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Perspectives on organic transition from transitioning farmers and farmers who decided not to transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2021

Garry Stephenson Open the ORCID record for Garry Stephenson [Opens in a new window] ,
Lauren Gwin ,
Chris Schreiner  and
Sarah Brown
Garry Stephenson*
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems, Oregon State University, 107 Crop Science Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
Lauren Gwin
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems, Oregon State University, 107 Crop Science Building, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
Chris Schreiner
Affiliation:
Oregon Tilth, Inc., Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Sarah Brown
Affiliation:
Oregon Tilth, Inc., Corvallis, Oregon, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Garry Stephenson, E-mail: garry.stephenson@oregonstate.edu
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Abstract

Despite continuous growth in demand for organic food and farm products, US domestic supply is not keeping pace. Increasing domestic supply requires, in part, that more farms transition to certified organic production. This in turn requires a better understanding of the transition process. This paper reports on a national survey of farmers transitioning to organic certification through participation in the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program Organic Initiative (EQIP-OI). Our analysis focuses on what motivates farmers to undertake transition to organic certification and what obstacles they confront in the process. The survey population included farmers in the midst of the transition process and farmers who began transition but decided not to pursue organic farming, allowing us to compare both groups to farmers who successfully transitioned to certified organic. Because farmers do not control all of the factors that influence their success, we use a ‘spheres of influence’ framework to analyze obstacles at four levels: the farm, local and regional infrastructure, the marketplace and policy. Our results improve our understanding of the transition process and apply to a wide range of stakeholders and service providers who support farmers in different ways, through crop research, infrastructure development, market development and policy.

Keywords

Organic farmingorganic certificationorganic decertificationtransition to organic
Type
Research Article
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 37 , Issue 6 , December 2022 , pp. 633 - 643
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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