Farm Dreams

Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance

What can an organic certification do for me?

Hi,
We have a small CSA we run in South Mississippi. We are thinking about an organic certification. I was wondering if anyone has gone through this process and what doors did it open that you didn't have available before. I hope grow our farm and expand our CSA so eventually I don't have to work off farm.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on June 8, 2012 at 4:31pm

Hi Dustin!

Not having gone through the process myself, but doing the research that comes along with following through with our "farm dreams", please take my words with a grain of salt.

First things first is the market research. How much more can you get in your area for produce that is USDA certified organic? Are your customers wanting certified organic or are you looking to attract a different customer? Running the numbers first is the most important thing IMHO. If your market is not prepared to pay the extra for certified organic produce, will you be prepared to pay out continually for the certification without the reciprocity from the customers? Probably not a sustainable business model if the numbers don't flush out.

The ability to get more $ for your product is probably the biggest door that could open. But that's only if there is a customer base out there willing to pay more.

Have you checked out Natures Harmony farmcasts? I seem to recall they did one on certifications and their reasoning for the direction they took with their enterprises (Farmcast 15 maybe?).

Best of luck with your CSA and growing your farm! Hopefully someone with ACTUAL experience will chime in. But since this is a big topic in our household, transparency and connecting with the consumer vs. a govt. label that gives a false sense of security, I thought I would share (can you tell which side I'm on ).