Fresh, local, organic food FAQs
Organic food and farming
What is organic farming?
What is organic food?
How does a farm become certified organic?
Can a farm be “organic” without being certified?
Is organic farming the same as sustainable agriculture?
What is a family farm?
Why is organic food more expensive?
Is organic food better for your health?
Does organic food taste better?
How big is the organic food market?
What are heirloom vegetables?
What is local food?
What is Slow Food?
Community-supported Agriculture (CSA)
What is community-supported agriculture?
How do I benefit from CSA?
Why are shares paid in advance?
Why do members pick up their shares?
How is CSA different from co-ops?
Why should farmers need my support?
How does CSA work day-to-day?
Are CSA farms always organic?
How did CSA get started?
What about CSA in the winter?
Lakefield Organics CSA shares
What’s included in a weekly share?
How much does a share cost?
Is it certified organic?
Are the veggies sorted and washed?
How long is the share season?
Why aren’t there different share sizes?
Does a share include everything available that week?
Can I substitute items?
What if I’m not satisfied with my shares?
Where are shares picked up?
What if I miss a pick-up?
Is home delivery available?
Can I organize a pickup location near me?
Life on a tiny farm
What are the hours like?
Is the work repetitive and boring?
Food safety, food security
What are GMOs and genetically engineered crops?
What is food irradiation?
What are pharmacrops?
Who can you trust?
Organic food and farming
What is organic farming?
Organic farming is basically farming without agrichemicals. In North America, almost all of our fruits and vegetables are produced using synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and other, mostly toxic and petroleum-based chemicals, while animals are dosed with antibiotics and hormones. Genetic engineering is also heavily used, especially with base food ingredients like corn, wheat, soy and canola. The whole process is something like putting an athlete on maximum steroids: it seems to produce amazing results, it may not be bad, but at the very least, it doesn’t sound too good for the long run! The organic approach instead follows as closely as possible the way things grow naturally, in the wild, and builds on the farming methods developed over thousands of years, before the rise of chemical agriculture over the last few decades ago.
What is organic food?
Organic food has two common meanings. In everyday conversation, people usually mean foods produced without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified organisms. In some countries, including Canada, the US and in the European Union, organic is also a legal term that means certified organic, and the word can only be used for products that comply with organic standards—in other words, you have to be certified organic to call your self or your products organic.
NOTE: Government regulation of organic food is meant to protect consumers, by ensuring that the organic label has a clear and enforceable meaning. Unfortunately, you have to know the regulations (as they say, rules are made to be broken). Substances and practices that may not meet your idea of natural and organic can, and have been, allowed in the production of food labeled organic. In the end, it is really up to you to determine what food you consider to be organic: do you trust the labels, or do you check out your food sources for yourself?
How does a farm become certified organic?
Here’s a summary of what has to be done to gain certification in Canada (it’s pretty much the same in the US, and overall standards are similar elsewhere as well):
1. Study the organic standards, which cover in very specific detail what is and is not allowed, and what’s recommended, for every aspect of farming: the buildings, the water supply, the soil, equipment, sanitation practices, seeds and other input products, growing methods, harvest and storage, transportation to market, everything!
2. Make changes: Make sure the farm facilities and production plans comply with the standards by making whatever changes are necessary.
3. Apply (paperwork): Fill out many pages of forms detailing farm history and current set-up: past field use from years back, construction of buildings, wells, livestock, and so forth. Also, fill out annual production plan forms: field maps with location of intended crops and future crop rotation, certified seed sources, fertilization methods, pest control, irrigation, harvest and storage, etc (a new plan is filed every year).
5. Get inspected: Undergo an on-farm interview and inspection. The interview is basically an oral exam to make sure you’re entirely clear on the organic standards in practical application. The inspection is a physical tour of the farm. The inspector is an independent, third-party agent, not an employee of the certification body. There is an inspection every year, and the possibility of surprise inspections.
6. Pay the annual inspection/certification fee (currently starting at around $500 each year for a very small farm).
Certified farms also have to maintain written, day-to-day farming and marketing records, with descriptions and dates of plowing and planting, soil and crop monitoring, applications of compost and any other inputs, harvest, and so forth. Product labels and sales receipts for all farming inputs have to be saved. Complaints have to be filed. Records have to be kept up-to-date and available for inspection at any time.
Can a farm be “organic” without being certified?
That depends on where you live, and how you define organic! In some countries, like Canada, the US and in the European Union, organic food is regulated by law. In countries where organic is not a legal term, it’s simply a popular term that usually means “naturally grown”—if you grow veggies without chemicals, you can call them organic, and you’d be fine both legally, and by many people’s understanding.
When it comes to buying organic food through from a farm stand or CSA service, at a market or in a store, you make the decision whether to trust the seller’s claim. You may be comfortable only buying certified organic food, but to be realistic, a certified farm could break the rules, and a non-certified farm can certainly produce quality, naturally grown produce that fully complies with organic standards. Also, while it’s good to have a clear standard, some critics are concerned that large corporations will steadily water down the meaning of organic by pushing for changes in the rules. Already, exceptions have been made, for example, a major US chicken producer was given an exemption allowing them to use non-organic feed, without losing organic status.
NOTE: In Canada, the federal government organic certification program took effect in June, 2009. After that date, only farms that have been certified are legally allowed to call their products organic. However, enforcing this federal legislation is at the discretion of each province. So far, Ontario has not regulated organic products that are produced and sold within the province. Until that happens, producers operating within Ontario can still call non-certified products organic, because certification is not enforced. In several other provinces, all organic products must now be certified.
Is organic farming the same as sustainable agriculture?
No. Sustainability is a popular but loosely defined term. Broadly speaking, it refers to the ability of a business or production method to be carried on indefinitely, as opposed to requiring resources that will eventually run out.
- A farm that relies heavily on fossil fuel products, like gas and synthetic fertilizer, would not be considered too sustainable, because we seem to be running out of oil.
- A farm that concentrates thousands of animals in one location, thereby generating huge, toxic amounts of animal waste pollutants that can’t be easily disposed of, would not be considered too sustainable, because it clearly can’t keep that up forever.
- A farm that uses only organic fertilizers, could still need to import its fertilizer, use lots of gas for machinery, and so forth, and therefore couldn’t be considered too sustainable, either. Even fertilizing with manure from on-farm animals may not be particularly sustainable if much of the livestock feed is purchased.
What is a family farm?
Family farm usually refers to an independently-owned farming operation, as opposed to a farm owned by a big corporation. In everyday conversation, it usually has a more romantic and involved meaning, that looks back a few decades to when most food was produced by millions of relatively small, independent farms. This idealized view sees family farms as kinder, gentler, better way of farming and producing food than our modern industrial agriculture.
A few decades ago, farms were full-time businesses, passed down from generation to generation within individual families. The old style family farm being fondly remembered was diversified and to quite a degree self-sufficient: it sold a variety of items (livestock, vegetables, grain, dairy, eggs) rather than a lot of one thing, it grew the food for its own people and farm animals, and it owned its own land and equipment.
While not all farms were like that, family farms in general have been literally almost wiped out in the last 50 years. The high cost of keeping up with agricultural technology, combined with the mysteriously low, almost flat returns on the massive increases in production that technology brought, made farming an economic loser. Millions of farms in Canada and the US went out of business, and the majority of existing independent farms today get a significant portion of their income from outside jobs (and, in the US, from government farm subsidies).
The “modern” family farm, if it is still producing for the market, is usually also quite heavily in debt, for farm machinery, fertilizer and other agrichemicals, and the like, since “keeping up” technologically in farming has been very expensive. It may also be working closely with, possibly under contract to, big food manufacturers.
So, when anyone, including environmentalists and local food advocates, refers to the “family farm,” you have to think hard about what exactly they mean.
Why is organic food more expensive?
Organic food prices are usually compared to regular supermarket veggie prices. The two products are quite different. Supermarket veggies are mostly cheap, mass-produced goods, grown on huge commercial farms, under a full program of fertilizers, pesticides and other toxic chemicals. Giant, specialized machines are used to automate planting, harvesting, processing and packaging. In order to deliver “perfect”-looking crops that can be shipped hundreds or thousands of miles, there are only a very few varieties, specially bred for appearance and handling. Chemical sprays and other treatments are used to artificially ripen, improve color, and preserve during shipping, and much refrigeration is involved. In the end, a layer of toxic residue has to be washed off before eating! In a similar way, meat, dairy and eggs are produced in factory-like conditions, with animals fed preventive drugs and confined in cramped quarters. By contrast, fresh, local, organic veggies are selected for taste and variety, grown naturally for full nutritional value, picked at the peak of ripeness, and sold poison-free. Price reflects the difference between assembly-line produce and naturally produced products.
Is organic food better for your health?
Probably. Fresh, locally grown, organic fruit and vegetables are the best quality foods available, and science and common sense agree that eating lots of quality vegetables is the best thing for your health. There are lots of different reasons. Organic veggies are grown without poisonous chemicals. They develop normally to a natural ripeness, not mutated by artificial growing conditions. They are free from foreign DNA (no engineered-in bits taken from viruses, animals, fish).
It gets more complicated when it comes to organic processed food, and organic “fresh” food that comes from a long distance away. Simply relying on the label on the package to tell you that a product is “organic” is no guarantee of it being “better”. Is it better to eat a bag of “organic” potato chips, or a non-organic potato? What does “made from organic ingredients” mean, exactly? And so forth.
In the end, food quality can’t be assured just by looking for an “organic” stamp. To be able to choose the highest quality food, you need to have a pretty good idea of where it’s coming from, what’s in it, and how it was produced.
Does organic food taste better?
Being “organic” isn’t a guarantee of better taste. Veggie quality depends on the variety, good growing conditions, harvesting at the ideal time, and, above all, freshness. Absolutely fresh, well-grown veggies will always taste best!
How big is the organic food market?
Organic food accounts for 1-2% of total food sales worldwide. It’s a tiny chunk of the overall market, but organics is also by far the fastest growing area of the food industry, as it has been for over a decade, both in developed and developing nations. Here’s a mixed selection of organics statistics:
- World organic food sales were US$23 billion in 2002.[1]
- The world organic market has been growing by 20% a year since the early 1990s, with future growth estimates ranging from 10-50% annually depending on the country.
- In the US:
- “Organic products are now available in nearly 20,000 natural food stores and 73 percent of conventional grocery stores, and account for approximately 1-2 percent of total food sales in the U.S.”- Feb 2003 [2]
- Two-thirds of organic milk and cream and half of organic cheese and yogurt are sold through conventional supermarkets.[3]
- In Germany: Baby food is almost exclusively organic, and over 30% of bread baked in Munich is organic.
- In Italy: Existing legislation calls for all school lunches to be organic by 2005.
What are heirloom vegetables?
Heirlooms are particular varieties of vegetables that were originally passed down within a family or in a local area for several generations. Heirloom seed is different from almost all of the seed commercially available today. The seed you find in catalogs and from seed packet racks in stores are mostly hybrids, which means they are produced by artificially cross-pollinating two different varieties. The seeds from these hybrid plants cannot be saved for replanting, because they are either sterile or won’t produce the same plant that they came from. (Yep, you cannot take the seed from, say, a typical supermarket tomato and grow it to produce more of those tomatoes: either the seed won’t germinate, or the resulting plant will have reverted to some version of the parent varieties it came from.) With hybrids, you have to buy new seed every year. Heirloom seed is different because it comes from a single, open-pollinated (as opposed to artificially cross-pollinated) variety; when planted, it will produce more of the same. Before the age of hybrids, farmers saved their seed from the healthiest, best-producing individual plants of the tastiest, hardiest varieties. In this way, heirloom seed also adapted to local conditions. Today, with hybrids that are bred not for local or regional conditions and unique qualities, but for uniform mechanical harvesting, the ability to hold up to long-distance shipping, or for mass marketing to gardeners and growers in many different areas, heirlooms represent individuality and diversity. Heirlooms today are often traded over long distances, so in many cases, the original regional aspect has changed, but they’re still…cool!
What is local food?
Local food is food that is locally grown, as opposed to shipped in from far away. There is no specific distance that defines “local”, but it usually means the immediate region, from a few kilometers to a couple of hundred kilometers. The term local food represents a buying decision that’s associated with environmental, health and social values. The general arguments for local food are: long-distance food wastes energy and creates pollution, whereas local does not; local is much fresher; and buying locally supports rural communities and promotes a balanced social infrastructure, rather than accelerating the move into cities and suburbs. Local food is not necessarily organic, but often comes from smaller, independent farms that do not use industrial farming methods, and sell directly to the public through on-farm stands and at farmers’ markets (food from a wholesale farm very near to you may still travel hundreds of miles through the distribution chain before reaching your neighborhood supermarket or vegetable store).
What is Slow Food
Slow Food is an international organization that promotes food produced in the region where it is consumed. It was started in Italy in 1986, and now has chapters in over 100 countries. Basically, this is the opposite of “fast food”. The organization/movement is concerned with local heirloom varieties of plants and animals.
Community-supported Agriculture (CSA)
What is community-supported agriculture?
Community-supported agriculture is a direct partnership between food buyers and farmers. CSA members purchase advance shares of a farm’s annual harvest. In this way, they become investors and share some of the risk of how the season turns out. Paying for a season in advance supports farmers in two ways:
- it provides capital early in the season, when it’s most needed for things like seeds and equipment.
- it guarantees sales, freeing the farmer to concentrate on growing, instead of marketing and selling. Consumers benefit by ensuring that a supply of high-quality, fresh, local food is always available.
It’s a classic win-win situation, provided that the farmer receives a realistic amount to get the job done, and that shareholders are satisfied with the results. Farmers get to focus on maintaining healthy land and improving crops, and shareholders get a great deal on tasty, nutritious, garden-fresh veggies, year after year!
How do I benefit from CSA?
- You know where your food comes from and how it was produced.
- You get high quality fresh produce (often organic, depending on the farm), at an affordable price.
- You make a significant contribution to improving the environment, by buying into agriculture that makes a minimum use of outside resource (and by not buying into agriculture that relies on large amounts of energy and synthetic chemicals).
- You support your local economy, by buying your food from a business that in turn spends within the same region and community.
- You improve your food security by directly participating in your food’s production.
Why are shares paid in advance?
Advance payment allows the farmer to concentrate more on growing, by spending less time on marketing and financing. Today, local farmers compete directly against mass-produced, chemically-grown “cheap food”, and heavily advertised food products and outlets. CSA guarantees sales, and provides cash at the beginning of the season when it’s most needed for purchasing seeds and maintaining equipment. Partnering with local farmers through CSA helps to level the playing field, and ensure your own supply of quality fresh food from year to year.
Why do members pick up their shares?
By picking up shares, CSA members share the cost of distribution, freeing up the farmer to concentrate on growing quality food. Distribution, even on a small scale, is always a costly and time-consuming aspect of farming. Crops have to be packaged for transport and kept cool along the way. Vehicles have to be maintained, drivers organized, and schedules coordinated and followed. With mass-produced produce, distribution is a whole separate, complex system of vehicles, storage facilities, and computerized tracking. All of this is paid for from your food dollar, and the only way food can be offered at today’s prices is if the food itself starts out costing very little. That’s why regular commercial farmers today get only about 10-20% of your every food dollar. In turn, they have to produce cheap food. Local food through CSA is certainly fresher, usually tastier, and probably better for your health, because it is grown under better conditions, but growing this way costs more. To keep the final food price affordable, with supermarket produce as the pricing standard, savings must be made in other areas than growing. By helping with distribution, the CSA shareholder helps reduce the cost of transport, thereby keeping the overall food cost down, and allowing farming resources to be focused on growing. Working out really effective CSA distribution is a great challenge, and we’re always looking for ways to improve every detail. If you have ideas, comments or want to help, we’d love to hear from you.
How is CSA different from co-ops?
A cooperative is usually a group of people who get together to pool their purchasing power or other resources, to provide themselves with products or services. The co-op members therefore own and operate their venture. In CSA, the farmer usually maintains an independent business, while members share limited risk (the results of the harvest), for a limited period (generally, a year at a time). Some CSA farms do operate as co-ops, with members actually investing in the land, setting budgets, and participating in the day-to-day operations, but this is not the usual CSA model. Small farm co-ops also exist, where farmers get together to share costs or pool product. Farm co-ops can be great for improving efficiency and consumer convenience, but they also add a middleman layer that is not present in the direct farmer-member CSA relationship.
Why should farmers need my support?
CSA is NOT some sort of charity or “save the farmer” effort, it is a simple supply-and-demand business partnership to ensure food security for people who want food of a certain quality at an affordable price, and can’t get it otherwise. The simple, kind of sad truth is that it has become extremely difficult for a small farmer to survive by producing fresh, locally-grown food as a full-time occupation. Over the last few decades, farming has become Big Business. Most “fresh” food is mass-produced hundreds or thousands of miles away, in factory-like conditions, with huge machines or lots of low-cost labor, tons of toxic chemicals, heavy reliance on hybrid plant breeding (including gentically modified seed), and all sorts of other unnatural practices that produce cheap, durable, standardized food products. IF you’d rather eat fresh, tasty, nutritious, locally-grown food, you can’t just walk into your local supermarket, you have to do something about it, like work with your local small farmers, who are essentially competing directly with huge agribusiness players. Consider that CSA prices are usually below supermarket prices for organics, and often even non-organic. Up
How does CSA work day-to-day?
Each CSA farm has its own particular version of the CSA approach, but the basics are always pretty much the same. As a subscriber, you buy a share of the farm’s annual production, paying in advance. The farmer applies that early revenue to purchasing seed and other supplies needed at the start of the growing season. As the season gets underway, you receive farming progress reports, usually by printed or email newsletter: weather conditions, how particular crops are doing, and other farm news. When harvesting begins, each week your farmer totals everything up and divides it into equal portions, ready for pick-up. Pick-ups are usually available for several hours on a fixed day each week, either at the farm, or at a drop-off location near you. Shares may be individually pre-packed, or you may have to pick the items from bins, following a sign that tells you how much of each to take that week. Drop-off sites are often hosted by a volunteer CSA member. At the end of the season, many CSAs have a wrap-up on-farm open house!
Are CSA farms always organic?
Not necessarily, but almost always. CSA farms are usually smaller, family-run farms, growing directly for the fresh market, which means they don’t use the chemical programs and assembly-line farming techniques of the huge “corporate” growers. Some are certified, others grow naturally, or with a minimum of synthetic inputs. Also, most people who subscribe to CSA farms are looking for naturally-grown foods. Check the details before subscribing to a particular CSA!
How did CSA get started?
Community-supported agriculture started in the 1960s, in Japan, where many people were concerned by the effect of industrial practices and pollution on food supplies and life in general. Currently, millions of people in Japan participate in CSA, which is called teikei (”food with the farmer’s face on it”). CSA farms are established in Europe, the USA, and Canada. In North America, while exact figures are hard to come by, there are estimated to be upwards of 1,000 CSA farms, with most in the 50-150 member range. The numbers are growing.
What about CSA in the winter?
CSA farms usually operate during the local growing season, and that lasts for less than half the year in Canada and the northern US. CSA can work year-round in colder climates, without resorting to expensive fully-heated greenhouses, by combining late fall and early spring crops, with cool storage of long-keeping crops like root vegetables, cabbage, carrots. CSA members also have to adjust to a seasonal diet, rather than relying on having most vegetables available all year, as they are in supermarkets. This was how most of us ate just a few decades ago – in season. We know of at least a two northern year-round CSA projects currently running, and we intend eventually to become one as well.
Lakefield Organics CSA shares
What’s included in a weekly share?
Typically, there are 10-15 different items in each weekly share. Selection and quantity vary over the growing season, with cool-season crops like peas, spinach, lettuce and mesclun arriving first. During summer harvest days (Jul-Sep), shares normally include most or all of the above, plus tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, zucchini and other summer squash, beets, Swiss chard, peppers, basil and other herbs, beans, green onions, and much more, plus unusual, specialty items (kohlrabi, leek, tomatillos, etc) and cut flowers. Fall crops (Sep-Oct) include veggies that take the full season to grow, like pumpkins and winter squash, and more cool-season and hardy veggies, like spinach and kale.
How much does a share cost?
For 2009, a Harvest Share is $30 per week for the 18-week season ($540 total). Payment is in advance; cheques are payable to Lakefield Organics. There are a limited number of shares available, which is based on the year’s production plan (how much we plan to grow).
Is it certified organic?
Lakefield Organics is in the process of being certified organic to federal government standard, by Organic Crop Producers & Processors (OCPP). OCPP is accredited by the Canadian government, and the certification is recognized by the US, the EU, Japan and elsewhere.
Are the veggies sorted and washed?
Yes, as necessary. Weekly shares contain only top quality veggies. Each week, crops are selected for peak readiness, hand-harvested, and sorted for size and quality. We do not include damaged or less-than-absolutely-fresh veggies. Salad and cooking greens, like lettuce and spinach, are rinsed if necessary and bagged. Root crops – carrots, beets, potatoes, etc – are rinsed only if necessary (particularly, after a wet harvest!) and bunched.
How long is the share season?
Our main summer harvest lasts from about mid-June, to mid-October. For 2009, we offer 18 consecutive weekly shares in this period.
Why aren’t there different share sizes?
For 2009, we offer a single share size, which we call a Harvest Share. In past years, we’ve offered different sizes, for example, a Single Share and a Family Share. Based on our experience, almost all members select a share for 2-4 people, so it’s simpler and more efficient to offer that size only. But we are always open to suggestions and special share arrangements!
Does a share include everything available that week?
Not necessarily. We try to keep shares practical and interesting, and to this end, some crops may not be included every week. Some examples of when an available crop may be excluded one week:
- Swiss chard and beet greens are both available. As they are somewhat similar greens, we may include one but not both in any one week.
- Six varieties of summer squash are available. Not every variety will be included every week.
- Beets are available from June right through the season. Since most people don’t seem to eat beets every week, we may skip beets for a week or two after including them for two or three weeks.
- We grow nearly a dozen herbs, and don’t include all of them every week.
That said, CSA shares are our first priority: we plan and grow for CSA. Farmers’ market and farm stand sales come after shares. ALL of the first harvests of new crops are included in shares first. NOTHING is excluded from shares in order to sell. In fact, many items over the season are only available in shares, they’re not on sale. Staple items, like mesclun/salad mix, carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes and so forth are included every week they’re available. Members can also drop by the farm to pick their own for some items, like herbs and cut flowers.
Can I substitute items?
Share selection is set by the Farm every week based on the harvest. We don’t normally make substitutions, we’re always willing to work with you – just check with us before the season starts!
What if I’m not satisfied with my shares?
Since there are no refunds, picking a CSA farm carefully is important to ensure satisfaction. CSA is an annual partnership between farmer and consumer, where the CSA member invests in that year’s harvest. To know what you’re investing in, you should be aware of what crops are being grown and what quantities are likely in each share, also, you should be confident in the farmer’s ability to produce. There is always the risk of poor harvests, primarily due to the weather. However, with the wide range of crops and plantings involved in a CSA crop plan, barring a major disaster, the risk of a completely terrible season is small. Normally, with varying conditions from year to year, some crops are earlier or later, and quantities vary. While each year is usually somewhat different, the overall quantity and selection should balance out – for example, cooler, wetter conditions favor certain crops, and aren’t as good for others, so in a cooler year, there may be less of some items, balanced by more of others!
Where and when are shares picked up?
You can pick up directly from the Farm. There will also be other pick-up locations, also to be determined in the spring. Pick-up days and times will also be determined later in the spring, in order to accommodate all members.
What if I miss a pick-up?
If you pick up at the Farm, we may be able to hold your share for a day or so, just let us know in advance. Otherwise, we’ll donate your share to someone, or compost it and return it to the earth! If you’re going away, you can have your share picked up by someone else! In any case, let us know ahead of time if you anticipate a problem or you won’t be around, and we’ll work things out!
Is home delivery available?
Based on demand, we are offering home delivery to certain locations, at a cost of $5 per week ($90 for the season). More details will be available late in the spring.
Can I organize a pick-up location near me?
If you’d like to host a pick-up location, please get in touch us as early as possible!
Life on a tiny farm
What are the hours like?
All types of farming involve “irregular” and often “long” hours, compared to a 9-to-5, 5 days a week standard. It is no different on the small farm, and more so because human labor is often (if not usually) relied on more than tractors and other machinery. Weather conditions factor into this in a big way. Many farm activities are weather-dependent, so you have to be ready to take advantage of favorable conditions and work around unfavorable ones, as they happen! For example, transplanting crops from the greenhouse to the field is ideally done in cloudy weather to minimize shock, so you may wait for a cloudy day to schedule the work. Harvesting most crops is best in cooler conditions: in a heat wave, for example, starting at first light, working till mid-morning, then picking up again from late afternoon till dark may be required. There are many examples of weather-related scheduling, all through the year: rain, frost, drought, heat waves, high winds, severe storms all largely determine what can and has to be done each day and over each week and month. Also, the more people at work, the faster things go, so a one-farmer job that takes a whole day can be done in a couple of hours with enough help. And then, the number of people in the end determines the length of the workday. Often, small farms are one- or two-person operations where 60-80+ hours a week is not uncommon for a single farmer, but with a good crew, even more can be done in a lot less time.
All of this applies to fairly high production small farms. Some market growers plant in spring, harvest one day a week and attend a farmers’ market, and take care of everything else in spare time, while holding down another job. This works as well, while limiting the production possibilities.
Is the work repetitive and boring?
This is a question that lurks somewhere in everyone’s mind, but one that they might not ask up front when considering work on a small farm. Of course, there is no yes-or-no answer, it does depend on the person and their reasons and motivation.
Farming involves many simple tasks, put together over the growing season in one ultimately complex process. For example, in organic farming, weed control is a major consideration, and hand weeding can indeed be time-consuming and tedious. Harvest in a market garden requires similar tasks every week: picking peas and beans can be monotonous and eat up the hours. There are many other routines in veggie farming, and even more when livestock is involved.
Balancing this out—there is always a balance to be found—is the simple, deep satisfaction of watching the season unfold, becoming used to your role in a process that is largely at the whim of Nature and the elements, eating food you helped to grow, and absorbing the positive energy that comes from happy customers. These are all real, tangible returns that pay off in a more calm and adjusted approach to life, no exaggeration!
Another part of the balance equation is the working conditions. For the intern or part-time worker, farm conditions must be a solid fit. This requires a good two-way relationship with the farmer, an easy-going atmosphere, clearly defined tasks and schedules, and the opportunity to work at many different things. And if you get along with the people you’re working alongside, whether it’s the farmer alone or a small crew, “tedious” farmwork can be the backdrop for some of the most enjoyable time spent with others.
Food safety, food security
What are GMOs and genetically-engineered crops?
GMO stands for genetically modified organism. Genetic engineering is about changing the blueprint (DNA) in living organisms that determines their growth and behaviour. Scientists can now isolate and combine bits of DNA (genes) from plants, animals, insects, bacteria, and viruses, to create “modified” new life forms.
It gets pretty weird. Today, there are genetically modified varieties of veggies and grain that include DNA from insects and bacteria. A gene from a cold water fish has been spliced into a plant’s DNA to create a more cold-hardy plant. Some crops have been modified to resist herbicides and to produce their own pesticides. One Quebec company has put spider DNA into goats to create spider goats whose milk can can be used to make silk. Now, the US seems about to approve rice modified with human DNA that will manufacture pharmaceutical drugs for humans. Many such rather unsettling projects exist or are underway.
Depending on who you listen to, and what you choose to believe, genetic engineering is simply improving on natural processes, OR, it is creating mutant life forms with unknown impacts and side effects. Critics often call GM products Frankenfood. No one really has a clue. In Canada and the US, GM foods don’t have to labelled. Most processed food today contains GM ingredients, and varieties of GM vegetables are sold in stores. Certified organic growers cannot use GMOs.
What is food irradiation?
Food irradiation is treating food with radiation to sterilize it, in the same way surgical instruments are sterilized. Three types of radiation can be used: gamma rays from radioactive substances like cobalt; electron beams from devices similar to that in regular TV picture tubes; and X-rays, same idea as in hospitals. Radiation is most effective on insects and bacteria, less so on viruses, and not on prions (source of mad cow disease). The higher the level of radiation, the more it can kill. The killing effect involves damaging the DNA in any living organisms present in the target. Food tastes are altered, and some changes to other food properties have been noted, although it is reported that there is no significant change in “overall food value”. Currently, irradiation is usually performed on packaged food, and effects on most packaging material are unknown. Irradiation is promoted to the public primarily as a way to reduce risk of contaminated food (eg. e coli, salmonella). Irradiation can also increase shelf life, and save pest-infested crops by cleaning them up for market. Certified organic food cannot be irradiated.
What are pharmacrops?
Pharmacrops, also known as biopharm crops, are plants that have been genetically engineered to produce drugs and industrial chemicals: pharmaceuticals, blood proteins, animal vaccines, industrial enzymes, and so on. Various agriculture crops, everything from maize to tomatoes, are being used. While no commercial products are known to be on the market so far, pharmacrop regulation in Canada and the US is loose, and there are already many secret test growing sites in both countries. You may have driven by a field of pharmacrops without knowing it!
Who can you trust about food quality?
The “bigger” organic food gets (it continues to expand annually by at least 10 times the rate of the overall food industry, as it has done for the past 20 years), the faster and more radically it changes. Three things are happening, none of them surprising.
- Organic food is getting less fresh: processed food is the dominant organic category (your organic pasta with bottled organic tomato sauce), and fresh fruits and vegetables are coming from a long way away, often the same hundreds or thousands of miles regular supermarket food travels, especially during winter and off-season months.
- Organic food is getting increasingly regulated. In North America, the US made organic food a matter of law in 2002, and Canada in 2009. The ability to fill out paperwork and read fine print has become a required organic farming skill (and that stuff tends to trickle down to the consumer, as in, having to read the fine print in your food labels).
- Big corporate control is quickly and not so quietly becoming a major factor in what you have available as, and the messages you hear about, organic food. This extends not only to the more obvious prepared products, but also to mass-produced fresh produce. Check this chart, Corporate Ownership of Organic Food Companies, to get an idea of what’s going on.
Whether any of this is BAD, well, it’s really up to each of us to decide. It probably boils down to a single question: Who do YOU trust about the quality of your food?
