#150: Dave Chapman and Eliot Coleman take the stage at the Saving Real Organic Conference at Churchtown Dairy to reflect on the importance of growing the real organic movement in the US amid the mounting challenges facing our country's food system. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is embracing the value of growing organic acreage and markets.
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Dave Chapman is the co-founder of the Real Organic Project and the owner-operator of Long Wind Farm in East Thetford, Vermont, which grows year-round glasshouse tomatoes in soil. Eliot Coleman, Dave's longtime friend and mentor, is the founder of Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine and author of multiple market farming and gardening books.
To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/dave-chapman-eliot-coleman-we-did-it-before-we-can-do-it-again-episode-one-hundred-fifty
The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.
The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).
To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:
https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms
We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.
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