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Section B: Real People, Real Farms: Case studies
of organic agriculture
Projected
Outcomes
- Students will learn about examples of organic
agriculture in-state and around the country.
- Students will be able to apply the concepts
taught in the module to real situations
Farm
Visit
The best exposure to an organic farm or food
processing operation is a visit. The next best
thing is to invite a farmer to speak to your
class in the school. To get suggestions of nearby
organic enterprises to visit or speakers to invite,
contact your local Extension agent or one of
the organic organizations listed in the Upper
Midwest Organic Resource Directory. Make
sure your host or speaker knows in advance what
aspects of the operation your class is interested
in. You might want to discuss some possible activities
that would be appropriate for your class to do.
Prepare your class for the visit by reviewing
what you know about the enterprise and having
them figure out what questions they want answered.
The questions should address some aspect of sustainability,
but they may range from questions about values
and quality of life to technical questions about
how crops are grown.
If you wish, you can assign the class the task
of writing up a case study of the farm or enterprise
based on the field trip. They can use the farm
interview form as the basic template for the
case study. They can also take pictures or
videos, provided they get permission from
the host. Farm Interview Form (MS
Word Document)
If a field trip or guest presenter is not feasible,
use one or more of the case studies suggested
below.
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Activity 1: Evaluating Sustainability
Video
Back to the Land … Again is a 60 minute
video that provides a brief overview of a variety
of Wisconsin organic farms. To order a copy of
the video, e-mail your request, contact information,
and mailing address to to Gretta Wing Miller
at backtotheland@mac.com.
Cost is $20, including shipping. The Back
to the Land worksheet can
be distributed to students before you show the
video so they will know what information to look
for. Or you can use the worksheet questions to
guide class discussion after watching the video. Worksheet
Key
Written
Case Studies
Harmony Valley, Viroqua, Wisconsin is a diverse
organic vegetable farm in southwestern Wisconsin.
They direct market through a CSA and at farmers’ markets,
and also sell some crops to natural foods retailers.
SARE case study htm or pdf
(p. 15), Sustainable
Times article
R. & G.
Miller and Sons organic dairy farm
in south central Wisconsin milks 370 cows and
grows organic feed and pasture on 1,600 acres. Fran O'Leary writes about the farm's work with no-till in the Wisconsin Agriculturist.
Chris Malek runs a small organic CSA in Rosholt. Lynn Markham discusses his decision to farm organically and the impact of pesticides on groundwater. @2011 Bay View Compass. Republished with permission of Bay View Compass.
Case study of an organic consumer: Sandra Steingraber’s
essay on organic pizza offers
a thoughtful perspective of why she, as a scientist
and a mother, chooses
to buy organic food. The essay is long but entertaining
and highly informative. There is one reference
to her living with her boyfriend in the first
part of the essay.
Another piece by the same author, The
Organic Manifesto of a Biologist Mother,
covers many of the same issues but with a more
serious tone.
Tom Frantzen’s system for producing pigs
organically on pasture and in hoophouses is profiled
in Hogs
Your Way (pp. 46-51).
A number of farmer members of the marketing
cooperative Organic Valley are featured at http://www.organicvalley.coop/our_story/meet_the_farmers/index.html.
New
Century Farm
is a mid-sized organic egg farm located in Shullsburg,
Wisconsin.
Dairy
Your Way
contains descriptions and case studies of several
organic and conventional dairy production systems
in the upper Midwest.
Other organic production profiles can be found
in the SARE book The
New American Farmer.
If you choose the html version, you can search
the book by commodity type (organic).
The farm profiles
on the New Farm
website include
several organic farms from the Midwest.
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