Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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in Anaheim, California. I went and checked labels. Made contacts. Gave out
my business cards. Now I really want to go to a German show. You have to
find a market and then grow the right crops. But you need to show a good
product, reliable crops.” So it is not just the contacts that are important but
the Bensons' quality crops. Yet Naioma cautions,“It is very, very competitive.
And you'll do a disservice to people if you write a topic and tell them they
can go out and find all the markets in the world tomorrow. I believe it was
fourteen years before we ever sold a bushel of organic wheat, something like
that. Couldn't find a market for it.”
Organic certification is critical for the Bensons, since their marketing
opportunities, especially exports, depend on it. They had certified with the
Colorado Department of Agriculture, but it is on hold until the federal
regulations are in place. The Bensons were both positive and negative on
state certification. First, “the inspector was just wonderful to work with,”
according to Naioma, someone who could give them information about
weed issues. But the state certification was not accepted internationally. “It
just never got the recognition, and we tried and tried. We'd ask, 'Why don't
you use Colorado certification?' It was better for us because we don't have
to pay an assessment on it and it is cheaper. And mostly we didn't have
to wait and wait like with the other certifiers.” Cliff notes the certification
quality was high. “It was a good certification, too. There were a lot more
stipulations than anything else.”Naioma elaborates, “What was great about
Colorado certification was that if you sold a product that was not certified
organic it was a felony charge. And we'd tell them that, but it was still never
recognized in Europe. But we kept paying up because that was the way the
rules were written. And we had a good inspector. He always had good ideas
when he came and we learned a lot. We dropped them this year, and we
dropped the other one, too.” Allen shrugs. “Long story.”
They had some frustrating experiences with one certification agency.
Allen says, “You got the local crew and the inspection committee and you go
through all the reports and send it all to the main headquarters. They'd have
to go through it a second time. They don't take the farmer's word for it, and
then your inspection certificate shows up late. Well, here you are trying to
move your product, and they want a current certificate.Where is it?”Naioma
says, “The year before we pulled out, we lost business because it took us
eleven months to get a certificate.”Allen says, “We had everything done and
inspected by the end of October, and it still didn't come out until February,
and we took care of all the rough cuts and did all of the paperwork.” After
all this frustration, it was time for a change. They are now certified organic
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