When the call came from Sen. Bob Casey’s office asking Kim Tait if she’d appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, she knew she had the passion and first-hand experience to make a compelling statement. What she didn’t have was the proper attire.
‘It was like Gidget goes to Washington,’ she joked, ‘in a borrowed suit jacket.’
Originally from Southern California, Kim has spent the past 22 years knee-deep in Pennsylvania soil – often in a T-shirt and Tait Farm baseball cap. She owns Tait Farm Foods, a diversified small farm business that includes a 10-acre certified organic farm that produces vegetables, fruits and greenhouse production. Its Community Supported Agriculture program serves 200 members and three restaurants.
In addition to her own crops, Kim has a built a regional food system right out of her shop. Situated on a major central Pennsylvania artery, the Tait Farm Harvest Shop carries items from more than 100 local and regional food producers, artisans and crafts makers.
On Thursday, July 28, Kim left behind that familiar territory for the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The marble hallways and wood floors were daunting, she said, but she was comfortable with the subject matter: the crucial role small and organic farmers play in the American agriculture economy.
The Farm Bill is up for renewal in 2012, and with the American government barely able to pay its bills, cuts are certain. The question is which programs will survive. The crux of Kim’s message to Congress: Give small- and medium-size organic growers a fair shot.
‘We’re at a real crossroads here,’ she said in an interview after the hearing. ‘What we have is an opportunity to craft legislation and distribute money so we’re inclusive. We can’t exclude organic producers – the fastest growing and most economically successful part of the puzzle.’
According to the Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey, while the conventional food system grew by less than 1 percent in 2010, the organic food industry grew by 7.7 percent, reaching a total of nearly $29 billion.
‘Our successes come from growing consumer demand for healthy food,’ Kim said in her testimony, speaking on behalf of the thousands of small- and medium-size organic family farms across the country. ‘Our customers want to be assured of the organic authenticity of our products and are willing to pay for the additional integrity provided by the USDA organic seal.’
As someone who pays $700 to be part of a full-year Community Supported Agriculture Program on an organic farm, I’m one of those people. That purchase is influenced by three factors. The first is taste. Last week I made my first batch of summer ratatouille with tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers, garlic and scallions, all local and organic and picked just a few days ago. It was delicious.
The second is nutrition. While this is a topic for another column, I firmly believe that organic is healthier. (I realize everyone can’t afford to buy organic, and I certainly can’t afford to buy 100 percent organic. I also happily support other local farmers that are non-organic.)
The third, arguably most important reason I buy from Tait and other local providers (organic and non-organic alike) is food security. When last night’s dinner comes from a local farm or the tomatoes I snacked on come from the garden planted by my son’s kindergarten teacher, I don’t have to worry whether the food I’m serving my kids is safe. I often think about the mother whose 2-year-old son died after drinking a smoothie made with contaminated raw spinach. She wanted a smoothie with antioxidants; she didn’t bargain for poison.
To me, this is why Kim’s testimony matters – and not to just farmers, but to consumers. I can’t afford to buy land, but I can afford a share in a Community Supported Agriculture program. And while others might not be able to afford a CSA membership, they may be able to afford zucchini at the farmer’s market, or use food stamps to pay for their produce. (Tait was recently approved to accept food stamps for its CSA.) Without local farms we’re forced to rely on a consolidated food system, one that is increasingly dependent upon foreign-grown food.
If our government continues to subsidize plenty of big farms, it seems only fair that the Tait Farms of our country get a shot, too – especially if these organic farms are driving growth, and therefore jobs, in the agriculture sector.
Fortunately, a whole new generation of farmers is hitting the fields, showing a particular interest in organic agriculture. (Kim says she received several applications for just one internship this year.) What we need is legislators willing to give what Tait summarizes as a ‘hand up, not a hand out.’ Programs that are currently helping organic farmers include the Organic Certification Cost Share program, which helps new farmers defray the often prohibitive costs of acquiring the official organic stamp of approval. One program currently helping Tait Farm is the EQUIP High Tunnel Grant, which paid for about two-thirds of a $6,000 growing structure that will expand its growing season and allow it to grow greens year-round. When the Farm Bill is renewed, Congress will vote to continue these programs – or to ax them.
What can the consumer do? Buy local, stay informed and encourage our elected officials to support local growers. While Tait was in Washington representing organic growers, she agrees that all small and medium-size farmers deserve support.
Humbled by the opportunity and drained from the experience, Kim said she was happy to ditch the suit jacket and head back to the farm.
‘Those people have to stay there and battle it out,’ she said. ‘I was glad to come home and say, ‘How can we do better here?”
