Aug 11, 2024

USDA program assists new organic growers

As the USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP) nears the 1.5-year mark of its five-year mission, participation in the $100 million initiative’s mentorship program continues to grow.

TOPP uses a variety of methods, including mentorship, workshops, webinars, technical assistance and field days, to help growers new to the organic fold learn how to satisfy the requirements in the three-year transition process from conventional farming to producing organic crops.

Once organic certification is granted, however, the need for assistance in organic growing practices and navigating the new organic marketplace continues, which is why the USDA chose to set a five-year timeline for TOPP.

“We wanted to make sure that the program supported not just the full three-year transition, but then time after growers have transitioned as well, just knowing that there are continued challenges and opportunities and need for information that growers and producers face once they have transitioned to organic,” said Jenny Lester Moffitt, USDA undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs.

TOPP, which began in October 2022, is part of the USDA’s Organic Transition Initiative, introduced in the summer of 2021. Meeting with organic industry segments, Moffitt said it was clear there was a need for comprehensive support for growers in answering numerous questions.

“Mentorships are really key,” Moffitt said. “The farmer-to-farmer information sharing across agriculture, whether it is organic or not organic, I think is really critical as well.”

There are 180 TOPP partners across the six U.S. regions, ranging from university Extension specialists, nonprofit agencies, farmer organizations and others. In TOPP’s first year, the partners worked with 11,000 farmers and ranchers at 165 events across the U.S., according to the USDA.

One of those partners, Farmshare Austin in Texas, has a five-month intensive training program called Farmer Starter. Graduates can establish a business by growing organic vegetables through Farmshare’s one-year farm incubator program, Cultivator.

The organization’s outreach focuses on the practical production and record-keeping skills needed to comply with the National Organic Program.

“Many of the growers we work with are already motivated to use organic growing practices in order to care for the ecosystem, but many are not sure about going the extra step of getting and maintaining certification,” said Michelle Akindiya, Farmshare Austin’s education and operations director.

A major concern from growers considering organic production, she said, is that recordkeeping requirements are too difficult.

“We make the argument that the kinds of records one needs to keep for compliance are the same that one needs to keep to run a profitable farm — that tracking production inputs and outputs and using that data to make decisions can make you a better farmer,” Akindiya said. “And we show them how to do it efficiently as a part of their day-to-day activities.”

TOPP provides an ability to educate not just producers, but the next generation of inspectors and others necessary to keep the National Organic Program running.

USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “talks a lot about workforce development, and we really do aim to integrate that into a lot of things we’re doing,” Moffitt said.

Moffitt said TOPP activities are available to any grower considering the organic segment, but a focus is on smaller growers who don’t have access to the same resources larger operations might possess. That includes underserved producers, such as those whose primary language isn’t English.

Online resources

The USDA’s TOPP website, organictransition.org, allows new growers to seek mentors, and vice versa. Dozens of events are searchable by region. Online resources for pest, disease and weed management, farm business management, organic processing and handling, soil and nutrient management and other topics are available.

The six regions tailor their own programs for what benefits growers in each area.

“There’s a key framework, but absolutely locally led solutions,” Moffitt said. “What is needed in the Northwest is going to be very different than what is needed in the Southeast, which will be very different than what’s needed … across the Plains.”

— Chris Koger, contributing writer