NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
March 5, 1998
The demand for organic products is up, and apparently climbing. Can conventional farmers successfully make the switch to organic?
It certainly can be done, says Brad Brummond, but it's a switch that requires a whole lot of commitment, preparation and patience.
Brummond is the North Dakota State University extension agent for Walsh county and has done a great deal of work with organic and sustainable farms. He is on the board of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society.
"If you're just going into organic farming with the idea of the price premiums, don't do it," says Brummond. "You have to be committed to sustainable agriculture—you have to have in your mind-set that you do believe that this is the right thing to do, and that you're going to make the sacrifices to get the system set up, then pay the price for the learning curve in order to make the system work."
Fred Kirschenmann, who operates a 3,100-acre organic/sustainable farm in Stutsman County, agrees that premiums for organically grown grains can be deceptive: they are generally quoted for cleaned, delivered grain that meets very high quality standards, and so can't really be compared with local grain elevator prices.
Kirschenmann has a number of ideas on making the switch to sustainable, which he has laid out in a publication called "Switching to A Sustainable System," published by the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. Among other things, Kirschenmann notes that switching from a monocropping system to a rotation involving four or five crops is likely to require outlays for additional equipment, storage and labor. He also points out that switching to sustainable in some sense means trading one set of costs for anotherchemical costs for manure handling outlays, for instance.
"The biggest hurdle that a conventional farmer has to make going into a sustainable or organic system," says Brummond, "is to stop thinking about one solution and start thinking about the interrelationshiip of every decision he makes. The reason successful organic producers are successful is because they realize every decision they make influences every other aspect of their operation, and will influence every other decision they make for the rest of that yearand sometimes for the next six or seven years."
Farmers who want to investigate sustainable or organic farming, says Brummond, might consider purchasing a publication titled "Transitions: A Farmer's Notebook on Sustainable Ag," available for $27.95, postage paid, from the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, 9824 79th St. S.E., Fullerton, ND 58441-9725. The Kirschenmann publication is included as a part of this larger book, but is also available separately for $7.50 from the NPSAS. For further information, call (701) 883-4304.
The "Transitions" book contains sections on research, cropping systems, weeds and other pests, soil building, livestock, conservation ideas, organic marketing and organic gardening.
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Source: Brad Brummond (701) 284-6248
Editor: Barry Brissman (701) 231-7866