Beyond Organic , By Amy Brummer
reprinted from Time Off, Bucks County, March 28, 2003

A handful of local farmers are finding alternatives to factory farming, an effort with the potential to radically alter the way we eat and live. Part one in a three-part series on the regional organic movement.

Kelly Harding, shown with his 4-year-old son, Jake, began working last year to transform Cherry Grove Farm on Route 206 in Lawrenceville, N.J., into a holistic livestock farm.

Over Kelly Harding's dining room door is a small folk painting of a farmhouse flanked by trees. The message printed across the bottom: "Simplify."

Wearing a flannel shirt and overalls, Mr. Harding exemplifies the nostalgic image of the American farmer. What is not apparent at first glance is that he is a radical. In his efforts to return to a simple, natural method of farming livestock, he has become part of a complex web of social and environmental change. Reviving the traditional agrarian standards that had been in place for centuries has been a challenge, but it is one whose time has come.

In September, Mr. Harding began working to convert Cherry Grove Farm on Route 206 in Lawrenceville, N.J., into a holistic livestock farm that will provide grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork and eggs from free-range chickens.

Having worked on farms in his native Maryland since age 13, he began to realize the industrial farming system that has become the national standard was inconsistent with his values.

At the time, I thought this was it," he says. "This is the future and I might as well get on board. That is where the jobs were and they needed people with some kind of animal skill.

"I managed a swine-confinement operation. We had 800 sows in two huge buildings that never saw the light of day. We constantly used antibiotics."

After working there for several years, a colleague introduced him to New Farm, a magazine published by Rodale.

"They talked about things that people were doing differently," Mr. Harding says. "This started the wheels rolling because you didn't need all of these facilities that cost fortunes for farmers to purchase, and they get locked into this contract where the farmer owns the building and the company owns the animals, which is the thing that actually makes money, and the farmer is forced to put his money into things that rot, rust and depreciate."

The factory farms also are notorious for overcrowding, which necessitates the use of preemptive antibiotics and growth hormones to speed development. But even these measures can't ensure success. He recalls one instance where a disease swept through the farrowing room where 120 sows were giving birth, yielding more than a thousand piglets. Affecting only the newborns, it killed all but a handful of them.

"After you have wheel - barreled several loads of dead pigs out the door," he says, "piled them up and dealt with all of that, you start scratching your head and thinking there has got to be a better way than this."

With the information Mr. Harding had amassed about raising pastured livestock, he began experimenting with the concept. When the opportunity to manage the farm in Lawrenceville arrived, it provided him with the chance to see it through.

The owners of Cherry Grove Farm, who have had it for several generations, were interested in preserving the farm in a way that was utilitarian and could offset their tax costs. While it seems like a perfect match, the realities of implementing their plan in this region come with their own set of difficulties.

To begin with, the costs are higher. Just to insure his vehicles, Mr. Harding pays three times the premium he did in Maryland. There are no organic grain mills in the area, which adds to the distribution cost of feed. And as an independent farmer, there is no way he could ever afford to own his land given the current real estate market and tax structure.

With few livestock operations left in the area, there is only one veterinary group that serves the region, and it isn't taking any new clients. Even if it did, the veterinarians are not trained in the holistic approach needed to treat these animals.

According to the Organic Standards Act, implemented by the United States Department of Agriculture in October 2002, livestock that is certified organic must be raised without the use of hormones or antibiotics. To treat his animals, Mr. Harding uses a combination of homoepathic remedies, herbs and vitamins, in addition to plenty of fresh air and sunlight.

Kelly and Anita Harding hope their son, Jake, doesn't grow up in a world where he doesn't know the people who produce his food.

While the organic standards require animals to have access to the outdoors, this does not mean the animals will exercise that option. In theory, it can mean as little as having the barn door open.

With more food conglomerates becoming involved in the organic market - which, according to the USDA, has been growing at a rate of 20 percent each year - organic standards have come under pressure from agribusiness lobbyists. On Feb. 13, Congress approved a rider in section 771 of the 2003 federal spending bill, amending the provision that organic livestock be fed 100 percent organic grain. Under the new rule, a farmer may feed organic livestock conventional grain containing pesticides, synthetic material or genetically modified organisms if the USDA certifies that organic feed is only available at twice the cost of commercial feed.

As the organic industry becomes absorbed by national agribusiness, it raises questions about the truths behind the labels, as well as whether the philosophy of organic is consistent with large scale farming.

"What I like to tell people what we do," says Mr. Harding, "and this might be viewed by some as heresy, but what we do is beyond organic. We're going to the next level, and this gets me really excited because organic doesn't define what we do. What we do is over and beyond in terms of health, taste, safety, the whole picture. You can buy organic beef, but it doesn't necessarily have to be or mean that it is grass fed. It will not mean that this animal hasn't been shuffled around, it doesn't mean that the animal was not raised in a feedlot during a certain portion of its life."

Being ruminants, the natural diet for cattle is grass. To fatten them up and marbleize the flesh, conventionally raised beef is fed grain. Because of the acid imbalance this causes in their stomachs, and the practice of overcrowding the animals in feedlots, bacteria such as e. coli and campylobacter can thrive.

This also leads to a high degree of stress for the animals, degrading the quality of the product. Mr. Harding is keenly aware of this and does what he can to ensure a smooth transition between his farm and the processing facility he uses in South Jersey, the only one in the state that is certified organic.

"I ensure that the animals arrive there safely," Mr. Harding says. "One of the critical things in producing quality meat is to make sure the animals don't get excited. When that adrenaline starts flowing, that ruins the quality of the meat. I make sure the animals get there with the least amount of stress, they get there and go straight in the door.

"When my animals are stressed, I'm stressed. I'm worried about them. What we practice here is animal husbandry. It means just that you have a relationship with the animals and it's just like if your wife isn't happy, you're not going to be happy. But it is a lost art. What we have done in conventional agriculture is applied an industrial model to a biological, nurturing type of system. The industrial model works good for making cars and widgets, but it doesn't work too good when it comes to trying to produce our food."

Going back to a traditional farming method also means keeping a diversity of animals, and in Mr. Harding's case preserving heritage and rare breeds of animals. His Hereford hogs are a defined rare breed, his Katadin sheep were chosen for their ability to thrive in a grass-fed environment, and he keeps five breeds of chicken.

"It is a juggle," he says, "but at the same time the animals have a synergistic effect on one another. In nature there is no monoculture of animals. They serve their different function, and we mesh all of that together."

With all of these elements, the farm transcends its mission of simply providing organic meat and eggs.

"Not only do we offer good food," he says, "we are also offering the chance to come and preserve a farm in New Jersey, to come and know the person that raises your food. One of the things that I do, and I think a lot of people are like me, I have one guy that I trust to work on my car because I trust him, and it is that kind of relationship that we are trying to create. In our country we want some guy that we trust to work on our car, but we are willing to trust a nameless, faceless organization to produce our food. It doesn't quite add up. It doesn't make sense. It is not some machine you are going to operate and get rid of. Without trying to sound too romantic or whatever, but it actually becomes part of you. No other product that we consume is that way."

Cherry Grove Farm is located on Route 206 in Lawrenceville, N.J., just south of Carter Road. It is currently selling fresh eggs and ground beef, with more products to become available in the fall. Farm hours are flexible, but it is best to call ahead. For information, call (609) 468-6116. On the Web: www.cherrygrovefarm.com

© 2006