Keeping organic organic

Keeping organic organic

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
We have addressed the issue for years. How does an organic farmer keep his crop organic what with neighboring fields that are not organic possibly having pollen drift etc. This has happened in wheat fields time and time again and we have had problems selling to Japan and South Korea. I learned about an entrepreneurial approach to organic hay farming from hay farmer Donald Kaleta: “We used to farm but now I lease my  hayfields out to my neighbor who is an organic dairy farmer. We used to raise our own beef here on our property for a hobby farm and we did that for approximately 20 years but as we got out of the beef raising business on our own personal property our neighbor at the same time was raising Holstein dairy cows for grade A milk. He converted over to organic dairy farming and now I rent to my neighbor. He brings his equipment over here and makes the hay vendor then takes it to feed his livestock on his property. How does he manage the hay so they can guarantee it is organic? He had to go through a one-year certification process of making sure that his property and the adjoining properties were compliant to what they consider to be organic farming as far as pesticides, herbicides, and things like that. He wants to make sure that these components don’t get into the material that he lets his animals consume.
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