“A shift is needed in how we invest in our agri-food sector to protect Canada’s domestic food supply, and ensure sufficient, appropriate, and accessible food for all,” the Canadian Organic Trade Association (COTA) said in an email to members on Monday.

COTA launched an online petition on April 2 sponsored by NDP MP Alistair MacGregor.

The petition says that Canadian consumers are driving strong demand for organic food, and asks the federal government to establish policies and programs to “encourage growth in the domestic supply of organic to meet the market opportunity,” and to “meaningfully recognize and incentivize sustainable resilient food systems, such as organic, across all departments that relate to Canadian food policy.”

The petition needs at least 500 signatures to be presented to the House of Commons. On Wednesday morning, petition e-4909 had 596 signatures.

In September, national organic groups launched a national organic action plan, which included a push for greater support through federal policy and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s work.

At the time, COTA executive director Tia Loftsgard said that while the federal government provides some funding for organic research and developing export strategies, overall support is “nominal.”

“We get lost in the fold,” she told the Manitoba Co-operator.

This petition supports some of the objectives behind the national organic plan, Loftsgard said in an email yesterday.
While petitions rarely result in immediate policy change, Loftsgard said they can be an effective tool to keep a topic front-of-mind in the House of Commons.

“This petition provides us another forum to talk about the needs of the organic sector with consumers and government and in the broader context of the Organic Action Plan,” Loftsgard said. “It also allows supporters of organic to add their voice to our advocacy efforts and to showcase to their Members of Parliament the broad support for organic across the nation.”

People can sign the petition until May 2.

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The marketing webinars, which are held bi-annually before spring seeding and after harvest, are designed to connect organic grain buyers and producers as well as provide information on pricing and contract information to each other.

Representatives answered from a list of questions handed out before the start of the webinar, which ranged from crop needs to dockage allowances to trucking to market predictions for 2023. The webinar was moderated by SaskOrganics board secretary and former Western Producer contributor Will Oddie. All 10 companies which took part in the webinar also sponsored the event.

Dwayne Lee, a Winnipeg-based general manager of Growers’ International Organic Sales Inc. (GIOSI), said wheat yields this year were much higher than in the drought year of 2021, but carryout will remain small.

“Supplies are maybe not largely different year-by-year,” he said. “The (organic) market feels generally pretty balanced…I would say it feels we’re a little bit rangebound. Not overly bearish, not overly bullish.”

Clarence Shwaluk, director of farm operations for Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, said “traceability”, which allows a grain buyer to know where the crop came from, is a strong selling feature. However, finding the right price for consumers can be challenging.

“We do try to follow commodity pricing. We do realize that being a specialty crop, we want to make sure that hemp returns a little bit more per acre than some of the more common crops that are grown out there organically,” he said. “We’re just about to finalize (our price), but we do need to realize our retailers are pushing back, as well.”

Mike Gallais, director of procurement and general manager of the Avena Foods pulse processing plant in Rowatt, Sask., believes there is “stability” in organic markets for 2023.

“In other years, some of our green pea customers would start taking peas in December or later, but they’ve been actually pulling since September. So we’re seeing good demand,” he said.

Ben Howrigan, a Vermont-based salesperson from F.W. Cobs Company, mentioned that rail movement has been slower than in previous years and echoed Gallais’ sentiment of stability despite a high U.S. dollar.

“It was kind of a mixed bag of a (soybean) crop in Saskatchewan. The demand still seems pretty high for corn and beans, which with the prices being where they are always creates a lot more demand for small grains to kind of supplement the rations as well. That’s why we’re seeing the barley and rye and demand for wheat as well,” Howrigan explained.

Alex Galarneau, owner and operator of Prairie Heritage Seeds (PHS) in Radville, Sask., said it was a “good crop year” in Western Canada with organic crop prices still high despite coming off last spring’s levels. He said 80 per cent of PHS’s grain is exported outside Canada with a low Canadian dollar keeping prices high. However, a high U.S. dollar is also raising freight costs, while supply chain concerns and labour shortages remain pertinent.

“Overall, we’re working through it and we’re finding a way,” Galarneau said. “My standard line is, ‘Put your sunglasses on, because the future’s still bright.’”

Other participants in the webinar were Carolyn Crawford of Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds located near Parkside, Sask., Bailey Ogilvie from Scoular Canada, Ken Richmond of O&T Farms based in Regina, Bill Longman from Sunrise Foods International and Kelly Cornelius from Grain Millers Inc.

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“The thing that’s been most surprising is seeing that the demand for organic continues, despite the income level people are at,” said Tia Loftsgard, executive director of the Canada Organic Trade Association.

“Organic continues to grow even in the face of crisis. It’s very much a resilient sector that continues to be able to pivot where we need to.”

The organic sector has faced the same hurdles as other parts of the agriculture industry but its customers have remained loyal.

“They might shop online more or maybe source from brands that they never knew about before,” said Loftsgard. “But nobody is saying that they’re going to give up organic. It’s their values that they’re shopping with.”

A recent survey by the association found that 77 per cent of respondents felt eating organic was more important than ever for the health of their families.

“Because this is a health issue, nobody is willing to compromise on something that they feel would strengthen their immune system, so they’re continuing to source organic options,” she said.

Organic produce grower Andrew Mans has seen demand increase.

And for the most part, organic producers have been able to keep up with that shift in demand.

“I don’t think the pandemic is a good thing, but for our business, it actually kind of has been a good thing,” said the owner of Mans Organics near Coaldale. “Sales have been really strong.”

The Mans family was at the end of their stored vegetable season when the pandemic started in March and they saw their first spike in demand. Since then, the greenhouse season has started, and the demand has only continued to grow — especially with the local fresh-food delivery services they partner with in Calgary.

“We’ve seen more than typical, more than average sales,” said Mans. “I’m predicting that demand is going to stay strong this summer. I’m feeling positive.”

Mans also works with a distributor that serves over 100 restaurants in Calgary, and with widespread closures, that market has been a challenge. But Mans adapted.

“We’ve just tweaked a few product lines to make them available for our other customers,” he said. “For instance, we grew cherry tomatoes on the vine for the restaurants, and when there wasn’t that demand, we just mixed up the colours and put them in a clamshell for the grocery store.

“Demand didn’t slow down — it just shifted where the produce was going.”

Market access a concern

It’s been a similar story on Steven Snider’s organic grain operation near Edberg.

“Self-isolation is spring seeding and harvest, so it’s been kind of normal for us,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not been a big adjustment. There was an increase in demand for milling wheat, but it was just a bump in the road — came and went.”

His malt barley contracts, on the other hand, have been a challenge because of fewer festivals and summer events.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty around pricing and what’s going to happen with production contracts.”

But he doesn’t think the organic sector is unique in that.

“There’s real fear on all sides,” he said. “Agriculture is on the knife’s edge right now where either we’re going to see an incredible drop in prices or an incredible rise. I think the volatility and uncertainty in the next six months is going to be tough to predict.

“We’re seeing that in the meat markets, we’re seeing that in the grain markets — we’re seeing that in all markets, and I don’t think organic is insulated from any of those challenges.”

Aside from a softening in prices, market access is an ongoing concern for organic exporters who are competing for containers.

“Market accessibility has probably been the biggest issue — sure, we can grow it, but once we do have the products grown, how do we get them to market? It’s a lot of logistics to work through,” said Loftsgard.

That’s made even trickier by the sector’s unique nature Organic audits through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have mostly shifted online, with plans for surprise audits later.

Beyond that, producers are relatively limited in the inputs and seed they can source, so while they’re dealing with more typical challenges like labour shortages and transportation, they also have to navigate the narrower organic supply chain.

“As organic operators, there are only so many options on what you can source, so if you’re used to sourcing from India and that’s no longer an option, what do you do?” said Loftsgard. “There goes your business model.”

Weathering the storm

By and large, though, the organic industry has risen to the challenge and is taking the positives out of the pandemic.

“I think many of us are seeing a real positive element coming out the other side where consumers understand the value of sourcing locally so that we’re not a food-dependent nation,” said Loftsgard. “As long as we can work out the infrastructure around getting to market, I think we’re going to see a rejuvenated move toward local organic consumption.”

Mans said he believes people have gained a greater appreciation for local food as a result of the pandemic and that could translate into more demand for local organics.

“What’s happened with the food supply chain interruptions is that more people have realized that there is something to buying local food,” he said.

“It just feels good to know that we’re producing food here locally, and we’re fairly confident that we’ll be able to get our produce out in some way, shape, or form.

“Everybody needs to eat, and it’s nice to know we can help fill that void.”

Snider agrees.

“I’ve been doing this for 34 years, and every year has its challenges — it just shifts and changes,” he said. “Organic aside, agriculture as a whole has always been forced to adapt. Every year, there’s something that’s throwing a curveball at agriculture.

“The pandemic is a new one — that one’s not on the list of ‘do you remember when.’ It’s a whole set of new equations, but we’re always weathering a storm. It’s kind of our normal.”

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The report pegs the value of the organic market (not counting alcohol sales) in Canada at $4.2 billion and says it grew by an average of 8.4 per cent annually from 2012 to 2017. In Alberta, growth was even higher — 10.2 per cent annually during that period — and the market generated sales of $676 million in 2017.

“Alberta stands out as an emerging leader in Canada’s organics sector,” says the report. “Albertans are most likely to be organic buyers and its organic market growth and share exceed the national average.”

However, the number of Alberta consumers buying organic food from mainstream retailers dropped during that time, from 82 per cent to 76 per cent. (In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, that number increased to 78 per cent from 61 per cent.)

“Similar to national trends, fruits and vegetable purchases in the Prairies were the largest organic category,” the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative said.

But Canada is still a big importer of organic products, with just over half of them coming from the U.S. On the other hand, 12 per cent of organic exports from Canada headed to the U.S.

The group credited three factors for driving growth of organic food and beverages: More investment in both transition programs and infrastructure, along with consumer education campaigns. In a news release, it cited new provincial legislation, which comes into effect in April, saying it will ensure “any product making an organic claim that is grown or sold within the province of Alberta meets the national (organic) standards.”

The study is based on an online consumer research study using the Ipsos i-Say panel, as well as data from Nielsen Company and Statistics Canada.

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Gerjan Snippe, managing director of Bio Brass, doesn’t wear his grey woolly goat socks anymore, but he carries them in his back pocket. They’re a reminder of why he got into organics in the first place — to produce affordable organic vegetables while making a profit, too.

“We brought our business to a different level,” said Snippe, who grows and markets organic vegetables in the central Netherlands. “The way we farm is the way we’re going to feed the world in the future.”

Snippe grew up on a dairy farm, but after deciding he didn’t like milking cows, he went to university to study agribusiness and then got involved in organic trading — a relatively new industry in the Netherlands at the time.

“In 1997, organics wasn’t nearly as popular as it is now, but what I discovered was that there was demand for this product,” he said.

So along with two of his brothers — one who liked milking cows, and another who grew arable crops — Snippe converted the family farm to a mixed organic operation.

In 2005, the brothers realized they needed to scale up if they wanted to remain competitive, especially on the fresh produce side. So they invited two other farmers to join them and created Bio Brass (named for the brassica crops they specialized in).

Their partnership is an unusual one. Instead of each farmer growing a wide variety of crops (the norm in organic vegetable farming), each has a different task. One may look after cauliflower and broccoli; another, the onions and potatoes. And every year, they rotate the crops from farm to farm. That way, they’re able to be more focused — and efficient.

“We started sharing our land,” said Snippe. “Someone else is using my land, and I’m using someone else’s land. And that’s not so easy. It takes a lot of trust.

“It’s a different way of farming, but it’s helped us to grow to a different level.”

Driving down costs

Through this unusual collaboration across 2,000 hectares, Snippe and his partners have been able to grow both Bio Brass’s operations and market share in the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K., and Scandinavia over the past decade.

And as their business grew, so too did their ability to connect directly with their customers.

“Once you have more volume, you’re able to skip the traders and get in contact with retailers yourself, and for us, that was very important,” said Snippe. “What we’re doing isn’t about organics. It’s mainly about connecting — seeing how we can build something new together to create value.”

The Bio Brass team got in touch with Tesco, a major retailer in the U.K. that wanted to position organics differently by making the price point a little more “realistic.”

“In the past, organics were quite expensive because we weren’t so efficient,” said Snippe. “But all of a sudden, they sold 40 per cent more organic produce because they offered it in a different way.”

And because of the volumes the partnership produced, Bio Brass was able to reinvest in the business and improve handling, packaging, and logistics.

“We started doing more and more of the processing of the products on the farms, which creates more value on the farms rather than having someone else in the supply chain making money out of our products,” said Snippe.

It not only shortened their supply chain, but reduced spoilage and cut costs by 60 to 70 per cent.

“It was an eye-opener — organic doesn’t need to be so expensive,” said Snippe. “Theoretically, we should be cheaper than conventional. We don’t have to put in chemicals or fertilizers. There’s still a good income to be made in organics.”

Own the story

But for Snippe, this success required a shift in mindset — from ‘fork to farm,’ rather than from ‘farm to fork.’

“As a farmer, you have to think from the shelf back to the farm, instead of from the farm to the shelf,” he said. “It’s more about thinking about who we’re producing the food for and how we can link that back to our farming practices.”

A key part of that is creating a connection with consumers, he added. Bio Brass has built a $30,000 visitor centre offering locally grown produce and farm-fresh meals. It’s important that people understand the difference between organic and conventional production, he said.

“Farmers have a big asset — an asset that we’ve really underestimated so far. That’s our story,” he said. “Consumers want to know where their food is coming from. They want to know who is behind it. Traders or retailers don’t have that story. We own that story as farmers.”

Because of that connection, Snippe allows customer demand to drive his supply in a much more tangible way, becoming a price-maker, not a price-taker.

“I refuse to sell below the cost price of my product,” he said. “If I don’t make a return on a product for two years, I’m out.”

Snippe said he hopes his philosophy on efficient organic production will help create a sea change in the industry — shaping an organic sector where price isn’t a barrier for retail shoppers and where quality counts for more than the organic label.

“People don’t so much look at the price anymore. They don’t so much look at the word organic anymore. They’re just buying it because it looks nice,” he said.

“So the farmer’s happy. The retailer’s happy. But most importantly, the consumer is happy.”

This article first appeared on OrganicBiz.

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That’s a key highlight of a new report from the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative, an alliance of Organic Alberta and its counterparts in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“The number of certified operations in the Prairies reached a new milestone of 1,632 in 2016 (and) organic acreage expanded from 1.4 million to 1.6 million between 2015 and 2016,” the report states.

The lion’s share are crop or mixed operations and while Saskatchewan and Manitoba numbers are only slightly higher than in 2015, Alberta saw a big jump — to 450 organic farms in 2016 versus 380 a year earlier.

Cereals dominate the organic field sector (with pulses and oilseeds far behind) in Alberta, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of production. Oats accounted for 54 per cent of Alberta’s 147,000 cereal acres in 2016 with wheat (30 per cent) and barley (11 per cent) making up most of the rest.

That’s pretty close to what you’d find in the days of horse-powered agriculture, but there’s money in those crops when grown organically, said Ward Middleton.

“Twenty years ago, the organic industry offered us a chance to make a small-market grain farm economically viable,” said Middleton. “It was strictly a business decision to make that change.”

Middleton is one of the veterans of the province’s organic scene. He took over the family farm in Sturgeon County in 1994 and became organically certified in 1998. And much has changed in the organic industry since then.

“It’s gone from being a fringe, niche market to something that’s starting to gain traction and recognition with consumers, as well as within agriculture,” said Middleton. “The whole industry has started to mature.”

Still, his and wife Joanne’s 750-acre operation hasn’t been enough to allow Middleton to give up his day job (at a pipeline control centre) even though they also have a woodlot, custom grazing business, and grow herbal and nutraceutical products such as borage and sea buckthorn berries.

“Honestly, the economics are only a small part of what I enjoy about organic farming,” he said. “Economics are the reason I joined the industry, but there are a dozen reasons why I stay.”

The growth in the industry is a reflection of that shifting mindset, he added.

“There’s a lot more support now for people to begin to farm organically than when I started,” said Middleton. “It’s a huge hurdle to give up some of the tools and management practices you’re used to as a farmer to farm organically, but the consumer is willing to pay a premium for that product.”

In Alberta, most of the new organic operations came in the north, specifically in Mackenzie County, said the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative report.

“The increase may be the result of a growing critical mass of organic producers; they tend to occur in clusters, which facilitates knowledge transfer amongst neighbours,” the report states. “Investment in logistics infrastructure by a large organic grain buyer is also likely a factor in the rapid adoption of organic agriculture around the Mackenzie County region.”

Despite the jump in the number of certified organic operations in Alberta in 2016, acreage only increased by three per cent from 2015.

But organic production is trickier to estimate as long rotations are the norm, both for weed control and fertility, and that can dramatically affect year-over-year numbers. For example, green manure (legumes grown and then plowed down to add nitrogen) is counted in the ‘pasture, forage, and natural areas’ category, which fell 12 per cent in Alberta in 2016. Meanwhile, virtually all of the increase in the province’s cereal acres came from oats, which was running even with wheat the year before.

There is also a lot of fluctuation in organic production of livestock.

The annual survey counted 64 organic livestock operations in Alberta in 2014. That fell to 55 in 2015 and then bounced back to 67 a year later. But the data is skimpy.

“No reliable estimates of livestock operation type or livestock populations are available,” states the report.

Moreover, since these operations are defined as “those with organic livestock on farm,” they are not necessarily exclusively organic.

Organic production in Alberta may also get a boost from newly passed provincial legislation that comes into effect next year. The legislation requires that any food product must be certified according to federal standards before it can be sold as organic.

“It’s paramount to the consumer that, as a producer, I’m doing my part to provide them the assurance that my products are produced according to Canadian standards,” said Middleton.

“The consumer is ultimately willing to pay a premium for that.”

A link to the report can be found at the Organic Alberta website.

This article was originally published on OrganicBiz.

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“We need more organic and we need to make sure that we don’t only have a few farms taking some of the supply market share,” said Jonathan Ntoni, a policy analyst with Alberta Milk.

Currently, there are just six licensed organic dairy farms in the province.

“We will reduce our risk in case one of the farms loses certification or something like that. We just want to spread the risk,” said Ntoni. “The demand for sure has gone up, and that is why we need more supply.”

The new Organic Entrants Assistance Program is similar to one created for conventional producers in 2011.

Applicants must be Alberta residents (for at least a year) and cannot have “owned a dairy farm at any location, at any time.” They need to submit a detailed two-year business plan, including projected cash flow statements, and a 10-year plan setting out long-term targets.

If chosen, they can borrow three kilograms of quota for every one they buy, up to a maximum of 25 kilograms of quota.

Since it takes up to three years to transition to organic, the new entrants will receive a premium of 10 cents per litre during that period. Their ‘loaned quota’ will be progressively reduced during their second decade in the milk business.

“I think it’s an excellent program and I hope young farmers will benefit from it,” said organic dairy producer Joe Mans, who operates Vital Greens Farm near Picture Butte with wife Caroline and their family.

But while the program lowers the cost barrier, applicants are going to need a strong financial base.

“It’s still not easy because it costs a lot of money,” said Mans, who also processes milk on his farm.

The latest figures from Alberta Milk show quota was selling just above $38,000 per kilogram in March.

Organic producers also have extra costs. They must be certified by a recognized agency; submit the paperwork to prove it every year; ensure their pastures haven’t been sprayed with chemicals for at least 36 months; and give their cows only organically grown feed. The cows can be given antibiotics, but only once in their lifetime.

“If you give antibiotics then the withdrawal is twice from what is on the bottle or 30 days in order to clean the cow out again,” said Mans, who has operated his organic dairy for 13 years, and now milks 60 cows.

Organic cows produce less milk, but also have lower levels of mastitis. The cows must be kept on pasture after they are over six months old. About 40 per cent of their dry matter forage must come from pasture.

Last year, about 79 million hectolitres* of organic milk were produced annually in Alberta.

“Our utilization rate for the milk we pick up for organic is 85 per cent, which means that 85 per cent of that milk is organic and the rest goes to the conventional pool,” said Ntoni.

“We always want to ensure that we have an adequate supply of milk so that the organic processors are not short.”

Quebecers are the biggest consumers of organic milk, with production topping 470,000 hectolitres annually. Ontario and B.C. (roughly 320,000 hectolitres) account for almost all of the rest of Canadian production (1.2 million hectolitres in 2016-17, according to the most recent federal stats).

Alberta is the biggest in the remaining pack, with Manitoba counting only two producers and Nova Scotia just one among the country’s 232 organic milk farmers.

*UPDATE: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of hectolitres of milk produced in Alberta in 2017. We regret the error and apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

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“Right now, Mackenzie County has the highest number of organic farmers,” said Jacob Marfo, manager and research director of the Mackenzie Applied Research Association, (MARA).

And the region may soon have more.

MARA and Organic Alberta, with support from the county and a regional development initiative, have partnered on a two-year, $330,000 program that will help farmers diversify into organic production, and assist those who are already involved in organics.

“This training helps producers learn about issues related to agronomy and the environment,” said Marfo.

The initiative, which began in November and runs for two years, has several components.

“One major component is the transition of people who are now getting into organic agriculture,” said Marfo. “Every year, conventional farmers make the move to transition part or all of their fields to organic. There are issues that need to be worked on before you can move to the transition program or before you can become a certified organic farmer.”

The first workshop in the program, held last month, attracted 67 attendees. Some are already farming organically, others transitioning, and some are conventional farmers still considering a move to organic.

“There are some new guys from the oilfields who are coming, and some of them have moved into farming,” said Marfo. “Conventional farmers can also learn from the organic farmers in terms of minimum input use. They’re starting to do lots of soil tests so they can reduce their use or inputs.”

According to Statistics Canada, 90 per cent of the people in Mackenzie County work in agriculture or forestry, so it makes sense to focus this kind of effort in the region, he added.

More than half of Alberta’s organic producers live in the county.

“The global organic market is now estimated at just under $90 billion, and Mackenzie County farmers are working hard to fill that demand,” Organic Alberta executive director Becky Lipton said in a news release.

It’s also attractive financially for new entrants because the costs of inputs are lower and prices for organic grains are higher, noted Marfo.

Part of the project will include testing to see which varieties have higher yields, greater disease resistance to diseases in the region, and generate the highest, long-term economic returns, he said. The program will also include a marketing component, with an annual buyers’ mission to the region, which is a seven-hour drive north of Edmonton.

The organizers are also looking at creating a farm club, so members can get together to discuss issues and share ideas. The lineup for future workshops is still being developed by Organic Alberta and MARA. Organic Alberta will also be hiring a co-ordinator to lead the project.

The post Alberta’s organic heartland wants to bring more farmers on board appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“It’s a crush of paperwork,” said Ward Middleton, an organic grain producer from Morinville.

“It seems thoroughly intimidating, and we need to make it as easy as possible. Otherwise, we’ll never entice larger farms to go organic.”

Organic certifying bodies rely on reams of records both in the initial startup phase of an organic operation and throughout the growing season to guarantee that any product bearing a certified organic label meets stringent production requirements.

But it’s actually not a whole lot different from other traceability and certification programs out there, said Middleton, who spoke at the Organic Alberta conference last month.

“Where there are laws, we have an obligation to know those standards — and you can know it, or you can just know where to find it,” he said.

• OrganicBiz: Online tool to help organic hopefuls navigate transition

Sometimes, the laws are clear. Other times, less so. It’s up to each individual organic producer to understand how the laws apply on their own farms, and how their certifying body interprets those laws.

“For those rules that might be a little bit interpretative, it’s up to us to see how our certifying body feels about it,” he said. “Just like there might be strict cops and less strict cops, it’s the same thing with certifying bodies. Your certifying bodies are just providing the service of ensuring that you’re meeting the standard.”

Once you know what your certifying body needs, try not to get bogged down in the details, said Middleton. He takes the KISS approach on his farm — keep it simple stupid.

“Find whatever works for you — a notebook, a calendar, a daily log,” he said. “Whatever it is, make it a habit, and write it down.”

Certifying bodies and inspectors care less about how things are documented and more about having the detailed information they need, he said.

“Don’t be confined to the documents they give you. They’re after the information,” said Middleton. “As long as you can make them understand the information, it doesn’t have to be that document.

“They love paper. If they want paper, bury them in paper.”

Then find the easiest way to comply with the standards. Middleton, for instance, found the equipment cleanout logs to be onerous during his farm’s transition from conventional to organic grains. Each time he used a new piece of equipment, he needed to log its usage and record how he had cleaned it out. So instead, he simply developed an equipment cleanout standard operating procedure for each piece of equipment detailing how the equipment would be cleaned out after each use.

“In my field notes, I would just write down which activity we did, which equipment we used, and that it was a standard cleanout,” he said.

“That’s all I have to document each time. It’s the same every time.”

The paperwork process might seem intimidating — particularly during the initial application when “they want to know everything, including how many pairs of socks you own” — but there’s a purpose for it when all is said and done.

Without it, it would be impossible for organic growers to meet those stringent organic standards. Otherwise, they may as well just switch to conventional production, said Middleton.

“Even I’ve been sarcastic and said, ‘Oh, if I sign a piece of paper, suddenly it’s organic,’” he said.

“What I’ve realized over time is that all of the documentation has forced good behaviour in me. If I didn’t have that stupid piece of paper to fill out every time, I don’t know that I would make certain that I asked all the right questions every time.

“To me, the benefit of all this onerous documentation is assurance that I will have good behaviour and be consistent.”

The post Organic record-keeping made easier appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Could conventional agriculture be next?

Nah. All the generations are working on that one, says an organic industry official.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a millennial, Gen X, or baby boomer — across the board, organics is going up,” said Tia Loftsgard, chief executive officer of the Canada Organic Trade Association.

“You cannot dispel the fact that this is a sector that’s growing.”

The organization annually surveys consumers to gauge how many are buying on a weekly basis.

In 2017, it found 83 per cent of millennials were regularly buying organic food (up from 80 per cent a year earlier), with generation X shoppers in second spot at 62 per cent (versus 58 per cent a year earlier). But baby boomers are coming on fast — with 56 per cent saying they buy some organic food on a weekly basis (versus 47 per cent a year earlier).

Millennials are not only persuading their parents (or grandparents) of the merits of organic food but are also holding fast themselves. The theory was that millennials could afford to indulge in “expensive organics” because they were living rent free at home.

But now they’re getting jobs and moving out on their own — and they’re still buying organics, Loftsgard said at the recent Organic Alberta conference.

Price is a factor, but not the barrier many expected.

“I think it’s really interesting to see that a family earning over $100,000 in income is purchasing at the same frequency as those under $40,000,” she said.

“This whole idea that if you don’t have money, you don’t buy organic is false. They do buy some organic.

“They’re just finding ways to make it affordable to buy because their values are what’s driving their purchases.”

This shift toward values-based purchasing is only going to continue to grow, she added. Consumers buying organics are doing so because they want to avoid highly processed foods (49 per cent cite that as a reason), as well as shunning foods that contain GMOs (37 per cent) and grown with applied chemicals (46 per cent). Organic shoppers also regularly say they believe organic is better for the environment.

“Public trust is a big discussion in Canadian agriculture right now,” said Loftsgard. “That’s really what’s going to drive the next generation of purchasers.”

She offered one more unexpected statistic for her audience of organic producers and other industry players: 74 per cent of Albertans buy organic food — tops in the nation.

“Alberta is leading the charge,” said Loftsgard. “I was shocked to see that. I always thought it was more British Columbia.”

Overall, 66 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they buy organic food on a weekly basis (up from 56 per cent in 2016).

A key driver of that increase comes down to availability.

Gone are the days when consumers had to go to natural health food stores to purchase organics. Now only one in four buyers does. Most get their organic food from regular grocery stores — which sold 80 per cent of the organics bought last year. This has resulted in $4.2 billion in organic food and drink purchases, an 8.4 per cent growth rate since 2012.

Produce is the top seller but demand for meat from animals only given organic feed is rising quickly and 80 per cent of consumers are interested in buying meat bearing a certified organic label.

“Alberta livestock producers, help us out here,” Loftsgard said to her audience.

The only way to do that across all organic sectors is by increasing the number of producers, she added. Right now, only 2.2 per cent of Canadian farms are certified organic, but that number is growing every year — particularly in Alberta, which has 413 certified organic operations and 426,000 acres of cropland that are certified organic.

“The more that it’s accessible and available, the more they’re going to continue to buy it,” said Loftsgard. “We want to make sure that organic food is available to everybody.”

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