What does organic mean to organic farmers?
Guy Jones, Blooming Hills Farm, Blooming Grove, NY
One of the benefits of organic is I don’t have to ride a sprayer. There’s no farmer in the world that wakes up in the morning and says, “Oh boy I get to spray today.” You have to put on all that gear and you’re working with nasty chemicals. Then, of course, there are no earthworms and you’re killing the birds.
We were certified for years but when the federal government took over the program we dropped out. I didn’t see why they had to run it the way they wanted to run it. The USDA organic program is driven by the big guys.