Beyond organic; Farming movement gains ground in Iowa

BY DONNA SCHILL, Correspondent

A new wave of farmers in Iowa are redefining what it means to grow food naturally.

“It is much more than a job,” said Derek Roller, who runs Echollective Farm in Mechanicsville, 25 miles east of Cedar Rapids, “it is a lifestyle.”

Roller, 36, belongs to a group of farmers in Iowa who call their methods “beyond organic,” a term that binds together the organic and locally grown food movement with its philosophy and practices.

Roller started farming more than a decade ago, and said he has seen the meaning of organic morph over the years since the U.S. Department of Agriculture created a federal standard in 2002 requiring organic growers to go through certification to ensure compliance with rules.

“Some of the largest corporations in America now have organic subsidiaries, because it generates so much money,” Roller said. “It has become mostly a marketing term.”

Echollective sells food harvested that day to local markets such as New Pioneer Co-op, the Iowa City Farmers Market and Community Supported Agriculture, where locals sign up to receive fresh food weekly throughout the growing season.

Roller said he goes beyond organic by providing a more thorough sustainability than can be found on most grocery-store shelves, striving to eliminate energy inefficiencies that are commonly overlooked.

Roller also leaves more than half of his land out of production, preserving soil and native trees, plants and animals.

“Most of the energy that goes into a carrot, whether it's organic or conventional, is refrigeration and transportation,” Roller said.

Roller said more farmers are joining the beyond organic movement, and more consumers are supporting it.

A survey of 120 vendors at farmers markets in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Fairfield and Iowa City found that 11 percent called themselves beyond organic and 8 percent said they were certified organic.

The beyond organic farmers said the extra practices they take that go beyond USDA standards include:

• Companion planting, which pairs varieties of plants that have symbiotic relationships to minimize insect and weed threats;
• Cover cropping, otherwise known as green manure, where plants are grown not for food, but because they add to soil fertility or prevent erosion. This practice is required by U.S. Department of Agriculture organic standards, but can be implemented with a greater variety of plants;
• Using beneficial insects for functions such as pollination or to balance a pest problem;
• Humane animal practices that allow animals to live outdoors and minimize pain when going to slaughter. The certified organic label recently passed regulations requiring cows access to pasture, but organic chickens can still be raised in confinement;
• Labor standards that include paying fair wages to workers, and assigning reasonable hours and a variety of tasks.

Of the rest of the vendors, about 75 percent had heard of, read about, or knew a beyond organic farmer.

“When I heard beyond organic I was intrigued,” said Debbie Freeberg-Renwick, a customer of a beyond organic farmer in Fairfield.

And when Freeberg-Renwick, also of Fairfield, tasted the food, she was sold.

“When I tried his cheese, his chicken, his eggs - it's like the eggs, the yolks just stand up, at first I hardly recognized them as eggs, everything was so fresh and so flavorful.”

The beyond organic movement is not welcomed by all. Farmers like Roller often reject USDA certification, believed by advocates to provide more quality assurance than a farmer's word.

“It (beyond organic) is being critical of the program and the system that we're trying to build ...” said Daniel Giacomini, the 2010 chairman of the National Organic Standards Board. “But they're saying, ‘we are better than organic,' without the oversight, without the review, without a third party.”

He said rather than avoiding the system, unsatisfied farmers should try to change it through public comment and the complaint system.

“One of the most under utilized functions is the everyday person within the industry who comes across a problem, filing a complaint,” he said.

By avoiding certification, beyond organic farmers risk lower payment for their crops. The organic label is an industry standard that is recognized by grocery stores, processors and distributors. Without it, farmers often receive conventional prices for their produce.

Kathleen Delate, an organic crops specialist at Iowa State University, said that farmers without certification must accept fewer opportunities.

“It's a lot like people who don't want to have a marriage certificate but say that this is their lifelong partner,” Delate said. “Does the government respect that? No, in certain cases you have to show your marriage certificate to get benefits. And it's the same thing in organics. In order to sell in certain markets you have to show your certificate.”

But Delate acknowledged that the certificate does not ensure farmers' dedication, saying many farm organically “strictly for the dollars.”

Yet she said she hopes that they'll eventually see “the environmental benefits, the social benefits, the agronomic benefits, and not just be in it for the economics.”

At Echollective Farm, these additional benefits are a primary concern.

“Many corporations want to be able to make (organic) black and white …” Roller said. “The palette that we use has a lot more color and more dimension.”