SASKATOON — For many organic farmers, growing a crop is the easy part.
The real challenge is finding someone to buy it.
“A lot of farmers are having a lot of success growing the crops but they’re having trouble accessing the market,” says Ian Cushon, president of the Saskatchewan Organic Industry Development Council.
The solution, the Oxbow, Sask. farmer said, is for everyone involved to work together to promote organic sustainable agriculture.
“The market is small but there are a number of big players looking at the organic market and there’s a lot of opportunities we’re missing because we’re not co-ordinating our efforts,” he said in an interview following the council’s annual meeting.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The solution may involve setting up a marketing co-operative, or maybe even a single-desk selling agency, to make sure farmers are finding those markets and getting the best possible return.
Exploring avenues
The idea of single-desk selling of organic products “has certainly been discussed,” he said. “At this point I don’t think we’re in a position to do that but that’s one of the avenues we may explore in the future.”
He said there is widespread agreement among the province’s 250 to 300 certified organic producers that the road to prosperity is paved with co-operation.
That notion of working together was the theme of a recent two-day conference in Saskatoon, at which growers, processors, retailers, scientists and government gathered to talk about issues facing the organic industry.
Researchers from Canada and the U.S. described the latest developments in production technology and joined in panel discussions with farmers about how to get that information out to the farming public.
And there were sessions aimed at developing strategies to promote organic production and improve the marketing of the commodities produced.
Farmers from an organic growers co-op in North Dakota told their Saskatchewan counterparts that the ideal arrangement would be for organic growers in the three prairie provinces and the northern states to work together, setting target prices and exerting some muscle in the marketplace.
John Gardiner, a researcher with North Dakota State University, said organic farmers can set an example for other farmers.
“Organic farmers have always had close ties with customers, with processing and marketing sectors,” he said. “You can be a leader in redefining that relationship for all farmers.”
Cushon said while organic growers are as concerned as every other farmer with making a profit, they also want a marketing system that reflects certain values of fairness and equity.
“A lot of producers see organic production as an alternative to the food system we’ve got right now, which is based on playing everyone off against each other and pushing prices down to the lowest level,” he said.
The council is also encouraging more farmers to adopt some of the principles of organic production, cut back on inputs and promote the safe, nutritional value of their products.
