How can organic farmers, growers and the processors who deal with organic food improve and develop their skills in a climate of learning rather than fear?
One approach that seems to be gathering momentum is mentoring. At present we have certification, inspections and occasional spot checks. But many feel unhappy with this limited method.
One organic farmer waxing lyrical about the mentored approach is Joe Condon. Joe has a Galloway beef herd at the foot of the Knockmealdown mountains, and is prominent in the certification body, IOFGA. He produces and sells highly acclaimed beef and beef burgers direct, through both local farmers� markets and through a nationwide delivery scheme.
Joe�s overall approach is very low impact and extensive; he also avoids the big industrial abattoirs and instead uses a local artisan butcher.
Indeed it was the skills of small scale local butchers, as much as the organic inspection process, that prompted Joe to start talking to me about mentoring at the recent All-Ireland farmers� market conference in Athlone:
�These small scale guys, they are highly skilled, and there aren�t many of them out there. But they live in fear of inspections. Surely there is a way to help them along, to train and improve them, to preserve their skills, rather that this school teacher approach we have at the moment�
�Mentoring could be a parallel process to inspection�you could take the top guys in their field, in each category: they could form a group in their area, and mentor those fellas coming in. It would make life easier for inspectors. If you are properly trained and mentored, you�re better at your job. In the inspection process, confusion can occur over small stuff.�
The benefit of this approach is that the best in a particular field would get to give practical help: �An inspector might not be a skilled farmer, and might not know the issues.�
Nevertheless, it seems ludicrous that inspectors, during the inspection process, are not allowed give advice to farmers on how they can improve their work.
Joe feels that there are gaps that need to be filled, but the language used and the approaches taken need to be subtle and well thought out. I also put it to Joe that there are some organic regional and sector-specific producer groups already, doing this skills-sharing to some extent:
�Even in these specialist and regional producer groups, people don�t admit that they are short of certain skills. People don�t want to admit that they are lax in certain areas.�
I know this to be the case myself, in my own non-organic related work, where I organise training for the Greenbox, the ecotourism project in the north-west. Various product providers once got �training�- now they get �capacity building�. This latter phrase suggests that already skilled people get to improve and develop in their area of expertise.
But it�s not just semantics: capacity building also involves doing different things, including for example one-to-one mentoring in various business skills and learning about examples of best practice and innovation from other product and service providers in comparable regions.
There does seem to be a genuine appetite for this sort of service. Often at the Teagasc organic farm walks, you actually get other organic farmers and growers attending to brush up their skills and get a few tips. These walks essentially involve farmer-to-farmer skills sharing. Likewise, organisations such as the Western Organic Network offer farm-based training.
In other jurisdictions, the mentoring approach has become a ground-up alterative to state-related organic certification. The�Certified Naturally Grown� (CNG) scheme in the US has emerged as an alternative to the cost, paperwork and perception of watered down rules in �USDA organic�.
Farmers inspect, advise and mentor each other in the CNG system, a system with minimal bureaucracy. In Ireland, between farming and organic certification, Joe reckons he could be inspected up to 22 times a year � and then there�s the farming to be done. As they say in the States, go figure.
For more on CNG: www.naturallygrown.org
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Here's an article I wrote for the Irish Organic magazine, Organic Matters a while back. It's about a guy who was once the prime minister, or Taoiseach, in Ireland.
If you don't know his background, then look him up, he was a contraversial character throughout his career. This makes his organic interests all the more noteworthy. Article is on the Organic Matters own site:
charlie
and here's a wiki on charlie
If you don't know his background, then look him up, he was a contraversial character throughout his career. This makes his organic interests all the more noteworthy. Article is on the Organic Matters own site:
charlie
and here's a wiki on charlie
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Here's an article I wrote on the recent farmers' market conference in Athlone
The recent farmers� market conference was an exceptionally positive event. It was so for a number of reasons.
First, it was packed. The event sold out two weeks before the 30th, which is never a bad sign. 370 delegates turned up, which leads to the next point: The range and calibre of the delegates. Those working in development (rural, agri-food, business and specific farmers� market development workers), producers and vendors, farmers� market organisers, some local authorities and politicians (including both Ministers O� Cuiv and Sargent) but also others less expected. At least, less expected until now: Insurance companies, environmental health officers, equipment sellers (from canopies to tilling), seed savers and sellers, researchers, journalists; the range itself was impressive. The stalls outside the conference area presented both great products and networking opportunities.
The first spontaneous round of applause came when Darina Allen asked the IFA to become more involved. After she said this, a representative of the IFA�s horticultural section stood up and pointed out that he was in fact present, had worked with minister Sargent previously, and himself and the organisation were interested in the farmers� market phenomenon in a way they were not until very recently.
The need for consistency from local authorities also reappeared as a theme again and again. According to some of the research done and presented at the event, the most successful single act of promotion you can do for your farmers� market is to have road signage. It beats word of mouth and all other adverts. Yet there is severe inconsistency in local authority attitudes to signage, ranging from fines for having them to funding to make them. This certainly emerged as a topic that needs resolution to encourage growth in the sector.
That there were some local authority representatives from a town without a farmers� market, pleading with producers to come and set up a market in their town was a welcome development, and a sign of how attitudes to farmers� markets have improved.
But there are still some belligerent and short sighted local authorities who don�t see the long term benefits of the farmers� market to the local cultural life and economy. One presentation compared the two northern towns of Ballymoney and Coleraine. The difference was staggering: Coleraine town council invested �32,000 and have people to liaise with the farmers� market. They now have 24 successful stalls. Ballymoney has had the opposite treatment, and struggles.
In general, the need for more support people to help develop the sector emerged clearly. Whether this involves managers who run and represent clusters of farmers� markets, or specific people employed by local authorities, a more organised and thorough system would be welcome.
The need for consistency in the farmers� market itself was also an issue. Having labelling (products details, prices, name tags) promoting the farmers� market in both creative and traditional ways (from putting one stall outside the entrance to entice people in, to sending press releases to the local papers when there�s news) and the importance of key products such as fruits and vegetables, fish, cheese, meat and breads all emerged as important.
The importance of training, from Teagasc to agricultural colleges and departments in academic institutions, also emerged. Training in sustainable farming, outside of the organic collages and training centres is thin on the ground, according to one speaker. That this speaker works in rural development and has some training in this area, which he travelled over to Scotland to receive, speaks volumes.
Certification of the farmers� market also emerged as a discussion point. Should farmers� markets be demarked as having a particular standard related to provenance? Should their support (as regards funding) be tied to this? There was both support and resistance to the idea. The UK certification model was presented, but some speakers felt that something like this certification would be easier in a place the size of the UK. It was also pointed out that you don�t need funding to set up a farmers� market - you need belief, initiative and a flask of boiling water, it was suggested.
Others felt that language was being misused, to the point that some consumers in some markets were being mislead about the provenance of the produce: Farmers� markets should be for farmers and farmed produce, not for wholesaling, otherwise surely rate paying shops would complain. This issue is likely to rumble on.
Rumble it will, but farmers� markets are one of the success story in agriculture, and one with a bright future.
The recent farmers� market conference was an exceptionally positive event. It was so for a number of reasons.
First, it was packed. The event sold out two weeks before the 30th, which is never a bad sign. 370 delegates turned up, which leads to the next point: The range and calibre of the delegates. Those working in development (rural, agri-food, business and specific farmers� market development workers), producers and vendors, farmers� market organisers, some local authorities and politicians (including both Ministers O� Cuiv and Sargent) but also others less expected. At least, less expected until now: Insurance companies, environmental health officers, equipment sellers (from canopies to tilling), seed savers and sellers, researchers, journalists; the range itself was impressive. The stalls outside the conference area presented both great products and networking opportunities.
The first spontaneous round of applause came when Darina Allen asked the IFA to become more involved. After she said this, a representative of the IFA�s horticultural section stood up and pointed out that he was in fact present, had worked with minister Sargent previously, and himself and the organisation were interested in the farmers� market phenomenon in a way they were not until very recently.
The need for consistency from local authorities also reappeared as a theme again and again. According to some of the research done and presented at the event, the most successful single act of promotion you can do for your farmers� market is to have road signage. It beats word of mouth and all other adverts. Yet there is severe inconsistency in local authority attitudes to signage, ranging from fines for having them to funding to make them. This certainly emerged as a topic that needs resolution to encourage growth in the sector.
That there were some local authority representatives from a town without a farmers� market, pleading with producers to come and set up a market in their town was a welcome development, and a sign of how attitudes to farmers� markets have improved.
But there are still some belligerent and short sighted local authorities who don�t see the long term benefits of the farmers� market to the local cultural life and economy. One presentation compared the two northern towns of Ballymoney and Coleraine. The difference was staggering: Coleraine town council invested �32,000 and have people to liaise with the farmers� market. They now have 24 successful stalls. Ballymoney has had the opposite treatment, and struggles.
In general, the need for more support people to help develop the sector emerged clearly. Whether this involves managers who run and represent clusters of farmers� markets, or specific people employed by local authorities, a more organised and thorough system would be welcome.
The need for consistency in the farmers� market itself was also an issue. Having labelling (products details, prices, name tags) promoting the farmers� market in both creative and traditional ways (from putting one stall outside the entrance to entice people in, to sending press releases to the local papers when there�s news) and the importance of key products such as fruits and vegetables, fish, cheese, meat and breads all emerged as important.
The importance of training, from Teagasc to agricultural colleges and departments in academic institutions, also emerged. Training in sustainable farming, outside of the organic collages and training centres is thin on the ground, according to one speaker. That this speaker works in rural development and has some training in this area, which he travelled over to Scotland to receive, speaks volumes.
Certification of the farmers� market also emerged as a discussion point. Should farmers� markets be demarked as having a particular standard related to provenance? Should their support (as regards funding) be tied to this? There was both support and resistance to the idea. The UK certification model was presented, but some speakers felt that something like this certification would be easier in a place the size of the UK. It was also pointed out that you don�t need funding to set up a farmers� market - you need belief, initiative and a flask of boiling water, it was suggested.
Others felt that language was being misused, to the point that some consumers in some markets were being mislead about the provenance of the produce: Farmers� markets should be for farmers and farmed produce, not for wholesaling, otherwise surely rate paying shops would complain. This issue is likely to rumble on.
Rumble it will, but farmers� markets are one of the success story in agriculture, and one with a bright future.
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