Organic Valley in the News

Matt Fendry, 27, and his wife, Rebekah, are full-time organic farmers at Hidden Valley Jerseys in Lanesboro. They rent their operation from his parents, Hugh and Deb.

But Fendry doesn't come from a farm background. He and Rebekah are the first generation to farm there.

"I grew up in the country and it's just always been a dream of mine to farm full-time," he said. "I worked on a couple farms in high school and I guess it's in my blood...I always wanted to do it."

He graduated from high school in 2001 and went through Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings program. By that October, he had a herd of 20 Jerseys, which he transitioned into organic production by the next year.

In 2002, Fendry became a member of Organic Valley Family of Farms, the nation's largest cooperative of organic farmers a leading organic brand.

From Buffalo County to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin companies continue to profit from organic farming despite the recession and the threats of climate change.

Some of the reasons for optimism are projections of a growth market in organics, studies showing how organic farming helps keep soil nutrient rich, and the support of the Obama administration.

Organic farming advocates were encouraged by some of the pledges from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who recently appeared at the La Crosse Interstate Fair.

Vilsack said he was bringing in new staffers in the organic farming area of USDA who would work closer with farmers. He also told a rally of organic farmers, concerned about what they consider abuses of the certification rules by some large corporations, that he'll make sure USDA enforced those rules.

“We support family farmers,” said Jeff Gunderson of the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service . “It was somewhat encouraging to see the secretary meet with farmers.”

A big new idea is a little like a seed; it needs fertile soil and a nurturing environment to flourish.

That’s why author, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Woody Tasch is in Madison, explaining and promoting his thoughts on Slow Money. It’s a bold perspective on financial investing focusing on getting local sources of money to support local businesses, especially those that have to do with the production of food.

Tasch, who has been part of a financial network that raised over $133 million since 1992 for about 200 ventures promoting sustainability, intends for Slow Money to become a national financial movement.

When government botanists discovered a rare flower growing in a dairy farm pasture in remote Lewis County, they raced to come up with a plan to protect it. They would soon find out that endangered flower was already in good hands and there was a lot more of it than they ever imagined.

Experts believe the plant is thriving there simply because Mallonee believes there is one way to farm his land - organically. "You might say I have some deep roots here," explained the soft spoken farmer. "I'm a third generation farmer of these fields."

It's been five years since the lupine was discovered on his farm and he says as long as he and his family are working the land, it and the other rare plants will be protected.

Organic Valley’s next generation of organic farmers, came together on June 13 at the Holm Girls Dairy farm in Elk Mound for a day of learning, sharing and connecting through activities, including presentations by organic industry leaders, small group strategy sessions, a farm tour and locally-grown, organic meals.

Fred Kirschenmann, longtime sustainable agriculture leader, author, and Distinguished Fellow for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, was the keynote speaker. He shared his excitement and passion for the new generation of young people who want to farm, and his efforts to make sure those who want to, can.

He went on to say that America is standing on a new threshold, and it must move away from an industrialized economy to a new, innovative economy that uses less energy and is about romance, memory and trust, and not fast, convenient and cheap.

The day continued with a farm tour and presentation on the importance of holistic animal care by Dr. Sarah Slaby, a practicing large animal veterinarian who specializes in organic and sustainable agriculture. Dr. Slaby walked the attendees through a quick check-up with Autumn, one of the Holm’s Jersey cows, and answered questions.

Ron Holter likes to say he's farming as God intended, without pesticides on the grass fields or hormones or antibiotics in the cows. But visitors to his organic dairy farm west of Frederick on Tuesday also heard about how the Earth, animals, consumers - and his pocketbook - are also benefiting.

Holter, a fifth-generation farmer at Holterholm Farm in Jefferson, was host to a field day for about 50 farmers to spread the gospel.

He's had the tours before, but this year he added speakers on grazing management, farm income and marketing from the day's sponsors at the Maryland Grazer's Network. The group provides resources to farmers who want to break from conventional "confinement" farming where cows live in barns and are fed grain, and, generally, hormones to induce milk production and antibiotics to control infection. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Maryland Extension Service and the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network all support the group.

In the effort to build a better burger, a growing number of people are turning to organic beef to make their patties. A 2009 study by the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute showed that 18 percent of shoppers have bought organic and/or natural meats in recent months. The top reasons cited were positive long-term health effects and nutritional value.

The family farmers of Organic Prairie, the same family farmers who produce Organic Valley products, offer organic meats from animals that have been raised humanely, given certified organic feed and have not been given antibiotics or synthetic hormones.

Wisconsin's best food reference book has gotten an update.

Before Terese Allen was my friend, she was a solid news source for just about anything concerning food. I remain one of her fans.

Terese concocts wonderful recipes, some for Organic Valley in La Farge, because she is the family farm co-op’s food editor. She also assumes the role of citizen evangelist and activist, full of praise for locally grown foods and chefs who cook with the seasons.

She sniffs out small-town bakeries, butcher shops and other businesses that take pride in generations-old recipes and heritage. She documents food traditions, ethnic influences and culinary history. That includes an essay about church suppers in “The American Midwest,” a thick and interpretive encyclopedia, published in 2007 by Indiana University Press.

It has all the markings of a working farm — 70 milk cows, crop fields, tractors, hay baler, combine.

But there is so much more on the Martin and Loretta Jaus farm northwest of Gibbon. Marshes are humming with the spring nesting activity of wood ducks, teal and mallards, while toads make loud mating croaks.

In the prairie-plant pastures and stands of trees, there’s a constant flitting of bobolinks, bluebirds, swallows, yellowthroat warblers and mourning doves.

“When we first moved back here (in 1980), we had maybe a dozen species of birds,” Loretta said. “Now we have about 200 species that either migrate through or live here.”

The Jauses organic dairy farm is a lush haven for wildlife amid a sea of row cropped corn and soybean fields.

For Martin, whose great grandfather homesteaded the farm in 1877, having it look largely like farms would have a century ago is rewarding. But he feels a sense of loss for what has been changed and can’t be replaced.

Discussing his research in a windy pasture among a fleet of grass and cud-chomping organic cows, University animal scientist Dennis Johnson pauses to point out a cow that didn’t resist when mounted by another cow. That means its time for her to reproduce — he can put her on the calendar for artificial insemination.

In the conventional herd grazing down the road at the University of Minnesota’s West Central Research and Outreach Center, keeping track of the all-natural sign of her fertility wouldn’t have been essential. But this 85-cow crowd is making the transition to organic, and that means no hormones to keep reproduction on a predictable schedule.

Right now, the center is monitoring the herd health and economics of the transitioning and conventional cows, using a private grant and state funding allocated through the University. But ultimately, Johnson and a team of researchers hope to develop a comprehensive organic dairy research plan and get a large federal grant to carry it out.

Because it’s one of only three universities with an organic dairy research facility — and the first to transition part of its herd from conventional, Johnson thinks it’s in a unique position to get federal research funding from the United State’s Department of Agriculture.