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Organic farms vie for seat at America’s table
By Todd Morehead
There’s a unique adrenaline rush that comes with being charged by a 400-pound hog. I came to that unenviable realization on a bright June morning at the Caw Caw Creek farm in Calhoun County when I found myself staring down the snout of a spotted sow who wanted to go through me to get to the stand of trees I was feebly guarding.
Emile DeFelice, the owner of the farm, shouted encouragement from my left flank.
“Look big!” he yelled. “Wave your arms!”
We were herding the pigs from a small hardwood forest to a large field for a head count and possible photo op. But this big girl wasn’t having it, especially from a guy with an ink pen stuck behind his ear. As she gained ground on me I began to slap loudly on my notebook and for some reason I found myself yelling, “Git!”
Though the pig easily outweighed me by a few hundred pounds she effortlessly sidestepped at the last second like Tony Dorsett cutting past a sluggish free safety. I made one futile lunge before she disappeared into the tree line and had only a brief moment to notice that the rest of the herd took her cue and began to backtrack toward our weak flank. It wasn’t a fluke; it was strategy.
“Yeah,” DeFelice said later. “They’re smart. They’ve already figured out all my tricks when it comes time to load them on the truck.”
Caw Caw Creek is unlike most other pig farms in the nation. These pigs roam over large tracts of land and build social groups like they would in the wild. As a result the pigs are happier, healthier and labor is cut by as much as half.
Though the free-range movement isn’t a new concept, America’s blossoming “green” mentality has put farms like Caw Caw Creek and other organic and small local farms in the national spotlight over recent years. Some farmers welcome the change while others worry that a push for organic foods by large retailers like Wal-Mart could lead to more organic imports from other countries—which conflicts with the “buy local” ethos often associated with organics and also hurts the environment with fuel consumption and carbon dioxide exhaust in transit. Many also worry that large retailers may lobby the USDA to weaken their organic standards.
The long-term effects of this shift in corporate thinking remain to be seen. In the meantime, many South Carolina farmers—organic or not—are simply concerned with surviving and thriving within their own local marketplace.
For his part DeFelice says he became an organic farmer by default.
“I was just a city guy who started gardening in my backyard before I had even heard the word ‘organic.’”
Alarmed by the hazards of industrial fertilizers and pesticides he simply began to use natural fertilizers and alternative forms of pest control. A few years later he was introduced to other organic farmers through the Carolina Farms Stewardship Association.
“That was really a turning point for me,” he says. “I realized ‘Wait a second. This is a way to do things. It’s not just my little particular way of doing things.’ I had been operating in a vacuum more or less. I didn’t realize there were people out there who had studied marketing for the small-scale farmer let alone these amendments not to use herbicides and pesticides. Once I realized other people were doing it I took it more seriously and learned everything I could.”
“The smell of manure is the smell of mismanagement.”
With his pig farm and others like it, DeFelice hopes to turn something that has been labeled as “dirty” or “disgusting” into something worthy of respect.
“I’m trying to convert the pig’s image,” he says. “They aren’t filthy; it’s just the way they’ve been farmed. Pigs were just fine until humans got to them.”
Trying to trick nature is a losing battle, he says. So, whatever the industry does, he simply does the opposite.
In the wild, pigs prefer to live in nomadic herds or “sounders.” Old, middle aged and very young pigs compose sounders in the wild and the Caw Caw Creek group is no different. Pigs are known to have a concept of “home” within the sounder and DeFelice says he’s seen escaped pigs at his farm walking the perimeter trying to find a way back in.
The water trough is set hundreds of yards from the centralized feed source across a pasture so the pigs must travel to and fro, foraging in the field for clover and English peas along the way. The result of this normal activity is a healthy red meat, unlike the white meat associated with veal and pork that comes from life stuck in a pen. Another bonus is that while the pigs are walking and foraging they are turning and fertilizing the soil as they munch. Once a piece of pasture and its forest edge have been thoroughly picked clean, DeFelice stakes off a fresh part of the property and moves the sounder in. The recently foraged area, with the turned and fertilized soil, is replanted with clover, rye, English peas and other things to prevent soil erosion and runoff and to provide a future food source for the pigs.
A free-range farm has to have fences, needless to say, but Emile tries to foster their natural nomadic instincts within his 90-plus acres. The confined situation normally associated with industrial pig farming often causes waste problems and manure lagoons which are environmental hazards for aquifers and nearby water tables. Like elephants, pigs are known to wallow in dirt and mud to regulate their body temperature, however, wallowing in manure lagoons is not a natural instinct of pigs and it can create health problems for the animals and potentially for the humans who eat them.
DeFelice says he is also puzzled by the industry’s concept of creating lean pigs in the notion that they are somehow healthier.
“The pig got leaner and leaner while Americans got fatter and fatter,” he says.
“I think the pig should get let off the hook for this whole thing. I think you should eat three or four great servings of meat per week instead of 21 crummy servings of meat per week.”
Adding fat to a pig helps them live outside and helps them moderate their core temperature throughout the year. In addition to regular feed, DeFelice treats his pigs to dairy and eggs from Earth Fare and unused malted barley from the Hunter Gatherer brewpub in Columbia.
DeFelice cites the concept of the connection between an animal’s mental state and muscle state. Stress, he says, sends chemicals to the muscles, which cause the classic stress-related tightening of the neck and shoulders in humans. The same concept could be applied to pigs.
“Creating stress in a livestock environment is creating problems, an inferior product and health problems,” DeFelice said as he stood with arms folded, watching his pigs foraging for hickory nuts in the shade. “The industry could easily turn the situation around and instead of creating problems they could use opportunities to create a better product. I’m giving these pigs a lifetime of relaxation and an intergenerational life.”
Enter Wal-Mart
In previous decades there was a niche market for organically grown products. Generally relegated to small health food stores, organics account for only a fraction of sales in larger supermarkets. But that may be about to change. Wal-Mart, the nations largest grocery retailer last year announced plans to sell more organic products in an attempt attract urban, upscale consumers. And though last month the retail giant said they would scale back its organic products in slower markets, many major food producers like Kellogg and Kraft Foods continue to develop organic versions of their products to keep up with demand in urban Wal-Mart Supercenters.
Many organic food advocates view Wal-Mart’s efforts as a step in the right direction and hope that such a large market will help expand the amount of land in the United States that is organically farmed.
Emile DeFelice seems to ride the fence in some ways when it comes to the new organic push by big business. For one, he says he can’t stand the term “agribusiness.”
“Agribusiness replaced agriculture. Agrarianism is a true concept of the real meaning of farming. It’s a blending of art and science,” he says. “Agribusiness makes it just science and capital. It obliterates culture.”
Still he applauds what Wal-Mart is trying to do. “With the organic food movement, it’s been aggravating to always be pigeonholed as Leftist freaks. If you go to a Carolina Farm Stewardship Association conference you’ll find as many Christian home-schooling moms as you will dreadlocked hippies. That’s a really interesting dynamic and that’s what Wal-Mart appreciates. They get it. And it’s time for the rest of us to get it.”
“Good for Wal-Mart,” DeFelice says. “Good for Kraft. Good for people who can’t afford to shop at the elite high-end stores around America. We should all have access to foods we want to eat.”
To him, it’s all about choice.
“That’s the whole point of this whole movement to me. Increasingly we have less and less choice in our food system. It’s not about the abolishment of one system or another. It’s about the establishment of a parallel system.”
Others in the organic foods movement believe that retail giants will lower standards and that their import, storage and shipment methods are directly counter to the economic and environmental benefits of growing and buying locally.
When Wal-Mart first went public with its organic initiative in 2006, Ronnie Cummins, then national director of the Organic Consumers Association, adamantly opposed the plan in the national media, charging that the chain would outsource its produce from overseas—often countries with questionable labor practices— which would drive down prices and ultimately squeeze out American organic farmers.
If American farms were to compete, they would have to adopt large-scale organic farming and thus may not use the crop rotation practices found on smaller traditional organic farms. Crop rotation ensures sustained, nutrient rich soil and healthier foods.
Plus, there are the USDA organic guidelines to consider. Currently, the USDA is in an interim period as it takes comments from the organic food industry concerning the inclusion of 38 new ingredients—mainly non-organic starches, colors and oils—to its official list of ingredients allowed in certified organic products. One of the entities lobbying for the inclusion of these ingredients is the Organic Trade Association, which represents Kraft Foods and Dole.
Hardliners in the organics community also claim that artificial thickeners and chemicals that accelerate the ripening of fruit have been given clearance by the USDA.
DeFelice believes that the tension between the big biz definition of organic and more traditional meaning is a good thing. “It keeps people on both sides of the debate honest. It keeps the definitions rigorous.”
Ultimately, the level of organic commitment is up to the individual farmer. Many old schoolers and hardliners in the organic movement believe that the “organic” moniker has been co-opted and corrupted by big business. In response they have been in search of a new label to define themselves, with terms like “beyond organic” and “sustainable.”
Meanwhile, according to some studies, the organic trend among run-of-the-mill farmers has hit a plateau, despite the growing retail demand. In some U.S. states, total acres transitioning into organic farming are nearly balanced by the farms transitioning acres out as many farmers aren’t making enough growing organically to justify the certification.
The problem: as predicted, many large retailers and food production companies import their organic products from South America, Europe and Asia. In 2005, the USDA reported that the value of U.S. organic imports exceeded exports by a margin of 8 to 1. The Organic Trade Association recently isolated the growth rates for various segments of the organic market and found that highly processed foods (like condiments and sauces) were the fastest growing segment. Large-scale processors like Heinz ketchup—which supply large discount retailers like Wal-Mart—have the clout to negotiate and set the market price for organic tomatoes. And while organic tomato farmers could make more per pound at a farmers’ market, the prospect of large accounts like Heinz drives many to sacrifice their organic principles and industrialize to meet the high demand.
The benefits of buying locally
In May, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture unveiled its new “Certified S.C. Grown” campaign in an attempt to showcase local produce—organic and non organic—and make it more accessible to consumers. According the department’s research, 90 percent of South Carolinians polled said they would buy S.C. food products if they could identify them.
Martin Eubanks, the project’s director of marketing, says they already have over 140 registered farmers and specialty food producers. The application process helps the department identify and certify what the farmers are growing. If approved farmers are allowed to use the “Certified S.C. Grown” logo in any way they choose: on stickers, signage, on farm trucks, etc.
“Initially the campaign is focusing on retail,” Eubanks says. “And that’s the major retail food chains across the state. It’s being featured through our certified roadside market system and also through our farmer’s markets and community based farmers markets.”
All the certified “organic,” “natural,” “local,” and “free range” labels are simply a third party rating system to guarantee that consumers are getting what they pay for. But the need for third party intervention goes by the wayside, at least in part, if the consumer develops a relationship with, and buys directly from, the farmer. It’s an extra step for the consumer to seek out smaller farmers’ markets but the meats and produce, having traveled, say, 50 miles from farm to market instead of 2,000 miles are fresher and more nutrient rich. Plus, consumers can raise questions and concerns directly to the farmer.
“I’ve got a customer who wants me to process completely salt-free sausage,” DeFelice says as we weave through traffic on I-26 on our way back to town. He briefly takes his hands off the wheel and makes a “beats me” type of gesture as if the idea of sausage without salt is as wild as trying make cheese with no milk. “But, you know what? I’m going to try it. Because she wants it, and, hey, it could be good.”
To encourage more dialogue between local farmers and their customers, DeFelice founded his own local farmers’ market, which operates the second Saturday of every month on the patio at Gervais and Vine and the fourth Saturday of every month in the Yo Burrito parking lot. He started it, he says, in response to his and other local farmers problems with the South Carolina State Farmer’s Market.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a local farmer at the [S.C. State] Farmer’s Market. If you do, he’s having to compete against dollar a day laborers somewhere in some other country,” he says.
DeFelice estimates that 85 percent of what’s sold in the S.C. State Farmers Market is from out of state or from out of the country.
As for his all local farmers market, Emile says: “If you grow it or make it in South Carolina, add to our tax base and add to our agriculture, you can sell at the market.”
And not being associated with the government in any way allows him to personally keep tabs on applicants. So far he has 15 vendors who sell anything from seafood from the coast to chicken, milk, eggs, produce and flour. Even soap.
The future of small-scale farming relies, as it has for centuries, in small local markets. And with a growing number of Americans concerned about health and environmental issues, many are taking matters into their own hands by simply starting their own home gardens or small farms.
“Tomorrows farmers are not coming out of the Future Farmers of America program, they’re not coming out of the agricultural department at Clemson University, and they’re not coming off of farms,” says DeFelice. “It’s romantic to say that someone is a sixth generation farmer, that’s great. But the truth of the matter is those people are few and far between. These days it’s not unique at all to meet a young person farming who has come about it in an alternative fashion.”
Inside the 2007 Farm Bill and beyond
Since the 1930s, the U.S. has regulated agricultural policy and set market prices both home and abroad with a phone book size piece of legislation called the Farm Bill. Amended every five years or so, the bill continues to subsidize large-scale commodity crops like corn and soy. Small-scale and organic farmers are hoping to get a larger slice of the subsidies and more help with crop insurance through the 2007 bill.
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a seminal work on America’s current food conundrum, recently raised an interesting question in the New York Times Magazine. How is it that a highly processed, packaged and marketed food item like a Twinkie costs significantly less than a simple bunch of carrots? Or a couple of plain old apples? The answer: because the current Farm Bill dumps close to $25 billion a year in subsidies to only a few crops including corn, soybeans and wheat (which provide the carbohydrates and fats that make up the majority of the Twinkie).
The result, Pollan writes, is a food system flooded by high sugar, corn syrupy products like potato chips and soda. Meanwhile, the bill does little to support farmers who grow fresh produce.
Some organic groups are lobbying to raise the current funding for organic research from $3 million annually to $15 million (out of a USDA research budget of an estimated $2 billion). The organic lobby is also seeking $50 million per year to assist interested traditional farmers with the three-year transition to organic farming.
Here in the Carolinas, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA)—based in North Carolina—plans to lobby the four N.C. House representatives who serve on the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees the first draft of the 2007 Farm Bill. The CFSA is pushing for legislation that would help smaller farms survive devastating crop losses like those suffered in the Easter freeze this year, which decimated peach crops in the area.
Currently, according to the CFSA, organic farmers pay more for crop insurance than conventional, subsidized farmers, yet they often receive less coverage because the government uses large-scale wholesale farming prices in determining crop insurance benefits. Also, specialty crop producers are “penalized by an insurance regime that favors conventional commodity crops,” they say. As a result, few organic farmers even bother with crop insurance. And when weather events like the Easter freeze decimate crops they are forced to take a total loss.
The average consumer built a grassroots organic idea into a $15 billion per year industry in a matter of decades. Some believe that policymakers from across the country—not just bread basket states—should take a look at the Farm Bill to reassess its priorities and lessen the current legislations ties to large scale commodities farming and thus lessen the impact on the environment and improve the health of the citizens by making natural foods more affordable.
And if the general public continues to shift its collective attitude about “green” initiatives and healthy living, the government and the market may have no choice but to follow suit.
Back in the city, Emile DeFelice swings his pickup truck into a side street off Devine to drop us off at our car. Though running a small farm is by no means an easy thing, he seems upbeat about it.
“You know, a long time ago, I sort of perceived that a shift would occur, that this [organic farming] would move out of the Left and into the Right and across the whole political spectrum,” he says. “It’s a normal thing that normal people will pay money for. So let’s get with the program.”
With that he shakes our hands heartily, grins big, and heads on down the road.
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