The overall organic market continues to grow, as demand increases for products, but US organic producers face a lack of domestically produced organic feed, said Nate Lewis, farm policy director with the Organic Trade Association (OTA).
“From the feed manufacturers perspective, for the person buying the grain, they’re seeing an inequity in growth of acres to the demand for [feed],” he told FeedNavigator. “The demand is growing faster than farmers in the US are converting to organic acres.”
The OTA is funding efforts to identify the many hurdles to increased organic production in different parts of the country, he said. These include the economic barrier farmers face during the transition to organic farming as production costs rise but commodity prices paid remain the same along with limited infrastructure and regional educational resources.
“What we take to heart is that the US is a grain exporting country and we’re importing organic grain,” added Lewis.
Feed sourcing
His views were echoed by members of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES).
“We are short on organic corn and soybean and grains for livestock feed,” Harriet Behar, senior organic specialist with MOSES told us. “That shortage is encouraging cheaper imports to come in and we’re not really happy about that.”
Importing organic feed can undercut domestic prices, and there are questions as to the production methods used, she said. “There are numerous brokers and feed people who say they are fine with domestic and would buy domestic if they could just get it,” she added.
Continuing challenges
Challenges for new organic farmers can vary by region, said Lewis. In the northeast, it may be harder for them to find harvest equipment or storage capacity, while in the Midwest they struggle with funding in the transition period.
When storage capacity is lacking, farmers may end up having to hold quantities of feed ingredients that are in contract until the buyer can take them, which can lead to cash flow problems, he said. And there are not always easily accessible organic grain mills or elevators in all parts of the country, which means that producers need to be able to market their own products.
“What we hear from a lot of regions, like the northern great plains, – they have the bins, they have the marketers, but they don’t have the technical skills,” he said. “It’s a different kind of farming. The term they’re saying is, ‘We need a coach – we need someone to help us.’”
Potential solutions
MOSES has been offering educational materials for farmers starting out in the organic sector or seeking to start the transition, said Behar. “We put on field days so people can come learn from successful organic farmers – farmers can talk about their own experience,” she added.
Organic farmers have developed practices over time to mitigate weeds or reduce disease challenges, she said. They do not have access to the same tools that conventional farmers do, and have to turn to management practices instead.
“It’s not a hard thing to do, it’s just a different way – different weed and pest management,” she said. “You have to learn all new varieties and find what works in your soil.”
Additionally, organic dairy and crop farmers have some technical assistance and financial cost share offered through the USDA NRCS EQIP conservation program for practices such as grazing, cover crops and forage improvement or on topics like fencing, said Behar.
Efforts also are being made to establish an organic checkoff program, which could be used to support organic extension agents, said Lewis. However, that likely will take several years to establish.
Ideas being pursued include ways to offer transitional premiums for farmers as they alter their production practices, he said. Or using multi-year contracts so grain producers are given a steady income during the transition in return for selling their grain to a specific company for a period after they are certified organic.
Other solutions include offering bridge loans to organic farmers who may experience cash flow problems, he added.
Non-GMO concerns
Another challenge that organic producers are starting to face is customer understanding of the difference in a product being non-GMO versus organic said Behar. Non-GMO production still allows growers to use conventional production techniques.
“People don’t understand that non-GMO doesn’t mean they didn’t use Roundup, it’s just that it’s tested free of GMO,” she said. “Whereas if it has an organic label, we have a law, we have a certification process, we have annual inspections– it’s not a market free-for-all in what the labels actually mean.”
The certification process means that a third-party reviewer assesses practices used and that products are trackable from store to the animal feed and back to the farm that grew the feed ingredients, she said. “We know where everything comes from it’s really kind of amazing,” she added.