Poultry Your Way - Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems ...

FARM PROFILE • Organic
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The Desenses raised more than 60 geese in 2003. Because Ron has developed a list of people who frequent the
farmer’s market, he managed to sell all of the geese. The feedback they received was very positive. Geese eat more
grass than chickens, ducks, or turkeys, so geese are cheaper to feed and have a very healthy meat. “Geese start
eating grass from the day you get them,” said Ron.
The Desenses only raise livestock products—beef, veal, chicken, and eggs at this time, but would like to add goats.
They also plan to raise some turkeys this year, but since turkeys like to roam, they may have to find a way to
confine birds.
Organic certification
The Desenses’ farm has been operated organically since 1983. Presently, they are
certified organic by the Organic Crop Improvement Association International
(OCIA). Ron developed his organic plan for poultry over one winter. “I’ve raised
chickens for over 20 years,” he explains, “so there wasn’t much to change, or add,
when we certified our poultry.” Once every year, the inspector arrives at their farm
by appointment and reviews their records and operation. This usually involves
viewing copies of labels from all feed supplements and inputs into their soil. The
certifier wants verification that a seamless audit trail exists between the inputs to
the farm and the product sold to customers.
Chicks must be fed a certified organic ration until they are processed and packaged in a certified organic
processing facility. Laying hens must meet these same criteria. Often, farms will buy “ready-to-lay” pullets from
another producer. This supplier must be certified organic for the pullets, and subsequently the eggs they lay, to
qualify as certified organic. All purchase and sales records of where one buys and sells poultry must be kept on
hand for the inspector to review.
Ron spends about one-half hour per week maintaining his records for organic certification. “Grass-based
production makes organic farming easy,” stated Ron. “If one is considering conversion to organic production, this
is the best way to operate your farm.” The pastured poultry model of production reduces the amount of organic
grain needed for feed, thus lowering the cost of production.
Ron with customer at Minneapolis Farmers’
Market.
Organic certified chicken
packaged for market.
Marketing
The Desenses direct market to a list of customers they developed
over the past 20 years. They also sell at farmers’ markets, such as the
Minneapolis Farmer’s Market on Lyndale Avenue near downtown. “Most
of our customers are quite loyal,” states Ron. Although the Desenses now
sell only frozen chickens for convenience reasons, they plan to market
fresh chickens next year because, according to Arthur, fresh chickens are
generally more popular.
“Marketing is very important,” Arthur said, “you have to like to sell.” Over
the last twenty years, the Desenses have tried many different outlets for
their farm goods. In addition to farmers’ markets, they have met people
at gas stations to distribute food when there weren’t any markets open.
Ron feels that they are selling themselves, not just the food. “We let
people know that our farm is sustainable and we’re not going to trash the
resources. We set aside ten percent of our land as wilderness. If people are
willing to pay a little more for our product, we’ll keep producing … it’s a
social contract.” He added, “We practice what we preach. We eat organic
food while the best car we’ve got is probably worth $500. We spend
thousands every year on organic food.”
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ALTERNATIVES