**Testimony -- US House of Representatives,**

**Subcommittee on Organic Agriculture and Horticulture**

**April 18, 2007**

**Mary-Howell R. Martens**

\"I wish you didn\'t have to do that!\" I was standing by the kitchen
door, several months pregnant with our second child, as I watched my
husband, Klaas, leave the house dressed for battle in his white Tyvek
\'zoot suit\' and special heavy green plastic gloves, ready to attack
and subdue the Enemy - the weeds.

\"Me too, but what choice do we have?\" It was 1991, the first year
after we split up the farm partnership with Klaas\' two brothers. It was
not easy farming over 600 acres, just the two of us. Farm prices are
never good, weather is always risky, but at least we had one advantage
over many of our neighbors. Weed control was rarely a problem since
Klaas was very good at planning herbicide combinations and schedules. In
my job in the grape breeding program at the New York State Agricultural
Experiment Station, I was also responsible for planning the vineyard
spray program, so Klaas and I spent numerous romantic hours of our
courtship discussing the relative merits of this chemical and that.

How do two people so apparently committed to the agribusiness ideal of
American farming end up operating a large organic farm, not very many
years later? We truly believe that we were like many conventional
farmers, using the chemical fertilizers and pesticides simply because we
saw no other alternatives, but very concerned about what it might be
doing to us, our family, our land, and our environment. We farmed
conventionally because we had been told so often that it was the only
way to survive in agriculture today.

One evening later in 1991, we read a small classified advertisement in a
regional farm paper, looking for organic wheat. Immediately Klaas was on
the telephone and we were excited - was there really a market for
organic field crops? Could it be done? We quickly decided that we would
try this new challenge. If there was a way to grow crops organically, we
were going to figure it out!

Now, 15 years later, we are farming 1400 acres of certified organic
crops -- corn, soybeans, spelt, barley, oats, wheat, triticale, red
kidney beans, cabbage, hay -- and for every crop, there is a strong,
profitable organic market. Our 3 children are all active participants on
our farm -- in addition to working on our farm, 18 year old Peter has
rented 250 acres of his own organic land and is earning enough profit to
purchase farm machinery and pay for his college education.
Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth has purchased heifers with a USDA FSA youth
loan, and is transitioning them to organic for her FFA proficiency
project, and she is learning much from these animals everyday.
Eleven-year-old Daniel helps on the farm wherever he is needed, and all
three children are proud to be involved in our farm and proud to be
organic farmers.

When we first started farming organically, there were a handful of
organic grain farmers in New York and one organic flour mill. The
farmers were limited in their markets and more often than not they sold
their grain as conventional because there were few opportunities. Our
Land Grant University, Cornell had few research programs relevant to
organic farmers, so we had to meet our informational needs by ourselves.

As the number of organic farmers has grown, so have the infrastructure
and the markets. Several conventional grain cleaning facilities became
certified and started buying and processing soybeans, spelt and other
small grains. One farmer built a pole barn, bought a seed cleaner and
started cleaning seed. A conventional soybean expeller saw an
opportunity, became certified and started producing organic soybean meal
and soy oil. Other farmers became salespeople for the products we use.
There are now at least 4 certified organic soybean cleaning plants, an
organic soybean roaster, an organic soybean expeller, an organic flour
mill, an organic buckwheat processor, an organic nut butter plant,
several organic milk processors, an organic tofu maker, an organic
slaughterhouse, organic vegetable processors, and a organic large spelt
de-huller, all in New York state, with more grain processing operations
coming in the near future.

In the mid-1990's, Klaas and I began grinding organic animal feed
on-farm for several New York organic dairy farmers.  In 2001, we had
enough volume and customers to justify purchasing the Penn Yan Agway
feed mill, scheduled for closure, and with the help of a USDA Rural
development grant, we converted it into a fully organic feed mill now
known as Lakeview Organic Grain LLC.  This operation, now employing 7
full-time employees and 2 full-time truck drivers, serves over 300
organic dairy, poultry, pig, and goat farmers in New York and
Pennsylvania, cooperates closely with several other midsize feed mills
in the area, and supplies organic crop seeds and other supplies to
farmers throughout the Northeast. We purchase organic grains from many
farmers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Midwest, Canada and
even South America, we work with brokers like Clarkson Grain, all to
maintain an adequate supply of grain to meet the rapidly growing organic
feed demand.   We are now grinding more fresh organic feed at Lakeview
than Agway ever did in this facility, and the demand just continues to
grow -- we are even grateful that now we have some competition in the
New York organic feed business, the pie is big enough for us all!

Transition is a frustrating period for many people and without the
examples of other organic farmers who are successful and supportive,
like many people, we might have concluded that organic farming could not
work. We are active in a local group of organic farmers, called New York
Certified Organic, which provides an inclusive haven of educational
programs, support and information for both new and experienced organic
farmers in our area. Frequent meetings offer opportunities for us to
share and learn from each. We work closely with the researchers from
Cornell University, grateful for the facility they provide for our
meetings at the NY Ag Experiment Station in Geneva and for their very
active interest in organically applicable research. Cornell has hired
new faculty members with organic interests, initiated new research
programs, and their support of New York organic farming continues to
grow. Cornell researchers have sought and received funding for organic
agricultural research whenever there has been applicable Federal funding
available. Many of us provide organic land for Cornell field trials,
participate in research projects, and serve on Cornell and Cooperative
Extension advisory committees.

Over the past 15 years, we have seen organic farming provide a strong,
viable alternative for many Northeast farms with profitable prices,
successful agronomic practices and a supportive community of farmers and
buyers.

We have watched many farmers and their families move from frustration,
financial uncertainty and discouragement to real hope, satisfaction and
pride, seeing that their farms can succeed, that farming can again be
fun, and that cooperation with their neighbors is more productive than
competition.

We have delighted in many many weed-free, high yielding fields of
organic crops, pastures of healthy high-producing organic cows, all
without pesticides and antibiotics, because organic farming does work,
it works very well, reliably producing highly productive, high quality
food and feed.

We have smiled as non-farmers in our town stop us to express their pride
in the growing number of organic farms in our area, because they know
that they too benefit, environmentally and economically, from this
change in the local agriculture. Organic food is a demand-driven market,
and if we American farmers do not supply the demand, the market will be
filled with imported organic food. By supplying this market
domestically, there is a definite multiplier effect -- the money stays
in the community and it benefits many businesses, not just agricultural
ones.

We have witnessed the effect that our business alone has had on our
local rural community, creating new well-paying, interesting jobs and
new sales opportunities for other area vendors, machinery dealers,
trucking companies, banks, hardware stores, utilities, and of course
other farmers. The ripples are spreading wide from this one stone thrown
into the small pond of Penn Yan, NY and there are organic stones like
ours throughout the United States having similar profound impacts!

Where do we go from here? At this time in New York alone, there are over
600 certified organic farms, more than 250 organic dairy farms alone,
representing over 100,000 acres of certified organic farmland. As you
can see, organics really does contribute significantly to the
agricultural income of our state.

The National Organic Program, which does a fine and dedicated job and
which we fully support, needs increased funding so they can fairly and
stringently implement the program, thereby assuring a high level of
integrity and reliability for consumers, farmers, processors and
certifiers. At this time, the NOP is extremely underfunded and
understaffed.  The organic sector has grown by an average of 20% per
year for over ten years, yet the NOP still functions with the same
budget (\$1.2 million) and the same number of staff (8) that they had
when formed.  The NOP has been expected to keep pace with the growth of
organic products in the entire country, the whole world actually, with
no increase in resources. The NOP share of the USDA budget should
represent at least the same percentage that organic does out of all
American agriculture, adjusting each year to keep pace with the annual
growth rate that organics has recently experienced.

We also need more funding for agronomic research, so that we can better
incorporate cutting-edge science, superior tools and techniques, and a
holistic understanding of how to 'do" organic farming better. We need
funding for NRCS personnel and projects to improve farmland, to make it
more productive, stable and to really be an environmental asset to the
community. We need reliable funding for informational services like
ATTRA and SARE, which directly benefit farmers, Extension and University
researchers. We need Risk Management and educational assistance to help
farms through transition, so we can significantly increase the supply of
organic grain to better meet the growing demand.

In conclusion, I want to personally thank all of you for taking the time
and the interest to form this subcommittee and to listen to us.
Agriculture in the United States is diverse, but organic agriculture is
no longer simply an inconsequential niche for the counter-culture or the
very affluent. The tools and techniques we are learning on our organic
farms now, especially in regards to soil health and soil fertility
management, will be critical in bringing sustainability and stability to
our food system as our energy supplies change. The profitability of
small to mid-size organic farms today is key to developing a group of
enthusiastic, skilled, and intellectually curious young people, eager to
farm and produce food for this country. The growth of diverse and
profitable local agricultural systems is essential to maintaining our
healthy rural communities.

Organic agriculture can -- and does -- all of that. We look forward to
working with you to further these goals.