PRAIRIE DU ROCHER, Illinois – On a chilly winter day in Illinois, three little pigs are resting in a three-sided shed. They’ve loads of area to trot round, as they do when Jennifer Duensing approaches. These footsteps imply it’s feeding time. They squeal impatiently, ready for his or her common food plan of natural feed, which generally contains greens like squash grown proper right here on the farm.
The farm, Illinois Nation Harvest, had been in Duensing’s household for generations when she took it over in 2015. She was new to farming, so there was rather a lot to study the way to greatest handle the near-12 acres now beneath her purview. However one factor she positively knew was that she needed to handle the land, crops and animals with out chemical inputs.
“We use completely zero chemical compounds, which implies if we have now pests, we don’t spray,” she stated.
There are numerous certifications she might have chosen and labels she might slap on her merchandise to try to show her farm has good practices. Within the midst of rising client demand for natural meals, a nonprofit known as “A Greener World” which “promotes sensible, sustainable options in agriculture by supporting farmers and educating shoppers” has a 15-page information that makes an attempt to clear up client confusion round labels that use phrases like “pure,” “humane” and “natural.”
Licensed Naturally Grown was an ideal match for a way she was already operating her farm.
“Our certification course of is de facto fairly easy, as a result of we have now zero chemical inputs,” she stated. “There’s nothing we needed to justify or have reasoning for, as a result of we simply don’t use something.”
Began in 2002, the non-profit group’s requirements are modeled after the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Licensed Natural Label, however they’re designed to offer farmers a less expensive and extra accessible approach to certify and talk how their farms work.
“Quite a lot of farmers are dedicated to ecological practices, and doubtless would qualify for natural certification, however they hesitate due to the expense and likewise the paperwork,” stated Alice Varon, CNG’s govt director.
“There’s some minor variations, however for essentially the most half, it’s similar to the Nationwide Natural Program.” she added.
USDA Natural certification vs. CNG
Liz Graznak is an authorized natural farmer in Jamestown, Mo. This system’s necessities differ by produce and animal, however usually, it requires the usage of “eco-friendly pest management,” “pure fertilizers,” and for farmers to permit animals to “roam freely open air.” She has to resume her certification yearly.
After adopting natural practices, the following step is making use of to a USDA-accredited certifying agent. Whereas there are greater than 17,000 licensed natural farms working within the U.S, there are lower than 80 certifying companies. They ship inspectors out to interview farmers and examine that they’re abiding by the USDA requirements.
“Somebody involves my farm and just about spends your complete day on the farm trying by way of my information, trying by way of the information of the crop rotations that I take advantage of, what was planted in what discipline final yr, what was planted in that discipline this yr,” Graznak stated. “I’ve these information for 14 years of my farming,”
She pays the certifier for this service, together with their journey prices.
“I used to be with an company out of Florida that based mostly their prices on a share of my gross sales,” she stated.
A number of years in the past, she switched to a more in-depth certifier – based mostly out of Oklahoma. Out of the 73 lively companies, there aren’t any headquartered in Missouri.
Her invoice is normally $2,000 to $3,000 a yr.
The USDA does have a cost-sharing program that may assist reimburse natural farmers for as much as 75% of those prices, which is capped at $750 per certification class, which embody “crops, wild crops, livestock, processing/dealing with, and state natural program charges.”
Varon stated the reimbursement is beneficial, however fronting the money remains to be a barrier for small operations.
CNG certification prices simply $250 a yr. That’s as a result of as an alternative of certifying companies, CNG farmers are peer-reviewed by different CNG farmers, both in-person or on-line. CNG offers farmers with coaching and permits them to nearly observe inspections of different farms.
“It helps hold this system inexpensive for the farmers as a result of they’re not paying somebody to return out and do the annual inspection,” Varon stated. “As a substitute, they comply with conduct a peer evaluate of one other farmer if there’s somebody close by who wants one.”
To be licensed natural, farmers should cease utilizing chemical inputs for 3 years, and the certification course of usually takes about six months.
In keeping with CNG’s web site, it takes one yr of rising and promoting earlier than farmers can apply, and certification normally takes two months or fewer.
The opposite hurdle CNG is attempting to assist farmers keep away from is laborious bookkeeping. The natural certification requires farmers like Graznak to maintain diligent, in-depth and plentiful paperwork of what they do on their farms and when.
“It’s extraordinarily arduous, an immense quantity of file maintaining for all issues that I do on the farm, from the compost that I purchase to the seeds that I purchase to the fertilizers that I purchase,” Graznak stated.
It’s such a typical problem that there are even bookkeeping firms to assist farmers stay compliant with the requirements.
“For instance, I’ve to maintain very detailed information of planting, seeding, and harvesting,” she stated.
Duensing stated the paperwork was a significant cause she averted USDA natural certification.
“That sort of scares me somewhat bit to be overwhelmed with all that,” she stated.
CNG nonetheless requires paperwork, however rather a lot much less. It requires an utility that particulars the farm’s operations, which turns into out there to the general public. There’s additionally a type to fill out throughout annual inspections. They’re additionally requested to maintain receipts of purchases, like seeds, in case an inspector needs to have a look.
“We wish to know the way they’re producing the crops, what are the inputs and what seeds they’re utilizing,” Varon stated.
Varon stated one other profit to CNG is the networking alternatives from the peer-to-peer inspection.
Jill Beebout runs Blue Gate Farm in Chariton, Iowa. There are two different CNG farms close to her, and he or she says the peer-review course of has given her concepts about the way to higher her personal farm.
“I’ve realized nice issues about bettering our fruit tree manufacturing or orchard administration, issues that I didn’t know,” she stated.
CNG peaked with round 800 licensed farms round 2018. Submit-pandemic, they’re all the way down to 600. Varon says that will say much less about CNG and extra about normal traits in farming – the variety of farms has been steadily lowering, whereas the common farm dimension has been rising, in keeping with the USDA. In 2023, the common dimension of a U.S. farm was 464 acres. Most CNG farms are simply 2-10 acres.
Varon stated they usually ask farmers who select to not renew their certification why they left this system.
“The primary causes are they’ve stopped farming, or they will’t justify the associated fee and energy of certification with the worth it’s bringing to them,” she stated.
The USDA doesn’t publish surveys on the Nationwide Natural Program yearly, however between 2021 and 2019, there was a 5% enhance within the variety of natural producers.
Label confusion
Whereas some hunt down certification alternate options to the natural label, Graznak says the associated fee and “arduous” means of getting USDA’s certification are value it as a result of the label is each recognizable and trusted.
“The general public is aware of what the USDA label is, they acknowledge that, and it means one thing,” Graznak stated.
In keeping with a survey by a commerce affiliation of natural companies, she’s proper. The group’s 2024 survey estimates that the label is “trusted by 70 % of shoppers.”
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Graznak stated it’s a fast approach to talk how she grows her produce, which is especially necessary as a result of she sells in retail and wholesale areas the place she will be able to’t have conversations with each buyer.
“I promote to 500 plus clients each Saturday (on the farmers market), and I can’t have a protracted detailed dialog with all of them.” she stated.
With so many labels available on the market, there aren’t a number of issues that may minimize by way of the noise just like the USDA’s Licensed natural label, and there are a number of gaps in information about what they even imply.
David Lovelady bought produce from Graznak on the Columbia Farmers Market. Maintaining a healthy diet is necessary to him, however he says the present labeling system is complicated..
“It’s a leap of religion,” he stated. “There’ll most likely be an extra price to those specific labels, (like USDA Licensed Natural) however I don’t thoughts that. I wish to be sure that I put good gas in my physique, as a result of I really feel it’s a temple, so I wish to be sure that I get what I pay for.”
One other buyer, Barbara Parker, agreed.
“It’s sort of like taking part in Russian roulette along with your meals,” Parker stated. “You wish to know that your cows ate grass, you don’t wish to know that your cows ate ‘query mark.’”
An uphill battle
Sharon Grey on the College of Connecticut’s Division of Extension works on fixing the information hole round labels. She educates shoppers about diet and what meals labels do or don’t imply.
She stated shoppers generally see phrases like “pure” as buzzwords with out backing, so Licensed Naturally Grown could be in an uphill battle to earn belief and recognition.
“Folks do like buying pure meals,” Grey stated. “I feel proper now, it’s simply the definition isn’t clear sufficient that individuals purchase it, and it’s not essentially regulated.”
CNG is making an effort to extend its identify recognition and alternatives for licensed producers.
“We have now some funding from the USDA for a three-year mission to actually put money into increasing buyer consciousness of what it means for a farm to be Licensed Naturally Grown,” Varon stated.
The grant was given by way of the USDA’s Farmers Market Promotion Program. CNG acquired over $400,000 for the mission, with the objective of “Opening Doorways and Boosting Gross sales for Native and Licensed Producers.” It would begin in western Virginia and central Arkansas and can roll out to a 3rd location someday within the subsequent three years.
“We actually wish to broaden the buying of native direct gross sales from farmers to impartial grocers of regionally produced meals, after which assist these grocers characteristic what meals is native and what meals is licensed,” Varon stated.
With the cash, they’ll additionally prepare farmers in advertising their enterprise and attain out to grocers, influencers and media to do outreach about native producers and what labels like CNG imply.
However some CNG farmers don’t appear too nervous concerning the label’s recognition. Duensing, of Illinois Nation Harvest, has a small operation and sells on to shoppers. She’s not in retail shops and he or she’s capable of straight present and inform her clients precisely how her animals are handled and the way her produce is grown.
She stated that communicates greater than any label might. For her, being Licensed Naturally Grown is to show to her shoppers, and herself, that she’s following these requirements appropriately.
“I really feel like some individuals who say that they develop naturally and don’t undergo the certification course of might not have the proper understanding of what rising naturally is,” Duesning stated.
Similar to shoppers, producers aren’t at all times right about what meals labels imply, she stated, and the CNG helps give each side that assurance. As somebody on each side, Duensing is glad that each her household and her clients can really feel assured in her meals.
“It’s how we wish to reside,” she stated. “It’s not solely how we wish to put our merchandise on the market… that is how we wish to eat. We wish to eat chemical-free. We wish to reside chemical-free.”
This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an impartial reporting community based mostly on the College of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with main funding from the Walton Household Basis.
