What is Organic

Organic farming is a form of agriculture which excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulators, livestock feed additives, and genetically modified organisms. As far as possible, organic farmers rely on crop rotation, green manure, compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation to maintain soil productivity and control pests.

Organic agricultural methods are internationally regulated and legally
enforced by many nations, based in large part on the standards set by
the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, an
international umbrella organization for organic organizations established
in 1972. The organic movement began as a reaction to concerns about
conventional farming initiated by “Silent Spring”. This book written by
Rachel Carson, is widely credited with helping launch the
environmental movement in the West. Canada will have its own enforced
standards on December 08, with a Canadian logo, www.reroot.ca,
certified with L.F.P. (Local Food Plus) www.localfoodplus.ca.

One of the principles of organic farming is that everything is
inter-connected; you are what you eat. We, as organic farmers,
understand that healthy food starts with the soil. Healthy soil
grows healthy crops; healthy crops lead to healthy animals; and
healthy animals feed healthy people. We recognize our farm as
an ecological system. So we work to maintain a balance between
all aspects of our operation. In contrast to the intensive,
conventional farming seen in many hog and chicken farms,
which need to bring in feed and ship out waste, we compost our
livestock manure to fertilize the crops which feed our animals.
As an organic farm, we strive to shorten the distance between
the farmer and the consumer. We do this with our on-farm store,
supplying local grocery stores and farmer’s markets, and by
providing the land for Reroot, a community shared agriculture
garden (C.S.A.).