The pioneering farmers of the organic movement came together to protect their life's work.
A grassroots movement of farmers, eaters, scientists, authors, journalists, educators, chefs, and environmental activists is quickly building around them.
Together, we are the Real Organic Project
OUR WORK. OUR MISSION. The growing failure of the USDA to serve and protect organic farming was the catalyst that united us. The farmers of the Real Organic Project have created an add-on label to USDA organic, to differentiate organic food produced in concert with healthy soils and pastures. This is not a new concept. In the EU there are respected add-on labels to the European organic program that offer customers greater transparency.
Organic farmers across the country have been quick to join.
Real Organic Project 82 Wilson Road East Thetford, VT 05043
www.realorganicproject.org dave@realorganicproject.org / 802 299 7737 linley@realorganicproject.org / 970 317 0309
The USDA allows the certification of 100% hydroponic as organic.
Only the Real Organic Project label allows you to identify nutritious, delicious, food grown in living soil.
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The USDA allows the certification of disposable plastic farms as organic.
Only the Real Organic Project label allows you to tell the true difference.
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The USDA allows the certification of multi-storied CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) chicken houses.
Only the Real Organic Project label stands for organic AND pastured.
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Aurora Dairy, CO Photo courtesy of the Washington Post
The USDA allows the certification of confinement dairies with thousands of cows.
Photo Courtesy of Butterworks Farm, VT
Only the Real Organic Project label ensures pastured livestock.
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Houston, we have a problem... And we have a solution, too.
A NEW HOPE:
Attempts at reform of the USDA failed, and so the very founders of the organic movement in America finally said, “Enough.” We created an independent add-on certification to the USDA program to designate that there are still many real organic farms in America.
The Real Organic Project was created in 2018 to protect organic. For many of us, the organic label was our life's work, but it had grown so quickly, and much was being lost. As organic succeeded, the same big players in chemical ag became the big players in the organic “industry.” And with this “big tent,” we suddenly found the tent collapsing. Soon we could barely recognize much of what was being sold under our label. And it was affecting the viability of our farms.
A label that can be trusted for integrity and transparency is needed.
It is our mission to supply that label, that voice, that important story, to the eaters.
It is our mission to educate and bring together the real organic movement.
When real organic farms flourish, we ALL flourish.
Although the Real Organic Project is farmer-led, it cannot succeed with farmer support alone. We can ONLY succeed with the support of the eaters, authors, chefs, scientists, journalists, teachers, activists, environmentalists, and philanthropists who care. Sane agriculture is the major driver of healthy food, bodies, air, water, climate, and communities. We humans have become so numerous that our footprints fall heavy upon the land. We must take care where we step. We know that when the small and mid-scale farms flourish, so do the communities around them.
Real Organic Project is committed to providing our services free to all farmers and eaters. We believe farmers already carry heavy burdens, and their work serves us all. In Denmark, all organic certification is paid for by the government, as well as offering considerable support in training, research, and market development. For now, we are unable to accomplish that with the USDA, so we are reaching out to find generous supporters so we can do it in America too.
Please join us.
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“What we got was more food on the shelves certified as organic, but we didn’t get more organic farming. And the result of it is that the whole economic landscape is changing for Real Organic farmers.”
Eliot Coleman Real Organic Project Board Member Four Season Farm, Maine
“Real Organic farming to me is making a choice to see and accept our full identity and impact on each other and the planet.”
Iriel Edwards Real Organic Project certification team
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“So let's talk about elitism real quick. If your food choices ensure that farmers can pay their bills, feed their family, send their kids to college and have a farm to leave them, that is not elitism. Elitism in the food world is being willfully ignorant of the indenture of American farmers. Elitism is the corporation that seeks to benefit from a food system based on the economic exploitation of the American heartland, and that is the great betrayal."
Alan Lewis Government Affairs, Natural Grocers Real Organic Project Advisory Board
“In case you don’t know, there are 12,000 lobbyists on the Hill that work for the agriculture and food processing industry. And they spend about $350 million a year on “forming opinions” in Washington, and that's more than the defense industry. So don’t underestimate their power!”
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree at the "Keep the Soil in Organic" Rally
“I feel the size of the badness in our food system, but I don't believe that it is permanent. I don't think these are problems without solutions. It's what happens when you pair a profit motive with food production, while you ignore the environment and people's health. I think our job right now is to hold the space of possibility for a better system and to try to keep normalizing for people what good food is.”
Kristin Kimball Essex Farm, New York, Author of The Dirty Life and Good Husbandry
“Real Organic Project is reawakening the organic movement in response to corporate theft. Now it is clear that we need a Real Regenerative movement too. When Bayer, Syngenta, Cargill, McDonalds, and Pepsi call themselves ‘Regenerative’ while still allowing toxic pesticides and fertilizers, that word loses its meaning and we have no choice, but to speak out.”
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Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin Tree-Range Farms
“The organic standard, is the only standard in food and agriculture, that specifically prevents toxic, herbicides and pesticides from being applied to farmlands and
causing irreparable damage to all life.
The Real Organic Project is our best hope to save the standard, and make it strong once again. With a good organic standard, we have hope for our food system, our ecosystems and our peopl e . ”
Ben Dobson Old Nut Farm
“Organic is at a crossroads. Either we can continue to allow industry interests to bend and dilute the organic rules to their benefit, or organic farmers— working with organic consumers —can step up and take action to ensure organic integrity into the future . "
Francis Thicke Radiance Dairy National Organic Standards Board Real Organic Executive Board
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“What I admire so much about the Real Organic Project is that for so many years, so many people, including myself, have bemoaned the direction that organic has gone; the co- opting, the buying out, the dumbing down, but what do we do about it? We talk about it and talk about it. But what you are doing is really exposing the truth, and I hope that you feel the value of your work. Not just for yourself, but for humanity and for organic farmers. You know, it’s a real blessing.”
Dan Barber Chef, Blue Hill Author, The Third Plate Real Organic Project Board Member
“Nothing better illustrates the limits of the consumer model of change in the face of monopolized markets than the extraordinary success of the local, slow-food, organ i c agriculture movement and its simultaneous failure to make a meaningful dent in the way food is created.”
Zephyr Teachout Associate Law Professor Fordham Law School
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“There was power today because we came together.” - Farmer Hugh Kent after speaking at the 2019 Real Organic Symposium at Dartmouth
W When we first met farmers Hugh and Lisa Kent, we weren’t able to share their stories. It was just too dangerous to their business for them to speak openly. And that was hard because they have amazing stories. Inspiring and painful stories. Stories that make your blood boil. Stories that make you smile. Stories that reveal how little our food system values independent family farmers. Stories about racketeering and crooked berry brokers, agricultural consolidation, and corporate power. The world of certified organic blueberries has changed dramatically in the last 7 years, much like the world of organic tomatoes.
And for the same reason.
They also wanted to support an endangered way of farming.
The Hydroponic Invasion. Berries grown hydroponically are cheaper to produce.
But getting those berries through the supply chain proved to be almost impossible.
No care of the soil is required. No cover cropping, mulching, or composting. Less grower skill is required, as all pots of coconut husks are created the same - just add fertilizer. In 2019, Hugh spoke at the first Dartmouth Real Organic Symposium. 200 people left the audience wanting to buy his berries.
The system was rigged by the biggest players.
If Real Organic Project can’t help operations like King Grove Organic Farm stay viable, we have failed. We are all worse off if Hugh and Lisa’s thoughtfully stewarded, humus-building 20 acres are paved over for just another development.
Or covered with plastic to become another hydroponic factory.
They wanted to eat real food.
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“I see the chicken and hog sheds. I know what’s in them, and it’s a nightmare for the animals. I have seen vast feedlots with 100,000 head of cattle in confinement eating fecal dust mixed with a combined corn concentrate ration that’s made to make them gain weight quickly.
And it's wrong! It's just wrong.
But if you think animal agriculture has no place for maintaining our native grasslands, think about what happened when the tall grass prairie was this huge carbon sink. What happened when the Sagebrush steppe of the Rocky Mountains was a healthy grassland ecosystem that included diverse riparians because there was sporadic grazing of buffalo that was both high intensity and short duration? What if we mimicked that in our animal agriculture and created a new paradigm? What if we created something that brings back native grasslands and carbon into the soil?”
Glenn Elzinga Alderspring Ranch Grassfed Organic Beef
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A GROWING MOVEMENT
REAL ORGANIC FARMS IN 2023 1,200*
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
0
250
500
750
1,000
1,250
* WILL VARY PENDING FINAL CERTIFICATION APPROVAL
MAP & FARM DIRECTORY AT REALORGANICPROJECT.ORG
“I am very excited to see your label in the stores! I am 100% on board with all that you are fighting for. When I have to purchase from stores, and I see organic items certified by agencies not known for their integrity, it’s a real quandary whether to purchase the item or not. I need to see your seal!" - Letter from a Real Friend
WE ARE THE ORGANIC MOVEMENT
Our weekly letters include in-depth stories about people and the issues we are facing in the organic movement. Engaged readers include thousands of farmers, journalists, scientists, & movers and shakers who forward the letters to their community and take action. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER A REAL FRIENDS & FARMER GATHERING AT JACOBS FARM IN CALIFORNIA
Ecological Healing Means Putting Land Back Into Indigenous Hands with Leah Penniman Geeking Out On Soil Biology with Kris Nichols POPULAR EPISODES Antitrust + Democracy At Your Dinner Table with Michael Pollan Real Organic vs. Chemical Farming with Eliot Coleman
LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS
“Just discovered this podcast and can’t stop listening to it! Thank you, thank you, thank you”! ITUNES LISTENER @CAROLINEINSUZU
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OUR FRIEND
BE
THANK YOU TO THE AUTHORS WHO SPEAK AT OUR SPECIAL REAL FRIENDS BOOK CLUB: Our work is made possible by our sustaining donors, our Real Friends.
March 2022: Eliot Coleman May 2022: Paul Hawken June 2022: Anne Bikle June 2022: David Montgomery September 2022: Bob Quinn October 2022: Dan Barber November 2022: Liz Carlisle December 2022: Mark Schatzker January 2023: Allan Savory February 2023: Fred Provenza April 2023: Annelise Orleck May 2023: Kristin Kimball June 2023: David Grinspoon July 2023: Helen Atthowe September 2023: Vincent Stanley Subscribe to our newsletter to hear about future guests
“THANK YOU!! I'm late for work now because something told me to 'just watch it!' I hadn't taken the time very often to do just that, but you can bet I will be stopping by your fence post for the conversation from now on!! I really appreciate what you ALL are doing. And I appreciate the generous way you are spreading the word by educating us and helping us to learn, not just telling us what we need to know. There IS a difference.” SHANNON, A REAL FRIEND
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
FORWARD OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JOIN OUR REAL FRIENDS PROGRAM
LISTEN TO OUR REAL ORGANIC PODCAST
INFORM FARMERS ABOUT REAL ORGANIC PROJECT'S FREE CERTIFICATION
“JUST ASK” YOUR GROCERY STORE FOR REAL ORGANIC PRODUCTS
ATTEND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
BECOME A SUSTAINING DONOR
HOST A FUNDRAISER FOR REAL ORGANIC
VISIT REALORGANICPROJECT.ORG
RISING SUN FARM, WISCONSIN
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“There is not one minute to waste! Honestly, I feel that stronger and stronger everyday, that we can’t just sit back anymore. We need to have action today.”
Dru Rivers Real Organic Farmer and Symposium Speaker Full Belly Farm, California
“It’s time to create a farmer-led movement with a consumer collaboration as a way to blunt the direction that this whole organic industry is going and bring it back to the original principles on which organic was founded.”
Paul Muller, Full Belly Farm Real Organic Project Executive Board Member
JOIN US.
Anais Beddard Dave Chapman Paul Muller Francis Thicke, PhD Executive Board
Harriet Behar Michael Besconson Will Brinton, PhD Dave Chapman Doug Crabtree Linley Dixon, PhD Jim Durst Jay Feldman Liz Graznak Chris Grigsby Cameron Molberg Chloe Nevarez Michael Sligh Francis Thicke, PhD Standards Board
Advisory Board
Onika Abraham Will Allen Dan Barber Anne Biklé Marian Blom
Jim Gerritsen Joan Dye Gussow, PhD Paul Hawken
Jeff Moyer Kris Nichols, PhD Emily Oakley Leah Penniman Will Raap Lynn Ellen Schimoler Vandana Shiva, PhD Eric Sideman, PhD Lisa Stokke Jennifer Taylor, PhD Alice Waters
Stuart Hill, PhD Liz Henderson
Jesse Buie Lisa Bunin
Walter Jehne Pete Johnson Maddie Kempner Fred Kirschenmann, PhD Dan Kittredge Anne Lazor Alan Lewis Ed Maltby Davey Miskell David Montgomery, PhD Dave Mortenson, PhD
Zoë Ida Bradbury Mary Ellen Chadd Eliot Coleman Barbara Damrosch Nicole Dehne Kate Duesterberg Steve Ela JM Fortier
SUPPORT US AT: WWW.REALORGANICPROJECT.ORG/DONATE
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