A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 1,2001
USD A Rep: Organic Rules To Be Practical
(Continued from Page A 1)
really lose the forest with too
much fixation on the leaves.”
Keating, an ag marketing spe
cialist with the NOP, said that
zero tolerance of synthetic mate
rials and genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) is not the
main thing consumers look for
in their food sources. They are
more interested in wholistic pro
duction practices such as crop
rotation, pasturing, and overall
animal welfare, he said.
Although the organic move
ment originally gained impetus
out of a concern for residual pes
ticides on food, that focus has
broadened into a much wider
concern for sustainable ag prac
tices, with the nation’s lawmak
ers increasingly joining that
movement, he said.
The role that consumers play
in organic policy should be a bal
anced one, according to Keat
ing.
“It’s important to respond to
consumer demand, but we don’t
want a standard written by con
sumers,” he said.
A finalized version of the
NOP’s organic rule will be re
leased in the spring.
Reporting on an October
meeting of the NOSB, Keating
noted the board’s recommenda
tion to require that cattle and
other ruminants have access to
pasture in order to be certified
organic, and the requirement
that poultry have access to the
outdoors be made more clear in
the final rule.
The NOSB is also moving
toward stricter standards for
compost production, Keating
said, with the final recommen
dations from a compost task
force expected in early spring.
With organic farming now be
coming subject to federal regula
tions, Leslie Zuck, executive
director of PCO and organic
farmer from Spring Mills, said
that the nonprofit certifying
agency is taking up the responsi
bility to insure that Pennsylva
nia producers have the
information and training they
need to continue operating
under the USDA’s national or
ganic program.
“We’re here to help you know
what works and what doesn’t
work,” she said.
PCO President Mike Brown
back pointed out vast changes in
the perceptions and practices of
organic agriculture since his
first attempts as an organic pro
ducer in 1982.
At that time, Brownback had
decided that “America wasn’t
ready for organic produce,” he
said, and switched back to a
conventional farrowing-to
finish hog operation. He contin
ued to question the system he
was using, however, and re
turned to organic vegetable pro
duction in 1991.
“I want to produce something
my customers want,” Brown
back said of his decision to
remain in organic agriculture. “I
want to feel good about what I
do, and I want to be rewarded at
the marketplace.”
“(Farming organically) has to
be more than a mental decision.
It has to be a philosophical deci
sion,” he said.
Brownback and his wife Terra
operate a 188-acre organic vege
table, hay, and grain farm near
Loysville, serving more than 200
community supported agricul
ture (CSA) customers as well as
supplying various wholesalers in
the area.
Other PCO representatives
and farm inspectors spoke to the
group on specific issues related
to making the transition to or
ganic farming and maintaining
certification.
One of the topics that raised
questions from the audience was
the definition of buffer zones re
quired to protect organically
certified fields from chemical
and pollen drift from neighbor
ing fields and lawns.
Several producers pointed out
instances in which the buffer
zones required by organic regu
lations were inadequate against
the drift of unwanted materials.
PCO farm inspector AI John
son emphasized the site-specific
nature of the rules, which take
into account a variety of factors
including lay of the land, width
of buffer zones, and the type of
vegetation in buffer zones.
“Every situation is different,”
Johnson said, with decisions
being made on a “case-by-case
basis.”
Johnson said he conducts
thorough farm inspections,
which include looking at the
practices used on neighboring
farms and yards. Ultimately, or
ganic producers “are under the
responsibility to minimize the
impact of the outside environ
ment.”
In some cases, that could
mean planting a thick stand of
fast-growing trees and/or widen
ing the buffer zones on field bor
ders, he said.
Johnson stressed the impor
tance of recordkeeping in ac
quiring and maintaining organic
certification as written proof of
the materials applied to fields.
“Recordkeeping makes the
difference between an organic
farmer and a certified organic
farmer,” he said.
Other speakers included
Alfred Walker, chairman of the
PCO materials board.
Walker, a working chemist,
focused on the formidable task
of interpreting federal lists of ac
cepted and prohibited materials,
including that compiled by the
Organic Materials Review Insti
tute (OMRI).
Walker said his job is to help
people understand the pitfalls
involved in material selection
and urged producers to be in
quisitive.
“Many people don’t think
they should ask questions when
they should,” he said.
Established in 1997, PCO ed
ucates and certifies organic
farmers within Pennsylvania,
with the goal of assuring the in
tegrity of organic products
grown and processed in the
state.
According to Zuck, PCO has
certified about 250 farms to
42 nd Anniversary 1959-2001
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Directions: Along Route 934, ii
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Phon eTIMOH
Hospital Exchange
(continued from Page A 1)
ing to Rogers.
This year’s sign-up list has
her expecting more than 10,000
cookies for the exchange, sched
uled Dec. 6-7 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
daily in the hospital lobby.
The cookie exchange works
like this: First, contributors
bring six dozen cookies. They
select m dozen of their choice
to take home with them. An
other 2»/z dozen are sold to raise
funds for the hospital, and the
additional dozen will be distrib
uted to the firefighters and
rescue workers at New York’s
Ground Zero.
“It’s a way almost everyone
can participate,” Rogers said of
helping the hospital and the
rescue workers with the
added bonus of attaining unique
varieties of cookies.
As founder and chairperson
of the annual cookie exchange,
Rogers constantly convinces
friends, neighbors, and family to
help with the event. This
Thanksgiving, she told 25
dinner guests that they must
each bring a batch of cookie
dough.
After the Thanksgiving feast,
the guests baked cookies in
Rogers’ kitchen until the
oven door fell off. Opening and
date, including about- 75 dairies
and a variety of vegetable, fruit,
and livestock operations.
Producers must show proof of
organic practices for three years
prior to becoming eligible for
certification. PCO also lists
“transitional” farms in their
directory.
For more information about
PCO and organic certification,
call (814) 364-1344 or e-mail
PaOrganic@aol.com.
HOSTETTER
iut electrical needs on the farmland re
Bellefrove, 4 Miles North of Annville,
ith of Rt. 22 ft Rt. 81 , - #
1896 mm7m
closing the oven door must have
Worn it out.
“After that, we had to take
the door oft and put on manu
ally whenever we removed
cookie sheets if that wasn’t a
job,” Rogers said.
Auxiliary member Phyllis
Wolf, Akron, is another staunch
cookie lover. For breakfast, she
has dunked a cookie in her
coffee every morning for the
past 47 years.
In addition to making cookies
for the hospital, Wolf also
spreads holiday joy by giving
cookies to residents in a local
nursing home.
For the past two years, the
cookie exchange has provided
$l,lOO annually for the hospital.
“We are fortunate to have a
hospital of this caliber in the
community. I get a thrill out of
making money for the hospital,”
Rogers said.
“You don’t need to sign up
ahead of time —just show up in
the hospital lobby the morning
of the exchange. Please bring
your recipe to share.”
The dozen of cookies to be
sent to Ground Zero should be
packaged separately and clearly
marked.
Both Rogers and Wolf make
at least seven different varieties
for Christmas holidays.
Rogers also loves new recipes.
Every year she makes at least
one new variety in addition to
traditional ones.
“Some years are winners, and
some are not,” Rogers said of
experimenting with unknown
recipes. This year she made two
new varieties that she considers
winners.
Check next week’s cookie fea
ture in Lancaster Farming for
her winning cookie recipes, plus
many more favorites from our
readers.
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