Montana producers say organic beef sales dropping

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- Officials with the Montana Organic Producers Cooperative say the state's organic beef growers had a rough year in 2009. Mark Smith, the cooperative's administrator and a Lavina rancher, says sales of organic beef were down 47 percent compared to the previo ...

Precision-ag claims rile organic group

When Sara Lee launched its Eco-Grain marketing program to promote its EarthGrains breads, it raised the hackles of the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic watchdog. "They claimed Eco-Grain is better than organic," said Charlotte Vallaeys, a spokeswoman for Cornucopia. "They're ...

Conference educates of advantages of vouchers

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Farmers learned about a variety of issues facing family farms at a recent small-farm conference -- including how to navigate the bureaucracy surrounding various nutrition voucher programs. Among the workshops at Oregon State University's 10th Annual Small Farms Confere ...

Organic growers seek USDA aid

NAMPA, Idaho — While organic farmers are grateful for conservation programs authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, some wish they worked a lot better. That's the message a group of organic producers delivered March 5 to USDA Undersecretary Harris Sherman and U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho. ...

Farm intern bill scaled down

OLYMPIA -- Lawmakers have pared down a bill to allow farm internships that pay less than Washington state's minimum wage. Senate Bill 6349 defines a farm intern as someone who provides services to a small farm under a written agreement and primarily as a means of learning about farming. ...

Organic dairy rule welcomed

The USDA has issued a final rule on organic dairy standards, a move welcomed by organic milk producers who pushed for consistency in rules regarding pasturing of cows. The main component of the rule, issued Feb. 12, is that animals must graze pasture during the grazing season, which must ...

Report: Wisconsin 2nd in nation in organic farms

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The latest agricultural numbers show Wisconsin with more than 1,200 certified organic farms, which is second in the nation behind California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also said Tuesday that Wisconsin leads the nation in sales of organic cranberries and beef cows. ...

Maryland county to mediate stinky farm dispute

MARSTON, Md. (AP) -- Carroll County officials have put together a committee to hear a dispute between the proprietors of an organic farm and neighbors who say it smells bad. Phil and Victoria Snader are the owners of Enviro-Organic Technologies Inc. in Marston. They take natural materials fr ...

USDA sharpens rules for organic milk, meat

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Agriculture Department is sharpening the standards for organic milk and meat. New rules announced Friday say organic milk and meat must come from livestock that graze in pastures at least four months of the year. The old rules required only that animals have access ...

Organic grower finds local buyer

BRIDGEPORT, Wash. -- Wade Troutman's 50-bushel per acre wheat on 3,000 dryland acres makes for the thinnest of profit margins, so a decade ago he decided to find an alternative to commodity markets. Lately, he's had success in direct-marketing to Seattle bakeries, but it was a long process to ...

Western innovator: Organic growers stay lean

MERIDIAN, Idaho -- Keeping a small-acreage, certified-organic farm profitable requires heavy doses of innovation, whether in labor savings, soil building or marketing strategies. For Lee Rice and his father, Gilbert, doing it themselves has been a big boost to the profitability of Rice Fa ...

Family devotes farm to natural practices

DUFUR, Ore. -- When David Stelzer was a baby, doctors told his parents he would die, or he would have to be on a respirator the rest of his life. "My earliest memories are lying on the couch wheezing," said the 43-year-old farmer. His parents searched high and low for a cure for his ailme ...

Organic dairy operations straddle state

MYRTLE POINT, Ore. -- Not long after Bob Ross converted his dairy into an organic operation in 1999, he discovered he couldn't find a consistent supply of organic alfalfa. So first he helped a hay grower in Christmas Valley, Ore., get his hay fields certified organic. And then a couple ye ...

Urban farmers fight nationwide to sow green biz

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tara Kolla fancied herself a green thumb-turned-green businesswoman when she planted an organic flower plot in her yard and sold poppies, sweet peas and zinnias at the local farmers market. For her neighbors, it was an eyesore. Where Kolla saw her efforts as creating a ...

Bill establishes organic authority OLYMPIA -- State senators heard testimony Thursday, Jan. 14, on legislation to affirm the Washington state organic program's conformation to the National Organic Program. Under Senate Bill 6228, the state Department of Agriculture would also certify transitio ...

Organic club at OSU celebrates 10 years

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State University's organic growers club celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year. For the past five years, according to its director James Cassidy, the club has had the wind at its back. The first five years, he said, he felt as if the club was navigati ...

Pollan: Farmers will solve crises

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Michael Pollan believes farmers may eventually solve three of the world's biggest problems -- the crises centered on energy, health care and climate change. The author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" outlined his "sun food agenda," advocating a return to a diversified agricu ...

Controversy leads to healthy debate, Pollan says

PULLMAN, Wash. -- "I wasn't sure I was coming," author Michael Pollan told the audience during his lecture at Washington State University. His book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," was about to be yanked from the freshman Common Reading program last fall when food safety attorney Bill Marler st ...

Recession flattens demand for organic food

Organic farmers shouldn't expect demand or prices to rise in 2010, as the industry is stifled by the recession, according to food buyers at a recent conference. Fierce competition among major food retailers resulted in price deflation in 2009, which reverberated through the supply chain, ...

Grower strengthens soil, saves berries

Talk to blueberry grower Bob Wilt, owner-operator of Wilt Farms in Corvallis, Ore., and he'll tell you that the key to producing great fruit is building robust soils. While his 75-acre farm is certified organic, Wilt likes to refer to himself more as an "aerobic biological" farmer who's more co ...

Wyoming lawmaker wants to relax food regulations

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- A Wyoming state lawmaker says food inspectors have gone overboard when it comes to food regulations, and she wants to relax the rules for farmers' markets. Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse, says a change in Wyoming law earlier this year didn't go far enough to relax food licensin ...

Port directors envision processing mecca

Organic producers in the West may soon have another place to sell their crops. The Dayton, Wash.-based Port of Columbia has purchased 28 acres, where it plans to develop a natural and organic culinary center, Blue Mountain Station. "It will be a food processing park to house small (a ...

Young farmer bucks aging trend

BONANZA, Ore. -- After graduating from college, many twenty-somethings don't always head straight into the career field they studied. They backpack across Central America, teach English in Japan, move back in with Mom and Dad, or make espresso until they find a job in their major. Not Ni ...

Target admits to error in advertising organic milk

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Target Corp. has admitted to wrongly advertising soy milk as organic during a U.S. Agriculture Department investigation. The investigation came following a complaint filed in October by the Wisconsin farm policy group The Cornucopia Institute. It alleged that Target advert ...

Group aims to teach urbanites to farm

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Planting a peach tree was a powerful symbol for the 50 onlookers who gathered on a high Palouse plain 15 miles outside of Spokane on a blustery November day. Eden Bright Spirit Hendrix had hot tea ready for the group, which had turned out to celebrate the dedication ...