Any Other Certified Growers Out There?

I have been certified organic for the past 6 years and wondered if there are others?

Good for you! I consider it every year but just about sell enough to cover the cost of certificaton so have not written that check yet...Last time I had the paperwork it was upwards of $300 here...
I am reconsidering as I have RR Tracks next to my garden that have been abandoned for decades... now a sight seeing line is about to come through on these tracks. I have petitioned my county officials to have the RR owners agree to NOT spary any herbicides near us. we are all in in agreement at this point, the owners have been cooperative ... but, I'm thinking an official certification would look good.
How much does it cost you, if you don't my asking?

About $300 per year.

Is there such a thing as an organic perrenial grower? I sell lots of them at the flea market. Or is this certification only for food producers? I do grow organic veggies but they are for my husband & I, my lot is too small for anything more.

Michele,

They certify the land not the crops so anything grown/raised on certified land is considered certified organic. There are many certified flower growers in the US.
You can contact the Ohio ecological food and Farm Assoc (OEFFA) http://www.OEFFA.com for more info

Thank you Ohiorganic, I have bookmarked it, But I doubt that I will be able to get my tiny city lot approved, I am going to look at a mini-farm in Wellington this weekend, 15 acres, 3 large barns, no house, septic approved, well water has been drilled. It was a pig farm. My husband wants more room to work on cars and plans to rent the rest of the barns for car storage. We have a friend that does this, it pays his Mortgage. I will grow perrenials & get a rabbit.

Why do you have to pay $300 a year to be certified organic? That's outrageous! How do they justify that? THEY should pay you. I wonder if it is that expensive here in TX. I've thought about doing it because I've been on my acre for 23 years now and have done it organically, but I refuse to pay that kind of extortion. Does anybody but me think that's a little bit too much?

Ohiorganic,

You might check your certification standards and the new USDA rules. Certification normally covers land, crop, and operator/operation so anything applied to land, crop, or water has to meet certification and materials standards. Maybe it's different with your outfit.

No I am not certified, too small now, but still serve on local and state-wide certification committees but no longer inspect.

Are you following Whole Foods sponsorship of a new Eco-label certification which looks beyond production practices to social and community economic issues? There is a meeting in July in Chicago (?) cosponsored by the IPM Institute, a one-day training to mostly IPM standards with some nominal organic input, so it looks.

Marsh,
Ohio doesn't test water but I suppose that will change after the USDA takes over. Haven't been following Whole Foods efforts and not interested in another marketing label.


Lantana,

Organic certification is a marketing tool and I pay to use the term organic for my farm as i make my living growing produce and chickens. I actually do get paid in that I can charge up to 5 times what the conventional guys can charge for the same product.
I would be suprised if you could qualify for certifacation even though you have been organic gardening for 23 years-I was suprised to find out when I first researched getting certified how many prohibited practises I did and how much I had to learn even though I had been gardening organically for about 20 years.
I would suspect TX charges between $300 and $500 per year for certifacation.
For many it is worth it-much like paying union dues or other association fees. It has been worth it for me in order to build up a customer base as the certifacation paper gives our farm a lot of credibility with the public.

Michele,
OEFFA will certify any size plot of land, though if one is not marketing their produce etc., I see absolutely no reason to go through certifacation.

Ohiorganic,

You may not be interested but you should be concerned perhaps in the ecolabel certification based on IPM principles and probably a Nutriclean sort of testing infield for residues. Whole Foods is the largest retailer (and so purchaser and shipper) of certified organic products in the US. Why the ecolabel?

ohiorganic, what were some of the things you were doing wrong?

Our fertility program was weak- didn't know much about cover cropping or proper rotations. Also didn't know anything about how to correct soils like using the above plus rock powders. I was using things that are not permitted but thought had to be organic. Basically I started out in ignorance even though I had been growing home gardens "organically" for years. over the past 7 years I have learned alot. I didn't realize that organic growing was based on healthy soils and achieving balance, instead I made the common mistake that organic just meant avoiding certain inputs. So certifacation changed my paradigm as to the process of growing from avoidence to achiving balance.