Ecology and Farming

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Feature Interview Organic Farmer and uS Senator Jon Tester Shares his Views with the Organic Movement Interview by Neil Sorensen In November 2006, organic farmer Jon Tester was elected to the United States Senate. Having an organic farmer in such a position of power represents an important opportunity for the entire international organic community. Tester candidly shares his experiences and world view in a telephone interview. FiBL – Professional Competence for Organic Agriculture Worldwide Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau Institut de recherche de l’agriculture biologique Istituto di ricerche dell’agricoltura biologica Instituto de investigaciones para la agricultura orgánica How did you and your wife Sharla get involved in organic farming? It was in about ‘86 or so. There were a number of things that happened. We’re not exactly the biggest outfit out here, and as we as we looked out the door, you’d see a lot of places that weren’t lived in, a lot of people that were leaving agriculture. They weren’t necessarily bad business people, but it just wasn’t financially sustainable. As the next ones on the block, we felt like we had to make some changes in our operation from a financial standpoint. We never did get along with the seed treatments or the weed sprays very well, and to be honest we probably didn’t handle them like they should have been Research and Development Project and feasibility studies Training and advice Conversion planning Pilot and demonstration trials Support for import and label certification Set-up of inspection and certification programmes Market surveys, marketing concepts and organic produce sourcing FiBL Switzerland, Ackerstrasse, Postfach, CH-5070 Frick, Phone +41 62 865 7272, Fax +41 62 865 7273, info.suisse@fibl.org FiBL Germany, Galvanistrasse 28, D-60486 Frankfurt, Phone +49 69 713 769 90, Fax +49 69 713 7699 9, info.deutschland@fibl.org FiBL Austria, Theresianumgasse 11/1, A-1040 Vienna, Phone +43 1 907 6313, Fax +43 1 403 7050 191, info.oesterreich@fibl.org www.fibl.org 14 Feature Interview Ecology & Farming | SEptEmbEr - DEcEmbEr 2006
handled. Combined with that fact, one day we met a woman who was working at Eden Foods that happened by. She was out at Quinn’s (Bob Quinn of Kamut International) place, and she said that if you convert your farm to organics, that there’s certainly a market for your grain. Since she worked at Eden, she said they would purchase the grain from us if it met quality standards for protein and so forth. The impetus for moving to organic was a combination of those things. We were truly Neophytes in the business, and the more we got into it, the more we liked it, and the more we liked being able to sell our products. The thing that really sold it for us (and we were certified by the OCIA at that point in time), when I went to an international organic meeting my first year. Nobody else around wanted to go to Philadelphia to that international meeting, so I did. During the meeting, the woman who we had sold the Durham (wheat) to (and it was a semi load, not a huge amount) came up to me and said ‘that was the best Durham we’d ever got.’ In retrospect, it may have been baloney, but it made me feel good about the product, because nobody had ever told me that what I was raising was good. You know, I’d take it to the elevator and they’d tell me what was wrong with it and they’d deduct me for this or deduct me for that. That was first time I actually sold grain to somebody who came up to me and said thanks for doing what you’re doing. That combination of things brought us to a level where we thought it was important to convert, and within five years we had the whole place converted, and it’s worked out very well for us. As an organization, IFOAM really believes in highlighting the role of women in Organic Agriculture. What kind of role has Sharla played in the development of your farm? This is a family farm. It’s been in the family since my grandparents homesteaded it back in 1916. Just by definition, a family farm means exactly that. Just as my grandmother did with my grandfather, they farmed side by side, and so did my mother and my father. Even though I was born 14 years after my grandparents left the place and moved to town, I grew up with my parents and saw the role that my mother played in the operation of the farm. Whether it was helping to do the books and paying the bills or being a tractor driver, truck driver or combining at harvest time, she was there. It’s the same with my wife now. Particularly with this campaign, I was required to be on the phone a fair amount of time, and Sharla spent a fair amount of time on the combine, which is a job that I normally do. Typically she drives trucks at harvest time, and at seed time she’s moving trucks around, making sure I’ve got seed when I need it and helping to fill the drills. If something else is happening when I’m needed at the house, she’s out there taking care of business. It’s a family farm. The same thing can be said about my kids: they help to make up the interchangeable pieces that are part of what makes it a family farm. As with my grandparents and with my folks, it’s been Feature Interview 1
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