Organic farmers can be found all over Western Wisconsin. Even more will gather in the region later this month in La Crosse.
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) will host the 19th annual Organic Farming Conference (UMOFC) at the La Crosse Center, Feb. 21 – 23.
This event has grown into the largest organic farming conference in the country. It should be a point of pride for the region and the state, and helps give Western Wisconsin a true distinction among the nation’s agri-business industry.
More than 2,300 participants attend from across the nation. This is real hands-on stuff too. The conference provides more than 60 workshops with topics including: specialty crops, marketing issues, crop production, animal husbandry, soil management, and organic certification.
More than 130 exhibitors focus on organic agriculture. Food at the conference is organic and locally produced whenever possible.
For the first time in 2008, the conference will include the Organic Research Symposium, bringing important research relevant to organic systems to those who will be able to use it in their fields, barns, labs and classrooms.
During several sessions, researchers – including farmer researchers – will present their findings. These will be followed by small group discussions, allowing participants to ask each researcher specific follow-up questions or offer suggestions on future research.
On the day prior to the conference, graduate students and researchers will gather to discuss current and future projects. Research results will also be offered through Symposium proceedings and posters, allowing participants to learn more at their leisure.
Also on Feb. 21, MOSES hosts the Organic University. This pre-conference event offers intensive day-long sessions on specific topics in organic agriculture. The conference will officially commence with a keynote presentation on Thursday night: “Where will the next generation of organic farmers and researchers come from?”
Organic farming has come a long way from the days when most who tried it were seen as “tree huggers” or “back-to-the-land” people. The sophistication in research and application rivals, or perhaps exceeds, that in other, more conventional agriculture.
MOSES has played a big role in that development, as has Organic Valley, based in La Farge. Before writing any more, this writer should be open about the fact I own some of the Class E stock in CROPP, the coop that produces Organic Valley products.
But, this column about the growth of the conference in La Crosse, and the development and importance of organic farming for Western Wisconsin and the state as a whole, is not the work of a writer schilling for an industry or company.
I bought the stock because of the philosophy behind organic farming. The stock hardly makes me rich, but it does allow a non-farmer to play a role in a movement that I consider very important for the region, state and frankly the world.
In the Kickapoo Valley, where I live, many farmers could not survive if it wasn’t for the organic farming movement. Other small farmers around the nation also are surviving because they farm organically. The products from organic farms provide alternatives to people around the nation and world who have concerns about chemicals and additives in our foods.
Organic products have increased in popularity to the point where some larger food corporations want to get more involved. That’s good from a potential distribution standpoint, but with this movement toward increased volume has come calls for reduction in standards for certified organic products.
Any reductions can only cheapen and compromise the very soul of the organic movement. Such concerns will undoubtedly be discussed at the La Crosse conference.
MOSES lists its mission statement as: “Our mission is to help agriculture make the transition to a sustainable organic system of farming that is ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially just, through information, education, research, and integrating the broader community into this effort.”
The portion of the statement that is boldfaced and underlined summarizes the philosophy that has led to the growth of the conference in La Crosse, the blossoming of organic farming in general and why this writer decided to write an openly glowing column about both.
