How the Farmer's Pledge Was Born Over the past thirty years, the organic farming movement worldwide has accomplished the monumental task of developing ecological standards for food production. Organic farmers, gardeners, researchers and activists have contributed thousands of volunteer hours to this job.  These standards are so thorough that farms of any size can study them and convert to organic management.  Another measure of their success has been the adoption of many portions of these standards by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) and the American Organic Standards (AOS) of the Organic Trade Association. In the marketplace, slowly but surely, the organic label has achieved recognition and, for some crops, a premium price.  Attracted by this premium market, industrial scale farming enterprises in California and other western states have converted several thousand acres to organic crops, and mainstream agribusinesses have purchased some of the small companies that established the market for processed organic foods.  While using ecological production methods, these larger entities have not embraced the social justice aspects of organic agriculture.  As a result, they are able to supply organic products at a lower price than small scale independently run family farms. Faced with these realities, organic farmers and activists, who have been frustrated in the efforts to lobby both the NOP and the OTA to make the organic label stand for the entire set of values embodied in our movement, decided that it is time to articulate more precisely the social and quality of life concerns of organic agriculture.  Small scale and family farmers need a way to differentiate their product from industrialized organic in the market place.  People who support socially just, ecologically sound and humane organic farming and processing need a way to guide their food choices so they can vote with their dollars for the kind of agriculture they want.  To address this urgent need, NOFA-NY, with the help of many people, has created the Farmer's Pledge. The Farmer's Pledge is a commitment to a broad set of principles that go far beyond the National Organic Program by addressing labor issues, community values and marketing.  It is a commitment that either certified organic farmers or uncertified organic farmers can make to their customers and neighbors. The Farmer's Pledge is not a substitute for certification, which is a service whereby a third party scrutinizes a detailed farm plan, inspects the farm, and then has the paper records of the farm reviewed by qualified peers for compliance with the regulations set forth in the NOP.  Instead, the Farmer's Pledge is just that - a pledge or commitment that does not imply that anyone is looking over the shoulder of the farmer.  It may serve the small organic farmers who have never been certified in the past for whatever reason, who must abandon the word "organic" as the descriptor of their product because of the mandatory nature of the NOP.  It also offers certified organic farmers the opportunity to say more to their customers about how they farm.  It is both a marketing tool and a tool we hope to use to help people count the numbers of small farmers who have a very strong ecological approach to farming, are treating and paying labor in a socially responsible way and are working towards once again making farming an integral part of communities everywhere. We would like to thank Mark Dunau, John Gorzynski, Wes Gillingham, Elizabeth Henderson, Karl North, Richard Mandelbaum, Michael Sligh and others, for their help in crafting the ideas contained in the Pledge.  We hope to update the Pledge annually and welcome everyone's input.     Copyright © 2003 Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, In. All rights reserved.