On The Farm: Organic farmers gather

The path to healthy food systems is a convergence of many tracks beaten by Indigenous elders, ambitious innovators, eager youth, and patient visionaries. Midwest farmers are in the vanguard with gatherings such as the Marbleseed conference, the region’s premier event for organic agriculture, which took place in La Crosse, Wisconsin Feb, 22-24. Over 1,400 people gathered to share ideas and experience.

Three speakers at the general session gave new energy to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”

Ben Hartman of Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana related how he went from being a large-scale farmer barely making it with 60-hour workweeks to a comfortable lifestyle for four farmers growing on a third-acre.

One secret is a process developed in Japanese automobile factories which gradually and relentlessly eliminates nonproductive tools and activities; another is developing effective relationships with a small number of customers.

Jim Kleinschmit of Other Half Processing, centered in Minneapolis, said that almost half of meat animals is not eaten; his company and its partners “reuse” parts such as hides to make apparel.

Anna Hammond of Matriark Foods, located in New York City, described how her company partners with vegetable farms to take discards, surplus, and fresh-cut remnants and turn them into delicious broth. She calls this “upcycling” and has established a recognized standard and certification.

All three of these innovators rely on community partnerships, and their companies commit to assisting underserved and underrepresented communities.

The theme of community was continued in the two awards ceremonies for Farmer of the Year and Changemaker of the Year. The first honored Full Circle Community Farm, a five-person operation in northeast Wisconsin, and the second gave laurels to the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition, which brought together producers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois to furnish food boxes to tribal elders and their families.

In order to bring food to market, farmers need to have seeds, inputs, and tools; and nature constantly challenges their ingenuity. For organic farmers, regulations raise the bar, and that has been a major topic since the conference’s origin 35 years ago.

The most interesting session for me was on the many injustices suffered by indigenous tribes in the Midwest, given by Alex Bagwajinnini Kmett, an Ojibway speaker and teacher from the Red Lake Band, Eagle Clan, presently living and teaching with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Carlton County. Presenting 500 years of history, the speaker emphasized the sovereign rights of the tribes and made a case for reparations.

Marbleseed was started in 1989 by farmers seeking information and influence on a national organic standard which was being put forth in Congress and which became the National Organic Program. For years the organization was the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education, before changing its name in 2022. From the start, it has been dedicated to organic farmers at all levels of experience, as well as to marginalized farming groups. It was fitting that Kmett led the concluding conference session, a convergence of themes describing pathways to healthy food systems.

John Sanford “Sandy” Dugan and his wife are stewards of 54 acres in the Wrenshall area. Contact him at [email protected].