organisms. This
is the same thingthe right bacteria, viruses and
yeasts will keep in check the pathogenic strains.
Balance will follow -- balance of body and mind.
Michael Pollan writes in his book, In Defense of
Food, wherever in the world people gave up
their traditional way of eating and adopted the West-
ern Diet, there soon followed a predictable series of
Western diseases, including obesity, diabetes, car-
diovascular diseases, and cancer. They called these
the Western diseases and, though the precise causal
mechanisms were (and remain) uncertain, these ob-
servers had little doubt these chronic diseases shared
a common etiology: the Western diet. I would ex-
pand Pollans Western diet to the Western lifestyle
which includes the overuse and abuse of pharma-
ceuticals, toxins and stress, and add that we DO,
with the help of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride,
now understand how the diseases arise. As well as
understanding the way out of the vicious cycle.
Thank you Natasha!
Closing the Food Gap
Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty
by Mark Winne
published by Beacon Press
Copyright 2008
$23.95 hardcover, 199 pages
review by Julie Rawson
This book by Mark Winne, a person who has been
in the Sustainable Food Systems movement for 35
years, is well researched, well documented, and
thoughtfully crafted. Mark started his professional
career in Maine in a food coop, moved to the Natick
Community (now Organic) Farm in Natick, MA for
5 years in the late 70s/early 80s, and then moved
to Hartford, CT where he worked for the Hartford
Food Systems from 1983 through 2004. He is pres-
ently living in New Mexico.

Jack and I interviewed Mark in the mid 90s in Hart-
ford for the Natural Farmer and he came a few times
to present at the NOFA Summer Conference. His
interest and passion for getting good food to un-
derserved populations is slightly different from the
NOFA central focus of teaching organic farming and
serving organic farmers. He only mentions NOFA
peripherally once in his book.

He breaks the book into 3 parts. Part 1 is History,
with chapters on Suburbia, Environmentalism and
the Early Gurglings of the Food Movement and
Reagan, Hunger and the Rise of Food Banks. Part
2 is The Reactions, with chapters titled Farmers
Markets: Bringing the Food to the People, Commu-
nity Gardens, Growing Our Own, and Food Banks:
Waste Not, Want Not. Part 3 is The Current Land-
scape, with chapters on Re-storing Americas Food
Deserts, Growing Obese and Diabetic; Going Local
Organic, Community Supported Agriculture: Com-
munities Find the Way, Public Policy: Food for the
People, Income Disparities, Poverty and the Food
Gap, and fnally Resetting Americas Table.

This book brought up many things for me. As an ur-
ban community organizer (Chicago and Boston) for
10 years sandwiched between growing up in a small
town on a Midwestern farm and now living again on
a farm in a small Massachusetts community, I was
fooded with many memories as he graphically dis-
cussed life in Hartfords poorer neighborhoods. He
references his personal life and evolution as a food
activist, organizer, and community gardener enough
to spark interest in him as a person but not so much
that it overshadows his message. This evolution is
honestly detailed with all the successes and failures.
He was a pioneer in the Community Food Security
movement which is now quite popular and chic. I
felt the parallel to those of us who were involved in
the organic farming movement back when there was
very little information and certainly no public sup-
port.

I remember back in Dorchester that the issue of ac-
cessibility to fresh food became a real crisis as the
supermarkets arrived on the scene and the commu-
nity grocery chains consistently closed their doors in
the inner city, to be replaced by small neighborhood
convenience stores and later by fast food joints.
There was more than one failed attempt at a com-
munity supermarket in our nations inner cities. Ac-
cess to fresh, healthy produce has not been a reality
in most inner cities since the late 60s when they
were burning, and suburban fight moved from a
trickle to a deluge.

Mark covered food banks, their funky beginnings,
and their move from an emergency feeding alterna-
tive to becoming a way of life for many underserved
folks. His analysis of the growing gap between rich
and poor in this country and the shrinking of the
middle class includes a harsh look at our public
policy which has held a consistent disregard for the
issues of the poor.

The chapter on the alarming increase of obesity and
diabetes amongst the poor, juxtaposed against the
local organic movement which is embraced by well
off suburbanites, was disturbing for me. I questioned
whether I am doing enough for humanity when most
of my customers are folks who are well off and can
afford to pay the high prices that I fnd necessary
to charge to stay in business as a farmer. This issue
nags us in NOFA/Mass also as we investigate more
and better ways to stay clear with our mission of
educating about organic farming while doing better
outreach to poor and underserved populations.

There are some shining examples of programs that
Mark feels have worked - like the Farmers Market
Coupon Program, some community run or organized
super markets, outstanding community gardening
projects all over the country, Community Supported
Agriculture projects that serve affuent and poor
populations together, and positive governmental
initiatives.

Some of our NOFA chapters have taken on the
Community Food Security issue in various, and
often successful, ways. This book could serve as
a manual for all of us as we meet this challenge as
farming and food activists. I feel it is a must read
for all NOFA leadership. I applaud Mark Winne
for a well-researched, very human look at the food
system and how it has addressed the needs of the
poor for the past 40 years. For CT residents, there is
a tremendous amount of demographic information,
particularly in the city of Hartford.
Real Medicine Real Health
by Dr. Arden Andersen
published by Holographic Health Press, Waynes-
ville, NC 28786 www.holographichealth.com
copyright 2004, 2006
$24.95, 262 pages
review by Julie Rawson
I had heard of Arden Andersen for a few years, but
became quite knowledgeable about his work this
past winter. Son Dan had spent 3 days with him at
the 2007 Acres Conference, attending his Biological
Farming seminar. Dan brought me home 22 hours of
tapes from the talk and I was given a (positive) jolt
regarding my fertility practices on our farm.

Subsequently we decided to invite Dr. Andersen to
be our keynoter this summer at the NOFA Confer-
ence. Besides his work as an international biological
farming consultant, he is a medical doctor who has a
focus on environmental medicine and detoxifcation.

Real Medicine Real Health is not exactly what I ex-
pected. I assumed that he would talk about the role
of food, and nutrient dense food, which is his spe-
cialty. Instead he talked, when he got down to the
details of how to improve ones health, about appro-
priate nutrients, food sensitivity testing, chelation
techniques and personal detoxifcation strategies.

Arden Andersen has quite strong feelings about the
traditional medical establishment -- and the tradi-
tional agricultural establishment for that matter.
None of this is news to NOFA members, however.
It seems this book has been written more for folks
who are frst coming to alternative health care, farm-
ing and lifestyle. But it never hurts to be reminded
of these natural principles. I will abbreviate them
here.
Nutrition is the fuel that maintains, drives, detoxi-
fes.
Nutrition includes differentiating the source and
quality of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats and
their varying effects on different people.
Human disease, illness and performance are all
manifestations of nutritional imbalances/defcien-
cies/excesses.
Nutritional composition of food is directly cor-
related to nutritional integrity of the soil upon
which it was grown.
Every functional aspect of the human body is di-
rectly correlated to nutrition.
Drugs, chemo, poisons, radiation will never repair
organism damage or injury.
Nutrition has the capacity to detoxify, correct and
regenerate every environmental disaster that hu-
mankind has caused.
Patients have more options for their healthcare
than those of which they are typically made
aware.
Science is pliable, in fux, and evolves.
Arden has a rather refreshing approach, and one
that is quite hopeful, be it regarding stopping global
warming (high organic matter and plant canopy) or
detoxifcation of our selves and our planet. The frst
part of his book expands on the above principles.

The central part of his book discusses systems, ill-
nesses and treatment options. The following topics
area discussed: thyroid, sex hormones, post partum
depression, diabetes, auto-immune illnesses, gastro-
intestinal issues, childhood illnesses such as colic,
ear infections, asthma, bronchitis, tonsillitis, acne,
colds and immunizations. Also discussed are car-
diovascular issues, Alzheimers stroke, MS, ALS,
Parkinsons, dementia, neuromuscular issues, injury
medicine, chronic fatigue, fbromyalgia, cancer and
idiopathic illnesses.

Dr. Andersen feels that food sensitivities (often due
to leaky gut) are an important causal factor that
should be frst considered in most illnesses/diseases.
He also feels that the healing crisis is not an es-
sential part of therapy when IV vitamin and mineral
therapy is used in conjunction with chelation for
toxic substance removal.

As one who swears by detox baths, I was happy to
fnd this recipe included 1-2 cups apple cider vin-
egar, or 1-2 cups Epsom salts, or - 1 cup baking
soda, or - 1 cup of clay such as Redmond clay.
Bathe daily and alternate additives for 20-30 min-
utes in hot water.

According to a study done by the Ministry of Agri-
culture, Fisheries and Foods and the Royal Society
of Chemistry, UK comparing nutrient levels in foods
in 1940 and again in 1991, the following statistics
are true:
Vegetables lost: 76% copper content, 49% sodium,
46% calcium, 27% iron, 24% magnesium, 16%
potassium. Fruits lost: 19% copper content, 29%
sodium, 16% calcium, 24% iron, 15% magnesium,
22% potassium.

Andersen lays a lot of the poor health that we suffer
as a culture at this time on agricultural and industrial
poisons and heavy metals. Throughout the book he
delineates appropriate chelation protocol.

According to Andersen, there have been several
short term studies by independent researchers
(mostly outside of the US) and several covert stud-
ies by US university researchers which have found
in all cases that GMOs are harmful to our immune
systems and quite probably directly hazardous to
our health. He also spends a fair amount of space
discussing immunizations and autism.

As a person who grew up around lots of ag chemi-
cals in the 50s and 60s, I have suffered their ill
effects throughout my life with mild chemical
sensitivities, goiter and a host of manageable but
mildly debilitating symptoms. The hopefulness that
I gained from this book, specifcally with regards to
a safe chelation protocol and avoidance of trigger
foods was well worth the time I spent reading this
book. Additionally I fnd it to be a valuable refer-
ence book.
I look forward to Arden Andersens keynote at the
NOFA Summer Conference.
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 46
Connecticut
CT NOFA Offce: P O Box 164, Stevenson, CT
06491, phone (203) 888-5146, FAX (203) 888-
9280, Email: ctnofa@ctnofa.org, website: www.
ctnofa.org
Executive Director: Bill Duesing, Box 164,
Stevenson, CT 06491, 203-888-5146, 203 888-
9280 (fax), bill@ctnofa.org
Offce Manager/Webmaster: Deb Legge, PO
Box 164, Stevenson, CT 06491, deb@ctnofa.
org, 203-888-5146
President: James Roby, P.O Box 191, 1667
Orchard Road, Berlin, CT 06037, 860-828-
5548, 860-881-8031 (C), robysorganic@yahoo.
com
Vice President: Elizabeth Fleming, 54 Four
Mile Road, West Hartford, CT 06107-2709,
860-561-4907, elstrfeming@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Lynn Caley, 593 Old Post
Road, Tolland, CT 06084, 860-613-0325,
momocaley@yahoo.com
Secretary: Chris Killheffer, 112 Bishop Street,
New Haven, CT 06511-7307, 203-787-0072,
Christopher.killheffer@yale.edu
Farmers Pledge Program: Contact the offce.
Bookkeeper: Marion Griswold, PO Box 164,
Stevenson, CT 06491, marion@ctnofa.org, 203-
888-5146
Organic Land Care Manager: Ashley Kremser,
PO Box 164, Stevenson, CT 06491, akremser@
ctnofa.org, 203-888-5146
Massachusetts
President: Lynda Simkins, Natick Community
Organic Farm, 117 Eliot, South Natick, MA
01760 (508) 655-2204, Email: lsimkins.
ncorganic@verizon.net
Vice President, Fred Newcombe, 252 Dodge
Road, Rowley, MA 01969 (978) 432-1019,
frednewcombe@pjcecological.com
Secretary: Danielle Andrews, 85 Day St,
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (617) 524-1320;
email: bonitaapplebomb@hotmail.com
Treasurer: Tom Johnson, 73 Wells Road,
Lincoln, MA 01773; (781) 259-0070;
silferleaf@cs.com
Executive Director and NOFA Summer
Conference Coordinator: Julie Rawson, 411
Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 (978) 355-2853,
Fax: (978) 355-4046, Email: Julie@nofamass.
org
Administrative Coordinator: Kathleen Geary,
411 Sheldon Rd, Barre, MA 01005 (Mondays
& Thursdays, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm), email: info@
nofamass.org
Webmaster: David Pontius: 26 School Street,
Northfeld, MA 01360, (413) 498-2721, Email:
webmaster@nofamass.org
Baystate Organic Certifers Administrator:
Don Franczyk, 683 River St., Winchendon,
MA 01475, (978) 297- 4171, Email:
baystateorganic@earthlink.net, website: www.
baystateorganic.org
Press and Winter Conference Coordinator: Jassy
Bratko, 28 High St., Hubbardston, MA 01452,
(978) 928-5646, jassyhighmeadow@yahoo.com
Newsletter Editor: Jonathan von Ranson, 6
Lockes Village Rd., Wendell, MA 01379, (978)
544-3758, Email: Commonfarm@crocker.com
Website: www.nofamass.org Email: nofa@
nofamass.org
New Hampshire
President: Jack Mastrianni, 277 Holden Hill
Road, Langdon, NH 03602, (603) 835-6488,
jamastrianni@yahoo.com
Vice President: Joan OConnor, PO Box
387, Henniker, NH 03242, (603) 428-3530,
joconnornh@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Paul Mercier, Jr., 39 Cambridge
Drive, Canterbury, NH 03224, (603) 783-0036,
pjm@mercier-group.com
Program & Membership Coordinator: Elizabeth
Obelenus, NOFA/NH Offce, 4 Park St., Suite
208, Concord, NH 03301, (603) 224-5022,
info@nofanh.org
Newsletter Editor: Karen Booker, 44 Prospect
St., Contoocook, NH 03229, (603) 746-3656,
pottedplant@juno.com
Organic Certifcation: Vickie Smith, NHDA
Bureau of Markets, Caller Box 2042, Concord,
NH 03301 (603) 271-3685, vsmith@agr.state.
nh.us
Website: www.nofanh.org,
New Jersey
Executive Director: Marc Bouvier, PO Box
886, 60 S. Main St., Pennington, NJ 08534,
(609) 737-6848, fax: (609) 737-2366, Email:
mbouvier@nofanj.org
President: Donna Drewes, Municipal Land Use
Center, TCNJ, PO Box 7718 McCauley House,
Ewing, NJ 08628, 908-782-2443, Email:
drewes@tcnj.edu
Vice President: Stephanie Harris, 163
Hopewell-Wertsville Rd., Hopewell, NJ 08525,
(609) 466-0194, Email: r.harris58@verizon.
net
Treasurer: William D. Bridgers, c/o Zon
Partners, 5 Vaughn Dr., Suite 104, Princeton, NJ
08540, (609) 452-1653, Email: billbridgers@
zoncapital.com
Secretary: Emily Brown Rosen, Organic
Research Associates, 25 Independence Way,
Titusville, NJ 08560, 609-737-8630 Email:
ebrownrosen@gmail.com
Outreach Coordinator: Mikey Azzara, PO Box
886, Pennington, NJ 08534-0886, (609) 737-
6848, fax: (609) 737-2366, Email: mazzara@
nofanj.org
Supervisor, Organic Certifcation Program:
Erich V. Bremer, NJ Dept. of Agriculture, 369
S. Warren St., Trenton, NJ 08625-0330, (609)
984-2225, fax: (609) 341-3212 Email: erich.
bremer@ag.state.nj.us
Administrative Coordinator: Connie Deetz, PO
Box 886 Pennington, NJ 08534-0886, (609)
737-6848, Fax (609) 737-2366 General Request
Emails: nofainfo@nofanj.org Email: cdeetz@
nofanj.org,
Website: www.nofanj.org
New York
President: Scott Chaskey, Quail Hill
Community Farm, PO Box 1268, Amagansett,
NY 11930-1268, (631) 267-8942, schaskey@
peconiclandtrust.org
Vice President: Gunther Fishgold, Tierra Farms,
2424 State Rte 203, Valatie, NY 12184, (888)
674-6887, gfshgold@tierrafarm.com
Treasurer: Karen Livingston, 2569 Rolling
Hills Rd, Camillus, NY 13031, (315) 672-5244,
klivingston@fmfecpa.com
Secretary: Annette Hogan, 131 Alpine Drive
#5, Syracuse, NY 13214, (315) 559-2460,
hoganal@stu.lemoyne.edu
Executive Director: Greg Swartz, (845) 796-
8994, fax: (570) 224-8013 (call frst), director@
nofany.org
Offce Manager: Mayra Richter, (607) 652-
NOFA, fax: (607) 652-2290, offce@nofany.org
Organic Seed Partnership (OSP) Project
Coordinator: Elizabeth Dyck, (607) 895-6913,
organicseed@nofany.org
Projects Coordinator & ODT Project Co-Project
Manager: Kate Mendenhall, (585) 271-1979,
fax: (585) 271-7166, kate.organicdairy@
nofany.org
Organic Dairy Transitions (ODT) Project Co-
Project Manager: Bethany Russell, (315) 806-
1180, bethany.organicdairy@nofany.org
ODT Project Dairy Technician: Robert Perry,
(607) 749-3884, robert.organicdairy@nofany.
org
CSA Network Coordinator: Abby Youngblood,
(347) 445-2384, csaproject@nofany.org
NOFA-NY Certifed Organic, LLC,
Certifcation Director: Carol King, 840 Front St,
Binghamton, NY 13905, (607) 724-9851, fax:
(607) 724-9853, certifedorganic@nofany.org
NOFA New York Offce: PO Box 880,
Cobleskill, NY 12043, Phone: (607) 652-
NOFA, Fax: (607) 652-2290, Email: offce@
nofany.org, Website: www.nofany.org,
Rhode Island
President: Dan Lawton, 247 Evans Road
Chepachet, RI 02814 (401) 949-1596
dlawton33@hotmail.com
Vice-President: Erik Eacker, Ledge Ends
Produce, 830 South Road, East Greenwich, RI
02818 (401) 884-5118, ledgeends@cox.net
Secretary: Nicole Vitello, Manic Organic, PO
Box 425, Portsmouth, RI 02871 (401) 480-
1403, Nicole@manicorganic.biz
Treasurer/Membership: Abbie Barber,
Shannock Organic Farm, 1411 Shannock Rd.,
Charlestown, RI 02813-3726 (401) 364-7140
shannockorganicfarm@hotmail.com
Bookkeeper: Peggy Conti, Brookside
Apartments, Apt. #8, Charlestown, RI 02813,
(401) 364-3426
NOFA/RI, 51 Edwards Lane, Charlestown, RI
02813, (401) 364-7557, nofari@nofari.org
website: www.nofari.org
NOFA
Contact
People
The Natural Farmer is the newspaper of the Northeast
Organic Farming Association (NOFA). In most chapters,
regular members receive a subscription as part of their
dues, and others may subscribe for $15 (in the US or
$20 outside the US). It is published four times a year at
411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005. The editors are Jack
Kittredge and Julie Rawson.
Moving or missed an issue? The Natural Farmer will not
be forwarded by the post offce, so you need to make
sure your address is up-to-date if you move. You get your
subscription to this paper in one of two ways. Those who
send us a subscription fee are put on our database here.
These folks should send address changes to us. Most of
you, however, get this paper as a NOFA member beneft
for paying your chapter dues. Each quarter every NOFA
chapter sends us contact info for their paid members,
which we use to mail out the issue. If you moved or didnt
get the paper, your beef is with your state chapter, not us.
Theres a NOFA Contact People list on the last page, for
a handy reference to all the chapter names and addresses.
If you have any ideas or questions, one of us is usually
available at (978) 355-2853 or TNF@nofa.org. The NOFA
Interstate Council website is www.nofa.org.
ISSN 1077-2294
copyright 2008,
Northeast Organic Farming Association
Th e Nat ur al Far me r S u mme r, 2 0 0 8 47
Calendar
Saturday, June 7: The Role of the Horse in the
Farm Organism, with Mac Mead, Pfeiffer Center,
Chestnut Ridge, NY, for more info: 845-352-5020
x20, info@pfeiffercenter.org, www.pfeiffercenter.
org.
Monday, June 9: On Farm Workshops for Farmers,
North Haven, CT, for more info: visit www.ctnofa.
org or call 203 888-5146
Sunday, June 22: CT NOFA Farm Tour to
Holbrook Farm in Bethel, New Pond Farm in
Redding, and The Hickories in Ridgefeld, for more
info visit www.ctnofa.org, or call 203-888-5146.
Friday, June 27 - Saturday, June 28: Organic
Beekeeping Workshop, Metta Earth Institute,
Lincoln, Vermont, for more info: Ross Conrad,
802-453-8111
Monday, June 30: On Farm Workshops for
Farmers, New Milford, CT, for more info: visit
www.ctnofa.org or call 203 888-5146
Sunday, July 13: On Farm Workshop and Feast for
Everyone, Ledyard, CT, for more info: visit www.
ctnofa.org or call 203 888-5146
Friday, August 8 Sunday, August 10: NOFA
Summer Conference, U/Mass, Amherst, MA, for
more info: 978-355-2853
Saturday, August 23: Red Fire Farms 8th Annual
Tomato Festival, Granby, MA, for more info: 413-
467-SOIL, www.redfrefarm.com
Friday, August 29 - Saturday, August 30: Organic
Beekeeping Workshop, Metta Earth Institute,
Lincoln, Vermont, for more info: Ross Conrad,
802-453-8111
Sunday, September 14: Taste! Organic
Connecticut, Topmost Herb Farm in Coventry, for
more info: visit www.ctnofa.org or call 203 888-
5146
Saturday, September 20 - Sunday, September
21: Tenth Annual North Quabbin Garlic and
Arts Festival, Orange, MA, for more info: www.
garlicandarts.org, deb@seedsofsolidarity.org,
(978) 544-9023
Friday, September 26 Sunday, September
28: 2nd Annual Northeast Animal Power Field
Days, Tunbridge Fair Grounds, Tunbridge,
VT, for more info: www.animalpowerfelddays.
org or Carl Russell and Lisa McCrory, info@
animalpowerfelddays.org, or 802-234-5524.

September 2008 - June 2009: Year-long Part-time
Course in Biodynamics, Pfeiffer Center, Chestnut
Ridge, NY, for more info: 845-352-5020 x20,
info@pfeiffercenter.org, www.pfeiffercenter.org.
You may join NOFA by joining one of the seven
state chapters. Contact the person listed below for
your state. Dues, which help pay for the important
work of the organization, vary from chapter to
chapter. Unless noted, membership includes a
subscription to The Natural Farmer. A * means
it does not include a subscription to The Natural
Farmer
Give a NOFA Membership! Send dues for a friend
or relative to his or her state chapter and give a
membership in one of the most active grassroots
organizations in the state.
Connecticut: Individual $35, Family $50,
Business/Institution $100, Supporting $150,
Student/Senior $25, Working $20
Contact: CT NOFA, Box 164, Stevenson, CT 06491,
(203)-888-5146, or email: ctnofa@ctnofa.org or join
on the web at www.ctnofa.org
Massachusetts: Low-Income $20, Individual $35,
Family/Farm/Organization $45, Business $75,
Supporting $150
Contact: Kathleen Geary, 411 Sheldon Road, Barre,
MA 01005, (978) 355-2853, or email: info@nofamass.
org
New Hampshire: Individual: $30, Student: $23,
Family: $40, Sponsor: $100, Basic $20*
Contact: Elizabeth Obelenus, 4 Park St., Suite 208,
Concord, NH 03301, (603) 224-5022, info@nofanh.
org
New Jersey: Individual $35, Family/Organizational
$50, Business/Organization $100, Low Income:
$15*
Contact: P O Box 886, Pennington, NJ 08534-0886,
(609) 737-6848 or join at www.nofanj.org
New York: Student/Senior/Limited Income
$20, Individual $40, Family/Farm/Nonproft
Organization $50, Business $115, Patron $125.
Contact: Mayra Richter, NOFA-NY, PO Box 880,
Cobleskill, NY 12043, Voice (607) 652-NOFA, Fax:
(607) 652-2290, email: offce@nofany.org www.
nofany.org
Rhode Island: Student/Senior: $20, Individual: $25,
Family $35, Business $50
Contact: Membership, NOFA RI, c/o Abbie Barber
POB 86 Shannock, RI 02875 (401) 364-7557,
shannockorganicfarm@hotmail.com
Vermont: Individual $30, Farm/Family $40,
Business $50, Sponsor $100, Sustainer $250, Basic
$15-25*
Contact: NOFA-VT, PO Box 697, Richmond, VT
05477, (802) 434-4122, info@nofavt.org
NOFA Membership
Vermont
NOFA-VT Offce, P. O. Box 697, Bridge St.,
Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434-4122 NOFA,
(802) 434-3821 VOF, Fax: (802) 434-4154,
website: www.nofavt.org, info@nofavt.org
Executive Director: Enid Wonnacott, enid@
nofavt.org
NOFA Financial Manager: Kirsten Novak
Bower, kirsten@nofavt.org
Winter Conference Coordinator: Olga Boshart,
olga@madriver.com
VOF Administrator & Apprentice Program
Coordinator: Nicole Dehne, Nicole@nofavt.org
VOF Administrator: Nicole Dehne, Nicole@
nofavt.org
VOF Staff: Cheryl Bruce, cheryl@nofavt.org
VOF Staff: Brenda Hedges, brenda@nofavt.org
Farmer Education & Apprenticeship Program
Coordinator: Wendy Sue Harper, wendysue@
nofavt.org
Bulk Order Coordinator & VOF Staff: Erin
Clark, erin@nofavt.org
Dairy & Livestock Administrator: Sam Fuller,
sam@nofavt.org
Dairy & Livestock Advisor, David Rogers,
dave@nofavt.org
Dairy and Livestock Advisor: Willie Gibson,
willie@nofavt.org
Offce Manager: Meg Klepack, meg@nofavt.
org
Ag Education Coordinator: Abbie Nelson,
abbie@nofavt.org
Offce Assistant and Share the Harvest
fundraiser: Becca Weiss, becca@nofavt.org
Farm Share Coordinator: Jean Hamilton, jean@
nofavt.org
NOFA
Interstate
Council
* indicates voting representative
* Bill Duesing, President, Staff, Box 135,
Stevenson, CT, 06491, (203) 888-5146, fax,
(203) 888- 9280, bduesing@cs.com
Kimberly A. Stoner, 498 Oak Ave. #27,
Cheshire, CT 06410-3021, (203) 271-1732
(home), Email: kastoner@juno.com
* Mary Blake, Secretary, P O Box 52 Charlton
Depot, MA 01509 (508)-248-5496 email:
blakem_2001@msn.com
Elizabeth Obelenus, 22 Keyser Road, Meredith.
NH 03253, (603) 279-6146, elizabeth@
nofanh.org
* Jack Mastrianni, Treasurer, 277 Holden Hill
Road, Langdon, NH 03602, (603) 835-6488,
jamastrianni@yahoo.com
* Steve Gilman, Ruckytucks Farm, 130
Ruckytucks Road, Stillwater, NY 12170 (518)
583-4613, sgilman@netheaven.com
* Vince Cirasole, Sunshine Farm, 745 Great
Neck Rd, Copiague, NY 11726, (631) 789-
8231, vince@sunshinefarm.biz
Elizabeth Henderson, 2218 Welcher Rd.,
Newark, NY 14513 (315) 331-9029 ehendrsn@
redsuspenders.com
* Dan Lawton, 247 Evans Road Chepachet, RI
02814 (401) 949-1596 dlawton33@hotmail.
com
* Nicole Vitello, Manic Organic, PO Box
425, Portsmouth, RI 02871 (401) 480-1403,
Nicole@manicorganic.biz
* Enid Wonnacott, 478 Salvas Rd., Huntington,
VT 05462 (802) 434-4435, enid@nofavt.org
Kirsten Novak Bower, 65 Wortheim Ln.,
Richmond, VT 05477 (802) 434-5420, kirsten@
nofavt.org
Kay Magilavy, Virtual Rep, 212 18th St., Union
City, NJ 07087, (201) 927-7116
David Pontius, Webmaster, 26 School Street,
Northfeld, MA 01360, (413) 498-2721, Email:
webmaster@nofamass.org
Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson, The Natural
Farmer, NOFA Summer Conference, 411
Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005 (978) 355-2853,
Jack, tnf@nofa.org, Julie@nofamass.org
Marion Griswold, Bookkeeper, 30 Hollow
Rd., Woodbury, CT 06798, (203) 263-2221,
marion@ctnofa.org
Interstate
Certifcation
Contacts
Nicole Dehne, nicole@nofavt.org, PO Box 698,
Richmond, VT 05477, 802-434-4122, 802-434-
4154 (fax)
Carol King, 840 Front Street, Binghamton, NY
13905, (607) 724-9851, fax: (607)724-9853,
certifedorganic@nofany.org
Erich V. Bremer, c/o NJ Dept. of Agriculture,
PO Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625, (609) 984-
2225 erich.bremer@ag.state.nj.us
Send $15 for US, $20 for foreign address to:
$
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